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TA K I N G

STOCK

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

POWER OF PELICE IS IN THE EXCHANGE

Co-Publisher David H. Ramsey Co-Publisher David (DK) Knight Chief Operating Officer Dianne C. Sullivan

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Publishing Office Street Address: 225 Hanrick Street Montgomery, AL 36104-3317 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 2268 Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 Telephone: 334-834-1170 Fax 334-834-4525

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Executive Editor David (DK) Knight Editor-In-Chief Rich Donnell Managing Editor Dan Shell Senior Associate Editor David Abbott Associate Editor Jessica Johnson Associate Editor Jay Donnell

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Production Manager/Art Director Cindy Sparks Ad Production Coordinator Patti Campbell Circulation Director Rhonda Thomas

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Advertising Sales Manager David H. Ramsey • (334) 834-1170

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVES SOUTHERN U.S. Kathy Sternenberg • (251) 928-4962 ksternenberg@bellsouth.net Classified Advertising Bridget DeVane • 1-800-669-5613 bdevane7@hotmail.com MIDWEST USA, EASTERN CANADA John Simmons Mar-Tech Communications 32 Foster Cres.

Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 (905) 666-0258 Fax: (905) 666-0778 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com WESTERN USA, WESTERN CANADA Tim Shaddick 4056 West 10th Ave, Vancouver BC Canada V6L 1Z1 778-822-1826 Fax: (604) 264-1397 E-mail: tootall1@shaw.ca INTERNATIONAL Murray Brett Aldea de las Cuevas 66 Buzon 60 03759 Benidoleig (Alicante), Spain Tel: +34 96 640 4165 Fax: +34 96 640 4022 E-mail: murray.brett@abasol.net

et’s say you operate a plywood plant and think it’s time to upgrade or replace a veneer dryer. To help in making the decision, you decide to attend the 2014 Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) in Atlanta at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center.

Just to begin your research, in the Grand Ballroom of the North Tower, you will find three dozen exhibitors that can provide equipment or services related to your project. More specifically, two veneer dryer technology-specific presentations are part of the first morning breakout sessions following the keynote general sessions, with numerous additional presentations on particulate emissions control, operational enhancements and project development on tap over the next two days—all of which mean something to your upcoming capital expenditure.

Held recently and for the fourth time, PELICE puts people together in a relaxed environment that allows effective information exchange and networking.

Competition and alliances notwithstanding, PELICE brings all segments of the industry together to emphasize challenges and opportunities common to all—while also providing technical solutions and better operational ideas for specific panel manufacturing processes and applications.

One presentation that comes to mind was that of Dustin Neumann of Neumann Process Control, who spoke about technology upgrades and migrating legacy systems to new technology platforms. Neumann brought up considerations that strike to the heart of the technology and information opportunities that an event like PELICE provides, especially for those researching system upgrades and capital improvements.

“The last few years have shown the importance of staying competitive,” Neumann said, urging his listeners to prioritize process upgrades, evaluate

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proposals to determine highest-value propositions and also to simply take advantage of the expertise that vendors and suppliers possess.

And that’s what PELICE delivers as good as any other business move: An opportunity to invest in yourself and your organization by gaining better knowledge of the industry around you while learning more about the latest in panel manufacturing. For technology vendors, PELICE is a solid platform to highlight their latest products and services, with key industry leaders and decision-makers in attendance.

In a social-media age when business operators, managers, suppliers and vendors are all networked and linked electronically (but remotely) as never before, an event like PELICE gives industry’s top movers and shakers—and anyone, really, from the mill floor to executive suite—an opportunity to rub shoulders, meet face to face and build solidarity through better business strategies, providing the foundation for those crucial, numbers-crunching closed door meetings that were happening all over the Omni Hotel.

A hearty thanks goes out to all who attended, exhibited or otherwise supported PELICE this year. The staffs at Panel World, Hatton-Brown Publishers and Georgia Research Institute look forward to doing it all again in the same PW venue on April 7-8, 2016.

DAN SHELL MANAGING EDITOR

Ph: 334-834-1170 Fax: 334-834-4525 e-mail: dan@hattonbrown.com

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(Founded as P l y w o o d & P a n e l in 1960—Our 466th consecutive issue) VOLUME 55 NO. 3

MAY 2014

Visit our web site: www.panelworldmag.com

PROJECTS Latest On Duratex

46

18

WHAT’S NEW Dryer Management

52

PELICE 2014 Good Times

30

GEO DIRECTORY Veneer/Panel Suppliers

EVENTS Portland Show

55

TAKING STOCK Real Exchange

3

62

PANELWORKS Classified Advertising

ADLINK Advertisers

60

UPDATE CLT Venture

6

XYLEXPO May 13-17

24

TECHNOLOGY Veneer Drying

40

COVER: Freres Lumber continues to upgrade its softwood veneer operation at Lyons, Ore. Story begins on PAGE 12. (Dan Shell photo) The Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo had a record turnout. Story begins on PAGE 18. (Inset photo by Jessica Johnson)

IN MEMORY Gary Raemhild

45

TECHNOLOGIES The Past 50 Years

62

Panel World (ISSN 1048-826X) is published bimonthly by Plywood & Panel World, Inc., P.O. Box 2268, Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 (334) 834-1170, Fax (334) 834-4525. Subscription Information— PW is sent free to owners, operators, managers, purchasing agents, supervisors and foremen at veneer operations, plywood plants, composite products plants, structural and decorative panel mills, engineered wood products plants and allied export-import businesses throughout the world. All non-qualified U.S. subscriptions are $50 annually; $60 in Canada; $95 (Airmail) in all other countries (U.S. funds).

Single copies, $5 each; special issues, $20 (U.S. funds).

Subscription Inquiries—TOLL-FREE 800-669-5613; Fax 888-611-4525. Go to www.panelworldmag.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe or renew via the web. All advertisements for Panel World magazine are accepted and published by Plywood & Panel World, Inc. with the understanding that the advertiser and/or advertising agency are authorized to publish the entire contents and subject matter thereof. The advertiser and/or advertising agency will defend, indemnify and hold Plywood & Panel World, Inc. harmless from and against any loss, expenses, or other liability resulting from any claims or lawsuits for libel violations or right of privacy or publicity, plagiarism, copyright or trademark infringement and any other claims or lawsuits that may arise out of publication of such advertisement. Plywood & Panel World, Inc. neither endorses nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Panel World. HattonBrown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2014. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed in USA.

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UPDATE TIMBER PROCESSING & ENERGY EXPO SET FOR OCTOBER 15-17 IN PORTLAND, OR Hatton-Brown Expositions, LLC, an affiliate of Panel World magazine, announced in early April that the upcoming Timber Processing & Energy Expo to be held October 15-17 in Portland, Ore. is nearly sold out of exhibitor space. The event will be held at the Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center.

Organizers also announced that attendee preregistration will open in June.

The 2012 event included 162 exhibitor companies that used up 43,000 square feet to display and demonstrate their machinery, technologies and supplies. More than 1,000 attendees from 115 forest products producing companies and 200 specific mill site operations visited TP&EE. They came from 30 U.S. states, five Canadian provinces and several overseas countries.

The event caters to producers of lumber, panels and heat energy for those industries.

Exhibit space on the main show floor is sold out; however, the organizers have opened additional space in a strip that connects to the exhibit floor.

Panel World, Timber Processing and Wood Bioenergy magazines, all affiliated with Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., serve as media hosts of the event.

The combined attendee and exhibitor attendance in 2012 of approximately 2,000 was buoyed by a brightening economy and pent-up demand for forest products mill improvements. Since then, improving housing markets and forest products demand has continued to boost industry confidence.

Attendees can pre-register for free, or can pay $10 for the registration along with a beer and hot dog ticket.

The event will also feature a Workshop Day. In 2012, more than 200 people attended 16 seminars.

Presentation details and admission Representatives from 200 wood products costs for the workshop will be anmills attended TP&EE in 2012. nounced soon.

TP&EE will again be held in Hall D, which encompasses 72,000 square feet inside, and an abundance of outdoor space as well. The overall Expo Center sits on 60 acres and includes five halls with 330,000 square feet.

Portland Expo Center is conveniently located off Interstate 5 between downtown Portland and Vancouver, Washington. It’s only minutes from the Portland International Airport and has immediate access to the Max Light Rail.

Visit www.timberprocessingandenergyexpo.com.

IFG ENTERS CLT VENTURE Idaho Forest Group and the Johann Offner Group announced plans to market and distribute Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) building solutions to America in a joint venture between the two family owned companies: the Johann Offner Group, headquartered in Wolfsberg, Austria, and Idaho Forest Group, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

CLT is an engineered wood building

system with high strength and dimensional stability that has proven itself as an alternative to concrete, masonry and steel in a variety of building types.

“We have been researching this product for many years,” says Marc Brinkmeyer, Chairman of Idaho Forest Group. “Many leading European architects and builders are using this technology to make significant and appealing structures. This joint venture provides an excellent opportunity to offer the proven CLT building technology

for use here in America.”

KLH Austria, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Johann Offner Group, invented CLT in 1996, according to the company, creating a process in which wood strips are stacked crosswise on top of each other and glued together.

The resulting timbers are strong and lightweight, providing ease of assembly while allowing for architectural freedom.

“After the invention of CLT by KLH, we have successfully developed the European and world markets, offering our product as a highly recognized alternative to traditional building materials,” says Johann Offner, Chairman of the Johann Offner Group. “North America has so far not been among our prime markets, which will now change.”

The joint venture will be supported by KLH Austria and its subsidiary in London until an American-based sales office is established in June 2014, Brinkmeyer says. The product will be initially supplied from the European factory.

Composite materials like CLT are now a major emphasis for the USDA and the U.S. Forest Service Products Laboratory.

Idaho Forest Group, the largest lumber producer in Idaho, originated with a 2008 merger of Riley Creek Lumber, founded by Brinkmeyer, and Bennett Forest Industries, founded by Dick Bennett. The company has five production facilities throughout Idaho.

GARY RAEMHILD DIES AT 67

Gary Allen Raemhild, a major figure in the development and implementation of air emissions control technology for the panel industry, died March 21 in Seattle, Wash. He was 67.

Raemhild led Geoenergy International to the forefront of particulate control technology in panel products operations.

Since 2012, Raemhild was a member of the senior management team for TSI, Inc., which brought in Raemhild to lead its launch into emission control systems.

Born in Naselle, Wash., and after graduating from high school in 1965, Raemhild attended the University of Washington where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering. During summers between his university years, he worked in the

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UPDATE

woods alongside his father for tion “Heat Transfer in the Core Penttila Logging Company of Region of the Nuclear Power Naselle.

Plant During a Loss of Coolant During his time at UW, Accident” with Raemhild as Raemhild was a member of the primary author.

Delta Tau Delta fraternity.

In early 1988, Raemhild and After his undergraduate studlongtime friend Steve Jaasund ies, he pursued UW graduate executed a management agreeeducation in air resources engiment that led to their majority neering. During and after grad- Gary Raemhild ownership of Geoenergy Interuate studies, Raemhild teamed national Corp., a company with his faculty mentor, Professor founded in 1982 that had commercialMichael Pilat, to present more than 10 ized the E-Tube Wet Electrostatic Prescientific papers at national and intercipitator (wet ESP), designed to remove national meetings. Raemhild received blue haze particulate emissions from his Master’s degree in August 1972. plywood veneer dryers. Under the new In the summer of 1972, Raemhild acownership, the Geoenergy technology cepted an offer from the Technical Uniquickly became the standard piece of versity of Munich for employment as a pollution control equipment for the Scientific Fellow in the Institute for panel industry.

Nuclear Reactor Safety, where he col“We could see the capabilities of the laborated with Klaus Liesch to develop technology, the value in its patents, and a model for determining the heat transthe market potential,” Raemhild told fer within the nuclear power reactor Panel World magazine during an intercore in the event of a ruptured cooling view in 1999. During the mid-90s, pipe. This work resulted in the publicaGeoenergy, based in Kent, Wash., also

developed products complementary to the wet ESP. AH Lundberg Associates ultimately purchased the proprietary information from Geoenergy in 2002 and formed the “Geoenergy Division.” Raemhild and Jaasund headed up the division, and carried on the business of supplying air pollution control systems to the wood products industry while also branching into other industries.

Raemhild enjoyed the outdoor sports of trout and salmon fishing, bird hunting, clam digging, golfing and was an expert downhill skier, stemming from his youth when he and friends would venture off in his Corvair convertible for night skiing.

He is survived by his wife, Meran, children Lauren, Ian and Garrett, and a sister, Beverly Malone (Richard) and nephew, Michael Malone.

A memorial service was held March 29 at the Hoffner, Fisher & Harvey Funeral Home in Seattle.

See related piece on page 45.

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New electric x-y charging system boosts accuracy and recovery as long-time Oregon veneer and panel producer Freres Lumber continues to upgrade operations.

FRERES GOES ALL ELECTRIC WITH NEW X-Y CHARGING SYSTEM IN OREGON PLANT Upgrades in the past year include industry’s first all-electric x-y charger, new x-y scanning system and lathe controls.

BY DAN SHELL

LYONS, Ore. ontinually seeking ways to become more competitive, Freres Lumber recently started up North America’s first allelectric x-y veneer lathe charger, part of an ongoing process to improve mill operations, says Tyler Feres, vice president of sales.

“We’re always looking to do the next thing to make us more competitive,” he adds.

The new charger system comes from Altec Integrated Solutions, which has been offering electric roller screw actuators for lathe carriage and bar gap systems for several years—and in 2012 had installed electric actuators for the lathe carriage and knife pitch at Freres Lumber’s small log peeling line (along with new lathe controls plus new tray controls, drives and motors on the large log line).

Freres’ 2013 project with Altec fea-

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tures the new electric x-y charging system, new 3D scanning system with Hermary line bar scan heads feeding new generation peeling optimization and control software running on a 64-bit processor. The systems are employed in a challenging application: Freres Lumber’s large log peeling line with Premier lathe and Coe core drive that handles 8, 9 and 10 ft. logs.

“Processing the different lengths is challenging, and the amount of mass involved when handling a 10 foot versus eight foot block is considerable,” Freres says. The charging and scanning systems replaced were outdated and obsolete, with accuracy issues and metal fatigue concerns, he adds.

GOING ELECTRIC

Veneer plant feeds nearby Freres panel plant, also sells on open market.

The decision to go electric was impacted by a need to add a step feeder to the large log line’s current configuration. Doing so would have meant eventually adding to hydraulic system capacity. “But by going to all electric we were able to eliminate a hydraulic system, which is a considerable cost in electricity plus maintenance issues,” Freres says, adding that the pendulum traverse was initially slated to utilize hydraulic cylinders, but that was switched to electric as well.

He adds that operating hydraulic systems comes with ongoing concerns about fluid quality and valve and line integrity “You can never entirely do away with hydraulics, but there are places it makes sense to replace them if possible,” he says.

One of the selling points of the new electric system was better accuracy of the linear positioners in addition to greatly reduced maintenance requirements.

The mill was still assessing thickness benefits at the first of the year, but at the time Freres said he’d seen a definite maintenance benefit: “You don’t have a lot of valves and other things to troubleshoot—you’re really just looking at one servo and one drive.”

The new charging system features precision linear bearings on the X Y positioners and the pendulum clamp mechanisms that are designed to last at least 10 years with minimal maintenance, according to Altec. The system’s electric drives come in drive panel modules that stack up alongside the controls enclosures in the electrical room and also require little if any maintenance.

The new charger and related systems and components started up in early July

Tyler Freres

2013, and the line was at close to full production by the end of the month, Freres says. Going to an electric charging system required some adjustments, mainly in block handling: ● Sticking blocks with spindles.

“With hydraulics, you just stick it under a pressure you know will hold it,” Freres says. “With the electric, it’s more of a torque feedback system where you reach a certain amperage and torque and it stops. Focusing on torque instead of hydraulic pressure was something we had to adjust to.” ● Going from hydraulic to electric pendulum clamps. “There’s so much power in those electric actuators that you can put enough pressure on those clamps that you can literally pull the linear bearings out from underneath the pendulum arms, so we had to get used to the new system,” Freres says.

