Table of Contents

USNR PURCHASES COE OPERATIONS by Panel World

USNR, a leading manufacturer and supplier of sawmill machinery, is purchasing Coe Newnes McGehee, Inc. of Salmon Arm, British Columbia, and affiliate Coe operations in the U.S. at Tigard, Ore., Covington, Ga. and Painesville, Oh., including Coe Manufacturing.

Part Two: Pelice Presenters Came Through in Clutch by Rick Donnell

In the last issue of Panel World, we reviewed several of the presentations delivered during the first Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo, held February 7-9 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. The event was sponsored by Panel World magazine and Georgia Research Institute, with yours truly and Fred Kurpiel serving as co-chairmen.

Given that the conference featured approximately 90 speakers, obviously that first story in the last issue couldn’t cover them all, and neither will this article, but I didn’t want to leave the event without spotlighting a few more of those presentations, which, as our feedback since the event has told us, were quite informative and well-received.

Industry Developments

“I recall 1933, when the Douglas Fir Plywood Association took its first halting steps, as a daunting time for all but the most incurable optimists,” says plywood industry pioneer and one-time DFPA president Norman Cruver. “In an era of global unemployment, hunger and bankrupt businesses, plywood manufacturers had to be optimistic to invest in something for the future, but that could not immediately influence markets still in the grip of depression.”

The struggling organization limped along until 1937, when a handful of industry leaders sequestered themselves on the Washington coast to hammer out a new and more effective charter. Cruver, who was there as a member of the DFPA Management Committee, remembered that “for almost a week in early November 1937, we debated the objectives and structure of an organization that needed a clearer mandate if it was to succeed.”

Adhesive Systems: 'Operating Space' Concept by Robert Schmidt

Producers of wood-based composite materials are under ever increasing pressures to simultaneously increase top line growth through the development of new markets as well as increase bottom line growth through aggressive cost control programs. Adhesive systems (i.e. resin plus application specific additives) are a significant component of the overall raw material cost of the finished product. They also however have the capability to mitigate other manufacturing cost inputs such as the wood resource, dryer utilization rates, productivity rates and the total required input energy. The key to obtaining these benefits is capitalizing on synergies obtained through combined adhesive and process development and optimization. In selecting adhesive systems for a particular manufacturing process, an understanding of the “operating spaces” of both the adhesive and the process needs to be known and understood.

Freres Lumber Upgrades Veneer Mill, Dives into Cogen by Dan Shell

Major capital investments here at one of western Oregon’s lThe veneer plant, which features three peeling lines, has received several major upgrades beginning at the turn of the century. Most recent is the 2006 addition of a new Grenzebach/AKI dryer to complement a major dryer modernization project performed by Westmill Industries in 2003, along with a new grading line.ongtime major veneer and plywood producers have placed Freres Lumber in a stronger competitive position for low-cost veneer and panel production and quality. Plus, Freres has moved onto the leading edge of biomass-driven energy with the construction of a new cogeneration plant and new company, Evergreen Biopower, selling electricity on the open market.

Pfleiderer Group Implements Ultra-Thin MDF Line in Poland

Grajewo is located in the back country of the Great Masurian Lakes. This small Polish town has since last summer caught the eye of the MDF industry, when Pfleiderer Group started operation of a state-of-the-art plant for thin board production. The plant is designed for a capacity of 250,000 m3 of thin MDF with a thickness ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 mm (0.06 in to 0.14 in). The entire production line features a multitude of unique technical highlights. The installation period of only 10 months underlines the professional working relationship between the Pfleiderer team and Siempelkamp Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG, which built and supplied machinery and systems from the fiber bin to the packaging line.

The positive basic conditions for the wood-based products industry in Eastern Poland including densely wooded areas, a sound infrastructure, and the close proximity to the market encouraged the Pfleiderer Group, in 2005, to decide to build a huge plant for ultra-thin MDF

Project Recovers Wasted Energy from OSB Dryer, while Eliminating Hog Boiler by André Normandin, Stéphane Lévesque, Yves Laflamme

With today’s increasing energy costs, mills are faced with new project opportunities involving heat recovery and process efficiency that become more and more cost effective. In various locations, considerable amounts of recoverable energy are wasted to the atmosphere through stacks when it could be used in various process steps. This is where the Mesar/Environair team has succeeded by recovering the heat from the stack of an OSB dryer to heat the log ponds and eliminate the need for an old, out of spec hog boiler.

Many OSB mills produce sufficient wood waste (bark, fines) to supply their hog boilers with cheap valuable fuel. An OSB plant located in the province of Quebec, Canada decided to optimize its energy balance with the installation of a flue gas heat recovery system (FGHR) developed by Mesar/Environair Inc. The system was commissioned in September 2007. Mesar/Environair guaranteed enough energy recovery to mothball an old hog boiler which exceeded legal particulate emi

Small Water Droplets Technology Protects Presses by Allen Wagoner

Fires are a common and costly problem in the composite board industry. The costs associated with fire damage and downtime of a continuous or multi-opening press can be crippling to a board producer due to the high capitalization of equipment and the high volume of production. It has been estimated that production loss due to a press fire in an average size composite board facility may easily run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars per shift.

