MACHINERY ROW

USNR Announces Several Orders

Dempsey Wood Products of Orangeburg, SC has ordered a planer mill trimsort-stack line to increase its capacity and expand its product line. The line will allow the mill to process 16 ft. lengths, and cut-n-two into shorter lengths. It is scheduled to start up in early 2021.

The order features a Revolver lug loader with MillTrak backlog control, Transverse High Grader, Multi-Track Fence, clamshell style trimmer, low profile stacker and WinnTally sorter management integrated with the THG. This mill previously ordered a Counter-Flow kiln conversion for its USNR batch kiln, also scheduled to start up in the first quarter. It also recently ordered new USNR optimization and controls for its merchandiser.

● Holzwerk Schilling GmbH of Rot a.d. Rot, Germany is investing in vision scanning from USNR. The BioVision side profile scanning system will scan the exposed faces of a sawn cant after the sideboards have dropped away to identify cant visual characteristics. This data will be used to sort each cant for “high quality” or “low quality” destination.

The BioLuma 2900LV sensors will be mounted above and below the belt on the resaw outfeed to scan top and bottom faces of the cant. The system will detect knots and color variations for rot, and will provide a solution for sorting the cants for further downstream processing. The BioLuma 2900LV combines HD laser profiling and HD color vision along the full length of the piece into a single sensor allowing USNR optimization to identify and classify defects for accurate grade classification. ● 2020 continues to be a successful year for USNR’s Cambio debarker product line. The latest addition to the order book is a CamShift 600 modular debarking system ordered by the Moelven Soknabruket sawmill in Sokna, Norway.

CamShift is USNR’s modern and modular adaption of traditional Cambio debarking technology, allowing for a variety of configurations to match different application requirements. This particular unit comprises a CamTrim flare reducer, a Cambio 600 debarking rotor, and six CM 600D direct-drive feedworks modules that transport logs through the machine. Both the flare reducer and the rotor slide out of the machine for easy maintenance.

USNR will also deliver a CIM 800 log infeed and an outfeed conveyor. This system will replace a Cambio 800 and will be installed during summer 2021.

Stiles Will Support Minda North America

Minda and Stiles announce Minda’s acquisition of Deal Manufacturing in North Carolina and the subsequent formation of Minda North America.

Stiles will continue to be the sales, service and support partner, while Minda North America will integrate and manufacture technologies necessary for the mass timber industry.

Charles Martin, who has been with Stiles for more than eight years, becomes President and CEO of Minda North America, which will be based in Granite Falls, NC. ➤ 44

Kalmar Promotes Forklifts ChargePod

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has launched its containerized ChargePod solution for electrically powered forklift trucks. The solution addresses growing customer demand for cost-effective mobile outdoor charging solutions and is ideal for customers such as sawmills, where large parts of the operations are outside, mean-

Kalmar ChargePod container

ing that space is at a premium.

The Kalmar ChargePod provides a complete charging station inside a standard 20 ft. container that can be located almost anywhere on site. Two sets of forklift truck batteries can be charged simultaneously, and the container is insulated to make it suitable for use in both cold and hot climates, with AC cooling available as an option. The ChargePod is suitable for charging batteries used in Kalmar light and medium electric forklift trucks.

Delta Signs On tsb-bescom

Industrial motion control manufacturer Delta Computer Systems announce that tsb-bescom of Duiven, Netherlands is the newest authorized distributor for Delta’s best-in-class RMC motion controllers. tsbbescom offers customers in the Neth er lands and Belgium a line of complementary industrial sensor and control technology.

“The addition of tsb-bescom is an example of Delta’s long-term development in global markets,” comments Delta CEO Steve Nylund.

Norra Timber Increases Drying Capacity

Sweden’s Norra Timber is investing in three batch kilns for each of its sawmills at Kåge and Sävar. The capacity increase totals around 85,000 m3 (36MMBF).

“We’ve enjoyed good returns on previous investments, which has led to a production increase according to plan. This means we must now increase our kiln capacity. We studied various alternatives, but in the end Valutec was able to offer the best solution,” says Johan Oja, Technical Manager at Norra Timber.

Norra Skogsägarna and Norrskog merged in May 2020 to form Norra Timber. This means that Norra Timber has three modern sawmills in northern Sweden located in Hissmofors, Kåge and Sävar, which together produce more than 780, 000 m3 (331MMBF) per year.

In conjunction with the investment, Norra Timber decided to upgrade the control systems for its existing batch kilns with Valmatics 4.0—28 control systems in all.

Valmatics 4.0 combines simulator technology with adaptive control, enabling the simultaneous optimization of capacity, quality and energy consumption.

Installation of the kilns will begin in November 2020.

Horstkotte Left Imprint On Mills

Fredrick William (Brud) Horstkotte Jr., who designed sawmills and plywood plants for more than 60 years, died August 15 in Portland, Ore. He was 97.

Horstkotte was born in Spokane, Wash. and moved to Portland at an early age. He served in the Army 13th Airborne Division and spent VE day in Paris.