He adds that “For simple movements such as the rotation of the log and movement of positioners, there’s no real

difference” with an electric system, he says. “The difference is interacting with the block, sticking it with the x-y and holding it.”

Freres adds that the new Altec scanning system and new generation peeling controls software have run well.

“We’ve seen a definite recovery benefit,” he says. In addition, he adds, one of the big advantages of going to electric is eliminating the “give” associated with hydraulic systems in such a demanding application.

“There’s a ‘give’ with hydraulics, especially on something like a carriage cylinder, where you want it rigid against the block with no give, or you can end up with chatter or thickness fluctuations, so that’s a measurable benefit,” Freres says.

The large log line handles blocks from 12 in. diameter up to 48 in., though Freres says average log sizes are dropping.

The large log line runs several shifts each of 9 and 10 ft. veneer each week, then spends the balance of time running 8 ft. blocks. According to Freres, while the equipment claimed design capacity is 22 blocks per minute, actual blocks per minute is substantially less due to large average block diameter.

Logs entering the large log lathe are dropped into a v-pocket where an initial “pre-scan” is performed to gain a more accurate initial x-y stick. The v-pocket brings the log up to the charger area; the x-y charger sticks the block and rotates and scans it while the v-pocket retreats to the log line. The charger adjusts block positioning per the new scan, then the pendulum clamps it and brings it into the lathe. ➤ 14 PanelWorld • MAY 2014 • 13

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Altec clipping trash gate and Ventek trash diverter installations in 2012 are recent small log peeling line upgrades.

VENEER OPERATIONS The large log line peels primarily 1/10 veneer, with other common products being a 1/8 Douglas fir peel, plus 1/6 and .150 white fir peels. Veneer ribbon flows through a Durand clipper with Ventek New Vision controls and then on to a 7-bin Durand stacker. A manual grader upstream of the stacker makes a two-way sort into A-B and C-D grades. Much of the veneer from the large log line is then banded and shipped out as green product.

The small log veneer plant features an 8 ft. Premier lathe with Coe charger, pendulum and core drive. In 2010, it was upgraded with an Altec x-y scanning and lathe control system, and a year later received an Altec spindle drive.

Veneer flows to an Altec clipping trash gate and then to a Raute clipper with Ventek New Vision scanning and Ventek trash diverter installed in 2012.

(The small log line was also upgraded in 2011 with new Altec tray controls, drives and motors.)

On its way to the stacker, veneer flows through a Westmill Industries LightSort green veneer moisture system that recently received new hardware and software updates. The stacker is a Raute unit with Elite Automation controls from Ventek.

Freres Lumber’s veneer drying plant features two dryers: a 16 section, longitudinal six-deck used machine rebuilt extensively by Westmill Industries with new door hardware, skins and solid

12 bin Raute stacker features Altec controls.

floor. The other dryer is from AKI Grenzebach, also a 16 section, six-deck unit.

Both are steam-heated via a boiler that runs Freres Lumber’s 10 MW on-site cogeneration facility, Evergreen Biopower.

Mill personnel recently added natural gas burners in the green ends of both dryers in order to increase efficiency at the cogen plant, Freres says.

“The idea is that by using natural gas in the dryers, we cut our steam use to a third of before, we can maintain extraction on the boiler,” if one of the boiler cells needs to go down for any reason such as maintenance or cleaning, he adds.

“With where the cost of natural gas is

now it works out pretty well,” Freres says. “We’re able to maintain a higher BTU in the dryer, and more efficient, better dryer production overall.”

The dryers feed to a single line featuring a Ventek Sequoia dryer control system with moisture meter and dual dryer control that controls the speed of both dryers, a rate that’s calculated based on re-dry and over-dry targets. Veneer flows under a Metriguard 2800DME veneer testing machine that’s been upgraded with a Windows control panel, then through a Ventek GS-2000 G model automatic veneer grade scanner with color camera grading. ➤ 50

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W H AT ’ S

NEW

ALTEC ELECTRIC CHARGER

Altec has introduced the first all electric 8 ft. and 10 ft. chargers. At last, gone are the high maintenance and inefficient hydraulics of days gone by.

The new charger, capable of high block counts—up to 20 per minute—is the culmination of third generation evolution of the mechanical design combined with electric actuation on every axis making it a revolutionary entrant to the market.

The charger comes with Altec Controls with the new Altec Version 2.0 3D scanning system, providing the best recovery solutions available.

The Altec 8 ft. charger can handle 5-42 in. diameter blocks.

This means that the charger is designed to not only run most of the existing block diets but is very much looking to the future smaller blocks that will make up a large percentage of mill diets in the years to come.

Some main features of the charger are the use of precision linear bearings on the X Y positioners and the pendulum clamp mechanisms. The linear bearings are designed to last at least 10 years with minimal maintenance. Because the arrangement of the X-axis positioners is horizontal and the Yaxis positioners is vertical, the setup, calibration and troubleshooting is extremely straightforward compared to other chargers. This improved, simplified design results in better positioning accuracy and better recovery.

The charger design and concept means that the smaller the block the faster the charger blocks-per-minute count becomes.

All of the electric drives come in easy-to-install drive panel modules that stack up alongside the controls enclosures in the electrical room. This is genuinely a clean, easy-to-install package that requires little if any maintenance at all.

The charger provides exceptional high cycle rates and low charging times, is easy to install and easy to maintain.

Article submitted by Altec. Visit alteconline.com and call 604529-1991.

ALTEC XY LINE SCANNER

Altec introduced its new XY Line Scanner version 2.0 in the third quarter of 2013. The new system revolutionizes the use of ultra-high resolution line lasers with the latest software and computing power, resulting in an even better scan, better recovery percentage and a more accurate carriage retract position. The new software provides greater versatility for reporting and data pass over to the user.

Altec has designed an all-new 64-bit solution engine and front-end software package that allows not only the collection of all of the massive amount of data that the lasers provide but runs the calculations and provides the best full sheet solution in a faster time than was previously achieved in Altec’s already successful version 1 system.

“We start the scanning as soon as the block is set in the vees and incorporate raise and rotate scanning, thus keeping all parts of the process to the shortest time possible. The lathe will never be waiting for the scanner!” states Altec.

Installation of the system is easy; commissioning of the scanner and charger controls package can be completed in 72 hours. Altec has approximately 20 XY Scanner systems retrofitted to chargers in the field and has a tremendous amount of experience in green ends to bring to the table.

The first system was installed at Freres Lumber in Lyons, Ore. and has been running on the Altec 10 ft. Electric Charger since July 2013.

The system is fully networked allowing for external monitoring and data mining to be done seamlessly. Reporting, data analysis and the ability for the customer to input desired parameters makes this the most advanced system and accurate system on the market.

Article submitted by Altec. Visit alteconline.com and call 604529-1991.

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PELICE 2014 REVEALS PROJECTS ARE IN THE WORKS, OPTIMISM HOLDING STEADY Many viewed the PELICE event in Atlanta as the official kickoff to the post-recession, new recovery era.

ATLANTA, Ga. record attendance participated in the fourth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) held March 20-21 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. An allstar lineup of conference speakers and technology sessions attracted 404 industry professionals, a whopping 33% in-

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Kelly Shotbolt of Flakeboard

crease over the previous PELICE in 2012. And with improving markets in structural and non-structural wood products, supported by stronger housing construction, attendees participated with enthusiasm and hopefulness that positive forecasts will bear fruit.

Thirty wood products producer companies sent multiple representatives to PELICE to hear 45 speakers address industry developments, new projects, technologies, operational enhancements and predictions for plywood, oriented strandboard, engineered wood products and composite board segments. They also combed the aisles of the Grand Ballroom North, where a sold-out exhibitor floor featured 75 machinery,

Brian Luoma of L-P

supplies and service companies.

The fourth PELICE, which is held every other year, was the best one yet, according to Co-Chairman Rich Donnell, who is also the editor-in-chief of Panel World magazine, which hosted the event along with Georgia Research Institute.

“This PELICE was the only one of the four held so far where the enthusiasm was high because of the economy and the business at hand,” Donnell says.

“The 2012 event had a little buzz about it, but nothing like this one. Yet, there’s still a lot of ground for the building industry to make up. Maybe we will be riding even higher at the next PELICE.” Organizers announced at the end of the event that the fifth PELICE will be

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held April 7-8, 2016, again at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta. “As good as this attendance was, I know there was some conflict with spring break trips. Moving the event a little further into the spring should clear us of that issue in 2016,” Donnell says.

PELICE was immediately preceded by the Bioenergy Fuels & Products Conference & Expo. The close-coupled conferences format will continue in 2016, according to Donnell, who added that 53% of the exhibitors participated in both conferences.

PELICE featured 10 keynote speakers during three general sessions. In addition to the general sessions, breakout sessions covered Adhesives Technologies, Veneer Drying, In-Line Board Enhancements, Manufacturing Developments, Methods & Improvements, Air Emissions Technologies, Dust Control, and Operational Benefits

FORECASTS Few in attendance ventured to guess at the industry’s distant future, but short-range forecasts were mostly positive, including that of national economist Roger Tutterow and senior economist wood products at RISI, David Fortin.

Tutterow, who is professor of economics at Mercer University, is highly acclaimed for his accurate forecasts, and appeared at PELICE for the third time, kicked off the event as first keynote speaker by noting that in the “most pronounced correction since the Great Depression,” the question he’s most often asked is “Why is the economy so slow even though we’re in recovery, and when will ‘normal’ arrive?”

After reminding the PELICE audience that technically the U.S. economy has been in “recovery” since mid 2009, Tutterow noted that although employment and housing haven’t recovered from pre-downturn levels, “Both are on the way; we keep looking for a big

Plywood veteran Joe Andrews

surge in activity for the mand ratio and subserecovery, but we haven’t quent price trending. He seen that yet.” noted that 4.5 billion SF Tutterow said he’s of OSB capacity has looking for more broadbeen restarted, with anbased growth in 2014. other closed plant exThough it’s not very pected to come on in the flashy, “The recovery reSoutheast. Structural mains in gear,” Tutterow panel prices flowed said, noting that the lead- Economist Roger Tutterow downward during the ing economic indicators course of 2013. are up 3.5%. “Manufacturing keeps But the “uneven U.S. housing recovcreeping back up, and that’s a good ecoery” will drive demand for structural nomic driver for helping to grow companels higher, according to Fortin, whose mercial real estate numbers,” he added. chart showed housing starts reaching 1.5 While employment levels have million in 2015. Despite restarted capacilagged throughout the slow recovery, ty, demand will put pressure on OSB caTutterow said he expects employment pacity by 2015-2016, indicating an upto be back at 2008 levels within a year. ward trend in pricing.

He added that every sector of the econoFortin’s charts showed 13-15% per my has expanded. year demand growth for OSB during Rising home prices mean more equity 2014-2015 and 2-4% per year demand in-house, “and more households will be growth for plywood. right-sized in their mortgages, which will Fortin also called for prices and profhelp lead to more housing growth,” Tutitability to trend upward in the non-structerow said, adding that lenders and tural panel market. Demand will be drivhomebuilders are going to have to re-eden higher by improvements in housing ucate consumers on what an acceptable and related end-use markets—U.S. furnior low interest rate is after such an exture demand and production is growing, tended period of near-zero interest rates. and growth in residential repair and reTutterow noted that one of the modeling expenditures, he said. biggest risks to the slow recovery is Offshore imports of MDF/HDF will some type of energy crisis or instability play an important role as capacity apin oil-producing regions that would proaches nameplate levels by late 2014spike oil prices well above the 2015. Domestic particleboard produc$100/barrel mark. “If the price of oil tion will increase, but remain below cagoes up to $125 a barrel, that’s like a pacity levels through 2015, he added. big tax on the economy,” he said.

As for major economic initiatives in ARAUCO an election year from the government— Kelly Shotbolt, president of Flakeforget about it, Tutterow said. “In an board Company Ltd., spoke about the election year, politicians will do what future of composite panels in North they’ve always done: pander to their America. First, he offered one important base,” he claimed. He added there’s a lesson learned from the particleboard good chance for Republicans to re-take sector in recent years: that particleboard the Senate in 2014. demand declined during the largest Specifically addressing the economics housing surge in history, stemming of the wood products industry, RISI’s from poorly invested North American Fortin pointed to improving markets but production assets, and furniture producalso increased volatility in the structural tion moving offshore in combination panel market, depending on capacity-de-

CPA President Tom Julia

Industry leader Dick Baldwin

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with a strong U.S. dollar, weak Chinese currency, extremely lower labor, freight and other production costs.

Looking ahead, Shotbolt expects more consolidation and more investment in state-of-the-art mills. “North America needs to match and exceed the scale, efficiencies, capabilities and degree of automation being invested throughout the rest of the world,” he said.

He added that competition will remain intense, with imports both in finished form and raw panels playing a major factor. He also emphasized that the supply chain must be optimized and that there are opportunities to squeeze out more costs by embracing automation technologies. And he suggested closer cooperation with customers on new furniture designs and a new level of customization among composite panel products.

Shotbolt focused on Chile-based Arauco as a company that others may want to study when dealing with the challenges and opportunities in North America. Arauco acquired the Flakeboard plants and the Uniboard complex at Moncure, NC in 2012 and through Flakeboard America the assets of SierraPine this year.

Shotbolt pointed to the diversity of Arauco operations in forestry (1.633,089 hectares), pulp (3.2 million ADt), composite panels (6.5 million m 3), solid wood (including plywood) (3.6 million m3), energy (684 MW), and its standing as one of the world’s lowest cost producers.

“The integral and efficient use of resources allows Arauco to maximize the value of the forest,” Shotbolt said. For example, Arauco’s Nueva Aldea Industrial Complex in Chile encompasses a plywood mill, composite panel plant, sawmill, pulp mill and 61 MW biomass energy plant.

Arauco’s composite panel business, which accounts for almost 40% of revenues, includes operations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

Arauco is ranked number one in capacity in North America and number two worldwide for MDF, hardboard and particleboard combined.

In the last eight years, several North America businesses have come together under Arauco ownership, including Weyerhaeuser, Flakeboard, G-P Flakeboard, Uniboard and currently SierraPine.

Shotbolt added that the company has a commitment from the Angelini family and holding company Empresas Copec to direct investment toward North

Show manager Dianne Sullivan presents cash prize to Norman Gill of Ammeraal Beltech.

Panel World editors hosted live broadcasts during PELICE.

America. The company offers financial strength and ability to ride out cycles; technological capability; management depth; and long-term and shared vision, he said. ● Brian Luoma, senior VP and general manager, Engineered Wood Products, Louisiana-Pacific Corp., spoke about the necessity for the industry to finally leave the recession behind and focus on the task ahead.

“We need to keep assessing the future,” Luoma said. “We just survived

the mother of all downturns. It’s time to leave the past and focus on new solutions to new and old products and for new opportunities.”

Luoma said LP, the world leader in OSB production, and which operates a strand lumber plant in Houlton, Me., is positioning itself for accelerated growth in strand products and technology, including new applications such as I-joist flange or CLT in strands. He recounted the company’s transformation of its OSB plant at Houlton into a producer of strand lumber, and with capacity available to meet growing demand as conventional building wood products come under capacity stress.

“Many changes have occurred across our industry that have shaped our ability to react to rising housing in the next five years,” Luoma said. “My hope is that this conference is a little bit of a kickoff to start thinking about the future and get the past behind us.” ● Tom Julia, president of Composite Panel Assn., addressed the pending regulation of formaldehyde in composite wood products. He reviewed the evolution of the California Air Resources Board regulation and CARB’s adoption of the Airborne Toxic Control Measure for Formaldehyde Emissions from Composite Wood Products in 2008. In May 2013 EPA released two proposed rules following adoption of a national standard and a directive by Congress that EPA write implementing regulations.

