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A Hatton-Brown Publication
Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. 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
Volume 45 • Number 1 • January/February 2020 Founded in 1976 • Our 460th Consecutive Issue
Publisher: David H. Ramsey Chief Operating Officer: Dianne C. Sullivan Editor-in-Chief: Rich Donnell Senior Editor: Dan Shell Senior Associate Editor: David Abbott Senior Associate Editor: Jessica Johnson Associate Editor: Patrick Dunning Publisher/Editor Emeritus: David (DK) Knight
Renew or subscribe on the web: www.timberprocessing.com
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ISSUES
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NEWSFEED
Person Of The Year Was An Easy Pick Common Ground For Pellet Mills, Sawmills
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PERSON OF THE YEAR
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ALGER-SULLIVAN
Classified Advertising: Bridget DeVane • 334.699.7837 800.669.5613 • bdevane7@hotmail.com
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CLT IN THE SOUTH
Advertising Sales Representatives: Southern USA
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Art Director/Prod. Manager: Cindy Segrest Ad Production Coordinator: Patti Campbell Circulation Director: Rhonda Thomas Online Content/Marketing: Jacqlyn Kirkland
Randy Reagor P.O. Box 2268 Montgomery, AL 36102-2268 904.393.7968 • FAX: 334.834.4525 E-mail: reagor@bellsouth.net
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GP’s Fritz Mason Gets Better With Age
Century, Florida Rode Back Of Sawmill
Here’s What SYP Lumbermen Are Thinking
HURRICANE MICHAEL
Looking Back At The Salvage Effort
MACHINERY ROW Harrigan Lumber Goes With USNR
COVER: Fritz Mason, president of Georgia-Pacific Lumber, has had a lot on his plate lately, and he prefers it that way. Story begins on PAGE 14. (Rich Donnell photo.)
Midwest USA, Eastern Canada John Simmons 32 Foster Cres. Whitby, Ontario, Canada L1R 1W1 905.666.0258 • FAX: 905.666.0778 E-mail: jsimmons@idirect.com
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Timber Processing (ISSN 0885-906X, USPS 395-850) is published 10 times annually (January/February and July/August issues are combined) by Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc., 225 Hanrick St., Montgomery, AL 36104. Subscription Information—TP is free to qualified owners, operators, managers, purchasing agents, supervisors, foremen and other key personnel at sawmills, pallet plants, chip mills, treating plants, specialty plants, lumber finishing operations, corporate industrial woodlands officials and machinery manufacturers and distributors in the U.S. All non-qualified U.S. Subscriptions are $55 annually: $65 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.timberprocessing.com and click on the subscribe button to subscribe/renew via the web. All advertisements for Timber Processing magazine are accepted and published by Hatton-Brown Publishers, 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 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. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. neither endorse nor makes any representation or guarantee as to the quality of goods and services advertised in Timber Processing. Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. reserves the right to reject any advertisement which it deems inappropriate. Copyright ® 2020. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission is prohibited. Periodicals postage paid at Montgomery, Ala. and at additional mailing offices. Printed in U.S.A.
Postmaster: Please send address changes to Timber Processing, P.O. Box 2419, Montgomery, Alabama 36102-2419 Other Hatton-Brown publications: Timber Harvesting • Southern Loggin’ Times Wood Bioenergy • Panel World • Power Equipment Trade
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THEISSUES
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Jessica Johnson Senior Associate Editor
FAMILY MATTERS TO FRITZ MASON
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t’s time for the 32nd annual announcement of the Timber Processing Person of the Year—a time that always excites me. I am a bit of a person of the year specialist, having written my first profile on Jill Snider Brewer in 2016 and then going on to write four of the last five person of the year profiles. I really enjoy these because they naturally lend themselves to being a little more personal in nature. It’s a chance to look beyond the shiny new steel and see the man (or woman!) who is driving the whole thing forward. Seeing what makes them tick. Diving into their involvement in various industry organizations sure, but also leadership with their children’s horse barn, like Snider Brewer, or their passion for hunting, like 2017 winner Tim Biewer and this year’s recipient, Fritz Mason. There’s something incredibly humanizing about looking at an industry leader we’ve all known from afar in a photo that shows what his real pride and joy is—Linda, Hannah and Sadie Mason. It brings a Fritz with his family, left to right, Linda, seemingly larger-than-life person down to Earth. Mason gave a most Hannah, Sadie thorough person of the year interview, and during that period I spent in the GP conference room in Atlanta right before Christmas I found myself in awe of the simple but insightful ways he tackled big industry hot topics. But, in the first five minutes of the meeting, he showed me a video from his laptop, and the background caught my eye. It was a photo of his great-grandfather taken around 1945 in front of the sawmill his grandfather managed near Etna, Calif. It was in those first five minutes that I realized this lumber industry leader at the very top of a skyscraper in the heart of the U.S. South was just a man. As we talked he’d sprinkle in bits about his girls. How his wife didn’t want to leave Alabama after Hampton sold its Southern mills, because their oldest had started kindergarten and the family had really found a wonderful community within Tuscaloosa. Or when Mason talked about how both daughters were University of Georgia grads, Sadie having also graduated from medical school and currently in pediatric residency, while Hannah was getting a combination advanced degree in science hoping to study and cure big diseases like Parkinson’s. After telling me about them he almost sheepishly asked if he could send in a picture of them. A very important person, my grandmother, used to repeat a quote from Saint Theresa of Calcutta to us: “If you want to change the whole world, go home and love your family.” Our 32nd annual Timber Processing Person of the Year, Fritz R. Mason, is certainly at the forefront of changing the wood products business, TP but at the center of it all, he loves his family. Contact Jessica Johnson, ph: 334-834-1170; fax 334-834-4525; e-mail: jessica@hattonbrown.com TIMBER PROCESSING
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NEWSFEED PINNACLE TEAMS WITH SAWMILLS Pinnacle’s new pellet mill will be built near and in partnership with the new Two Rivers Lumber sawmill in Demopolis, Ala., which started up in 2017. Pinnacle Renewable Energy plans to build an industrial wood pellet production facility in the Southeast U.S. at Demopolis, Ala., in close proximity to its Aliceville, Ala. facility. The new mill will be located adjacent an existing large sawmill in Demopolis. The Demopolis facility is expected to have annual production volume of 360,000 metric tons per annum (MTPA) that will be sold through Pinnacle’s contracted backlog of long-term, take-orpay off-take contracts. Commissioning the Demopolis fa-
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cility with initial duced at the Aliceville industrial wood facility. The Demopopellet production lis facility is currently is expected in the in the final stages of second quarter of design and construc2021. tion planning and perThe Demopolis mit applications have facility will opercommenced. Longate under a single term fiber supply partnership with agreements have been Pinnacle, The completed with the Westervelt Commajority of suppliers, pany (TWC), a diincluding TWC and versified land re- Pinnacle’s new pellet mill will be built near and in partTRL. sources company, nership with the new Two Rivers Lumber sawmill in “Building on our Demopolis, Ala., shown here, which started up in 2017. and Two Rivers early success at the Lumber Company, LLC sales and logistics. Anticipated Aliceville facility, which is (TRL), a McElroy Enterprises capital costs to construct the currently producing wood pelcompany, holding a 70%, 20% Demopolis facility is expected lets ahead of the commissionand 10% interest, respectively. to be US$99 million. ing curve, we are pleased to be TWC will sell a 10% interest The Demopolis facility, to expanding our presence in the of its currently held 30% inter- be located on the same river U.S. Southeast and leveraging est in the Aliceville facility to system as the Aliceville facilithe existing relationships and TRL. Under the terms of the ty, will be constructed to eninfrastructure we have estabpartnership, Pinnacle will opsure finished pellets can be lished in the area,” says Rob erate the Demopolis facility barged and loaded at the port McCurdy, CEO of Pinnacle. and manage all aspects of cus- in Mobile, Ala., which is the “The U.S. Southeast expansion tomer relations, marketing, same port used for pellets profurther aligns the company
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NEWSFEED with our partners and fiber suppliers and allows for flexibility to optimize fiber flow between the facilities, while further diversifying our business in the region, which will see approximately 660,000 MTPA of pellet production once fully commissioned.” Brian Luoma, President and CEO of The Westervelt Company, adds, “Since we began working with Pinnacle last year at the Aliceville mill, we have built a strong partnership based on our shared commitment to safety, quality, environmental responsibility and our communities. This new venture with Pinnacle and Two Rivers allows Westervelt to participate in a growing market while capturing the advantages of the abundant resources in this area. Whether it’s industry experience, supply chain advantages or land management exper-
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tise, this partnership will benefit from the strengths of each of the companies involved.” Jay McElroy, President of TRL, comments, “We are excited to partner with Pinnacle and Westervelt in the expansion of their U.S. Southeast wood pellet production. Both organizations have great reputations and success stories. This partnership accomplishes our goal to further expand our investment into wood products and build upon our businesses in the region.” Two Rivers Lumber, backed by logging firm Sumter Timber and trucking firm McElroy Trucking, started up its large production southern yellow pine sawmill in August 2017. Pinnacle currently operates eight industrial wood pellet production facilities in Western Canada and one in Alabama, with an additional facility under construction in Alberta.
Additionally, Pinnacle owns a port terminal in Prince Rupert, BC.
