West Fraser Buys OSB Mill

by | Dec 20, 2021 | News

West Fraser Buys OSB Mill

An oriented strandboard plant in Allendale, SC will now have its third ownership since starting up in 2006. West Fraser Timber Co. Ltd. is purchasing the facility from Georgia-Pacific for $280 million. The Allendale facility has been idle since late 2019 when GP shut it down citing market conditions. The plant has an estimated annual production capacity of 760MMSF (3/8 in. basis).

West Fraser intends to invest $70 million to upgrade and optimize the facility in preparation for a restart in nine months. The mill is expected to employ 135. West Fraser states the mill will be one of the lowest cost mills in the company’s OSB portfolio after the optimization is completed and the mill has ramped up to full production, a process that it says typically takes 18-24 months after restart.

In 2005 Ontario-based Grant Forest Products announced it would invest $400 million in building two OSB mills in South Carolina, one in Allendale and the other in Alcolu in Clarendon County. When the U.S. economy went into a recession Grant sold the two OSB plants to Georgia-Pacific in 2010. In 2019 GP idled the Allendale OSB facility along with a sawmill in South Carolina.

Early this year West Fraser entered the OSB arena when it completed the purchase of Norbord Inc., the world’s largest OSB producer, for $3.1 billion. Norbord operated 15 OSB mills in the U.S., Europe and Canada. West Fraser was known primarily as a sawmill company, while operating a handful of non-OSB panel facilities.

GP continues to own five OSB plants in North America.

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Roseburg Announces Massive Investment

In a much-anticipated announcement, Roseburg Forest Products revealed in last week its plan to invest $700 million during the next four years to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon, including the construction of a MDF facility in Dillard, current site of multiple operations and where the company was founded nearly 90 years ago. The total investment package includes the creation of two new manufacturing plants, and technological improvements and upgrades at existing plants in rural Douglas and Coos counties…

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LP Building Solutions (LP) has announced that Libby Berman has been named Vice President, Chief Tax Officer and Bob Hopkins has been named Vice President, Treasurer. “Bob and Libby have been invaluable contributors to the LP team for many years now,” says LP Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Alan Haughie…

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USNR, WFG Sold To Equity Firm

by | Dec 20, 2021 | Supply Lines

USNR, WFG Sold To Equity Firm

One Equity Partners (OEP), a middle market private equity firm, announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisitions of USNR and Wood Fiber Group. OEP reports it subsequently merged the two businesses, with projected 2021 revenues greater than $500 million.

JB Cherry, Senior Managing Director, OEP, comments, “Combining these two great companies that are headquartered seven miles apart with a long history of collaboration and complementary customer bases is a natural next step to drive value for the businesses and their customers.”

Headquartered in Woodland, Wash., USNR provides comprehensive automation and technology system integration for wood products mills. The company boasts the largest global installed base of wood processing equipment, serving more than 1,800 customers operating 2,500 mill sites in 56 countries.

Ridgefield, Wash.-based Wood Fiber Group acts as a “one-stop shop” provider of leading cutting tool products under brands including Simonds International, Burton Saw & Supply, BGR Saws, Cut Technologies, Global Tooling, U.S. Blades, Armstrong Manufacturing, and Wright Machine Tool. The company has 12 facilities across all the major North American wood processing regions.

“We at USNR are so excited to come together with One Equity Partners and our great friends at Wood Fiber Group,” says Dale Brown, CEO of USNR. “OEP’s ambitious vision to combine these two enterprises and its established track record of successful investments in industrial companies immediately made the firm a preferred partner as we evaluated pathways to continued growth.”

One Equity Partners is a middle market private equity firm focused on the industrial, healthcare and technology sectors in North America and Europe. Since 2001 the firm has completed more than 300 transactions worldwide. OEP, founded in 2001, spun out of JP Morgan in 2015. The firm has offices in New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam.

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Roseburg Announces Massive Investment

In a much-anticipated announcement, Roseburg Forest Products revealed in last week its plan to invest $700 million during the next four years to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon, including the construction of a MDF facility in Dillard, current site of multiple operations and where the company was founded nearly 90 years ago. The total investment package includes the creation of two new manufacturing plants, and technological improvements and upgrades at existing plants in rural Douglas and Coos counties…

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Lend Me Your Ear

Lend Me Your Ear

by | Dec 20, 2021 | Taking Stock

Lend Me Your Ear

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-in-Chief, Panel World January 2022

The staff at Panel World magazine is in full in-person-conference mode in preparation for the eighth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) to be held March 31 to April 1, 2022 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta. On page six of this issue you’ll see a listing of the exhibitor sponsors who had signed on as of early December.