Julia noted that currently EPA is finalizing its rules, with the regulation to become effective in late 2015 or 2016; while CARB wants to complete the amendment of its own regulations next year.

“If done right and following Congressional directive, what EPA is doing makes sense for those who make, sell and use composite wood products,” Julia said, citing as advantages closure to decades of governmental scrutiny, certainty for panel producers and customers, and greater likelihood of compliance worldwide.

But many issues are still unresolved, Julia cautioned. “CARB and EPA regulations must emerge the same. If not, implementation of both would be confusing and unnecessarily expensive and could even inhibit the manufacture and use of composite panel products,” he said.

Also, third party testing and certification consistency around the world must be assured. And Julia emphasized that regulations should not show preference for the type of adhesive that is ➤ 48

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Xylexpo 2014 is taking place May 1317 at the Milan (Italy) Fairgrounds located in Rho. The following companies are exhibiting at Xylexpo and advertising in this issue of Panel World, and submitted the following materials.

All statements and claims are attributable to the companies.

BIELE

Globus ring flakers and sharpening

The Globus system is integrated with a knife ring washer machine.

“Great ideas belong to the ability to look at the world around you differently and to maintain a passionate curiosity throughout life, as per Leonardo’s teaching!”

Hall 2, Stand R05/Q06 Biele press molding

The Biele Group introduces the wide range of hydraulic presses manufactured by Marzola, a company within the Biele Goup, with more than 150 years of experience. Along with the multi-daylight presses for various product areas such as thin laminates, compact laminates, plywood, veneer coating and more, the short cycle lamination presses (SCL) for melamine coating are giving a very accurate positioning and high outputs.

Biele’s innovations are focused first on the door industry and the production of lightboards, where the company has developed a fully automated frame assembly system (FAS), achieving eight cores/minute, including the handling of stiles, rails, lock blocks and the honeycomb.

Fully automated outsorting for the high speed lacquering lines, either for full size boards or for parts, is another area where Biele has developed an innovative solution capable of removing and replacing B quality parts not interfering with the flow of the line.

Also, Biele presents the latest developments related to the packing lines where flexibility and output are combined, providing fully automated and fully integrated packaging lines beginning from the box erector machine and ending with the palletizing and packaging Sections.

Hall 2, Stand R02, S01

GLOBUS The Italian company Globus, a member of the Imal/Pal group, offers complete process solutions for wood preparation and flake size reduction in wood based panel production.

After Ligna’s “2013 year of the ring” and many brand new ring flakers in operation, 2014 represents a new challenge for Globus to revolutionize sharpening systems for ring flaker mill knives in particleboard production.

The innovative Globus system utilizes an industrial robot that is able to conduct all the operations in a highly flexible manner and with a host of different sharpening programs. All the sharpening operations are concentrated in a single enclosed chamber and are previously controlled by a scan system that detects the profile of each knife and consequently the quantity of material to be removed.

GRECON

Grecon new generation DMR 6000 thickness measurement

GreCon presents its latest product news and developments during Xylexpo 2014.

The GreCon spark extinguishing system, with 10 in. color display including touch and slide function, enables you to quickly call up desired information in a self-explaining and compact way from different levels of the GreCon control console. For big production plants, it is now possible to record the signals of several control consoles, which can be distributed in different plant areas, exactly to the millisecond by one joint computer through the feature BS7 Net. For the production of wood based panels, fluctuations in panel thickness and deviations from nominal values reduce quality. Customers will identify these as product defects. Due to the highly developed technology, the new generation of thickness gauges DMR 6000 provide the necessary information for the fine-tuning of production processes to increase system availability and output.

More information as to functions and capabilities will be released at Xylexpo at the booth concerning GreCon’s Italian Representative Volta S.p.A. Hall 2, Stand F27

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IMAL

LIMAB PanelProfiler thickness measurement

IMAL DynaSteam

Traditionally, the IMAL-PAL Group has focussed its R&D activities on designing equipment and systems that can offer a noteworthy contribution to cutting panel production costs, one of the top priorities for panel manufacturers today.

The DynaSteam is without doubt the most innovative of the proposals that will be showcased at Xylexpo 2014. The unit is rapidly installed on any continuous press line and, thanks to its flexibility, may be used to increase line production capacity by between 15 and 30% or to lower production costs by cutting resin consumption by at least 10%.

The economical impact that this unit could have on line management is easily calculated and the end result will always be “an investment which is paid back within a few months.”

Another innovation IMAL will be presenting is its latest high pressure resination system for PB, MDF and OSB, which can reduce resin consumption by between 10 and 25%.

The resin injection system consists of a high pressure pump, a micronizer to crush and homogenize the resin crystals to achieve a better distribution and a set of special sprayer nozzles that keep nebulising constant pressure as the flow rate of the dosed resin varies. This resination technique distributes the resin over the wood in a much more uniform manner to ultimately improve the physical-mechanical properties of the panel, thus reducing the amount of resin utilized in the process.

R&D activities have also been pursued in the direction of online process control systems for monitoring production quality real time. The FBC100 is the result of intense IMAL R&D activity to produce the first and only system in the world that can offer 100% monitoring of the board’s surface for blisters and/or delamination defects. Furthermore, the FBC100 provides a host of information on production, such as cure, moisture content, and internal bond, to optimize pressing parameters to achieve an end product that corresponds perfectly to production requirements.

Hall 2, Stand Q02/Q10

LIMAB LIMAB’s PanelProfiler is a non-contact thickness measurement system for all types of wood based panels. It helps you to produce panels within tolerance and with reduced amount of rejects. Installations are typically after presses, at sanders and in finishing lines. In most cases it replaces older types of mechanical contact rollers systems, but it can also be installed in production lines without measurement equipment to improve products and process. Installations are at most of the biggest panel producing company groups and also at many smaller producers.

The PanelProfiler comes in various frame sizes and system

versions to fit each production line and measurement need. The system can have a freely selectable number of measurement tracks, or be motorized to adapt to lines with varying panel widths. Another motorized system version is constantly traversing across the panels to give complete thickness cross profiles, designed to be installed in continuous press lines. Measurement stations can be combined in one system setup like before and after a sander, monitoring both the unsanded and sanded panels for sander control plus to show how much has been sanded off.

The system works non-contact using in-house designed laser sensors PreciCura SR. There are many advantages with non-contact thickness measurement in comparison with mechanical measurement. No moving parts mean lower maintenance costs and no mechanical panel contact eliminates scratches and dirt marks on finished panels. System accuracy is high also in high speed lines and for rough surface materials. The measurement frame is temperature stable so there is no need for constant calibrations as with contact roller systems. High speed sensors gives accurate measurements in panel front edges and also in lines with big vibrations.

The system software is user-friendly with real time numerical and graphical display of measurements, recipe handling and database logging of all relevant panel data. Out-of-tolerance conditions trigger alarm signals and alert the operator to avoid defect panels to be sent out to customers.

If you produce Tongue & Grooved panels and want to control the dimensional profiles of tongues and grooves, LIMAB now presents its new 2D laser sensor ProfiCura Smart. This sensor will give you both graphical T&G profile and the numerical parameter values of importance. Only one sensor for each measured profile is needed.

Hall 2, Stand E31

PAL PAL will be presenting its new cleaning tower, which is able to clean all kinds of pollutants from the flow of wood chips. This new cleaning technology combines three grading principles: the first being that of demetallization accomplished with highly efficient magnetic systems; the second adopts the principle of aerodynamics, where inert substances are separated from the wood particle flow by a jet of air which removes them on the basis of their density, surface and shape; and lastly the spectrographic principle which optically identifies the spectrum of the wood and all the other contaminants and, by applying jets of compressed air, separates out all the materials which are not wood. With this principle it is also possible to identify black bodies which, despite being unclassified material, may be separated out from the wood.

Over the last 12 months, the IMAL-PAL group has strengthened its position as a leader in the wood based panel industry,

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plant basis cost: only one machine is able to produce a flat flake already suitable to the final use. That means reduced manpower, reduced maintenance costs, less energy consumption.

Hall 2, Stand L27.

SIEMPELKAMP

PAL cleaning tower

thanks to ongoing R&D activities and to the operational synergy formed with Globus, who recently joined the group.

Hall 2, Stand Q02/Q10

PESSA Siempelkamp HP WindFormer

Pessa discontinuous flaker

Pessa Impianti designs and manufactures machinery and plants for the primary working of wood and production of flakes. The wide range of flaking and chipping machines is mainly used in the WBP, MDF and OSB industries, as well as in wood waste recycling and energy plants (biomass, pellets, briquettes, wood flour).

The range includes also wood shaving machines designed for animal bedding soft flakes, qualified for animal comfort.

Pessa Impianti is a reliable partner for the realization of new lines but also for the upgrading of the existing plants and to meet changing production needs. It supplies a wide range of systems and equipment with complementary functions for working improvements and full automation of the lines.

Thanks to a consolidated experience of more than 50 years, customers can also count on a reconditioning service for complete machines and the parts subject to heavy wear such as cutterheads, rotors and impellers that assure high efficiency and top performance of the machines.

Pessa universal discontinous flakers are reliable machines with extraordinary performance, designed to comply with different production requirements and able to produce good quality calibrated flat flakes and OSB strands with superior mechanic characteristics.

Their high performance contributes to the reduction of the

The name Siempelkamp has stood for innovative press technology and German engineering expertise for more than 130 years. The Krefeld company has always been a world market leader in the area of wood based material production plants. At Xylexpo, the company presents further developments and product innovations—for retrofitting or as a component of a new plant.

Siempelkamp’s innovative resin blending system for MDF— the Ecoresinator—not only tremendously reduces resin consumption but also achieves a previously unattainable homogenous resin distribution. Due to special nozzle technology and the use of superheated steam, resin savings up to 20% compared to the traditional blending process in a blowline can be achieved. Since its market introduction, 18 systems have been sold. Siempelkamp supplies the Ecoresinator as a ready-to-install complete blending system including switchgear cabinet and automation software.

CMC Texpan, a Siempelkamp subsidiary and specialist for wood preparation, will present a new product for particleboard production: an innovative wind forming technology—the HP WindFormer—which provides even more uniform forming of the surface layer crosswise to the direction of production. Perforated plates (diffusers) and a more uniform airflow provide for improved air distribution in both the vertical and horizontal directions. The more uniform mat forming process leads to the production of higher quality boards while using less material.

Furthermore, by reducing the blower capacity, additional energy savings can be obtained.

The further development of the proven Generation 8 ContiRoll press offers plant operators significant advantages when it comes to material savings. With innovative pressure distribution plates and an additional row of cylinders, the press operates virtually isobaric and has become 10 times more precise. The improved pressure distribution combined with high availability, a feed rate/speed of up to 2,000 mm/s and the flexible infeed head make this generation the best ContiRoll of all time.

Hall 2, Stand M02/N01.

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TECHNOLOGY PROPELS INDUSTRY THROUGH HALF-CENTURY OF INNOVATION ‘Amazing’ is the only word to describe the technology developments in the structural and non-structural wood products segments.

BY DAN SHELL

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth and final article from the publication, Panel Age 50: A Celebration of the Past Fifty Years of Structural & Non-Structural Wood Product Developments, published in July 2013 by The Donnell Group and written by Dan Shell, managing editor of Panel World magazine. ome 50 years ago, the basic processes for the primary panel product on the market—plywood—were relatively well established in terms of peeling, drying, gluing and pressing, with technology that at the time was much more efficient than the first generation of equipment in the 1920s and ’30s.

Yet the past 50 years of panel industry history have seen mind-boggling advances in the technology applied to those basic processes, followed by advances in related processes through the growth of the composite panel industry as well.

In the past 50 years in the plywood industry alone, there have been major technical innovations such as the X-Y lathe charger, powered core drive, auto spray glue line, powered roller bar, rotary veneer clipper and clipper scanner, jet dryer nozzle design, inline hot water vats, green end and dry end veneer stackers, to name only some, that have kept costs in check by increasing recovery, adding to production, and allowing the use of

S

smaller and less-expensive raw material.

Meanwhile, composite panel producers have continually innovated their specialized technology for refining and drying residuals, glue blending, forming, in-line mat measurement and quality control, pressing systems, finishing sawing systems and sanding.

A breakthrough critical to much of the industry’s performance the past 50 years are developments in glues and resins that have benefited all panel manufacturers, from the producers of the lowest-cost plywood sheathing to suppliers of the highest end formaldehyde free composite architectural stock, as adhesive innovations have continually added to manufacturing efficiency and product performance.

Of course, super-charging each panel industry innovation and adding incremental speed and precision by leaps and bounds is the ongoing digital—and now online—revolution that has impacted every corner and nook and cranny of the global economy since the 1970s. Those gauge-and-dial-readout panel plant operators in the early 1960s would no doubt be shocked at the modern, interactive central control systems spewing volumes of easily accessible process data in today’s modern mills.

Looking at the history of plywood technology the past 50 years, one supplier that can’t be overlooked is Coe Manufacturing, which was a major basic technology supplier to the indus-

try initially, growing into a creative innovator closely involved with the latest in panel industry technology. Coe was also hard to overlook because its equipment was everywhere after the company supplied more than 125 veneer lathes and 175 veneer drying systems from the early 1960s to the early ’80s.

One of Coe’s innovations was the jet veneer dryer, developed through basic research in conjunction with Battelle Institute of Columbus, Oh. near Coe’s home office. In his autobiography “My Times With Coe,” Fred Fields called the technology “a complete revolution in the drying of veneer: Hot air was directed in a perpendicular direction above and below the veneer, whereas in the past a longitudinal air flow had been used.”

The new type of dryer required more horsepower to run the hot air “jet” system, but was much more productive, generally reducing drying by around 50% no matter the species. After developing the system, Coe built a commercial-size dryer at its Painesville plant for additional research in the early 1960s.

Coe further refined the jet dryer in the 1970s with the Model 72 dryer that featured improved and more efficient air flow and a new net nozzle box design that reduced drying times by 10%-15%.

Jet dryer technology competition would escalate. Fast forward to 20092010 when Boise Cascade started up a USNR (Coe) 10 section 80 ft. dryer with Sweed feeding and unloading, and a

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in action, he ordered five to install among the company’s multiple peeling operations. Coe ended up installing around 100 of the original blocked-light camera systems.

Coe was at the forefront of next generation log scanning a few years afterward, when the company purchased the Nosler laser scanner from Oregon inventor John Nosler in 1982. Incorporating the laser scanning was a significant upgrade, allowing the system to perform better on logs with both light and dark coloration, and provided a much truer picture of the log’s actual shape.

The laser scanners also performed much better in the rugged veneer mill environment and required less attention than camera systems—and were much more accurate at longer range.

AUTOMATION

Raute 23 section 151 ft. dryer at its plywood plant in Medford, Ore. Plant officials gave high marks to both, noting the user-friendly nature of the USNR dryer and controls, and the real-time, automatic speed control capabilities of the Raute unit. A year later Boise Cascade at its Oakdale, La. plywood plant was starting up a 30-year-old dryer totally stripped down and rebuilt by Westmill Industries and including 472 custom-made roll sets.

What made this project unique was the hybrid heating system that converted the first dryer zone to natural gas. Boise and Westmill did the same thing at Boise’s plywood plant in Florien, La. Meanwhile, RoyOMartin continued to change-out existing dryers and install new USNR sixdeck dryers at its plywood plant in Chopin, including one that was erected off-line just 300 ft. from its final location and towed into place and connected.

The new Sweed unloader at the Boise-Medford plant in 2009 was a new design of its Right Angle Unloader, which had history dating back to when the company was called Jeddelloh Brothers. Sweed simplified the system and gave it a smaller footprint, with capability to unload more than 66 sheets per minute on a six-deck dryer.

Coe’s biggest contribution to breakthrough peeling technology was in log scanning development and subsequent introduction of a computerized X-Y log charging system for log positioning in a lathe. When it was introduced and finally

made widely available in the 1980s, the systems caught on quickly: For any mill that could afford one, adding a computerized scanning and log charging system was a no-brainer as the new technology dramatically increased veneer recovery on most lathes by up to 20%.