RESOLUTE TO BUY THREE SAWMILLS Resolute Forest Products Inc. entered into an agreement to acquire Conifex Timber Inc.’s three sawmills in the U.S. South for $163 million plus working capital delivered at closing, which is currently estimated at $7 million. The three sawmills, with combined production capacity of 550MMBF, are located in Cross City, Fla. and Glenwood and El Dorado, Ark. “This transaction will provide immediate scale in the attractive U.S. South, with quality assets in a rich fiber basket, close to growing end-markets,” says Yves Laflamme, president and CEO. “Scaling our lumber
business forms a key part of our stated transformation strategy. This transaction will also diversify our lumber production. When operating to capacity, almost 25% of our production will be in the U.S. South.” Production capacity for Cross City is 185MMBF and it is currently operating on a twoshift basis. Glenwood’s capacity is also 185MMBF and it is operating on a 1.5 shift basis. The El Dorado mill, with capacity of 180MMBF, was recently idled. Resolute intends to build on Conifex’s significant capital investments in recent years, including $55 million invested in El Dorado, $23 million in Glenwood and $12 million in Cross City. The net proceeds from the sale will be used by Conifex to repay in full its outstanding lumber segment credit facility and for working capital and
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NEWSFEED general corporate purposes. In November Conifex Timber announced that the Agent for its lumber segment lenders approved in principle Conifex’s proposed asset divestment and restructuring plan.
CLT FIRM COMING SOUTH Structurlam Mass Timber Corp. announced it will expand its operations into the U.S. with a plant in Conway, Ark., set to open in mid-2021. The Canadian-based company, in which Walmart has made an investment, will spend $90 million to purchase, retrofit and equip a former steel plant and create 130 jobs, and will source softwood lumber from Arkansasgrown southern pine trees. “The commercial and residential building industry is
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experiencing a revolution brought on by the rise of mass timber building solutions,” says Hardy Wentzel, CEO of Structurlam. “We’re proud to establish roots in the great state of Arkansas and the city of Conway, and support Walmart as the exclusive supplier of mass timber products for its new home office campus.” Wentzel adds that the new U.S. location will answer the demand for mass timber building products and industrial matting products in the Southern, Central and Eastern U.S., and will complement the company’s British Columbia operation serving the Canadian, Pacific Northwest, California and Intermountain markets. Walmart will be the first customer of Structurlam’s Conway facility. The world’s largest retailer plans to use more than 1.1 million cubic feet of mass timber in its new
Home Office campus in Bentonville, Ark. Established in 1962, Structurlam is based in Penticton, BC and has mass timber production facilities in Penticton, Okanagan Falls, and Olivier, BC. Dan Bartlett, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs of Walmart, comments, “We want our new campus to be modern and sustainable while embracing the natural beauty of our home state. These priorities have a lot to do with our choice to use mass timber, and specifically Structurlam.” The new Walmart home office campus will cover 350 acres. A 3-D model of the new campus shows buildings laid out in four quadrants, called “neighborhoods.” Each quadrant has parking and is surrounded by green spaces, courtyards and trails. Food trucks will be parked near the
office buildings. At the center of the campus is a large activity hub for meetings and other events. A food hall sits nearby, although coffee bars, food trucks and other dining options will be scattered throughout the campus. Other amenities, such as a child care center, fitness center and hotel, are on the campus’s periphery.
STERLING OPENS LUFKIN CLT MILL Sterling celebrated the Grand Opening of its second cross-laminated timber (CLT) facility with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on hand in October in Lufkin, Texas. The 350,000 sq ft. manufacturing facility will annually produce 200,000 TerraLam CLT mats for use on rights-of-way in the power transmission and distribution, oil and gas, and general
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NEWSFEED construction industries. “I’m proud of our team here in Lufkin in making our dream of building one of the largest CLT manufacturing facilities in North America a reality,” says Sterling CEO Carter Sterling. TerraLam mats are built with southern yellow pine. When built with a specialty adhesive and proprietary process, TerraLam mats last longer and are more sustainable than traditional bolted timber mats, the company reports. Sterling’s first CLT facility is near Chicago. The two plants will now annually produce more than 400,000 CLT mats.
CANFOR PURCHASE IS A NO-GO Canfor Corp. has agreed with Great Pacific Capital Corp., a wholly-owned sub-
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sidiary of Great Pacific, to terminate a previously announced arrangement agreement that called for Great Pacific, which already owns 51% of Canfor, to purchase the remainder of the shares of Canfor for nearly $1 billion. Based on a vote of Canfor shareholders, the “majority of the minority” vote required under a “Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions” instrument, will not be achieved, coming up at least 5% short in votes. The deal, which would have turned Canfor from a public company into a private one, appeared to have the momentum to reach fruition, with the board of directors of Canfor recommending it following endorsement from various special committees and shareholder services. The board had stated that the purchase price represent-
ed a significant premium over the existing share price, and that ongoing industry headwinds in the forestry sector had caused some instability in trading prices and in company operations, including multiple curtailments of sawmill production in the Northwest U.S. The company operates multiple sawmills in the Southern U.S.
LANCE FP BOUND FOR NEW MEXICO Northern California’s Lance Forest Products is relocating a sawmill from Redding to Cimarron, NM with the help of a $350,000 investment from the state Economic Development Department. Lance Forest Products executives have developed logging and thinning agreements with ranches in the northern New
Mexico region, and state officials are hoping additional thinning in the area will help reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires such as the Ute Park blaze that burned 36,000 acres in and around Philmont Ranch in 2018. Company officials are looking for 40 employees to staff the operation, and state officials are hoping the move will revitalize the forest restoration economy in the area, provide needed jobs and improve forest health. The Village of Cimarron also plans to develop an industrial park around the new sawmill to serve businesses that can use wood products for furniture and pellets. Lance Forest Products officials say they plan on relocating more than $1.2 million in machinery from California to New Mexico and hope to begin operations in mid 2020.
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GOING
WITH FRITZ By Jessica Johnson
In the year of perfect vision, Georgia-Pacific’s Fritz Mason is named Timber Processing’s Person of the Year.
Mason’s coast-to-coast perspective has made him a natural leader within his company and for the lumber industry.
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D
eep thinking, passionate— adjectives that might not come first to mind when describing a lumberman. Yet, after 10 minutes with Fritz Mason, the President and General Manager of Georgia-Pacific Lumber, it’s obvious they do. Mason is an industry titan, with an impressive resume spanning into five decades of experience traversing the country, producing lumber and impacting communities along the way. When looking at the Timber Processing Person of the Year roster it is only fitting that his name appears next on the list. As such, Timber Processing has named Fritz Mason as the 2020 Person of the Year. He is the 32nd annual recipient of the honor and there is no better candidate in the industry who fits the double criteria for this award of leadership within their own company and leadership within the industry at large. A bit of a legacy lumberman, Mason’s grandfather was the manager of Sugar Creek Pine Co. in the 1940s near Etna, Calif. As a boy, growing up in a family that had long been associated with agriculture in northern California—farming, ranching, logging and sawmilling—in the Yreka area, Mason knew he wanted to work the land. “As I was getting to the point of getting out of high school I really thought I wanted to be a logger, and my mom being wiser convinced me that maybe I should consider more education before I went down that path,” Mason recalls. Following his mother’s advice, Mason attended Humboldt State University (where he was a classmate with another industry notable, Brian Luoma, President and CEO of The Westervelt Co.) and received a degree in forestry. It was at Humboldt where he first realized the impact of the forest products industry on the country as a whole. In its simplest terms, why does Mason like being a softwood lumberman: “I like the nexus that you’re working with a natural resource in a very sustainable way, in a process that although seems simple, a 2x4 seems simple, there’s a lot of complexity around it, it requires a lot of human interaction every day to make it work and it’s fun to work with people.” He continues, “Then you throw on the application of technology and interest in being good at that and learning all the time. If you like working with people, you like working with natural resources and you like complexity in how you apply technology to solve that—it’s a fascinating business and a business that is really fun to be in.”
Mason says he likes the people aspect first and foremost, and it shows in the way the industry embraces him as well. Humboldt classmate Luoma comments, “I can’t think of anyone more deserving of this recognition. Fritz is a consummate pro and is not only a valuable asset to GP but to the entire industry. I have always admired his leadership and perspective all the way back to our college days.” Mason’s current perspective of the industry, even with its cyclical uncertainties, is simply that there’s not a lot of good substitute product. “The alternative products that are out there to create shelter are generally expensive or not sustainable or one and the same,” he remarks. “I think you’ll see more wood products used in commercial and nonresidential construction, which is a really fascinating trend. The Softwood Lumber Board has worked a lot on that. It comes back to the application of digital technology and this explosion in innovation and knowledge transfer.” Mason is the current Treasurer of the Softwood Lumber Board. These remarks fall in line with the
overall outlook for the future as crosslaminated timber (CLT) begins to make waves in the industry. Whether it’s CLT or other applications, Mason believes the best use of lumber will prevail—especially to complement increasingly efficient designs. And he adds that whether you believe in global warming or not, there are a significant number of positives to the carbon cycle as it relates to lumber. One of the things that drives Mason is continuing to push innovation and automation, while making sure not to forget the critical people aspect. “Some of the automation is real simple. Like these new mills all have sweep conveyors underneath; whereas mills that were built 20 years ago, every weekend somebody has to go dig out all the junk. Digging out junk and waste is not a very fulfilling job. We’re going to see technology applications continue to make jobs more fulfilling and make the industry more fulfilling.” But to understand how Mason’s outlook was formed, it’s important to go back to the past. ➤ 16
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GETTING STARTED After going through the forestry coursework at Humboldt, Mason thought for a while he wanted to go to graduate school. Thanks to a few years as a starving student, when a summer internship at the now defunct P&M Cedar Products came up, he jumped at the chance to make a little money and get some real world experience. After excelling throughout the internship, Mason was offered a full-time position from P&M Cedar, whose main business in the 1980s was making pencil stock; and there Mason began a long and prosperous career in forest products, first in a safety and process engineering role. A combination of timber supply uncertainties brought on by the spotted owl and generational succession in the family ownership in the mid-1990s made it apparent it was time for Mason to find something else, leaving P&M Cedar as business unit manager. When he was looking around for the next opportunity, Mason crossed paths with Eric Schooler, COO at Hampton Lumber, and VP-Manufacturing Bob Schutte. From there, Mason’s entrance into southern yellow pine (SYP) began. He, his wife, Linda, and their two daughters, Sadie and Hannah, moved from the Pacific Northwest to Tuscaloosa, Ala. to work with the three mills Hampton had purchased—two in Alabama and one in Texas. While in Alabama, he hired retired Louisiana-Pacific plant manager Julian Clements, who became his mentor in the SYP business. “Julian taught me everything from the differences in the log markets, to how you buy logs in
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the South, to how you dry yellow pine, to working with people. He was a neat guy,” Mason says. But shortly after moving to Alabama, as log costs rose and the SYP business got extremely competitive, Hampton decided to focus on its Northwest operations. Mason handled the sale of the three SYP mills before moving his family back to the West Coast. He says he didn’t know when he hired Clements that Clements and Ronnie Paul, who was the Executive VP of GP’s wood products business then, were friends. But Paul soon called and asked if Mason would be interested in coming over to Georgia-Pacific and running its Northwest operations,
which at the time included mills in Fort Bragg, Calif.; and Philomath and Coos Bay, Ore. At that time GP was still a major timberland owner with about 5 million acres of timberland. Mason made the leap to GP in 1999 and at the encouragement of GP went back to Portland State and got his MBA.