Upon graduating from MIT he served as Clerk-of-the-Works for the expansion of the Oregon Lumber Co. mill at Dee, Ore. in the Hood River Valley. He soon went to work with his father, Fred Sr., at F. W. Horstkotte and Associates where he spent the next 63 years designing sawmills and plywood plants from the same office in the American Bank Building. Horstkotte was incredibly dedicated to his clients, many of whom became lifelong friends. These included SDS Lumber Co, Brooks Scanlon, Ochoco & Malhuer Lumber Companies, Willamette Industries, Collins Pine and many others.

Early years were spent skiing on Mt. Hood and Horskotte joined the Mult-

nomah Athletic Club Ski Team as an Athletic Member and later won the Oregon High School Ski Championship. He continued to cherish his time skiing Mt. Hood, Mt. Bachelor and Sun Valley

with his buddies and especially his two granddaughters.

He is survived by his wife, Joan Preble, whom he married in 1955. They had two children.

Adel Moves Ahead With Pellet Mill

A proposed 450,000 metric tons per year industrial wood pellet mill to be built in Adel, Ga. is gaining steam. On September 21 the Adel City Council voted to annex a 171 acre industrial park area in Cook County into the city of Adel and to re-zone the property from agricultural to heavy-industry. Meanwhile the wood pellet plant project owner, Renewable Biomass Group, has applied for air construction permitting for the plant, which would export its wood pellets to overseas markets as fuel for electricity generation.

The company hopes to commence construction in the fourth quarter of this year with commercial production beginning in the first quarter of 2022. The Renewable Biomass Group web site indicates the company wants to develop 2 million metric tons per year of industrial wood pellets projects over a seven-year period.

The RBG web site also shows Craig Whitlock as CEO with experience in international business development; Jeremy Ham as CFO with experience in capital raising; and Patrick Madigan as general manager and director.

Madigan was head of Ireland electricity producer Bord na Mona’s bioenergy division when that company announced its intention to build an industrial wood pellet plant in Georgia in 2017.

Dogwood Alliance, the extremist Southern-based environmental group, has taken an aggressive stand against the plant. ➤ 53

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50 ➤ The RBG air permit application indicates the plant will procure 1.1 million tons of softwood annually.

HOMAG Focuses On Mass Timber

The HOMAG Group is acquiring 80% of the shares of the Danish engineering and manufacturing company, System TM A/S, a supplier of optimization and systems solutions for the timber processing industry. HOMAG is also creating an additional business segment, Construction Elements Solutions, as HOMAG delves into the cross-laminated timber business.

Pekka Paasivaara, CEO of HOMAG Group, comments, “We want to become a system supplier for the complete process chain in the area of construction elements, including cross-laminated timber (CLT). With System TM we are acquiring an experienced, leading manufacturer with high-end products and a high reputation in project implementation.”

Jan Samuelsen, CEO of System TM, says the company founders and former majority shareholders, Poul and Ingrid Thøgersen, have decided to retire and to bring the ownership to new shareholders who believe in the business philosophy of System TM. “HOMAG is the ideal partner for us because next to our existing business in cross-cutting and finger joining solutions, it will enable us to expand into the area of cross-laminated timber,” Samuelsen says.

System TM is headquartered in Odder, Denmark, and includes administration, production and assembly facilities.

Dadeville Pole Announces Facility

Dadeville Pole Co. plans to construct a new $5 million facility to manufacture and distribute power poles at the William Thweatt Industrial Park in Tallapoosa County, Ala., according to the Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance.

Dadeville will initially create 12 direct jobs to operate the mill and dry kilns, as well as sustaining and promoting numerous indirect jobs with local wood suppliers and loggers. The facility is expected to be in full operation by the end of 2020.

NHLA Names New President

Jeff Wirkkala of Hardwood Industries, Inc. in Sherwood, Ore. is the new president of the National Hardwood Lumber Assn. NHLA membership also elected a new vice president and five new board members. Jon Syre of Cascade Hardwood Group, Chehalis, Wash., will serve as NHLA vice president.

The five new board members-at-large will each serve a three-year term begin-

ATLARGE

ning immediately. The new board members include Tom Coble of Hartzell Hardwoods, Inc., Bill Courtney of Classic American Hardwoods, Sam Glidden of GMC Hardwoods, Inc., Greg Fitzpatrick of Fitzpatrick & Weller, Inc. and Trent Yoder of Yoder Lumber Co., Inc.

President’s Export Council Appoints Dane

Scott Dane, Executive Director, Associated Contract Loggers & Truckers of Minnesota, has been selected for an appointment to the President’s Export Council. The council serves as the principle national advisory committee on international trade and advises the President on government policies and programs that affect U.S. trade performance; promotes export expansion; and provides a forum for discussing and resolving traderelated problems among the business, industrial, agriculture, labor and government sectors.

“It is a distinct honor and privilege to have been selected for an appointment to the President’s Export Council. I do not pretend to bring a CEO perspective to the Council, but the boots-on-the-ground perspective of the loggers, truckers and forest products workers,” Dane comments. “This is another example of President Trump recognizing the forgotten, unheard American worker and giving them a seat at the table.”