In the mid 1970s Coe had an agreement with Potlatch Corp. to develop a computerized log scanning and lathe charging system. The first one started up in 1977 at Potlatch’s Lewiston, Id. plant, utilizing the concepts of blocked light, camera scanning and log rotation for scan data.

According to Fields, the system was Coe’s design, developed by an in-house team, but Sun Studs in Roseburg, Ore. held a patent on a similar charging mechanism developed at its sawmill, though a veneer patent was pending. Fields and Coe Mfg. struck up a licensing deal with Sun Studs owner Fred Sohn to pay a royalty each time Coe sold a system. When Sun Studs became embroiled in a lawsuit with a software programming contractor over patent claims, Fields ultimately convinced Sohn to sell the system to Coe, with Coe taking over the lawsuit. The legal imbroglio was finally resolved in the late ’80s.

The first system at Potlatch featured IBM System 3 computers and Redcon scanning cameras. Soon after getting it started up and running, Potlatch ordered two more. Just as soon as Roseburg Forest Products’ Kenneth Ford saw one

The past 50 years of panel industry history begins with widespread automation of veneer handling and processing: mechanical stackers, veneer dryer infeed and outfeed systems. Two of the biggest developments, however, were automated clipping systems and automatic layup lines.

According to plywood veteran Dick Baldwin in his book “Plywood and Veneer-Based Products Manufacturing Practices,” the 1964-65 period saw the introduction of a computerized clipping system by Black Clawson.

Called a “breakthrough in veneer processing” and “an electronic marvel” by Baldwin, the system at Simpson Timber Co.’s new plywood mill at Shelton, Wash. scanned the green veneer ribbon entering the clipper with an infrared scanner that identified voids and selected sizes and automatically triggered an accurate, high-speed veneer clip time after time. The result was better accuracy and more wide sheets, higher feed speeds and productivity and less waste.

Yield increases of 2%-3% or more were common. Years later, the company Ventek would become a major factor with its clipper/scanner technologies.

Labor costs were greatly reduced through the development and implementation of automatic panel layup systems in the late 1960s and through the ’70s and ’80s. Georgia-Pacific and Weyerhaeuser were early innovators and developers of automatic layup systems, with most industry observers agreeing G-P produced the better of the two. (Coe Mfg. was able to secure a license to produce G-P’s automatic layup PanelWorld • MAY 2014 • 31

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Coe’s peeling technologies produced sensational recovery numbers.

line in 1982, when G-P moved its corporate headquarters to Atlanta and sold its highly regarded and secretive Tualatin, Ore. R&D facility to Coe.) As of the early 1980s, a Panel World magazine industry directory listing for “layup” lines (no mention is made of automation) included suppliers such as American Mfg., Coe Mfg., Dieffenbacher, Durand-Raute, Globe Machine, Plywood Equipment Sales, E.V. Prentice, Raute Oy, Stiles Machinery and Superior PMI, among others.

Most recent advances in automatic layup line development include systems to provide an “endless” ribbon of laid up veneer for LVL applications, such as the LVL layup systems provided by Raute at Roseburg’s Riddle, Ore. EWP plant in 2001 and Murphy Co.’s Sutherlin, Ore. LVL plant in 2007.

Raute was the turnkey supplier for the Murphy LVL plant. Raute also installed its new generation fork layup system, sixdeck, 20-section jet dryer, VDA veneer grade scanning system, 12 bin stacker, and a 90 ft. four-opening hot press.

Advances in materials handling solutions continued as well, coming from companies such as Con-Vey, which worked with Roseburg at its LVL plant on an innovative I-joist assembly machine, as well as billet handling equipment and transfer equipment for the large fingerjointed lumber system.

Another development in structural panel plants was the influx of robotic cells for tasks such as veneer plugging, complementing the use of robots for painting and wrapping.

Two technologies that crossed over be-

tween structural and non-structural panels were panel cutting and sanding. Kimwood for example supplied 4 ft. and 5 ft., 2, 4 and 6 belts sanders to many of the early plywood and particleboard plants.

The company, which started out primarily with sawmill machinery repair and job shop work, jumped into sanding as new plywood plant expansion came on in the early 1960s. Kimwood obtained the rights to manufacture the Smithway sander in 1963. The first high speed, multiple head plywood sander was manufactured by Kimwood and delivered to Weyerhaeuser in Coos Bay, Ore. The company, which manufactured numerous other products through the years, continues to serve the panel industries with wide belt sanders after more than 60 years in business.

Cut-to-size sawing and finished panel handling also continued to evolve.

Schelling became a leading supplier of versatile sawing and software solutions.

SMALL LOG PEELING The past 50 years of panel industry history in North America coincide with the wholesale move toward small log utilization across all segments of the forest products industry. In the panel industry, this was evidenced by the expansion into the pine regions of the Intermountain West and of course the explosion of plywood production in the U.S. South.

Coe produced a direct-driven roller bar in 1984 in collaboration with Potlatch in St. Maries, Idaho. Today, USNR manufactures powered roller bars at 3 3/4 inch, which allows a free passthrough of slivers and debris and also

helps rotate the block during the peeling cycle thus reducing spinouts. The roll is driven from two hydraulic motors, one at each end of the roll, compared to the old design with gear box drives.

The powered backup roll (PBR) added to small log peeling utilization by reducing spin-out. According to a Forest Products Laboratory Report from 1982, after a prototype in the lab generated considerable industry interest, lab officials entered into an agreement with Boise Cascade to install and test a PBR at its Yakima, Wash. plant.

The PBR at Yakima was designed and built by Premier Gear & Machine Works, with a Lloyd Controls control system, and started up in 1981. The system showed an immediate improvement, with a higher percentage of blocks peeled to desired core size—and spin-out reduced by more than 50% in all three of the plant’s primary peel thicknesses.

According to the project’s report, “The powered back-up roll (PBR) goes a long way towards solving (spin-out) by providing torque to the surface of a log.

This means that the chucks do not have to do all the work. It also means that smaller chucks can be used, resulting in a smaller core remaining. This all translates into additional veneer recovery, and savings of the timber resource.”

Retractable, telescoping spindles for peeling were developed in an effort to increase log yield and veneer output by peeling to ever-smaller cores. An early patent application from Sterling Platt, an innovator who worked with U.S. Plywood/Champion International and who tallied several small log peeling patents, describes his “telescoping lathe spindle for small logs” as a dog for a veneer lathe, secured to an inner spindle on a two-spindle lathe. “When peeling of the log begins, the inner and outer spindle dogs are both embedded in the ends of the log. When the peeling has progressed to a point approaching the outer surface of the outer dog, the outer spindle retracts, pulling the outer spindle dog free from the ends of the log and back out of the path of the peeling knives. The inner spindle dog remains embedded in the log (and) peeling continues until the diameter of the remaining core is slightly larger than the diameter of the dog stem.”

According to Platt, by using this approach, logs could be peeled down to a three-inch diameter core, a big improvement in what was then an industry standard of a five-inch diameter core.

“It will be readily appreciated that this invention allows the inner dogs of a two-

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dog set on a log peeling lathe to be made even smaller so that a maximum amount of veneer can be obtained from the log.

This invention provides an economically sound approach to the problem of peeling small logs to make veneer.”

Raute, which had developed a hydraulically-operated double spindle system in the 1950s, took solving the spindle issue a step further in the 1980s with the introduction of a spindleless lathe, which used three driven rolls to drive the block during peeling. Raute’s subsidiary, Durand-Raute, sought a patent for this concept in North America.

According to a Raute history, the objective of spindleless peeling was to reduce block changeover times and eliminate spin-out. The spindleless lathe was introduced at the Ligna Fair in 1989.

Several lathes were sold and the peeling principle involving three driven rolls was later applied to Raute’s existing lathe and veneer peeling systems and technology.

COMPOSITE PANELS Through the 1960s, composite board technology changed dramatically, noted Charles Morschauser, Technical Director of the National Particleboard Assn., who wrote in a 1974 article published in Furniture Production magazine, “The use of many new forms of residues has been accomplished, new species are being used, product uniformity and sustainability have improved, and particleboard plants are larger, more automated, more complex and much more productive.”

The nature of particleboard manufacturing allows producers to control important factors such as particle geometry, density, species, resin content and

more in order to engineer a product that’s been tightly tailored to specific use requirements, Morschauser said.

Much of the technology in the early composite board industry had a European flavor. The particleboard industry originated in Europe, where 106 particleboard plants were operating as of 1956. Longtime machinery manufacturer Siempelkamp, for example, had been providing particleboard presses and complete particleboard lines in an agreement with Novopan inventor Fred Fahrni since 1948.

Siempelkamp was closely involved with Louisiana-Pacific and that company’s early efforts in OSB development, with the German company providing crucial early mat-forming and strand orientation technology. Siempelkamp had also provided what was then the world’s largest particleboard line and press at the biggest plant of all at Roseburg’s massive Dillard, Ore. plant in 1969.

Pressing had been one of the most basic panel manufacturing technologies across all product segments. Yet new technologies, new products and new markets were creating the impetus for a radical new approach: Why did all panels have to come in 8x, 9x, 10x or some other platen press size roughly matched to end product measurements? With its composite nature, what if particleboard or MDF could be produced in much longer lengths, limited only by the width of the press?

Küsters introduced the new continuous pressing technology to the board industry at the Spano particleboard plant in Belgium in early 1977, and by 1988 had six more in operation.

In the mid 1980s, major European

L-P chief Harry Merlo, bending, supported the continuous press developments of Dieter Siempelkamp, at far left. L-P ordered five in 1985.

equipment and technology supplier Siempelkamp developed and introduced the ContiRoll continuous press, which had more than 200 installations worldwide as of 2010. Based in Krefeld, Germany, Siempelkamp embarked on a major international expansion program in the 1970s. As Louisiana-Pacific CEO Harry Merlo stated in a 1989 Panel World interview looking back at the early and mid 1980s when he was seeking more efficient, lower cost production, “There’s no future for our industry if we can’t eliminate those big multi-opening and closing presses. Continuous presses, I think it’s the most revolutionary thing!”

According to Merlo, he told Siempelkamp President and Chairman Dieter Siempelkamp, “The pits and foundations that I put your press in are costing me more than the whole press should cost!”

Siempelkamp had been working on a R&D prototype since 1983, but with Merlo’s encouragement Siempelkamp responded with its ContiRoll continuous press, and in 1985 L-P ordered five for plants at Oroville, Calif. (MDF), Clayton, Ala. (MDF), Corrigan, Tex. (OSB), Missoula, Mont. (particleboard) and Urania, La. (MDF). By early 1989, 36 Siempelkamp ContiRoll continuous presses were on order for mostly particleboard plants as well as some MDF lines, and 16 were in operation. The longest at the time was just beyond 124 ft.

An article in a Sunds Defibrator newsletter from 1990 had a blaring headline: “The Great Debate: Multi-Opening Versus Continuous Presses.” In the newsletter, Sunds was promoting its own multi-opening presses for some applications and recommending the Küsters continuous press for projects where the new technology was better suited.

According to the newsletter, “The multi-opening press is still the workhorse of the board industry. In the early days it was a rather crude machine with hydraulic controls that offered much less accuracy than today (with recent) improvements in hydraulics and electronic components.

On the negative side, however, multiopening presses “produce more precure, which must be removed with the sander.

With thinner board, the yield of the finished board is reduced since a greater portion of the press material must be sanded off. The dead time required for loading and unloading is another negative factor with the multi-opening solution, especially for thin board with short cycles.”

By 1991, four German companies— Küsters, Bison, Siempelkamp and Dief-

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fenbacher—were manufacturing continuous presses. At the time, 65 continuous presses were in operation around the world in particleboard and MDF applications. In the Bison press, steel belts glided over an oil film on the top and lower press platens. The Küsters press featured roller chain movement to reduce friction between the steel belts and the press plates. Siempelkamp used an endless carpet of calibrated rods moving between the steel belts and the heating platens.

Dieffenbacher, long a manufacturer of multi-opening and single-opening presses, was the latest to join the competition. In 1989 it received an order from particleboard manufacturer Kunz.

The press produced its first board the following year. The press featured a wedge-shaped press inlet and a variable press cylinders arrangement. Meanwhile steel belt manufacturers such as

MDF plant in Clayton, Ala. started up a continuous press in 1988, but also continued to run an older multi-opening press for thicker panels.

The lack of interest in continuous pressing in the U.S. at the time reflected market and operating conditions there.

Tom Buglione, plant manager at Willamette’s Duraflake particleboard plant in Albany, Ore., cited board thickness and density preferences in U.S. markets. Continuous pressing does well on 38- and 40-lb. board and produces a quality product, albeit slowly, he noted. But going up in thickness and density for industrial grade board markets above 1 in. slows down a continuous press considerably and unacceptably, Buglione said.

A rep for a continuous press supplier noted that the technology was well capable of producing a 1 1/4 in. board, but not economically. One particleboard plant ex-

One of the newest continuous presses in the U.S. is at the former Uniboard, now Arauco, MDF plant in Moncure, NC.

Sandvik realized the new generation of presses required a new generation of hardened high strength stainless steel belt grades with a higher fatigue strength level and extremely good weld strength and repairability.

An article in Panel World magazine noted that continuous presses were relatively slow to catch on in the U.S., with only a handful operating at several Louisiana-Pacific MDF plants, a Masonite particleboard mill and at the new Allegheny Particleboard plant in Pennsylvania. The most recent announced plant in the U.S. at the time in the early 1990s, the Willamette Industries MDF plant at Bennettsville, SC, had opted to go with a multi-opening press (its counterpart particleboard plant at Bennettsville would go with continuous press in 2000). L-P’s

ecutive noted that continuous presses are most efficient in the 1/2 in. and under range. Del-Tin Fiber began producing MDF at its greenfield plant in Arkansas in 1998 with a Küsters 9 ft. wide press, with emphasis on 1/8 in. to 1 in. boards. Not satisfied with traditional multi-opening or new continuous presses, G-P operated the “roller-coaster” Mende press at its MDF facility in Monticello, Ga. in 1996.

An executive with a large structural North American panel company once commented to a representative for a continuous press supplier: “I believe everything you are telling me about continuous presses, but we are not smart enough to run a continuous press plant.”

In 2000, Huber and Norbord were the only two North American OSB producers running continuous presses, though

new lines going into Ainsworth and Footner Forest Products plants in Canada were supplied by Siempelkamp and Dieffenbacher, respectively. Huber had installed a 159 ft. long continuous press at Spring City, Tennessee in 1997, and then in 2004 installed what at the time was the world’s longest continuous press at 198 ft. at its new OSB mill in Broken Bow, Okla.

By 2007, when Siempelkamp sold its 200th continuous press to the Brazilian company, Duratex for MDF, the press measured almost 253 feet.

Though the influx of the continuous press in the U.S. continued to be gradual, the acceptance of it worldwide, and most recently in China and Asia with mostly smaller presses, became the norm, as both Siempelkamp and Dieffenbacher gained major inroads there. The companies continue to enhance their respective continuous presses—Siempelkamp’s ContiRoll is on “Generation 8,” while Dieffenbacher refers to its CPS as an “ongoing process.” Though both companies, through internal expansions, acquisitions and alliances, strive toward total plant scope of supply, their continuous presses remain the heartbeat of their respective operations.

Tremendous technologies were implemented, and continue to be enhanced, on composite mat lines for quality control, including thickness monitoring and measurement, defect and blow detection and moisture measurement. GreCon’s mat scanner Dieffensor technology measured material distribution over the entire mat width, providing a twofold measuring function—weight per unit area and foreign object identification. Several equipment suppliers competed for this quality control market.

ADHESIVES Looking at the past 50 years of panel industry resin technology, for almost half the 20th century the standard plywood adhesive was an organic resin such as starch- or soybean-based glues, or animal-based glues made from casein and blood albumin. Truly waterproof adhesives were introduced before World War II and widely used in wartime applications.