THE KOCH FACTOR Before Koch Industries acquired GP, Mason was asked to step into the role of vice president of operations in the South, moving back to the humid climate and bringing his family to Georgia. In 2005, within a matter of months, the Koch deal would close, and Mason’s professional life would change forever. As GP moved from a public company to private ownership, people in the industry watched with bated breath. Mason says that ultimately, the change was one of the best that could have happened. “As a public company, it was hard for GP officers and the board to support investment in lumber because lumber is a deep cycle business and public companies don’t like that volatility in cash flows,” he says succinctly. Therefore, GP was very much managed with a short-term vision, not exactly ideal for a cyclical commodity industry like lumber. Koch Industries, being very closely family held and having a strong balance sheet, allowed GP the luxury of taking a very longterm view. “It’s always about maximizing the value we can create but looking at it through the long term. Instead of worrying about what’s going to happen next quarter, we’re looking at tomorrow and the next quarter, but looking at it through a 10-15-20
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Mason’s great-grandfather John. Y. Mason in front of the Sugar Creek Pine Co. around 1945. To remember his roots, this photo is the background of Fritz Mason’s laptop.
year lens. That’s a big difference.” From 2005 to 2008, Mason was responsible for GP’s lumber operations in a really challenging environment. “At that time we had 27 relatively small, antiquated mills. The mills we had going into the recession were underinvested. We went from I think 27 operations in 2005 down to 10 or 12 in 2010.” As the industry rebounded, so did GP with acquired production capacity and engineering and operations talent. In 2013, when the industry didn’t think GP was serious about the solid lumber business—GP acquired Temple-Inland Building Products from International Paper. That single move doubled GP’s scale of its lumber business and kicked off further investment. Since that acquisition, GP wood products has invested nearly one billion dollars—including building three new SYP sawmills in the past two years. Under Mason’s leadership, GP has gone from 27 small SYP sawmills to, with the startup in Albany, Ga. ongoing, 17 larger mills producing one and a half times as much lumber as the 27 mills did in 2005. The decision to add three new large sawmills to the portfolio was driven in part, Mason notes, by the unique culture the Koch Industries ownership has created at GP, which at its heart is called Market Based Management (MBM). According to Mason, MBM is a management philosophy where you look within the business and drive decisions the same way free markets work. “And that’s a pretty stark contrast to old, hierarchical companies where a lot of decisions are driven not necessarily by what makes the most economic sense but who’s the boss,” Mason says. “Koch is really a meritocracy. It’s not who’s the boss. The boss is expected to gather the best knowledge to challenge the process, get all the people with knowledge on the subject around and discuss the problem or idea and work towards the best solution. We count on leaders to be leaders but we expect leaders to seek the best knowledge and apply that to decision making.” Mason sees MBM as a way to really make an effort to understand what customers value, and make an effort to understand what all the other “constituents” such as log suppliers and employees value. “We put probably as much effort on these new mills really thinking through how we create a team that can run it, as we did engineering the new mills. Thinking about what’s going to create a framework that really makes 18
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GP’s three new SYP sawmills came in quick succession.
people want to come to work for us— that’s beyond economics,” he adds. For GP, the process does two things: It forces the company to innovate and improve faster and it creates a more fulfilling environment for the people. “Do we get it right all the time? No,” Mason admits. “Do we struggle with it at times? Yes. Our goal is to simply get better every day. Whether that’s getting better at the application of our culture or getting better at how we dry lumber, they are linked.” Mason knows this philosophy in part helps GP make decisions faster. The other piece of the process is what he calls point of view, which is what the GP leadership believes the future is going to look like and translating that into what the economics of the venture looks like. “Once we get through that step we can move very fast,” he adds. For example, the first thoughts of converting the idled Talladega, Ala. plywood mill into a new sawmill began in 2016— looking at what’s going to happen in the industry; what’s going on in housing; where capacity is going to come from; what’s going to be the impact of the mountain pine beetle. By mid summer 2017, GP made the decision to go forward with the project. The company broke ground at the end of 2017, and the mill shipped its first lumber in October 2018. The new mill in Warrenton, Ga. was also in the back of the leadership’s mind. “We had been really analyzing what was best to do with an old mill there,” Mason says. “The original mill had been built in 1974, and we had all the background work done already because we did Talladega. Shortly after 20
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“We put probably as much effort on these new mills really thinking through how we create a team that can run it, as we did engineering the new mills.” the first of the year in ’18 we decided to go forward with Warrenton. By midsummer ’18 we decided to go forward with Albany. One of the things that’s unique for us, because of the closely held ownership with a family that’s aligned around being long-term investors, not only can we move fast, we can take on big initiatives. It’s similar to what some of the smaller operators can do but with more scale.”
BRIGHT FUTURE Spending time with Mason makes it very clear his heart is in new projects and all that they encompass. “The fun part of the business is that you’ve got to get down to the nuts and bolts. It’s neat that you’re working with a natural resource that’s very sustainable and you’re creating shelter for society; that’s a great story. It’s a business that requires a lot of human decision making in the process. Developing
a team and getting a team to execute is very important,” Mason shares. Of course, he finds the technology aspect of projects fascinating, but says clearly the most exciting and biggest challenge piece is developing the teams for new mills. “It’s been a lot of fun,” he says with a rare chuckle. “It is really rewarding and it has points of agony—and we’re still not declaring victory. But it’s gone well.” But there have been difficult decisions. In the last year GP closed three mills. “It really comes down to the external environment doesn’t support longterm investment in that location,” he says somberly. “In all cases they had really good teams and it is agonizing to go through that. But, if you really look at what the fiber supply is, what the market outlook is, and what can you do—does it make sense to continue to invest in that location? Or does it make sense to reset what you’re doing and move to someplace like Albany that has future opportunity with it?” Mason uses the closing of GP’s mill in Fort Bragg, Calif. as a good example of that thinking. Shut down in 2002, at one point the mill in the mid-1980s was the largest lumber operation in the U.S. with two large sawmills on a single site. Redwood and cedar were the only things really available for outdoor applications—and a 70% redwood mill was ideal. But in the next decade substitute products came on the market (along with environmental issues) and redwood lumber fell out of favor. “In the end take all these external factors, as much as you love Fort Bragg, Calif., can you sustain an investment there
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because it doesn’t do anybody any good to invest in a losing proposition.” Free markets are incredibly important in how society creates prosperity, Mason emphasizes. In keeping GP’s mills invested in current technologies, the company stays competitive. Mason, a board member of the Binational Softwood Lumber Council, says that is partly why you see mills being built and/or renovated in the Southern U.S. be it from U.S. companies or Canadians. For Mason, who is not passionately territorial like some can be, the move of Canadian companies to the South was a natural progression. “The Canadians had the capability, meaning they were lumber manufacturers and they had the motivation because it couldn’t grow in their home region. It’s a natural thing.” Contrast that to when in the 1980s the U.S. began artificially restricting its timber supply in Northwest national forests, opening the door so to speak for Canadian softwood lumber producers to ship their lumber into the U.S.—lumber that stemmed at the time from healthy provincial forests. “These are some big sovereign societal issues that drive the trade tension between the two countries and it’s not as simple as ‘I don’t like you
here,’” Mason believes. Mason says the industry’s technical revolution changed not only the way lumber is produced but brought the cost of producing lumber down significantly—from curve-sawing to advances in mill optimization and better enabling in-
“It’s neat that you’re working with a natural resource that’s very sustainable and you’re creating shelter for society; that’s a great story.”
ers interact with end-use customers to create a more friction-less experience. “When we talk to our customers about what they want we get feedback they want a more Amazon-like experience,” he explains. But he’s quick to say customers aren’t looking for e-commerce, but instead the ability to get the products that they want when they want them on a very predictable basis. “This industry is far from that. Today our customers give us high marks for on-time shipping; and when we analyze it we’re 50 to 60% on time, but they’re giving us high marks because the industry is bad,” Mason elaborates. Driving out inefficiencies in how the industry services customers is a big opportunity going forward and will be a source for technological advancements creating the next big wave of innovation in the industry, he believes.