WMF 2008 in Beijing Attracts Nearly 30,000

Nearly 30,000 global trade visitors and buyers, 600 exhibitors from more than 20 countries/ regions with 60,000 m2 of exhibiting area and 2,000 machines participated in WMF 2008 at the China International Exhibition Centre (CIEC), Beijing, on March 7-10. The biennial event emphasizes woodworking and furniture manufacturing machinery, furniture accessories, materials and wood products.

Chinese furniture associations and firms participating included the Beijing Building, Door and Window Industrial Assn., Hebei Furniture Assn., Shangdong Furniture Assn., Shenfang Furniture Business Assn., Tianjin Furniture Assn. and Yantai Li-Xin Wooden Industries Co.

Xylexpo New

EDITOR’S NOTE: Anticipation is growing for the 21st edition of Xylexpo NEW, the biennial international exhibition of woodworking technology and furniture industry supplies to be held May 27-31 at the Milan (Italy) Exhibition Center in Rho. As of late March, there were 830 registered exhibitors (compared to 804 in 2006). Show organizers also report a positive trend for international exhibitors, namely 282 exhibitors from 38 countries. Following Italy, the country rankings are headed by Germany with 92 exhibitors, Taiwan with 27, China with 19, Spain with 16, Austria with 15, Switzerland with 12.

The following pages include exhibit and product information submitted by equipment companies who are exhibiting at Xylexpo NEW and who are also advertising in association with this issue of Panel World.

Recent Mill Orders, Installations & Startups

Innovative Systems Northwest (ISN) has sold and installed a new green end from the infeed to the clipper through a new ISN green random stacker at International Panel and Lumber (IPL) in Greymouth, New Zealand.

ISN’s scope of supply to IPL included: ISN infeed/scanner table to the clipper; ISN reconditioned Raute rotary clipper (servo driven); new ISN trash random diverter; tray system to fishtail pull chain and random stacker; incline to full sheet stacker; ISN 3 bin green full sheet stacker; gap/skew correct system for random sheets; ISN 3 bin green random stacker; complete control system.

Equipment & Supplier News

Throughout its 100-year history, Raute has been active in seeking new concepts and ideas that benefit the wood products industry. Now, Raute extends an opportunity to individuals and groups around the world with an innovation award competition.

This award is an initiative designed to help celebrate innovative approaches to wood products technology and Raute’s reputation for providing innovative solutions for customers. Every kind of innovation is eligible, including new processes, products or machines that offer a practical business application. They may be in the form of improvements to existing products, processes or machinery technology or totally new concepts.

Emissions Are Making Me Sick by Rich Donnell

Elsewhere in this issue we report on the finalization of the formaldehyde emissions production standard in California by the California Air Resources Board or CARB. The Composite Panel Assn., which worked with CARB on this issue, calls it the toughest formaldehyde emissions production standard in the world. (Formaldehyde is the ideal ingredient in adhesives because of its strong bonding.)

The regulation impacts certain panels—mainly particleboard, MDF, hardwood plywood—made for sale or use in California, whether raw panels or components, and no matter the location of the manufacturing facility that produced them, domestic or foreign.

Breaking News

Following six years of cooperative work between agency staff and industry, the California Air Resources Board has finalized the toughest production standard in the world for formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products.

“This is a sound regulation, and this is an appropriate time to do it,” says Composite Panel Assn. Chairman Darrell Keeling of Roseburg Forest Products. “Our products are made almost entirely from recycled wood waste, making them one of the greenest building materials available to consumers. While tough, this new regulation is simply the natural continuation of the great work our industry has been doing to produce high quality, environmentally responsible products.”

New Products & Technologies

Cold Jet, LLC, a leader in dry ice blast cleaning and production technology, introduces the Aero Series of dry ice blast cleaning systems. The Aero systems provide advanced economical dry ice cleaning in an environmentally friendly format for a variety of industries. The new models include the electric-pneumatic Aero 40, Aero 80, Aero 80-DX and Aero 80-HP, and the pneumatic-powered Aero C100, which cleans twice as fast as other pneumatic systems. The C100 represents a quantum leap in terms of pneumatic dry ice blast cleaning.

Cold Jet’s dry ice blasting systems use non-abrasive media that won’t damage surfaces or equipment. The media, dry ice pellets or particles, create mini-explosions on the surfaces being cleaned, lifting away dirt and contaminants. Unlike sand, bead or soda blasting, dry ice blasting is non-abrasive and does not leave any secondary waste, as the dry ice pellets or particles sublimate—convert from solid to gas—upon impact. Dry ice blasting is also safe an