As the plywood industry evolved in the 1960s, Urea Formaldehyde, Melamine Formaldehyde and Phenol Formaldehyde type resins were well established as industrial adhesives. Research and development in the past 50 years covering all segments of the panel

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industry has centered on reducing press and curing times, lowering overall resin costs through more efficient formulas, and more recently seeking to greatly reduce or eliminate the use of formaldehyde in response to regulatory pressure.

In his book “Modern Particleboard & Dry Process Fiberboard Manufacturing,” Tom Maloney wrote in the early 1990s that developments in UF resin since 1960 had greatly aided particleboard producers. A typical 3/4 in. UF-bonded particleboard produced in 1960 would require 10 minutes in the press for curing, Maloney wrote. Thirty years later, the same resin required was not only less expensive, but also cured twice as fast.

“Thus, without any consideration of inflation, the value of the resin has more than doubled, because of the increased production capacity of a plant based solely on improvements in resin,” Maloney noted.

According to the Wood-Based Composites Center (WBCC), in a paper on OSB and waferboard manufacturing practices, one of the most significant advancements in OSB resins has been the move from powdered to liquid phenolic resins. Powdered resins had been used from both products’ inception in the 1950s, yet liquid resins became the preferred component as OSB production boomed in the 1980s.

As in many cases, cost drove the change to liquid, with powdered resins almost twice as expensive and requiring a wax additive that restricted the quantity of resin that could be added to the product. This, in turn, hampered efforts to develop stronger, more high performance products.

Powdered resins also presented caulsticking problems in some cases, and tended to create a fine layer of dust that spread from the blending room outward, posing health and safety concerns. And finally, research showed powdered phenolic resins tended to migrate toward the bottom of the mat while on the forming line.

The WBCC paper noted that the move to liquid phenolic resins required a new approach for dispersing resin onto the strands. Originally, air-assisted or airless spray nozzles were used, but that approach was gradually abandoned in favor of spinning disc atomizers that rely on centrifugal force to disperse resin.

Reducing urea formaldehyde emissions in the manufacturing process is the main focus of recent adhesive developments. In 2004, Columbia Forest Products introduced its formaldehyde-free

Industry took notice of CARB.

PureBond adhesive system for decorative plywood, following a collaborative research effort with Oregon State University (OSU) and resin supplier Hercules Inc. (now part of Ashland Corp.).

The PureBond formula consists primarily of soy flour, and was invented

by OSU’s Dr. Kaichang Li to mimic the protein that marine mussels secrete to attach themselves to rocks and other hard surfaces. Hercules provided a proprietary resin that improved strength and water-resistance.

Columbia Forest Products began converting its plants to a formaldehyde-free system in 2005, and now all seven of its North American hardwood plywood mills produce PureBond plywood. In 2007, Roseburg Forest Products introduced its SkyBlend general-use particleboard product, made with a phenolformaldehyde (PF) binder instead of the industry-standard urea-formaldehyde (UF). Though PF also contains formaldehyde, the chemical is locked more tightly to the wood fibers, and formaldehyde emissions are significantly lower. Meanwhile suppliers such as Siempelkamp and Dieffenbacher introduced new resin dosing and blending technologies promoting massive glue savings.

The formaldehyde issue had surfaced more than 40 years ago, but it went crazy when the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released its regulations in 2008, affecting particleboard, MDF, thin MDF, hardwood plywood with veneer core and hardwood plywood with composite core. CARB established a two-phase implementation schedule. Dave Harmon, technical manager with Hexion (now Momentive) at

the time, wrote: “These are just the latest in a long line of ever-more restrictive VOC emission standards championed by regulators and activists. It’s highly debatable whether there is any health risk at all from formaldehyde at realistic indoor air levels. The die, however, is cast.” Harmon noted that resin manufacturers in partnership with board producers had reduced emissions by 80 to 90% since the early 1980s, and that urea formaldehyde resins were already very low-emitting even before CARB. In 2010, the U.S. House and Senate proposed legislation directing the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a national emissions standard. Composite Panel Assn. became aggressive as formaldehyde emissions regulation moved beyond California toward nationalization. In 2013, EPA released its proposed national regulations, addressing definitions and implementation measures, and structure and duties of third party certifiers. It also included a common-sense exemption from some testing and recordkeeping requirements for products made with no-added formaldehyde resins. CPA noted that North American composite panel manufacturers and their customers had already made great strides to not only meet the requirements of the CARB rule but also its anticipated federal counterpart. CPA was set to address some concerns it had over the EPA proposals such as when the rules would go into effect, recognition of international test methods, treatment of thirty party certifiers and the establishment of a new super structure above the TPCs, treatment of imported panels and several other concerns.

CPA President Tom Julia commented, “We didn’t want to wait to be told, we decided to move aggressively in that direction before regulators pushed us, to work in sync with regulators instead. We’ve tried to take control of the issue. Today, if you want to get into architectural applications, value-added products, health care and commercial applications, you better have a product that people think is environmentally benign. If you don’t you’re not going to get into those markets.”

Meanwhile chemicals and resins suppliers not only produced a new generation of ultra-low emitting resins, but positioned themselves for the long haul. In 2010, Momentive acquired Hexion, which had been formed in 2005 through a merger of several companies including Borden. Earlier Ashland had acquired Hercules.

Even before CARB, all of the panel industry, including non-structural and strucPanelWorld • MAY 2014 • 37

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The employees build the production tural products, were hit in 2004 by schedule and incorporate a total proEPA’s Plywood & Composite Wood ductive maintenance (TPM) program.

Products MACT (maximum achievThey take ownership of their work able control technology) rule under areas, with special attention to orgathe Clean Air Act for national emisnization and cleanliness, resulting in sions standards for toxic air pollutants greater efficiencies and improved such as methanol, formaldehyde, phesafety performance. nol and others from wood fiber dryers Continuous process improvement and press lines. The rule had been programs became established at many some time in the making. Wet electromills, which implemented plant-wide static precipitators, regenerative thermanagement systems directed at lessmal oxidizers, regenerative catalytic ening waste, improving grade and enoxidizers, bioscrubbers and biofilters, hancing production and maintenance. and the technologies contained within Supported by detailed production data the technology became required readand record-keeping, the effort sets ing and expensive installation for most specific performance improvement panel plants. Numerous air emissions goals for which the management technology companies answered the teams are accountable. Daily perforbell. mance indicators maintain the focus Even boilers came under the EPA of supervisors and operators on spegun with Boiler Maximum Achievcific issues that may have been negaable Control Technology rules. EPA finalized the regulations in 2013, fol- Air emissions technology dominated the landscape. tively impacting performance. These programs promote a progressive, forlowing intensive feedback from the was the ongoing makeover of company ward-thinking mindset. panel industry that the proposed regulaculture, supported by a fresh approach Some companies also underwent a tions were unachievable and unreasonto employee participation and collabochange in mindset with regard to sales able to the extent of causing large scale ration in the enhancement of plant operand marketing, beginning with a redeindustrial plant closures and an immediations and guided by a market-driven, fined emphasis on the needs of the cusate halt to new projects and planned excustomer-centric organization. The eftomer, whether an independent wholesale pansions at existing facilities. The final fort to modify company culture through distributor or a “big box” retail store. regulations provided some flexibility to open communications and new business This sounds simple enough, but it’s a the wood products industry, but concerns models was no easy task and often left major transformation from a manufacturremained over the complexities of the as unfinished business, perhaps due to ing-driven “what we make we need to standards. some holes in the supervisory structure, sell” mentality that many companies had or because of the tremendous amount of maintained for most of their existence.

AND BEYOND emphasis put into essential technology Many companies recognized that While federal regulations enticed and product improvements, or because they had become too fragmented with many forest products companies to adopt markets heated up and the emphasis on too many groups, resulting in ineffeca “greener” mindset with regard to enviculture waned somewhat. tive communication with each other and ronmental emissions, many such compaBut more companies revisited their their customers. They began to focus on nies voluntarily began to renaissance into culture. Some began implementation of becoming a green, integrated, solutions“green” as the new century beckoned Lean principles for manufacturing, such oriented company that established when it came to their timberlands. Some as Roseburg’s plywood plant at Riddle, strategic partnerships with its cusof them achieved certification of their Ore. Lean empowers employees tomers, presenting one unified, usertimberlands through Sustainable Forestry throughout the manufacturing process, friendly face to customers across all Initiative; others opted for Smart Wood with special emphasis on reducing waste. product lines.

PW certification of timberlands based on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards, which require sustained yield management and adherence to many principles and criteria that take into consideration environmental and socioeconomic factors. Related to this, many plants gained Chain of Custody product certification, which means the raw material for wood products originates in their well managed, certified forests and that these raw materials are processed through production plants into finished product under a well documented production and quality control directive.

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‘SMARTEST’ DRYING SOLUTIONS FROM RAUTE The controls for the Raute Smart drying process offer a fully automated drying solution to support high capacity and quality veneer production without compromising safety through fire protection and reduction of fugitive emissions.

“To us, the words ‘smart drying’ mean fully integrated drying, machine vision, moisture analyzing and grading processes, which are adjustable to meet millspecific circumstances and individual needs,” explains Jukka Horelli, Raute’s Product Manager of Dry Veneer.

For instance, the automatic misting system allows the drying process to be adapted to different raw materials. It can be adjusted to wood species with low initial moisture content or to wood species demanding high humidity conditions. “This is important as the correct and consistent moisture content of veneers is the basis for efficient gluing and pressing,” Horelli describes.

First-class veneer drying quality is ensured by precise speed control based on the drying temperature, the average final moisture content and the amount of redry veneers. The measured veneer data adjusts the dryer speed in real time. “The dryer’s precise moisture meter MVA makes it possible to measure veneer moisture contents under 5%. This was not possible before with the brush meters,” says Jani Roivainen, General Manager of Raute’s Mecano Business Unit.

Being able to measure even small moisture contents is important, as this enables keeping the optimal drying speed and ensuring high recovery rate of the veneer production. “The holy trinity of drying is achieved through the integration of MVA, the defect analyzer VDA and the dryer. The high-resolution VDA camera system identifies veneer defects and sorts veneers into specified quality grades without the need of labor,” adds Roivainen.

During the process of softwood drying, volatile organic compound (VOC) gases emitted from the resin in the wood are ex-

tracted to the air. The VOCs take part in the formation of ozone in the lower atmosphere by reacting photo-chemically, causing environmental hazards. “We mitigate issues with VOCs with our drying system. The pressure control of the cooling section eliminates the flow of exhaust fumes to the factory hall, leading to a healthier working environment for the mill personnel,” Horelli explains. The airtight joint welding and door sealings with the isolated wall elements of the Smart

Moisture meter MVA

dryer also minimize the amount of drying fumes to the mill floor. Raute provides catalytic technology for wood based VOC reduction applications, reducing up to 98% of the VOC emissions.

“Safe working conditions through automated process controls are one of the biggest benefits of Raute Smart drying,” says Jarkko Kaislaoja, Raute Technology Manager of Dry Veneer Handling.

The VdS and FM Global approved Minimax fire detection components can minimize or even eliminate the risk of production losses due to fire. Special infrared sensors are connected to the fire control panel, detecting possible sparks and flames. With the integrated fire detection, and dryer controls, it is possible to use the dryer misting as preventative fire suppression.

“Cleaning and repairing the damages caused by fire can roughly take anywhere between four to eight hours.

Early fire detection is a definite cost saver,” Kaislaoja adds.

PW Visit Raute.com

Fully integrated drying is tailored to the producer’s needs.

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PRACTICAL INFO FROM COE DRYER EXPERTS nergy costs for any wood processing operation are a cost of doing business E that can be somewhat controlled. This

goal drove the development of several advancements at USNR/COE that can greatly improve the thermal energy efficiency for drying veneer and other panel products.

Automatic Dryer Exhaust Control (ADEC)—The ADEC system provides automatic control of the total dryer exhaust volume under all dryer operating conditions, and maximizes the thermal efficiency of the drying process. ADEC continually adjusts the exhaust flow to prevent fugitive emissions and over-exhausting the dryer. ADEC also maximizes the absolute humidity within the dryer under all load conditions.

Cooler Pressure Balance Control— An automatic cooler pressure balance system controls the cooler exhaust volume, minimizing the flow of heated process air from the dryer into the cooler section, and vice-versa. This system also helps maximize thermal efficiency, minimize pitch buildup which reduces maintenance and cleaning, and allows for au-

dried veneer. This is attributable not only to the systems described here, but also to the design quality and construction of the dryer itself.

Practical Applications—The first implementation of the ADEC system was in 2005 in a plant at Kamloops, BC. To date, eight ADEC systems are installed and operating in North America. The im-

tomatic veneer temperature control into the dry stacking process. Pressure sensing manifolds accurately measure the pressure in the last heated section and first cooling section. Any pressure difference commands a change in the cooling section exhaust fan speed. The effect is a near zero pressure differential between the enclosed dryer and the first cooler seal section under all operating conditions.

Veneer Temperature Com pensation—Uniform temperature control of the veneer exiting the dryer can be maintained independently of the first cooling section by modulating the rotation speed of the cooling fans. If the temperature of the veneer exiting the dryer is too high, the fans speed In the single point exhaust concept, a wet end up. Conversely, if it is too low, seal section is placed in front of the main dryer section. All of the dryer’s process air is pulled to the fans slow down. The first this section to be exhausted. cooler fan will always run with a minimum speed setting to maintain presprovements described here can be apsure control. plied to new or existing jet or longitudiResults—Downstream moisture nal dryers with single zone reverse air sensing instrumentation indicates a very systems using virtually any heat source.

PW tight moisture content in the finished Visit USNR.com

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tioned that he had heard that Gary was getting married and suggested that during my visit we could get together with Gary to re-live our good times at the University and say congratulations on his forthcoming wedding. As a result, we found a good local restaurant and sat down together for what we all thought would be a nice social evening.

The evening was social for sure but had a significance that went way beyond interpersonal relationships.

Having worked for the Geoenergy precursor company, Air Pollution Systems, alongside Blaine, Gary was very familiar with the virtues of this wet ESP design and excited about its possibilities in the wood products marketplace. This enthusiasm was infectious and by the time the evening was over, the three of us were standing in a vacant parking lot on Third AvBY STEVE JAASUND enue in Seattle, resolving that we would buy Geoenergy and take it to the top of the air pollution control technology mare often hear that a single person can make a differket. ence. In the context of everyday life this can seem Was this just a pipe dream or the results of a bit too much idealistic or even trite. However, when someone wine with dinner? close passes away we can see just how meaningful It was neither. By March 1988 we had done just that, made a this expression can be. deal to purchase the company, and off we went. Geoenergy, Gary Raemhild died on March 21, 2014, suddenly and ununder our combined management, grew and thrived, becoming expectedly. His impact on the wood products industry was the dominant supplier of wet ESPs in North America. And meaningful and the legacy that he leaves in the wood products Gary’s entrepreneurism didn’t stop there. Later Geoenergy industry is with us every day and will continue to be for years added VOC control equipment with similar success. By the turn to come. of the century the Geoenergy reference list I first met Gary when we were graduate included virtually all of the large manufacstudents at the University of Washington turers in the panelboard market and many in 1970. We were both working on Masin other process industries. Geoenergy was ter’s degrees at the Water and Air Realso involved in emission control developsources Division of the Department of ment for the utility industry.

Civil Engineering. During our two years at Much of the push for that groundbreakthe University we worked together on our ing came from Gary Raemhild’s enthusiMaster’s projects and became close asm for new ideas and markets. I think it friends. At the end of the summer of 1972 is safe to say that the shape of the technolGary had completed his Master’s curricuogy used for emission controls in today’s lum, received his degree and had taken a panelboard and pellet mills is a direct reGary Raemhild, left, and Steve Jaasund, professional job in Germany. sult of the foresight and fearless attitude with Geoenergy, 1999 As the years went by we both pursued of Gary. our personal and professional lives. We also kept in touch.