PAST LEARNINGS
tegrated motion control technology that has changed the way profiling mills are built. Mason says the things to watch in the coming years are integration of digital technologies throughout the process. But even more so is how lumber produc-
When asked to look back and point to a single industry innovation that changed the game, Mason says he can’t. “That’s one of the neat things about the industry,” he notes. “The innovation around process has been fairly dispersed. Whether that’s Ron McGehee and evolv-
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ing curve-sawing technology or some of the stuff David Seffens has done making the most reliable and robust equipment he could; what Comact and Lucidyne have done in autograding. It’s interesting because it’s a very specialized business, there’s not a lot of technology transfer between grading lumber and making other products.” For the next decade, without a doubt, Mason says the single biggest challenge the industry will face lies in attracting and developing talent, especially to rural areas that don’t always attract or retain
talent very well. Mason says as an industry it will be critical to understand what people want and figure out a proposition that creates an environment for them. Admittedly, Mason says GP struggled just like the rest of the industry looking for technical and leadership talent. “We always went outside of the communities we operated in and tried to bring people in, instead of looking at who are the people who want to be in this community. We shifted our recruiting from recruiting more at schools like Texas A&M to recruiting at schools like Tuskegee (Ala.)
for example because we found the people at Tuskegee wanted to be in the local communities because maybe their sights weren’t set as broadly.” GP also began looking at the local high schools, identifying those who are interested in staying. “If they are going to leave for more education, tie it back to us through an internship or a summer job, so that they recognize there’s an opportunity to stay in the community; create an environment in operator and technical jobs in the mill that has a lot of upward mobility so that we can not only attract the best people but retain them. The best thing we can do is create a path to a better work-life balance for someone where it fits where they want to live,” Mason adds. “The days of telling people that we’d love to have you come to work for us, it’s a great job, you’re going to work variable shifts without notice and long hours and in adverse environments and you’ll get an opportunity to advance yourself when we tell you, are gone. We need to be adapting to current reality and really thinking about what motivates people.” Mason points to “little things” like having desirable common spaces at work go a long way in helping retain employees, especially in the younger generation.
LEADERSHIP Through it all, Mason, who is 57, has served the industry at large in numerous capacities, from coast to coast. In addition to his current participation in the Softwood Lumber Board and Binational Softwood Lumber Council, he is chairman of the Western Wood Products Assn. and is a past chairman of the Southern Forest Products Assn. and American Wood Council, to name only a few of his past and current affiliations. Mason’s broad-ranging career has provided him a perspective of the lumber industry that is unmatched. His peers, such as George Emmerson, President and CEO of Sierra Pacific Industries, are frankly amazed by it. “Fritz has made himself a student of our industry,” Emmerson comments. “I do not know anybody that has been through as many lumber manufacturing facilities in North America as Fritz Mason. And Fritz has taken significant leadership roles in many industry associations, always representing what is in the best long-term interest of our industry in North America. I can not think of a more deserving person to be presented our industry’s prestigious Timber Processing award.” TP 22
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BACK
INTIME By DK Knight
Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. built a memorable town and highly reputable business.
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CENTURY, Fla. s names of American towns go, the moniker Century is not comparatively unusual. Still, it’s interesting that no state but Florida lists a Century in its index of cities, towns or counties. Also interesting is the origin of the town, located in far northcentral Escambia County on the northwestern edge of the panhandle, and the organization that built, owned and controlled it for, well, more than a half a century. What is more interesting, and even more significant, is that while traces of the original mill are scant, many of the town’s original buildings, including the hotel, post office, churches and dwellings, remain intact. This is a credit to the work of the AlgerSullivan Historical Society (algersullivan. org), which succeeded in getting the AlgerSullivan Lumber Co. Residential Historic District added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The district, located a short distance off U.S. Highway 29, encompasses approximately 23 acres and includes 45 buildings. (Except as noted, credit for all photos in this account goes to the Alger-Sullivan Historical Society.)
Longleaf logs of the period were large, very dense and quite heavy— well suited for making long timbers. (SLT photo) Prior to entering the mill, logs were stored in a pond, which help cleanse and preserve them.
of Pensacola, Fla. among other pursuits held significant lumber and/or timber interests—Alger in Michigan and Minnesota and Sullivan in Florida and Alabama. An accomplished officer in the Union Army during the Civil War, Alger, who was orphaned at age 12, was the former governor of Michigan, served as Secretary of War for President William McKinley, and later was appointed and then elected a U.S. Senator in Michigan. During and following the war, Alger spent time in parts
HOW IT BEGAN By the 1880s, wealthy businessmen Russell A. Alger (known as Gen. Alger) of Detroit, Mich. and Martin H. Sullivan 26
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Martin H. Sullivan
Russell A. Alger
of the South and was taken with the region’s splendid and abundant virgin longleaf pine forests. Sullivan and his brother, Daniel, arrived in the Pensacola area in the 1870s and quickly added to their wealth by investing in various pursuits, including banking, shipping and real estate. Through Sullivan Timber Co. they accumulated at least 220,000 acres, most of which supported mature longleaf pine. Their holdings were located primarily in the south Alabama counties of Escambia, Baldwin, Conecuh and Monroe. (Florida’s Escambia County and Alabama’s Escambia County adjoin each other.) At the time, the Gulf Coast was brimming with lumber and turpentine activity. The brothers also operated small sawmills in the area, created the short line
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Escambia Railroad, operated several miles of log ditches linked to rivers for log and timbers transportation to Pensacola Bay, and owned real estate and other property, including some Pensacola Bay wharves. In 1900 Alger and Martin Sullivan formed a syndicate, created The AlgerSullivan Lumber Co., and made plans for a big longleaf-centered sawmill and supporting village, finding an ideal site in 175 acres located a few miles south of the Alabama-Florida line town of Flomaton. Situated only a few miles from the Escambia River, which flows southward to Pensacola Bay, part of the property flanked the L&N Railroad. The founders viewed both as vital in getting lumber and timbers to domestic and export markets. Investors included Alger, Martin Sullivan, Frank Hecker, C.L. Street, W.D. Mann, E.M. Vynne, John Millen and Edward Hauss. One name considered for the town was Alger, but apparently Gen. Alger was not enamored with the idea. Instead, given the year and investors’ optimism over the promising venture, they chose Century for the name for their unincorporated settlement. At least three important Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. (ASLC) acquisitions took place in this time frame, including: 1) Foshee & Fuller Lumber Co.’s circle sawmill at nearby Foshee, Ala., which provided sawn materials for the new sawmill complex, a hotel to house construction workers, employee housing and other structures, and also generated income; 2) Sullivan Timber Co.’s timber assets (the price paid reportedly was $1 million); and 3) the all-important Escambia Railroad.
Edward Hauss, gifted with an acute organizational-management skillset and an eye for detail, but evidently having no lumber or logging experience, was brought in as superintendent of operations to spearhead the building of the mill and town. He was recommended for
the job by fellow stockholder and uncle, Frank Hecker. At first Hauss operated out of Foshee, Ala. but soon relocated to Century, directing a group of some 300 craftsmen and laborers in a challenging effort that took more than a year. Road conditions were said to have been deplorable and the work ethic of some locals, particularly around holidays, was not up to Hauss’ expectations. Stockholders chose Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. to design and erect the steam-operated plant. Alger himself specified twin 9 ft. bandmills and opted for the more efficient double cutting types that AllisChalmers had introduced a few years before. The saw bands had teeth on both edges so that they cut as the log carriage moved both forward and backward, resulting in greater efficiency and higher production. Beginning production in early 1902, the complex included 10 woodburning boilers that supplied steam to an enormous Corliss steam engine that turned a gigantic flywheel. In addition, the mill complex had two resaws, two edgers, shingle and lath works, log pond, drying yards, planer mill, storage areas, rail car loading facilities, engine roundhouse, maintenance shops and more. The mill building measured 60x300 ft.; its estimated cost, $350,000. The facility evidently got off to a smooth start, reportedly producing almost 60MMBF in 1903. For much of its life the mill cut lots of timbers—12x12s, 14x14s and 16x16s up to 60 ft. long were common early on—and most of the heavyweight output was exported to Europe or the Mediterranean Region. ASLC was said to have employed upwards of 500 at one time. Both in the mill and woods, laborers went at it from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., six days a week. Employees were paid in cash but could draw coupons, redeemable at the company store, against their pay. By 1915 the village had a hotel, hospital, commissary, post office, executive club, business district, schools, churches and segregated housing districts for black
Still standing, the hotel had 30 rooms but only two baths.
This larger dwelling likely housed a supervisor’s family. (SLT photo)
CONSTRUCTION
CURLY PANELING
In addition to timbers, framing and finish stock, the ASLC sawmill turned out limited quantities of distinctive and expensive burly or curly paneling, taking advantage of the burled grain found in the heart of some mature longleaf. The grain was typically identified in only one log out of hundreds, making it quite rare. Logs with this characteristic were set aside until enough were collected to make a special run. The curly or burled grain appeared holographic and three-dimensional and occurred most prominently at the interface of the heart and sap wood. It was a genetic anomaly and inherited trait within particular stands. A tree that contained curly heart was often described as being bumpy in appearance, and these tended to grow in groups. At least two offices at Alger-Sullivan’s headquarters were eventually finished in curly paneling, as was the alter area in the Century United Methodist Church. Today, small companies that specialize in heart pine made from salvaged longleaf timbers or old growth sinker logs still offer limited quantities of curly pine, albeit at a hefty price.