For 14 years as an independent company Geoenergy broke a By 1987 I was out on my own as an engineering consultant lot of ground in the technical and commercial world. None of specializing in air emission abatement technology. Gary was this would have happened if Gary hadn’t had the gut instinct working for a firm that made hydro acoustic technology for and go-for-it attitude that is in the soul of a genuine enfish tracking. At the time one of my clients was a small firm trepreneur. called Geoenergy International Corporation located in the Geoenergy was not Gary’s only entrepreneurial activity.

Seattle area. Geoenergy was trying to make a go of it with a Before Geoenergy, Gary and his friend Bob Hale founded the tube-type wet electrostatic precipitator that utilized an innovaBroadway Books bookstore in Seattle. And at the same time tive discharge electrode that afforded much higher operating the Geoenergy venture was sprouting, he worked with two voltage with better performance than the traditional wire elecother friends to establish Hydroacoustic Technology Incorpotrode. By mid-1987 Geoenergy had been successful in selling rated, a firm specializing in fisheries research and aquatic and installing three of these units on plywood veneer dryers. habitat assessment. His guidance as a consultant to HTI conThe name of the product was the E-Tube Wet Electrostatic tinued for the rest of his life. Like most true entrepreneurs, Precipitator.

Gary couldn’t sit still.

Unfortunately for Geoenergy, the ownership and manageGary was a dear friend of mine and many others. He is surment was not inclined to grow the company on the basis of the vived by his wife Meran and his three children, Lauren, Ian initial three installations. The company’s president was runand Garrett. His 67 years on this earth had a big impact on so ning the company with a one-at-a-time approach; not especialmany people. ly geared to growth.

From now on, whenever I hear someone say that one person PW In August of 1987 I received a call from Blaine Sorenson, can make a difference, I will think of Gary. my contact at Geoenergy and also a close friend from the days Steve Jaasund is Manager Geoenergy Products, Lundberg. Email steve.jaasund @lundberg-us.com at the University of Washington. Blaine was calling to schedule a visit to the Geoenergy offices in Seattle. He also men-

THE SPIRIT OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

W

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PROJECTS DURATEX ENHANCES FEEDSTOCK SUPPLY

Duratex S.A. reports it has increased its timber rights to complement its plan to invest R$1.3 billion (nearly $580 million U.S.) to build the largest industrial wood panel facility in Latin America. Located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, in the Triangulo Mineiro region, the plant will have two production lines (MDP and MDF) with a production capacity of 1.4 million m3 per year and expand the company’s total capacity to 5.6 million m3 per year, representing an increase of 34%.

The lines will be assembled consecutively and will be operating, respectively, in the second half of 2016 and 2017.

To be erected on an elevated area within the Nova Monte Carmelo farm, a forest area that belongs to Duratex, the new lines will have the capacity to ship 700,000 m3/year each, and will generate 450 direct jobs. The plant, with a potential to be expanded further, will have an impregnator and three coatings lines to add value to products.

To guarantee 100% supply of raw material and ensure low wood and freight costs to the new plant and the existing industrial wood panels unit in Uberaba, Duratex acquired all the forests belonging to Caxuana Ltda—30,000 hectares of leased land for a period of 39 years, with 21,000 hectares planted with pine and eucalyptus, strategically located between the new site and the Uberaba plant.

Duratex farms in the Triangulo Mineiro region will add up to 107,000 hectares of leased land, including 74,000 hectares of planted area with eucalyptus and pine, after the acquisition of the Caxuana forest assets.

BERNECK ORDERS P’BOARD LINE For its Curitibanos location in the Brazilian State of Paraná, the wood based panel manufacturer Berneck S.A. Paineis Serrados ordered a Siempelkamp particleboard line including a 9 ft. x 38.7 m ContiRoll continuous press.

This is the fourth plant from the

Next to an existing MDF plant, Berneck will build a Siempelkamp particleboard plant at its Curitibanos location.

Krefeld, Germany machine builder for the customer from South America. Berneck operates a MDF plant at the same location as well as a MDF and a particleboard line in Curitiba/Araucária.

Next to the forming and press line and the associated extraction systems including a ContiRoll vapor exhaust, Siempelkamp will supply the complete finishing line with a cooling and stacking line, an intermediate storage system as well as a sanding line including a 10-head sanding machine, the inline saw and a quality grading system. A storage system, which

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is also part of the scope of supply, is equipped with a special warehouse management system. This system controls the complete material flow in the finishing area of both plants, the particleboard line and the existing MDF line. Thus the boards can be fed flexibly from both cooling and stacking lines to the storage and then to both sanding lines.

The forming and press line as well as the board finishing line are designed for high outputs. With the particleboard line for Berneck, Siempelkamp uses a twostage approach. In the first stage the plant achieves a daily capacity of 1,200 m3. In the second stage the daily capacity doubles to 2,400 m3 of particleboard.

Next to particleboard and MDF/HDF, Berneck produces and sells lumber from pine or teak wood. One-hundred percent of the resources needed for production are from company-owned plantations totaling more than 63,000 hectares (155,676 acres).

The installation start for the particleboard plant is scheduled for the beginning of 2015.

LATVIJAS FINIERIS ORDERS MACHINERY Raute’s long-term cooperation with Latvijas Finieris has brought significant machinery and equipment orders to Raute, including most recently sales contracts worth EUR 8.5 million comprising new machinery and lines as well as modernizations of existing lines at Latvijas Finieris’ mills in Latvia and Lithuania.

Latvijas Finieris is one of the leading birch plywood producers. It has production facilities in all Baltic countries and is headquartered in Riga, Latvia.

SVEZA IMPLEMENTS SERVICE AGREEMENT Raute and SVEZA Group signed a two-year service agreement concerning SVEZA’s Perm Plywood Mill in Russia.

The agreement entitles Raute to play a key role in technical, technological audits and maintenance of the mill’s RauteSmart peeling line, RauteSelect drying line and RauteSmart patching line as well as provide stock of critical spare parts for this equipment through its Russian subsidiary.

“We see this service agreement as an important step in transforming maintenance and repair processes in SVEZA. It

PROJECTS WOOD-CEMENT BOARD PIONEER DIES Gerry van Elten, founder of Eltomation BV, Holland, died March 13 after a short sickness.

He was 85.

He was a world-leader and specialist in Gerry van Elten the development of production technology and equipment for the wood-cement board industry. He started his engineering company in 1956 and was fully active in the company until the age of 77, the last 20 years together with his sons Paul van Elten and Bert van Elten.

During many decades, under his inspiration and hard work, new technologies, equipment and complete plants for the production of wood-cement boards were put onto the market on a worldwide basis. He was a wellknown speaker at many conferences, such as at IIBCC during the eighties and nineties. During his lifetime he visited 70 countries for his work and was awarded the NEC Dutch Export Award in 1987. He is survived by his wife, Mary, to whom he was married for 57 years, his sons, a daughter and 11 grandchildren. opens new opportunities for both SVEZA and Raute in the future collaboration and development of relations beyond conventional installation and modernization of equipment where we all have a long history. We have high expectations of this service program and are looking forward to expanding successful experience to other mills of our group,” says Ivan Glinkin, Operations Development Director at SVEZA Group.

SVEZA produces high-quality plywood of natural Russian birch and annually produces 920,000 m3 of plywood and 310,000 m 3 of particleboard.

SVEZA mills are located in regions that are naturally rich in birch woods: UIFK (St. Petersburg), Fanplit (Kostroma), Novator (Vologda Region), Perm Plywood Mill (Perm Territory), Manturovo Plywood Mill (Kostroma Region) and Fankom (Sverdlovsk Region).

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22 ➤ used to meet an emission ceiling.

However, he noted that EPA’s proposal is written to push industry to use No Added Formaldehyde adhesives, which could undercut use of ULEF formulations.

The proposed regulations have not fully addressed enforcement and how this will be coordinated by California and the federal government, Julia added. “Enforcement should be fair and consistent no matter where in the world a regulated product is made if sold in the United States.”

TRADE DISPUTES Alberto Goetzl, international trade analyst with the U.S. International Trade Commission, spoke on developments in U.S. wood products trade and USITC’s role as an administrator of the import injury investigation process, and its responsibility to determine in certain cases if U.S. industries are materially injured by imports priced at less than fair value.

Goetzl said U.S. imports of lumber

and wood products was valued at $14.7 billion in 2013, compared to $8.9 billion in exports.

He said Dept. of Commerce determines whether dumping or subsidizing is occurring, while USITC determines whether the U.S. industry is materially injured or threatened. If both reach affirmative final decisions, then Commerce issues duty orders.

He cited several forest products cases, including most recently hardwood plywood from China. In 2012 a coalition of U.S. hardwood plywood manufacturers initiated the case, alleging that Chinese imports are sold in the U.S. at prices below cost and are subsidized by the Government of China.

In the first round of rulings, Dept. of Commerce ruled in the affirmative and the USITC said the U.S. industry was materially injured. Following appeal, DOC stayed with its yes ruling, but in September 2013 USITC switched to a unanimous 5-0 negative vote. The case is now appealed to the U.S. Court of International Trade.

USITC said basically the Chinese product was different and used in different applications, and the pricing data showed that during the period of investigation, the domestic industry was able to raise prices for its products despite substantial volumes of imports of those products at lower prices. And only one of the six responding U.S. producers reported having to roll back announced price increases, according to USITC. Goetzl said the U.S. has free trade agreements or trade promotion agreements with 18 countries, most recently with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. ● Tapani Kiiski, president and CEO of Raute Corp., examined how successful plywood companies are running their operations in Latin America. He said South America is one of the strongest plywood production growth areas, that raw material quality is high particularly in Chile, and that 600,000 m3 of new capacity has come on line in recent months.

Brazil is the biggest producer, using Elliottis pine and Taeda pine, and Chile is number two with Radiata pine.

Kiiski said the first big Radiata pine plantations were planted decades ago and have undergone intensive, systematic management since then. “Plantations form a valuable competitive edge, which is very difficult and time consuming to imitate,” Kiiski said. And participants are optimizing the resource into plywood, sawn timber, pulp and energy.

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He also pointed to the region’s plywood quality, strength and rigidity, durable surface and tolerance to moisture, accurate dimensions, and the latest manufacturing technologies.

He added that Raute is supplying much of the production technology to many of the plants. He said that Raute, which has its main production plant and product development center in Nastola, Finland, and also has production operations in Canada and China, invests 3-4% of its net sales in product development.

Plywood industry veteran Dick Baldwin of Oak Creek Investment spoke about the importance of leadership and leadership tools toward creating a top performing organization that can weather change and challenge.

In addition to tools such as critical success factors, key performance indictors, standard operating procedures and continuous improvement, leaders must communicate vision to the workers, strive for worker satisfaction and trust, facilitate worker response and involve team members.

He pointed to communication tools such as a Weekly Dashboard that presents updated information and measures progress on an interim basis so as to gain and maintain involvement and engagement.

“The goal is to achieve performance level that portend the survival and long-term success for the company,” Baldwin stated. ● Dean McCraw of McCraw Energy spoke on the future of Southeastern wood supplies and fired a warning shot that southern seedling planting is undergoing a dramatic reduction accompanied by an increase in the number of closed or curtailed seedling nurseries.

“Industrial landowners (TIMOs and REITs) are not helping the situation as most have lowered planting densities,” said McCraw, who is a forester. “Some have lowered densities to 218 stems an acre. Many are now planting high priced, low density seedlings for the sawtimber market.”

Noting that the pulp and paper industry in the South is alive and well, McCraw said the race is on for 10 in. timber between pulpwood and sawtimber interests. If 10 in. goes to sawmills, the sawtimber volume increases to more than 70% of pine volume, he said.

“We need to start planting trees now,” McCraw said, pointing to his slides of aerial views of cutover lands being converted to crop farming. “We need to bring back the landowner assistant programs that existed in the nineties.” ● Joe Andrews, former general manager of Richmond Plywood in Richmond, BC, spoke about managing the employeeowned cooperative just 10 minutes from downtown Vancouver.

The organization includes 278 working shareholders and more than 100 non-shareholder employees, and a four-member management team that’s hired by a seven-member board of directors that’s elected by the shareholders.

Major capital expenditures and other major decisions are taken to shareholders for a vote by a show of hands.

Every new hire starts at the spreaders, learning veneer grades, sheet quality, spread rates, and general plant knowledge, Andrews said, and upon satisfactory job evaluation and medical report, mill employees become eligible to purchase shares from retiring shareholders.

Each shareholder earns the same rate of pay with a small premium for supervisors.

“There’s a strong (profit) incentive for shareholder-employees to produce the best products possible in the most efficient way possible,” Andrews said.

PW Look for continued coverage of PELICE 2014 in the next issue of Panel World magazine.

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14 ➤ From the grading/testing area, veneer goes to a Raute 12 bin stacker with Altec controls.

Up to 30% of the Lyons operation’s output goes to Freres Lumber’s sheathing plant in nearby Mill City; the rest is sold to other producers. “We merchandise and sell a lot of 54s, and dry veneer has turned into a higher percentage of our total sales,” Freres says.

The cogeneration plant that Freres Lumber started up in 2007 continues to run smoothly, Freres says. “Natural gas

costs aren’t really hurting us right now because we have a 10-year contract on a set avoided cost rate schedule,” he adds.

Though an anticipated market selling renewable power certificates hasn’t developed as they’d hoped for a new revenue source, the decision to go into cogen was a good one, Freres believes.

In addition to the power contract, the system has done a good job providing steam for block conditioning and veneer drying, he says. ● Freres Lumber’s history dates to

Light Sort system recently upgraded.

Westmill dryer door hardware

1922 when T.G. Freres and his brother bought a small sawmill east of Salem, Ore., working at sawmilling part time while they still farmed. In 1934 T.G. bought his brother’s share, and in 1948 moved the mill to its current site.

In 1959, the company started a joint venture with Willamette Valley Lumber Co. (later Willamette Industries) to build a large log veneer plant in Lyons.

Afterward, Freres invested in its own small log veneer plant in Lyons. In 1980, Freres bought out Willamette’s interest in the large log facility and consolidated the plants into one operation.

In 1998 the company moved into plywood production after purchasing a sheathing plant in nearby Mill City, a few miles away up the Santiam River Canyon.

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W H AT ’ S

NEW

DRYER MANAGEMENT Ventek Sequoia Sentry Dryer Management Control System is the most technically advanced system for detecting moisture in dry veneer and controlling dryer speed. There are reported cases where the Sequoia Sentry has improved dryer efficiency by 20%.

Using the power and speed of an Intel pentium processor, the Sequoia Sentry is the only system that incorporates both the veneer temperature and the veneer thickness into the moisture level calculation, making it the most accurate moisture and dryer control system available.

The Sequoia Sentry system takes the guesswork out of the moisture level settings and reduces the cyclic periods of over dried or under dried veneer characteristic. The innovative Sequoia Sentry software is easy to use and gives both production and management any additional information needed to get the most out of their drying process. ● Ventek’s Grade Scanning System (GSc2000) is the most accurate dry veneer grading system available. The GSc2000 is designed with specialized camera and lighting to separate itself from other veneer graders. This gives en-

hanced defect recognition and performance through varying background color and changing light conditions. The system can handle a wide range of variables without a decrease in performance.

The GSc2000 uses an industrial hardened PC with dual processors and Windows NT. This allows the use of standard software and hardware, making the system upwardly mobile with advances in technology.

The GSc2000 can achieve 95% on grade performance at production speeds in excess of 500 feet per minute and comes with production reporting and “what if” grading analysis, enabling mill managers to respond immediately to changing market conditions. ● Ventek’s Green End Moisture Meter (GEM) offers one of the fastest returns on investment in the forest industry. Whether it is fiber savings by adjusting clip width, accurate division of moisture content for drying, or sheet weight calculating for stack quality, the GEM does it.