The commissary building as it appeared in the early 1900s
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HAUSS LEGACY
Even in the mid 1950s, ASLC’s lands continued to yield relatively large logs. The company was ahead of its time, requiring hardhats for woods workers. As well, it was a pioneer in converting to more efficient and productive treelength logging, adopting a trailer set-out system, using portable scales to control weight, and fitting its trucks with tachographs to record speed.
and white families. Housing ranged from small “shotgun” dwellings to large executive types. Smaller houses rented to mill workers were painted gray and each had a gray picket fence to keep roaming animals at bay. In 1931 rent ranged from $8 to $12 a month. All housing was periodically inspected by designated company representatives and generally was well maintained, at least on the outside. The company eventually provided water, electricity and garbage and sewer service to its employee tenants. Even though Century in due course had a constable, there was very little crime, so few, if any, doors or fence gates were ever locked. (To learn more about life in the town, visit algersullivan.org.) ASLC added a large theater and recreation hall in 1922. Decades later it was remodeled to become ASLC offices. The mill whistle, typically heard as one deep, long ‘w-h-e-e-o-o-o-o-o-o’ blast, served as the community clock, but a series of short blasts signaled fire. This is what locals heard in 1910 when flames 28
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destroyed the sawmill, which investors rebuilt basically as it was originally. The only other fire incident in ASLC history was in 1939 when the planer mill, some lumber and storage sheds, a few rail cars and part of the business district were destroyed. Although located a mere 50 miles north of the coast, there is no record of hurricane-inflicted damage to the mill complex or town, but both were impacted somewhat by infrequent flooding. Unlike many large lumber companies of the period, ASLC evidently encountered no problems with union-related labor unrest, nor did it promote itself regularly in trade journals with flashy advertisements. That evidently just wasn’t the style of Edward Hauss, who managed the company for decades. The pages of Southern Lumberman archives reveal that when the company did advertise, it did so in a modest manner. Russell Alger died in 1907; Martin Sullivan in 1911. Neither ever resided in Century.
Edward Hauss, who served The Alger-Sullivan Lumber Co. in various capacities for decades and ended up as chairman of the board, loved the outdoors and was a significant benefactor to the Edward Hauss Auburn University forestry program during his life. He established a forestry scholarship endowment in 1955 that is available to qualified students enrolled in AU’s School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences who are legal residents of Alabama or Florida. This program has helped hundreds of students since his death in 1963. On June 4, 1957, Auburn University honored Hauss for his industry contributions to his industry by awarding him with an honorary doctorate. In 1951 Hauss encouraged the company he led to donate 50 acres located near Atmore, Ala. to the Alabama Forestry Commission, which proceeded to establish a tree nursery on the property and named it after him. Today the facility consists of 400 acres and is the commission’s flagship nursery.
RAILROAD, CAMPS The railroad the company bought early on was crucial to the sawmill in that it was a direct link to the thick longleaf stands and remote logging operations. At its zenith the railway stretched for about 100 miles north of Century. Nucleus of ASLC’s logging operations was a place called Camp 8, which was basically a compound consisting of an office, dining hall, housing for young men, a repair shop, small commissary (supplied by train) and pens for chickens, cows and hogs. At the outskirts were quarters for married workers and their families. By the late ’30s or early ’40s, parts of Camp 8 benefitted from a gas-powered generator. “Camp cars” were built and set up similar to others of the day in the region but were said to have been more comfortable than those other area sawmill companies provided. Similar to box cars, the wooden structures were fitted with windows and were well-maintained. Mounted on wheels, they were strung to-
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gether, set on a rail siding, and were relocated from time to time by rail as timber cutting progressed. Camp 8 was kept neat and orderly, thanks to an edict from Hauss and the hands-on efforts of the logging superintendent and his personnel. ASLC’s longest serving logging superintendent was “Captain” Luke Earle, who began working in logging camps at age 10 and joined the company soon after it was organized. Known for his salty tongue, he became logging “super” in 1922 and ruled his little kingdom with strict but fair discipline until he retired in 1945. His habit of cursing was offset by charming courtesy when he was in the company of women. He was a flamboyant type and kept a jukebox in his quarters that played country music at deafening volume. Earle and Hauss had lots of respect for one another and developed a special bond, so much so that Hauss gave orders that Luke could always see him immediately. Once a year, stockholders, their wives and other special guests visited Century to tour the sawmill, town, and check out logging activity at Camp 8. Luke always saw to it that they were treated graciously and served a fine meal.
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Some workers at a remote logging camp pause for posterity.
Crosscut saws, axes and Peaveys were the typical tools of the day for felling, trimming and log maneuvering. In the early going, oxen and mules—the company reportedly owned hundreds of each—skidded logs to the railroad where they were lifted onto cars by steam-powered cable loaders. Eight-wheeled log wagons and “big wheel” carts were also likely in the mix at some point. Later, steam-powered skidders were used to drag logs up to 1,000 yards to the railroad, but this practice was eventually stopped. While such mechanical skidding was productive, it was also very dangerous and quite destructive, essentially wiping out all small trees and deeply scarring the landscape.
BIG CHANGES In the beginning, company officials reckoned its timber supply would last 15 to 20 years, but they altered course to expand this window by decades. ASLC slowed production at Century after a fast start and closed the mill at Foshee in the early 1920s, about the same time it purchased 30,000 additional acres of mature longleaf in Conecuh County, Ala. Hauss ordered a change in logging practices, resorting to less destructive skidding methods, and instituted selective cutting. In the 1930s he went against lumbering’s conventional thinking and initiated a tree planting program and hired M.C. Leach as the company’s first land management
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ASLC adopted larger crawler tractors for its in-woods operations.
forester. At the same time, Hauss ordered turpentine operations suspended on company lands and sold Conecuh Naval Stores, a subsidiary of ASLC. Also, the company strengthened efforts to reduce the chance of destructive wildfire, at one time purchasing fire plow-equipped Jeep pickups for select personnel and maintaining 2,000 miles of 10 ft. fire lanes. Lean Great Depression years forced cutbacks in logging and mill activity. The railroad was shortened, the number of log trains reduced, and for the first time, there was no new rail construction. A few military surplus trucks were successfully introduced to supplement rail log transportation. World War II also significantly impact-
ed operations, as the prolonged conflict saw many personnel enter military service. Even though the War Manpower Commission encouraged ASLC and other companies to bring in Central American laborers to help fill the gaps, Hauss resisted, citing concerns about the foreigners’ inexperience and how they would mesh with the culture of the company and community. After the war, ASLC gradually abandoned the railroad, went totally to trucks, got rid of livestock, adopted crawler tractors and gas-powered cable loaders, and converted to chain saws. Even so, in 1946 it continued to employ about 120 men in its logging operations. However, that number was trimmed by some 50% over the next decade, as the company crews be-
came much more efficient and productive. ASLC was a pioneer in converting to treelength skidding, loading and hauling and using a trailer set-out system, not to mention adopting larger crawler tractors and more reliable loaders and chain saws. It was also a pioneer in using portable scales and attaching tachographs on its trucks to monitor speed. Another development that affected the company happened in 1945 with the creation of South Flomaton, an incorporated town located between Century and Flomaton, Ala. This happening began chipping away at ASLC’s traditional paternalistic control of the established community. By all accounts, the “tern but fair” Edward Hauss, regarded as the “Great White Father” of Çentury, left a heavy footprint on the business and town and was given lots of credit in leading and guiding ASLC to a long, reputable, successful run. Known for human relations skills and for taking chances on people, he served as ‘town planner, judge in employee relations matters, mediator in arguments involving families and/or neighbors, and philanthropist.” He served as the company’s assistant secretary and treasurer, vice-president and treasurer, president and treasurer, and chairman of the board. ➤ 32
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CHANGEOVER In late 1956 ASLC stockholders, after reviewing a study “of the trend of the lumber business and of affairs in general,” (read obsolete sawmill and the rapid fading of the mill town era) voted to liquidate the company and sell all assets, then estimated worth $25 million. The company had 400 employees at the time, including Hauss, the last surviving member of the original group of organizers and a 57-year veteran with the company. Early the next year the assets were sold to a syndicate made up of St. Regis Paper Co., International Paper Co., Scott Paper Co., Timber Products Co., and The Koppers Co. The syndicate retained the 227,000 acres involved in the transaction and promptly sold the sawmill, log and lumber inventories, logging equipment and the village of Century to two prominent independent lumbermen: Leon Clancy of Decatur, Ala. and Hobart Manley, Sr., of Savannah, Ga. Clancy and Manley renamed the operation Alger-Sullivan Sawmill Co. (ASSC) and entered into a five-year contract (later extended to 10) to purchase substantial volumes of timber from the syndicate, which tapped veteran Alabama lumber-
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man/politician G.R. Swift to oversee the contract in collaboration with M.C. Leach, ASLC’s forester who transferred to the new company. The new owners quickly moved with plans to electrify and modernize the sawmill to more efficiently handle smaller logs and streamline the entire process. This included the installation of a debarker and chipper. About the time the 24-month renovation was completed, the mill was destroyed by a fire ignited by some last-minute welding. Unfazed, Clancy and Manley started over and in less than a year had a smaller plant going, only to be confronted with a late 1950s economic downturn that sent lumber prices lower. But the business held on, among other things finding a new source of revenue by selling chips to the St. Regis paper mill in nearby Cantonment. Later, ALSC added gluing and fingerjointing equipment and began making heavy-duty rail car flooring. It later added a new planermill and installed a small wood treating operation. In the early to mid ’60s, ALSC offered mill houses to employees for the prices as calculated by the local tax assessor’s office and sold off vacant residential lots. The company also donated land for a sewer plant, courthouse annex and baseball field.
FINAL ERA ALSC’s performance attracted the attention of Tampa-based Jim Walter Corp., which acquired the Century operations in 1967. It relocated a door plant to Century in the early ’70s and gradually phased out all lumber manufacturing and wood treating operations. The door plant was eventually permanently shut. Today the only sounds coming from the sawmill site, now surrounded by a rusting chain link fence, are those made by birds and animals, and the occasional creaking or flapping of a piece of loose tin on a sagging lumber shed. No wood or building products plant currently operates in Century, which has a population of about 1,900. Interestingly, the town of South Flomaton, incorporated in 1945, changed its name to Century in 1979. On April 22, 1980, the new, officially incorporated town of Century annexed the unincorporated village to the south originally founded as Century and both entities were united as one. TP This article previously appeared in Southern Loggin’ Times, an affiliate of Timber Processing.
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THINKING
CROSS-LAM By Richard Vlosky, Mason LeBlanc, Rajan Parajui, Charles Gale
Recent survey examines awareness of CLT by SYP lumber producers.
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s the United States looks for ways to reduce its carbon footprint, the commercial construction industry and architects are searching for more sustainable products that are cost effective, energy efficient, structurally sound, and environmentally friendly. At the same time, as housing starts have not rebounded to pre-recession levels, forest landowners and wood products manufacturers are seeking alternative markets. The Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center partnered with more than a dozen university, government and industry entities to conduct an analysis of the market environment and potential of cross-laminated timber (CLT) in the U.S. South constructed from southern yellow pine (SYP).
Previous CLT research and development to date has focused on using Douglas fir and other species from the Pacific Northwest region of the U.S. as well as spruce-pine-fir from Canada and imported species from European countries.
SYP MANUFACTURING Softwood lumber markets in the South have been regaining momentum since the recession of 2008 as U.S. demand continues to increase. In 2009, U.S. customers purchased close to 31 billion BF of softwood lumber which was projected to reach 49 billion BF in 2018. The recession caused a significant slump in softwood lumber demand, which in turn allowed trees to grow larger on the stump as landowners waited for low stumpage prices to recover. In the past, independently owned, smaller sawmills made up the lumber industry in the South. During the mid2000s only about a fifth of the South’s lumber mills were larger than 200MMBF in size, while approximately 33% were smaller mills of less than 100MMBF. The number of softwood sawmills in the region declined from 420 to 298 from 1995 to 2009, producing a high of 19.5
billion BF in 2008. Today, lumber mills in the U.S. South are expanding, and are bigger with many managed and owned by large companies rather than independent owners. They currently produce about 22 billion BF of lumber. Large sawmills are taking advantage of the low sawtimber prices in the region. Since 2011, the production capacity has increased by 3 billion BF and is on an upward trajectory from a number of variables. Housing trends, import tariffs, and an affordable feedstock have accelerated the southern pine industry. Canadian firm West Fraser holds the largest production capacity at 3.1 billion BF, followed by Weyerhaeuser with 2.5 billion, and Georgia-Pacific with 2.4 billion. The top 10 companies in the South comprise 66% of total production capacity, and Canadian firms account for one-third of capacity. Most of these competing firms have announced plans to increase their capacity by expanding existing mills or building new ones, causing a high geographical agglomeration. In short, Southern sawmills are becoming fewer yet larger as companies seek to improve profit margins through efficiency and sourcing of low cost timber.
CLT momentum that started in the Northwest is now migrating to the South. 34
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CLT EMERGENCE Mass timber has been produced and used in many forms over the past decade. Examples are glulam beams, laminated veneer lumber (LVL), and parallel strand lumber (PSL). More recently, new entrants have been developed and are being adopted in the North American engineered wood product building materials family of products. Panel products like crosslaminated timber (CLT), naillaminated timber (NLT), dowel-laminated timber (DLT) and mass plywood panels (MPP) have experienced years of product testing, manufacturing learning curves, yet limited market space. CLT, the focus of this article, its manufacturing and use in multi-story buildings and other structures is a well-established and fast-growing industry in Europe, but is in its infancy stage in the U.S. The potential markets for CLT in the U.S. are enormous if architects, builders/contractors, engineers, and building owners accept the product as a substitute for steel and concrete construction. The Southern U.S. has ample southern yellow pine resources to meet the potential market for CLT, as there are many sawmills in the region that have increased production significantly after the post-recession reduction in demand for dimension lumber. Led by CLT, the North American mass timber-panel manufacturing industry is poised for substantial growth, projected to double in size in terms of projects and manufacturing capacity annually for the next four years. The International Mass Timber Conference, held in Portland, Ore. for the past three years, as well as efforts to disseminate knowledge, awareness and understanding of this emerging market by WoodWorks, a national organization, is accelerating. This is just the beginning of a very long upward trajectory for an industry that will replace traditional construction materials like steel, concrete, and masonry in many applications. Mass timber panels will also be used in conjunction with traditional building materials, further expanding markets and use. As the environmental, economic, construction, and aesthetic implications of using wood are better understood by ar-
chitects, developers, builders, engineers and government officials, the mass timber industry will be firmly established in both non-residential and residential construction in the future.
SAWMILL SURVEY A comprehensive study was conducted in fall 2018/spring 2019 to better understand the dynamics of CLT perceptions, awareness and potential for adoption from architects, non-residential builders, engineers (civil, architectural, building) and hardwood and softwood lumber mills in the study region. This article focusses on the softwood lumber mill segment. Softwood lumber is the main feedstock for CLT, and as such, it is essential to better understand the supply-side. A paper-based survey instrument was developed with input from key partners versed in the sawmill sector. Mail-
based survey techniques were used to assess the current market knowledge base of Southern sawmills toward CLT and its potential in the Southern U.S. A random sample was taken from the softwood sawmill sector in the study region. Following accepted survey administration practices, pre-notification postcards, a first survey mailing with a postage-paid envelope, reminder postcards, and a second survey mailing were sent to 412 sawmill recipients. After accounting for undeliverable surveys, primarily firms that had gone out of business, incomplete surveys, and nonresponses, the adjusted response rate was 18% with 51 useable responses.
SURVEY RESULTS ● Respondent Demographics The highest response rates came from the states of Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi, comprising 18%, 16%
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and 14% of responses, respectively. Least represented were Tennessee, Florida and Louisiana with 6%, 4% and 4% of respondents. Most of the sawmills were moderately sized in terms of employment, with 56% employing 20-250 people, while 6% employed more than 500 and 20% had less than 10 employees. CLT is a possible new sales channel
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for softwood lumber producers, so we looked at current customer bases to see where market shifts may occur. With multiple responses possible, 35% of respondents sell to wholesalers at the top of the list, followed by preservative treating companies/remanufacturers/export (18%), stocking distributors (12%), and non-residential builders (9%).
● What do they know about CLT? While the CLT market is poised for substantial growth, results indicate that respondents are generally unfamiliar with CLT. Forty-one percent indicated that they were not at all familiar with the product while 41% were somewhat familiar and 18% were very familiar. The recent establishment of a CLT manufacturer within the region seems to be slow in gaining the attention of Southern sawmills, as 53% of respondents reported they knew nothing about the current CLT manufacturers within the U.S.; only 2% were very familiar. ● Will they sell lumber to CLT manufacturers? Can they meet CLT lumber requirements? How much will they charge? While the lack in familiarity may be a concern for CLT manufacturers hoping to locate in the South, 36% of respondents said they were somewhat or very likely to sell lumber to a CLT manufacturer operating in the region, while 8% of respondents have already sold lumber to a CLT manufacturer. Seventy-seven percent of respondents would not require long-term contracts with CLT manufacturers, but 65% said they would accept them. The capability of Southern sawmills to produce CLT grade lumber
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is not an issue. Generally respondents reported that they could meet CLT lumber specifications, with 65% saying they could dry lumber to a 10-12% moisture content; however, 48% are able to sort and provide higher density wood specifically for the CLT market. Drying to CLT requirements and sorting by density comes at a premium for many of the respondents (see figure, page 35). For drying alone, 85% of respondents said they would charge a premium. Of the 26 of respondents that shared this information, the premiums ranged from, on the low end of the scale, 1%-5% (4% of respondents), to an over 20% premium (15% of respondents). Without market information on whether premiums are currently being charged, or paid, it will be interesting to see if these play out in the marketplace once CLT becomes established in the South. ● Information Needed There are many opportunities for educating many players in the CLT supply chain and influencers such as architects and builders. Softwood lumber manufacturers indicate the top areas or experiences they would like to receive or participate in to become better educated on CLT (see figure, page 35). Although
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this study established a general unfamiliarity of CLT and CLT manufacturers from the perspective of Southern softwood sawmills, the opportunity to increase the knowledge and expand the industry presents itself. This is an opportunity for CLT education providers to target this segment. More than 50% would like to make contacts with builders that use CLT, followed by nearly a third desiring technical specifications for CLT and feedstock that they may potentially provide. ● The Future Many respondents expressed a desire to learn more about, and potentially enter the CLT sector. At the end of the day, they also shared a positive outlook regarding CLT that will be used by builders in 2020 (see figure, page 36). Fully 58% of respondents think that CLT use by builders will increase somewhat or significantly in 2020. Only 6% thought the market for builders will decline. Although the nexus of CLT production has been in the Pacific Northwest, CLT manufacturers are now focusing more attention on supplying the Eastern U.S. market. Production is coming on line in the South with Texas Cross Laminated
Timber reopening a mill in southwest Arkansas and Jasper, Texas. International Beams (now SmartLam), the first Southern SYP CLT manufacturer located in Dothan, Ala., is already producing and selling to capacity. CLT production using SYP will continue to grow significantly over the next five years. Early adopters will enjoy a competitive advantage…if they get it right with regard to creating markets and convincing influencers/specifiers to get on board. The CLT train has TP definitely left the station. Richard Vlosky. Ph.D. is Director, Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, and Crosby Land & Resources Endowed Professor of Forest Sector Business Development, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter Mason T. LeBlanc is a Master’s student at the Louisiana Forest Products Development Center, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter Rajan Parajui, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina Charles B. Gale is Strategic Business Analyst at SmartLam North America, Portland, Ore.