GEM measures the moisture content of the veneer in actual percent moisture, on the fly as it is peeled. This information can be used to adjust the clip width, sort the veneer by moisture content and calculate the sheet weight for more uniform stacking.

The GEM can be configured to interface with clipper controls such as Ventek’s New Vision clipper scanners for implementing SAP-add clip strategies and with a variety of stacker controls to provide moisture content and sheet weight for sorting and improved stacking.

Unlike other green end systems, the GEM is not a black box system. Ventek’s GEM makes use of a highly visible, user-friendly touch screen computer control. All parameters, diagnostic screens and tools are easily accessed and are multi level password protected. Visit ventek-inc.com 5652

RESIN SYSTEM Georgia-Pacific Chemicals introduces a patented resin system that can provide flexibility in bonding high moisture content veneer with low moisture veneer.

New RESI-BOND Ultra and RESI-MIX Ultra adhesives have demonstrated the ability to bond with pocket moisture ranges of 2% to 30% when veneer moisture sorts are strategically located in panel lay-ups.

This added flexibility and enhanced bonding performance can lead to a reduction in total rejects as demonstrated in testing and trials of southern yellow pine.

These tests have resulted in less waste without sacrificing performance.

“In the plywood industry, veneer drying is one of the major bottlenecks. Increasing veneer moisture content has been one option to increase production and the amount of usable veneer,” says Doug Mason, Georgia-Pacific Chemicals Product Manager for plywood. “The RESI-MIX Ultra and RESI-BOND Ultra products have the ability to glue wide ranges of moisture, lessening the negative impact waste has to the bottom line.”

Plywood produced using RESI-BOND Ultra and RESI-MIX Ultra adhesives meets Exposure 1 and Exterior bond requirements for PS1-09. RESI-BOND Ultra or RESI-MIX Ultra adhesives are adaptable to most manufacturing processes and there are no special handling and storage protocols required beyond those of standard binder systems.

RESI-MIX Ultra adhesive is a premixed formulation and RESI-BOND Ultra is a neat product for plants that prefer to do their own mixing. Visit 6591 gp-chemcials.com

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MORE BC MILLS OKAY THAN NOT Following a three-month inspection of all active sawmills across British Columbia, WorkSafeBC issued 11 employers a total of 13 stop-work orders due to unacceptable accumulations of secondary dust and other significant violations, which posed an immediate hazard to the health and safety of workers. In most cases, the areas noted were cleaned the same day, allowing production to resume by the next shift.

Two locations inspected received a second stop-work order and have been directed to participate in a closely monitored compliance plan that includes weekly submissions to WorkSafeBC prevention officers regarding their dust management process. Officers are inspecting these locations at an increased frequency during this monitored phase to ensure the workplaces remain in compliance with WorkSafeBC requirements and expectations.

Eighty-three of the 144 locations inspected were in compliance at the time of inspection and received no orders related to combustible dust. Many of those locations had dust control plans incorporating significant engineering controls to augment and mitigate the amount of manual dust cleanup required.

The three-month inspection is in support of an ongoing Combustible Dust Strategy that was initiated in 2012. The objective of these targeted inspections was to evaluate current compliance with combustible dust management requirements, and confirm that every sawmill has an effective and sustainable plan for the management of wood dust. A core team of 10 prevention officers conducted the inspections. In total, 144 locations were inspected.

Inspection results indicate that many sawmill operators have put significant efforts into improving the management and control of combustible dust, with a substantial number of employers found to be in compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation.

However, not all employers were found to be currently achieving compliance.

Sixty-one employers were issued a total of 93 orders related to combustible dust. Most of these orders were for unacceptable levels of dust accumulations outside normal production areas; i.e.

basements, crawl spaces, overhead areas, areas hidden behind motor control centers or cabinets, and outside areas.

Seventeen warning letters were recommended during this inspection phase to advise employers that an administrative penalty may be considered for further similar violations of the regulations and three administrative penalties were recommended for violations of the regulations.

The Combustible Dust Strategy follows two sawmill explosions in northern BC that killed four and injured others.

NEW ACT INCLUDES FUNDING FOR BCAP

The Agricultural Act of 2014 (also known as The Farm Bill) includes the Biomass Crop Assistance Program to support the establishment and production of eligible crops, including woody material, for conversion to bioenergy in selected BCAP project areas, and assist agricultural and forestland owners and operators with the collection, harvest, storage and transportation of eligible material for use in a biomass conversion facility.

The USDA has budgeted $25 million for each of fiscal years 2014 through 2018 for BCAP, with not more than half of that amount paid per year for collection, harvest, storage and transportation matching payments.

To be considered for selection as a BCAP project area, a project sponsor must submit to the USDA a proposal that includes a description of the land and crops; a letter of commitment from a biomass conversion facility that the facility will use the eligible crops; and evidence that the biomass conversion facility has sufficient equity available if the facility is not currently operational.

Once approved, the contract shall have a term of not more than five years for annual and perennial crops or 15 years for woody biomass. USDA will make establishment and annual payments directly to producers to support the establishment and production of eligible crops on contract acreage, with a producer defined as an owner or operator of contract acreage that is physically located within the BCAP project area.

Eligible crops are defined as renewable biomass harvested directly from the land, including residue. Eligible land includes primarily non-industrial private

UPDATE

forestland. Establishment payments shall not be more than 50% of the costs of establishing an eligible perennial crop, but not to exceed $500 per acre including, in the case of nonindustrial private forestland, the costs of site preparation and tree planting.

The USDA may provide matching payments of up to $1 for each $1 per ton provided by the biomass conversion facility, in an amount not to exceed $20 per dry ton for a period of two years.

SAWMILL ASSISTS RESCUE EFFORTS

Hampton Affiliates, which owns and operates a sawmill in Darrington, Wash., near the site of the square milewide mudslide that occurred March 22 at Oso and had killed 29 as of early April, reports that no Darrington employees were killed or injured. “While we are shocked and sorrowed by the devastation from this horrific natural disaster, we are grateful that none of our Darrington employees were killed or injured,” says Steve Zika, Hampton CEO. “Unfortunately, one of our employees lost his home and several of our employees have lost family members in the slide and we deeply regret their loss and share their sorrow.

“I am proud of how our employees have courageously and generously responded by helping in the rescue activity,” Zika adds.

Zika notes that even in a time of tragedy and trauma, Hampton employee creativity went into high gear with many people working successfully to restore communications on the Darrington plant site and resolve numerous issues related to trucking and residuals.

Hampton knows it will be a challenge to keep lumber flowing to customers in the foreseeable future as there is no timeline for reopening Highway 530; however, alternative transportation routes have been identified.

“We are having frequent communication with our employees to make sure they stay safe during this difficult period when it might be hard to focus on job-related activities,” Zika says. “Hampton is providing grief counseling and donating money to the community to help provide food and other essentials to people who have lost their homes or are otherwise impacted by this disaster.”

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS

DIRECTORY ■ Indonesia

ASIA ■ China

PT. SENGON INDAH MAS Manufacturers of High Quality Plywood • HARDWOOD PLYWOOD—HPVA Grade • ALL SPECIES—CARB/NAUF • CORES: VC, Lumber Core, Combi Core, MDF • PLATFORMS—Veneer Core & Lumber Core • DOOR SKINS Contact U.S. Direct Sales Agent Industrial Wood Products, Inc. Tel: 703-435-6486 • Fax: 703-435-6489 mlubina@iwpwood.com

www.smartbamboo.com Premium quality bamboo veneer & panel FSC certified in 2009 Bamboo Veneer

– European fleece and glue – 4x8, 4x10 and custom cut – Thick veneer available Bamboo – Traditional and Density bamboo Panel – 8, 10, 13 length and custom cut – Many colors and patterns available Hangzhou Smart Bamboo Products Co., Ltd. Email: bhe@smartbamboo.com smartbamboo@ymail.com

NEXT CLOSING: SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Shanghai Lion Wood “Providing Industry Co., Ltd. Value & Cost

■ Japan

• High Grade Hardwood Plywood Savings With – HPVA Grading, All species, NAUF, High Quality Products” CARB, UV, FSC – Whole Pc X Bands, Composed Core – 1/8" - 1-1/2" Thickness: 6', 7', 8', 9' & 10' Lengths • Platforms – VC, MDF xBanded VC, FSC • Paper Laminated Plywood • Veneer Edge Banding – up to 3.0mm – UV Contact U.S. Direct Sales Agent Industrial Wood Products Inc. • Tel: 703-435-6486 Fax: 703-435-6489 • mlubina@iwpwood.com

■ India M P VENEERS, INDIA “Teak People”

SW–COC-001600 ©1996. FSC “Responsible Forest Management”

Locate veneer & plywood products and services wo rldwide .

KAOCHUAN WOODWORK CO., LTD. Taiwanese Enterprise in China

• FANCY: On Plywood/MDF/PB/BB • VENEER: Custom-cut, Layon, Parquet • PLYWOOD: Hardwood, Poplar, LVL, Marine Tel: +86-573-89110999 Ext. 218 Fax: +86-573-89110599 Email: kaochuan@kaochuanwoodwork.com Website: kaochuanwoodwork.com CARB : TPC 6/CARB-ATCM/M013-HWPW008

Manufacturers of innovative machinery for the rotary veneer & plywood industry

Recognized Export House by Govt. of INDIA AN ISO 9001-2008 Company

Manufacturer of TEAK sliced veneers • In clipped and Bundled 0.5 to 2.5 mm • Spliced Faces 0.5 to 1.4 mm • Panel Size : 50” x 99”/123” and Counter front or any size required.

FEQ TEAK LUMBER – Rough & Random Sawn OR Even Quarter Sawn on Edge or Face Teak Decking S4S - QTR - 9mmx36mm; 10mm x 48mm or any size required Thickness 3/4 to 12/4 Phone: +91 755 246 1243 • Fax: +91 755 246 8197 Website: www.mpveneers.com Email: exports@mpveneers.com

Reserve your space today.

Call Susan Windham 800-669-5613

Meinan Machinery Works, Inc. 3-130 Kajita-cho, Obu, Aichi 474-8543, Japan E-Mail: sales@meinan.co.jp Represented in USA by: Merritt Machinery, LLC www.merrittmachinery.com

Manufacturer of Creative, High-Production Veneer & Plywood Machinery Horizontal Hot Press, Veneer Dryer Super Precision Knife Grinder Taihei Machinery Works, Ltd. 955-8 Miyamae, Irukade-Shinden Komaki-City, Aichi-Pref., 485-0084 Japan Email: sales@taihei-ss.co.jp www.taihei-ss.co.jp

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ Taiwan

■ Italy

GREAT GIANT INC. VENEER AND VENEERED PRODUCTS 260 Dachang Road Niao Song District Kaohsiung, Taiwan 833 Tel: 886 7 3790270 Fax: 886 7 3790275 E Mail: jc.giant@msa.hinet.net

veneermill Europ. Veneer Species: • Oak (flat + rift) • Beech (white + steamed) • Sycamore (figured + plain) • Pearwood and so on All grades in foreign & domestic species

Heinrich Wehmeyer Veneermill

MACHINERY FOR PLYWOOD PRODUCTION ROTARY CUT LINE • DRIER • PRESS • CLIPPER

Frh.-v.-Twickel-Str. 11 48329 Havixbeck/Germany Phone: +49 2507 98350 Fax: +49 2507 983511 Web: www.wehmeyer.de E-Mail: info@wehmeyer.de

Moglia - ITALY Tel +39 (0) 376 – 557820 Fax +39 (0) 376 – 557818 www.icmcompensati.it info@icmcompensati.com

EUROPE ■ Austria

LEGNOQUATTRO S.P.A. WOOD VENEER DYEING FACTORY Bird’s Eye Maple, Movingui, Similpear, Carbalho, Wengé, Cherry, Burls, Anegré, Kotó, American Walnut, Lacewood, Etimoé, Poplar

The world of veneer at www.veneer-world.com

Head Office & Factory: Factory: Via Brunati, 7 Via Provinciale, 19 20833 Birone 22060 Novedrate (CO) di Giussano (MB) ITALY tel. 0039-31-790246 fax 0039-31-791705 Email: legnoquattro@legnoquattro.it Web site: www.legnoquattro.it

We are an Austrian veneer producer with 50 years of experience in the export of veneer and Layons. We produce all European species but are strong in exotic veneers also.

Find more information at www.frischeis.com helmut.spaeth@frischeis.com

■ Poland

■ France

■ Germany

Promote your veneer and plywood or located veneer and plywood products and services worldwide.

Reserve your space today.

Call Susan Windham 334/834-1170 Fax: 334/834-4525 susan@hattonbrown.com

■ Spain

PRODUCERS OF SLICED AND ROTARY CUT VENEERS

SUPPLIERS OF FSC SPECIES • All figured species (Eucalyptus, Anegre, Sycamore...)

• All pommeles and African species • All burls (Ash, Elm, Olive, Walnut, Oak...)

• Bookmatched jointed burl faces.

We supply furniture, panel and architectural grades.

VALENCIA – SPAIN Tel: +34-96126 5400 Fax: +34-96126 5144 timbercom@timbercom.com

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ Switzerland

■ Ontario

Southern Veneer Products

A FULL SERVICE PLYWOOD & VENEER COMPANY WE OFFER: Short turnaround time, In-house veneer mill—ROTARY, FLAT CUT, RIFT and QUARTERS, Custom pressing capabilities, Architectural specified plywood jobs, Huge veneer and core inventory, Over 100 natural species and engineer veneers in stock, All sizes and thicknesses–6'x4' to 5'x12', Internal logistics for fast on-time deliveries Contact us: Birchland Plywood-Veneer Ltd. TeL: 705-842-2430 • Fax: 705-842-2496 Visit www.birchlandplywood.com to view our “Live Log Program”

Manufacturer of high quality pine veneer and plywood

240 Peachtree Road • P.O. Box 278 Fitzgerald, GA 31750 Phone: 229-424-0294 • Fax: 229-424-0424 Email: info@southernveneerproducts.com Website: www.southernveneerproducts.com

■ Idaho

■ United Kingdom Manufacturers and distributors of top quality Veneer faces and backs in standard as well as component sizes. Bundle and flitch stock also available.

Contact us at: 382 Canarctic Drive Toronto, Ontario M3J 2V3 416-650-9119 steven@pearlman.ca

■ Quebec

Knotty Idaho White Pine Western Red Cedar Red Alder Clear White Pine & Ponderosa Pine Clear Vertical Grain Douglas Fir, Hemlock, & Cedar

P.O. Box 339 Post Falls, Id. 83877 208-773-4511 FAX 208-773-1107 email: info@idahoveneer.com Locate veneer & plywood products and services wo rldwide .

NORTH AMERICA

■ Indiana

■ Canada Manufacturer of high quality veneers.

Specializing in engineering flooring blanks and stiles and rail components. Lengthwise sliced hardwood veneer and cut-to-size veneer from 1/7" to 1/50" Walnut, Cherry, Maple, Mahogany, Red & White Oak, Eastern White Pine, Hickory, Aromatic Red Cedar, Birch, V.G. Fir, Alder

■ British Columbia

6670 - 144th Street, Surrey, BC V3W 5R5 Plant: (604) 572-8968 Fax: (604) 572-6608

Producers of high quality fine face veneers.

Specializing in species indigenous to the West Coast. We manufacture Music grade solids and veneers. We also offer custom slicing, cut-to-size and log breakdown.

Fir • Hemlock • Spruce • Pacific Maple (Figured and Plain) • Alder Western Red Cedar

300, 6e rue Nord, Daveluyville, Qc, Canada G0Z 1C0 Tel: (819) 367-3100 Fax: (819) 367-3199 placages.beaulac@beaulacfils.com www.beaulacfils.com

■ United States ■ Georgia

Amos-Hill Associates, Inc.