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POST
MICHAEL By Patrick Dunning
More than a year after Hurricane Michael, the salvage effort yields some results.
E
stimates of successful wood salvage on timberland damaged by Hurricane Michael along the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia range from 10-16%, according to some authorities; meanwhile many logging outfits scrambled to contribute to the salvage effort, and some suffered because of the market ramifications. Making landfall on October 10, 2018 near Mexico Beach in Bay County, Fla., the Category 5 hurricane speared the Gulf Coast with 155-160 MPH winds, leaving some communities still draped in blue tarp and desolate. The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA), which will include U.S Forest Service assessments in areas affected by the storm, could conclude as early as March, providing a before and after footprint on timber plots. Initial reports by Florida Forest Service estimated the value of timber damage at $1.3 billion, pillaging more than 2.8 million acres of forestland either catastrophically (347,000 acres), severely (1.04 million acres) or moderately (1.4 million acres). More specifically, FFS said the storm impacted 500 million trees, 16,000 private landowners and 233 communities (about 4.4 years of annual forest harvest in Florida). The three counties most affected by the storm in the Panhandle were Bay, Calhoun and Gulf, but Gadsden, Jackson, Liberty, Franklin, Holmes, Leon, 42
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The enormous salvage task is on the downward slope.
Wakulla and Washington counties also received damage. Agriculture Commissioner Nicole (Nikki) Fried recently announced that the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture allocated $380.7 million in federal block grant funding for Florida farmers devastated by Hurricane Michael, including direct relief for timber producers. The Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services will administer the USDA block grants alongside the Florida Div. of Emergency Management. FFS said more than 1.6 million acres of pine was damaged, along with 697,000 acres of mixed upland stands, and 503,000 acres of bottomland. Georgia Forestry Commission estimated nearly 2.4 million acres of forestland impacted and approximately 38 million tons of timber valued at $763 million damaged by the storm, including 20.5 million tons of pine and 17.2 million tons of hardwood. Scott Griffin, Forest Management Chief of GFC, says the salvage effort concluded in spring 2019 for the most
part. “A lot of the wood deteriorated after a while,” he says. “What we’re seeing now is internal damage. Combine dry season with pine bark beetles attacking stressed trees and you get unviable stands.” Griffin, who helped lead the charge following the storm, says high volumes of wood on the ground limited the markets. Moving forward, GFC will continue to manage standing timber in moderately damaged areas. Catastrophic damage was documented for 79,456 acres of forestland from south of Albany to Lake Seminole, representing a loss of 2.2 million tons of pine and 1.8 million tons of hardwood valued at $80.5 million. Severe damage was documented for 296,112 acres of forestland from south Albany to near Bainbridge. Damages total an estimated loss of 6.4 million tons of pine and 5.3 million tons of hardwood. Those affected the worst in Georgia include Seminole, Miller, Baker, Dougherty, Lee and Crisp counties, while Decatur, Mitchell, Worth, Early, Calhoun, Sumter and other counties ex-
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perienced damages. David Dickens, PH.D., Forest Productivity professor at the University of Georgia, anticipates a final salvage rate of 16% with percentages fluctuating in Alabama and Florida. “We were hoping to get 25% recovered in stands but there weren’t enough trees,” he says. Dickens was on the forefront of the salvage effort after Hurricane Hugo in 1989, where he says 60% of wood was recovered. Charles Ives, a logging operator based in Quitman, Ga., says as terrible as Michael was, it had a positive spin. “It had gotten so wet there was nowhere left for us to work,” he says. “It gave us something to do because we didn’t have anywhere else to go.” There was initial hesitation to travel to the west side of the state to Baker County but continual rain following the storm forced their hand so they took a track loader and track cut-down machine to the devastation zone, which gave them a slight advantage. “A lot of us waited and didn’t go at the very start,” Ives says. “We kept saying we weren’t going to get involved over there but we ended up going. Markets were low on inventory due to wet conditions which resulted in getting paid higher rates for storm wood.” He believes a lot of the salvage effort has since resided due to blue stain. Tract conditions weren’t easy on his equipment either. “The ground was really bad and picking up stray limbs was like sifting through pixy sticks,” Ives recalls. Sitting just outside the path where peak wind gusts occurred, Ricky Anderson, owner of Anderson Logging Inc., in Temple, Ga., says he still feels some discomfort. In his efforts to help clean damaged areas southbound, Anderson says the accessible timber is still a burden. “The mills don’t like twisted wood, you have to do a lot of saw work and it’s aggravating,” he says. “And it’s only good for so long.” Logging foreman Jacob Paschal, Albany, Ga., says their chipping operation hasn’t taken a lot of days off since the storm hit. “We had a lot of storm wood we were on, the problem was, there was nowhere to deliver the wood,” he says. “West Georgia got hit hard and we had ample opportunity to go over there and chip all day but there’s not a lot of opportunities to sell it.” Keith Dunson, procurement contractor
Hurricane Michael is the strongest storm to hit the Florida Panhandle.
for Havana Logging Co., Havana, Fla., says looking at what the storm did just a few hours after was devastating. His core timber buying area sits in the four-county area that suffered the most destruction. It took about one month to get situated because most of their loggers’ homes were damaged. “Our guys had to get their lives in order before they could help other people,” Dunson says. “A lot of them didn’t have a place to lay their head, we’d let them use our equipment to get limbs off their houses and patch roofs.” They then dispatched five crews outside the catastrophic zone, and four inside. “We had help all around, had some track and swamp crews helping in the wet areas and we just cut what standing wood was available.” One problem Dunson sees moving forward is the well-being of private landowners. “There’s very little revenue available to the landowner because they took a beating on stumpage,” he says. “Finding new stumpage in the future will be tough, we’re going to have to pan out further.” Troy Walden, owner of Walden Timber Harvesting Inc., Altha, Fla., had gotten out of the business shortly before the storm hit, but was enticed by the opportunity to recover storm wood. It didn’t work out as he had hoped. “All the timber that blew over, there was about 30 million worth of timber damage in my area,” Walden says. “I just didn’t see
how I could make a living anymore.” The storm wood market was good shortterm, Walden says, but believes all the salvage timber that can be utilized, has already been. “I hate to say it but all the wood that’s left is rotted. They’re doing all they can but this damaged timber is going to hurt the industry down the road.” Walden notes a small patch of relief is Apalachicola National Forest selling tracts. But even then, he says that won’t last long. Located in Perry, Fla., Jamie Boland, owner of Boland Timber Co., says they were east enough not to receive any damage. The issue his crews experienced were in lending a helping hand. “We figured out really quick we couldn’t help like we wanted to,” he says. After sending a crew to Calhoun County, finding places to stay and gas stations were hard to come by. The market in the devastation area was bad, and Boland says he’s felt some of those strains bleeding over in the last six months; especially since some of the salvage efforts reverted to pushing slash wood aside and getting strictly leaning wood. Dewayne Sheppard, a used equipment dealer and logging operator based in Havana, Fla., also suffered losses because of the storm’s impact. With production down 30%, his attempt to capitalize on storm wood was temporary. “The mills offered us more money but it didn’t add up in the long run,” he says. ➤ 44
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Landowner assistance programs are becoming available.
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Wewahitchka, Fla. was one of 43 ➤ the hardest hit by the storm, sitting in Gulf County. Ted Whitfield, timber dealer of Whitfield Timber Co., says there’s a high percentage of long-term damage surrounding the region. “It overwhelmed the community,” Whitfield says. Currently working through a 25% loss in production, Whitfield is just trying to recover what he can. Of the landowners Whitfield knows, he says no one has received any financial compensation yet. He is hopeful it could come as soon as Quarter 1, 2020. The Farm Service Agency has a costshare program called the Emergency Forest Restoration Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to assist private landowners in restoring land damaged by Hurricane Michael. Cost-share payments cover up to 75% of approved restoration practices and limited to $500,000 per person or legal entity. The application process for timber producers to receive grant funding is being finalized. Through consistent engagement with USDA officials, Florida secured nearly half of the $800 million in federal block grant funding announced for Florida, Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina disaster relief programs. The funds will compensate timber producers for lost value of their crop damaged by Hurricane Michael, helping them clear downed trees and replant. Block grant funding will also help producers repair and replace irrigation infrastructure damage from Hurricane Michael. “This funding is a huge victory for Florida’s timber producers, whose resilience in the year following Hurricane Michael has been extraordinary,” Fried says. “Our priority will be moving this funding forward so that timber producers can have checks in hand and trees in the ground. Thank you to the USDA and Secretary Perdue for helping us put Florida’s farmers first.” Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed into law the Forest Debris Management Program, an emergency disaster relief initiative assisting cleanup efforts and funding to those impacted in the 28county area. As of December 1, 2019, approximately 35% or 60,000 acres have been certified for clean-up by GFC. “We appreciate the efforts of forest landowners who have been dealing with the challenges of storm fallout and cleanup,” Georgia Forestry Commission Director Chuck Williams says. “One of our main goals, to keep forests as forests, remains a top priority.” TP
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MACHINERYROW Harrigan Will Install Automated Grading
of those now equipped with Deep Learning technology.
Harrigan Lumber of Monroeville, Ala. is updating its line with the Transverse High Grader (THG) system, featuring Deep Learning technology. The mill produces SYP dimension lumber. Harrigan joins more than 150 other mills worldwide that have installed USNR’s vision grading systems, many
Governor Visits Hurst Boiler As part of an ongoing tour to highlight products made in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp visited Hurst Boiler & Welding Co. Inc. in Coolidge, Ga. in early December.
Brian Jackson, Hurst Boiler operations manager, says the company began small and has grown through the years. “I think the governor is interested in highlighting those types of businesses, and we’re excited about showing our success story,” Jackson says. Hurst Boiler employs more than 350 and its manufacturing facility is 314,000 sq. ft. The visit was part of the governor’s quarterly Made in Georgia Tour designed to bring attention to and highlight products made in the state.
Veteran Filer Joins Oleson Saw Team Oleson Saw has added Matt Tulleners to the Oleson Saw sales team as West Coast Territory Manager. Tulleners brings decades of experience in band and circular saws. He has served key roles at Idaho Forest Industries, Weyerhaeuser, Stimson Lumber and Idaho Forest Group. Contact Tulleners at mtulleners@olesonsaw.com or call him at 208-290-1645.
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Friday-Saturday May 1-2, 2020 Richmond Raceway Complex
600 E. Laburnum Ave. Richmond, VA 23222
Make plans today to participate in the 37th East Coast Sawmill & Logging Exposition and take in the East Coast’s largest array of sawmill, pallet, logging, biomass and related machinery, supplies and services. Invest in your future and grow your business. ● More than 300 inside & outside exhibits ● Convenient access ● Plenty of parking ● Log loader contest
● See machinery in action! ● 1 entry fee, 2-day admission
● Pre-expo workshops
Visit www.ExpoRichmond.com to register before April 17, 2020 to receive the special rate of $10. After April 17th, admission is $20 per person. Spouses and children under 18 are admitted with paying adults. An educational course on Wood Anatomy ($100) will be held off-site on Thursday, April 30. For more informaition or to register, visit www.exporichmond.com or www.sim.sbio.vt.edu/?page_id=2616
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WOOD PRODUCTS MARKETPLACE NORTH AMERICA
■ Minnesota
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■ Canada ■ Ontario Buyers & Wholesalers We produce quality 4/4 - 8/4 Appalachian hardwoods • Red Oak, White Oak, Poplar •
Green Lumber: Air Dried, Kiln Dried Timbers & Crossties
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Next closing: July 6, 2020
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DHM Company - Troy, TN 38260 731-446-4069 Fax: 707-982-7689 email: kelvin@kilnsticks.com www.KILNSTICKS.com
■ Georgia Beasley Forest Products, Inc. P.O. Box 788 Hazlehurst, GA 31539
beasleyforestproducts.com Manufactures Kiln-Dried 4/4 Red and White Oak, Poplar, Ash and Cypress Contact: Linwood Truitt Phone (912) 253-9000 / Fax: (912) 375-9541 linwood.truitt@beasleyforestproducts.com
Pallet components, X-ties, Timbers and Crane Mats Contact: Ray Turner Phone (912) 253-9001 / Fax: (912) 375-9541 ray.turner@beasleyforestproducts.com
■ Kentucky HAROLD WHITE LUMBER, INC. MANUFACTURER OF FINE APPALACHIAN HARDWOODS
(606) 784-7573 • Fax: (606) 784-2624 www.haroldwhitelumber.com
Ray White
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Green & Kiln Dried, On-Site Export Prep & Loading Complete millworks facility, molding, milling & fingerjoint line
WANT TO GET YOUR AD IN OUR NEXT MARKETPLACE? Call or email Melissa McKenzie 334-834-1170 melissa@hattonbrown.com 02/20
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Call Toll-Free: 1-800-669-5613
EMPLOYMENTOPPORTUNITIES JOHN GANDEE
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Depending on Circumstances / Needs
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Oleson Saw Technology, a division of York Saw & Knife Company, has a Benchman opening in our new Post Falls, Idaho facility. Applicants should possess all necessary skills and knowledge of the proper benching techniques for bandsaws. A minimum of 3 years experience is preferred. This is a full-time position with growth potential. Base hours are 7:00AM-3:30PM Monday thru Friday. Email resume to dmyers@yorksaw.com or call 717-767-6402. 9961
PROFESSIONALSERVICES WORN OR MISALIGNED CARRIAGE RAILS? A Proven Process
Contact Us Cell: 541.760.7173 Office: 770.364.0917 www.acculine-rails.com chris@acculine-rails.com
• Rails straightened & ground in-place at a fraction of the cost of rail replacement • No down time for the mill • Restores carriage rails to optimum sawing efficiency •Precision Laser Alignment • Machining and Grinding • Carriage and Bandmill Alignment 489
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MAINEVENTS FEBRUARY 4-5—Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Assn. Convention & Exposition, Indianapolis Marriott Downtown, Indianapolis, Ind. Call 317-288-0008; visit ihla.org. 19-23—Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers annual meeting, Naples Grand Beach Resort, Naples, Fla. Call 336-8858315; visit appalachianhardwood.org. 27-March 2—IndiaWood 2020, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre, Bangalore, India. Call +91-80-4250 5000; visit indiawood.com.
MARCH 4-5—Ohio Forestry Assn. annual meeting, Marriott Columbus University Area, Columbus, Ohio. Call 614-497-9580; visit ohioforest.org. 4-6—National Wooden Pallet & Container Assn. Annual Leadership Conference, Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples, Fla. Call 703-519-6104; visit palletcentral.com. 8-10—2020 NAWLA Leadership Summit & WWPA annual meeting, JW Marriott Desert Resort & Spa, Palm Desert, Calif. Call 503-224-3930; visit wwpa.org. 10-11—Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334-834-1170; visit bioenergyshow.com. 12-13—Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE), Omni Hotel at CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. Call 334-834-1170; visit pelice-expo.com. 16-18—Dubai Woodshow, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Call +971 4 39 23232; visit dubaiwoodshow.com. 25-27—Hardwood Manufacturers Assn. 2020 National Conference & Expo, JW Marriott, Nashville, Tenn. Call 412-244-0440; visit hmamembers.org. 25-27—2020 SLMA & SFPA Spring Meeting & Expo, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, La. Call 770-631-6701; visit slma.org.
APRIL 7-9—Kentucky Forest Industries Assn. annual meeting, Brown Hotel, Louisville, Ky. Call 502-695-3979; visit kfia.org. 26-28—American Wood Protection Assn. annual meeting, Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe, Incline Village, Nev. Call 205733-4077; visit awpa.com.
MAY 1-2—Expo Richmond 2020, Richmond Raceway Complex, Richmond, Va. Call 804-737-5625; visit exporichmond.com.
12-15—Southeastern Dry Kiln Club annual meeting, NC State University, Raleigh, NC. Call 919-515-5581; visit research.cnr.ncsu.edu/blogs/wpe/southeastern-dry-kiln-club-2. 15-16—Loggers’ Expo, Champlain Valley Exposition, Essex Junction, Vt. Call 315-369-3078; visit northernlogger.com. 26-29—Xylexpo 2020, Fieramilano Rho Fairgrounds, Milan, Italy. Phone +39-02-89210200; Visit xylexpo.com/index.php/en.
SEPTEMBER 30-October 2—Timber Processing & Energy Expo, Portland Expo Center, Portland, Ore. Call 334-834-1170; visit timberprocessingandenergyexpo.com. Listings are submitted months in advance. Always verify dates and locations with contacts prior to making plans to attend.
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This issue of Timber Processing is brought to you in part by the following companies, which will gladly supply additional information about their products. ADVERTISER Andritz Iggesund Tools ARS Automation Design Autolog BID Group of Companies BM&M Screening Solutions Calibre Equipment Carbotech International Cleereman Industries Cone Omega Corley Manufacturing Donaldson Industrial Air Filtration East Coast Sawmill Expo G F Smith Holtec USA IWF IndiaWood JoeScan Johnson & Pace Linck Linden Fabricating Longato Grinding Machines Lucidyne Technologies McDonough Manufacturing Mebor Mellott Manufacturing Metal Detectors Mid-South Engineering Muhlbock Holztrocknungsanlagen Nelson Bros Engineering Northeastern Loggers Association Oleson Saw Technology Opticom Tech Piche Pipers Saw Shop Premier Bandwheel Sering Sawmill Machinery Sharp Tool SII Dry Kilns Simonds-Burton-BGR Saws-CutTech Springer Maschinenfabrik GmbH Strategic Solutions NW Telco Sensors USNR West Coast Industrial Systems Wintersteiger Wood-Mizer
PG.NO. 2 40 12 17 19 33 8 44 31 46 18 49 25 56 47 51 40 48 45 40,50 13,55 11 22 37 38 25 50 36 10 32,50 9 16 24 40 21 21 46 29 3 39 19 23 7,48 6 41 30
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