Quality Veneers Manufacturers of Decorative Hardwood Veneer Domestic and International Markets Species include: Walnut, White Oak, Red Oak, Hard Maple, Cherry and Birch “Quality is the Lifeblood of our Business” 112 Shelby Ave. ◆ P.O. Box 7 Edinburgh, IN 46124 Phone: 812-526-2671 ◆ Fax: 812-526-5865 E-mail: info@amoshill.com Website: www.amoshill.com The mark of responsible forestry FSC Supplier: SCS-COC-002445 * SCS-CW-002445

Manufacturers of Fine Face Veneer Machinery

Reserve your space today.

Call Susan Windham 800-669-5613

2801 Roosevelt Ave. P.O. Box 18310 Indianapolis, IN 46218 Email: capital@capitalmachineco.com Website: www.capitalmachineco.com 05/14

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ Kentucky

CURRY VENEER SALES 1014 EAST SIXTH STREET NEW ALBANY, IN 47150 Email: bradblcveneer@gmail.com “Hands On Personalized Relationships”

... the kaleidoscope of veneer

SUPPLIERS OF: HARDWOOD DOMESTIC VENEERS Carrying a diverse line of Cherry and Walnut to supply your every need Imported Veneers Including Recon Veneer (Veneer Style) and Rotary Okume FSC Species Available

Locate veneer & plywood products and services worldwide.

www.ifpveneer.com

NORSTAM VENEERS, INC. Proud to announce we have the “Newest Veneer Mill in the World”

■ Michigan

COLDWATER VENEER, INC. Sliced Face Veneers Oak ● Carolina Pine Cherry ● Hard Maple ● Walnut

MANUFACTURER OF QUALITY HARDWOOD AND SOFTWOOD VENEERS

CUSTOM CUTTING AVAILABLE P.O. BOX 32 HWY. 135 MAUCKPORT, IN 47142

A new “Dimension” in Veneer & Plywood

Dimension Hardwood Veneers, Inc. Rotary & Sliced Veneers 509 Woodville Street • Edon, Ohio 43518 Main Office - Tel: 419-272-2245 • Fax: 419-272-2406

Dimension Plywood Inc. Custom Architectural Plywood & Face Veneers 415 Industrial Blvd. • New Albany, IN 47150 Tel: 812-944-6491 • Fax: 812-944-7421 www.dimensionhardwoods.com FSC-C041275

BUS: 812.732.4391 FAX: 812.732.4803

RSVP is proud to offer a full line of imported and domestic veneer that includes burls, crotches and highly figured woods. If you would like more information pertaining to these products or others we offer please contact us directly or visit our website.

Dean Calhoun ■ Dave Counterman Don Steffey ■ Rob Taylor Jack Freese Tel: 517-278-5676 • Fax: 517-279-7104 548 Race Street Coldwater, MI 49036 www.coldwaterveneer.com

Locate veneer & plywood products and services worldwide.

1285 Indianapolis Rd. • Columbus, IN 47201 Ph: 812-375-1178 • Fax: 812-375-1179

Producers of fine veneer for the global market, since 1892

www.RSVPveneer.com

Cherry Maple White Oak Walnut Hickory Red Oak Exotics Indiana Veneers Corporation

1121 East 24th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46205 Tel: [317] 926-2458 Fax: [317] 926-8569 Url: www.indianaveneers.com Email: sales@indianaveneers.com

Locate veneer & plywood products and services wo r l d w i d e .

05/14

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ North Carolina

■ Minnesota

■ Oregon

BUFFALO VENEER & PLYWOOD CO. Quality Plywood, Six decades strong!

Stock Panels Counter Front Panels All Thicknesses and Cores NAF, FR and MR Availability Domestic and Imported Veneers CARB P2 Certified 501 6th Ave. NE - Buffalo, MN 55313 Tel: (763)682-1822 Fax: (763)682-9769 Email: sales@buffaloveneerandplywood.com Website: www.buffaloveneerandplywood.com

■ Mississippi

Quality Plywood Since 1920 ◆ Manufacturers of Cut-to-Size and Stock

Panel Plywood ◆ Supplier to the Residential, Hospitality, Commer-

cial and Institutional Industries ◆ Manufacturer of Veneer and HPL panels with Lumber Banded, Lumber Core, Particleboard, MDF or Veneer Core substrates ◆ Fully Machined, ready-to-assemble, panels or simply press and ship ◆ Sizes up to 60 inches by 144 inches ◆ All species, plain sliced, rotary and fancy faces

P.O. Box 7447 • High Point, NC 27264 Sales: (336) 861-4100 • Fax: (336) 861-4700

■ Ohio

Architectural Paneling, Door Skins, Custom Cabinet Package and Furniture Plywood ● Panel sizes up to 5' x 12' ● 4', 5' and cross-grain sanding capability ● Veneer manufacturing to 14' lengths ● FSC Certified ● NAUF products available ●

2323 Cross Street ● Eugene, Oregon 97402 Sales: (541) 461-0767 ● Fax: (541) 461-0738 Email: westernpanel@aol.com web site: westernpanel.com

■ Pennsylvania

Veneer & Lumber LOGS 1270 Baltimore Pike West Grove, PA 19390 Email: Info@Crown-Wood.com Website: www.crown-wood.com Tel: (610) 869-8771•Fax: (610) 869-4166 CROWN HARDWOOD CO. INC.

MAGNOLIA FOREST PRODUCTS, INC.

RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY!

DISTRIBUTORS OF SYP Plywood & Lumber OSB Cut to size

A new “Dimension” in Veneer & Plywood

1-800-366-6374

Dimension Hardwood Veneers, Inc.

www.magnoliaforest.com Terry, MS J.I.T. & P.I.T. Nationwide

Dimension Plywood Inc.

NEXT CLOSING: SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

■ New York

Rotary & Sliced Veneers 509 Woodville Street • Edon, Ohio 43518 Main Office - Tel: 419-272-2245 • Fax: 419-272-2406 Custom Architectural Plywood & Face Veneers 415 Industrial Blvd. • New Albany, IN 47150 Tel: 812-944-6491 • Fax: 812-944-7421 www.dimensionhardwoods.com

ESTABLISHED 1972

FSC-C041275

Universal Veneer Mill Corp.

Manufacturing and Sales Sliced Harwood Veneers Custom Cutting Available 1776 Tamarack Road Newark, OH 43055 Ph: (740) 522-2000 Email: info@universalveneer.com

Proudly serving our clients in the hardwood plywood sheetstock, plywood component, solid wood component, face and core veneer markets for over 40 years. Looking forward to applying our worldwide knowledge and resources to help create the solution you need. inquiry@pittsburghforest.com Office: 724.969.5000 375 Valleybrook Rd, McMurray, PA 15367

RESERVE YOUR SPACE TODAY!

05/14

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VENEER/PANEL SUPPLIERS DIRECTORY ■ South Carolina

■ Virginia

Darlington Veneer Co., Inc.

WEST POINT VENEER

Established 1918

Manufacturer of sliced face veneers

•Manufacturers of stock sizes of hardwood plywood •Species range from ash to walnut in rotary, plain sliced and rift cut •Core constructions of veneer, lumber, flake and fibercore •Lengths up to 12 feet in all cores •Fire retardant plywood

Carolina Pine is our speciality Oak • Cherry • Walnut • Maple • Ash • Poplar

Robert van der Meulen ■ Samuel Agcanas

P.O. Box 1087 • Darlington, SC 29532 (843) 393-3861 • Sales: 800-845-2388 Fax: 843-393-8243 email: rhubbard@darlingtonveneer.com

NEXT CLOSING: SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Tel: 804-843-2900 ■ Fax: 804-843-2554 320 Dupont Street West Point, VA 23181 Custom Cutting Available Member of the Coldwater Veneer Group www.coldwaterveneer.com

SOUTH AMERICA ■ Brazil

■ Vermont

Promote your veneer and plywood or located veneer and plywood products and services worldwide.

Reserve your space today.

Call Susan Windham

North America’s largest manufacturer of fancy face rotary veneer.

Offering FSC certified veneer products in Red Oak, Hard Maple, Birch, Ash, Tulip Poplar, Basswood and Soft Maple in Stock Panel & Cut-to-Size Lay-ons as well as unspliced veneer .4mm thru 1.6mm thickness

334/834-1170 Fax: 334/834-4525 susan@hattonbrown.com

Plain sliced Alder and Aromatic Cedar faces and flitch stock are regularly available.

Also offering domestically produced FSC Mixed Credit/CARB Phase II Compliant Aspen platforms - both long grain & cross grain dimensions in a variety of thicknesses.

Contact Sales at 802-334-3600 • Fax: 802-334-5149 www.cfpwood.com • 324 Bluff Rd. • Newport, VT 05855

05/14

5394

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES COMPLETE ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE PANEL BOARD, SAWMILLING AND BIOMASS INDUSTRIES.

Offering Services in: • Conceptual Design • Budget Preparation • Feasiblity Studies • Procurement • Detail Engineering – Civil/Structural – Mechanical – Electrical • PLC / HMI Programming • Project Management • Construction Management • Startup Assistance

5515 S.E. Milwaukie Ave, Portland, Oregon 97202 503-230-9348 Fax: 503-233-2051 www.kh2aengineering.com Email: kh2a@kh2aengineering.com

Tel: 705.360.5525 • www.cmaeng.com info@cmaeng.com

1009

60 Wilson Ave., Suite 101 Timmins, Ontario, Canada P4N 2S7

1635

1248

CONSULTANTS & ENGINEERS FOR THE FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY Feasibility Studies, Cost Estimates, Complete Project Design, Structural, Civil, Mechanical and Electrical Design

60 • MAY 2014 • PanelWorld

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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES 2200

Specializing in confidential career opportunities in the Forest Products industry

Management Recruiters of Houston Northeast

Jon Olson

Gates Copeland 281-359-7940 • fax 866-253-7032

Tel: (800) 985-5191

gcopeland@mrihouston.com • www.mrihouston.com

Custom search & recruitment services for the complete range of composite panel and related careers in the U.S., Canada and Europe. www.olsonsearch.com

4231

jon@olsonsearch.com MICHAEL STRICKLAND & ASSOCIATES LLC Executive Recruiters Wood Products/Building Materials Industries Mike Strickland mike@woodproductjobs.com 601-529-2157 • www.woodproductjobs.com

SEARCH NORTH AMERICA, INC. IT'S YOUR MOVE...

FOREST PRODUCTS RECRUITING SINCE 1978

The Jobs You Want — The People You Need

Recruiting Services Executive – Managerial – Technical - Sales

JOHN GANDEE

WWW.SEARCHNA.COM

CONTACT CARL JANSEN AT 541-593-2777 OR Carlj@SearchNA.com

& ASSOCIATES, INC

Top Wood Jobs

If you are a remarkable sales professional and meet the qualifications listed above forward your resume to wilmesp@ncequity.net

6414

Contingency or Retainer

Recruiting and Staffing George Meek

Depending on Circumstances / Needs

geo@TopWoodJobs.com www.TopWoodJobs.com (541) 954-8456

“Your Success Is Our Business” Serving the Wood Products and Building Materials Industries For more than 21 years.

3779

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Toll Free 1-800-536-3884 www.johngandee.com

The Feltham-McClure Co., Inc. 2151 Wembley Place • Oviedo, Florida 32765 407-366-9333 Office • 407-366-4900 Fax www.thefeltham-mcclurecompany.com

Austin, Texas

3220

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

Veneer Lathe Service - All makes, models and peripherals for all end products.

Installation, Laser Alignments, Retrofits, Rebuilds and Troubleshooting Peel Problem Troubleshooting and Rectification Lathe Training Seminars - Operational and Maintenance Representing: Demco Manufacturing and Doyle Tool & Gauge 4809

8187

Fees paid by employer

1615

Mereen Johnson LLC is seeking a highly motivated, self-directed individual who has experience selling capitol equipment to window, door, cabinet, flooring, millwork, and Engineered wood manufacturers. This is a full time salaried position based in Minneapolis, MN with six figure income potential and will involve meaningful travel. Salary and incentives based on credentials. Full benefits program including 401 K retirement program with employer participation. Join our remarkable group of employees that make up our team.

THE Forest Products Group

9926

P.O. Box 2188, McKinleyville, CA 95519 (707) 826-1120

9248

Daqota Systems Inc.

P.O. Box 198, Cloquet, MN 55720 (218) 878-0665

742 9237

web site: www.daqota.com – XY Scanning Systems _ Motion Control _ Slicer Controls _ Vat Controls _ Lathe and Tray Controls _ Information Systems _ Custom Control Systems _ Electrical Engineering _ Process Control _ Y-only vees centering _ Vision Systems (hi res laser measurement)

Rockwell™ Automation Systems Integrator

PanelWorld • MAY 2014 • 61

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EVENTS MAY

MAY 2015

18-20 • Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Assn. annual meeting, Waldorf Astoria Resort, Naples, Fla. Call 703-4352900; visit hpva.org.

11-15 • Ligna: World Fair For The Forestry And Wood Industries, Hannover, Germany. Call +49 511 89-0; fax +49 511 89-32626; visit ligna.de.

AUGUST

JUNE 2015

10-12 • Forest Products Society’s 68th International Convention, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Call 608-231-1361; Visit forestprod.org.

10-12 • 33rd Forest Products & Machinery Equipment Expo, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 504443-4464; e-mail: egee@sfpa.org; visit sfpaexpo.com.

20-23 • International Woodworking Fair, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Ga. Visit iwfatlanta.com.

Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.

OCTOBER

panelworldmag.com A

20-23 • Lesdrevmash, 15th International Exhibition, Expo Centre Fairgrounds, Moscow, Russia. Visit lesdrevmash-expo.com.

▲

SEPTEMBER 10-13 • FMC China 2013, Shanghai World Expo Center, Shanghai, China. Call +86-21-64371178; e-mail: fmc@ubmsinoexpo.com; visit fmcchina.com.cn.

NOVEMBER 8-10 • APA-Engineered Wood Assn. annual meeting, J W Marriott San Antonio Hill Country, San Antonio, Tex. Call 253-565-6600; visit apawood.org.

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15-17 • Timber Processing & Energy Expo, Portland Metropolitan Exposition Center, Portland, Ore. Visit timberprocessingandenergyexpo.com.

Easy access to current advertisers! www.panelworldmag.com/adindex.html

Don’t forget to bookmark this link!

This issue of Panel World is brought to you in part by the following companies, which will gladly supply additional information about their products.

ADVERTISER Altec Integrated Solution Ashland Hercules Berndorf Band Gmbh Biele Automation Process Classen Apparatebau Custom Engineering Dieffenbacher Gmbh Maschi Fezer SA Industrias FMC China Huntsman Imal Srl Intermob Istanbul 2014 KTC Panelboard Engineering Les Drev Mash 2014 Limab Matthews International Pal Srl Paratherm Peninsular Cylinder Pessa Impianti Srl Price LogPro Raute Wood Sandvik Process Systems Sia Abrasives Industries Siempelkamp Spar Tek Industries USNR Veneer Services Ventek Wemhoner Surface Technologies Westmill Industries 3M

PG.NO. 15, 17 63 51 25 10 33 7, 41 46 1, 11 29 5 54 52 44 49 8 5 48 10 43 40 39 64 35 2 23 21 27 42 47 50 9

PH.NO. 604.529.1991 904.256.0323 +43.2672.800.0 +34.629.429.620 +49(0)6222.57260 814.898.2800 +49 (0) 7262.65.103 +55.49.3561.2222 +86.21.64371178 281.719.4916 +39.059.465.500 +90.212.867.11.00 604.837.2550 +499.795.27.17 +46.31.58.44.00 888.622.7183 +39.0422.852.300 800.222.3611 800.526.7968 +39.0421.27999 501.844.4260 604.524.6611 EXT 340 +46.26.26.56.00 +41 52 724 45 72 +49.2151 92 4636 503.283.4749 800.289.8767 317.346.0711 800.279.3331 +49.5221.7702.0 877.607.7010 651.733.9940

ADLINK is a free service for advertisers and readers. The publisher assumes no liability for errors or omissions.

62 • MAY 2014 • PanelWorld

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