Some of the keynote speakers we’ve lined up include: Roseburg’s Jake Elston, Swiss Krono’s Wedig Graf Grote, American Wood Council’s Jackson Morrill, Coastland Wood Industries’ Doug Pauze, RoyOMartin’s Scott Poole, AFRY’s Philipp Sauter and Kennesaw State economist Roger Tutterow. We’re in negotiation with several others as well and will be announcing those soon.

In addition, PELICE will feature numerous technical sessions on Air Emissions Control, Resins & Waxes, Project Implementation, Quality Control, Fire Prevention, Digital Integration, and Veneer & Plywood Technologies. We continue to line up speakers for these topics, such as Rob Freres of Freres Lumber, Tom Evans of Coastal Forest Resources, Rodney Schwartz of Dürr Systems, Steve Banick of Hexion, Dane Floyd of Veneer Services, Richard Lepine of Argos Solutions, Ed Pridgen of Flamex, Michael Spurgin of Limab, Bijan Shams of Cogent Industrial Technologies, Rodney Pennington of Nestec and many others.

The full timeline agenda will be released in mid-January on the website: www.pelice-expo.com, as well as through e-mail blasts and in the Panel World newsletter. The March issue of Panel World will encompass a special PELICE 2022 preview.

Attendee registration is open at www.pelice-expo.com.

Needless to say, we’re pumped up for the PELICE coming out party!

 

 

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Roseburg Announces Massive Investment

In a much-anticipated announcement, Roseburg Forest Products revealed in last week its plan to invest $700 million during the next four years to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon, including the construction of a MDF facility in Dillard, current site of multiple operations and where the company was founded nearly 90 years ago. The total investment package includes the creation of two new manufacturing plants, and technological improvements and upgrades at existing plants in rural Douglas and Coos counties…

LP Adds New VPs

LP Building Solutions (LP) has announced that Libby Berman has been named Vice President, Chief Tax Officer and Bob Hopkins has been named Vice President, Treasurer. “Bob and Libby have been invaluable contributors to the LP team for many years now,” says LP Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Alan Haughie…

Find Us On Social

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January 2022

January 2022

by | Dec 16, 2021 | Magazine

January 2022

Cover: Annual Directory & Buyers’ Guide

The Annual Directory & Buyers’ Guide is a year-long keeper on the desks of producers and suppliers worldwide.

See More

Inside This Issue

COVER: Annual Directory & Buyers’ Guide

The Annual Directory & Buyers’ Guide is a year-long keeper on the desks of producers and suppliers worldwide. The Directory includes

  • Products/Services/Supplies
  • Machinery Manufacturers/Suppliers
  • Trade Associations
Exhibitors Knocking On PELICE Door

As of early December, exhibitor sponsor space for the eighth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) was 80% sold out, including what is already a record number of Gold sponsors.

UPDATE
  • Proposed OSB Mill Finds Home
  • Arauco Considers Plant In Mexico
  • Forest Service Weighs In Again On 4FRI
  • Industry Doubtful Of BC ‘Defer’ Plan
  • USNR, WFG Sold To Equity Firm
  • West Fraser Buys OSB Mill
  • Okaply Acquires VIZÜSOLUTION
Martco Maintains Focus On Culture And Goals During Bizarre Times

Roy O. Martin III is Chairman, CEO and CFO of Martin Sustainable Resources, L.L.C. and Martco L.L.C. The grandson of Roy O. Martin, Sr., he is a third-generation leader. Roy O. Martin III currently serves as chairman of the APA – The Engineered Wood Association Board of Trustees. He graciously agreed to answer several questions posed by Panel World magazine.

Panel Industry Veterans Denounce Performance Of Paperboard Wall Sheathing

Innovative and/or more economical building materials are regularly introduced to the market. During the post-World War II building boom, softwood plywood replaced diagonal tongue and groove boards as the standard exterior wall bracing. Over about the past 30 years, OSB has come to dominate the wall sheathing segment.

Article by Richard F. Baldwin, Frederick T. Kurpiel and Richard W. Baldwin

PROJECTS
  • ‘Best Watchdog We Could Ask For’
  • PG Bison Orders MDF Operation
  • Turkey’s Küpeliler Orders Two Plants
  • Wanhua Goes For ‘Super PB’
  • Installation Due For 63.7 M Press
  • Biyang Huifeng Starts Up Refiner
  • Greenply Orders Refining System
  • Naturheld Orders Fiber Prep Systems
  • GUTEX Focuses On Insulation
  • Greenply Orders MDF/HDF Plant
SUPPLY LINES
  • Hymmen Announces U.S. Jupiter Order
  • Con-Vey Launches New Web Site
  • 7Robotics Continues To Build Staff
  • Morbark Reveals Wheel Loader
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WHAT'S NEW
  • Horizontal Chipper
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Find Us On Social

Taking Stock: Lend Me Your Ear

Article by Rich Donnell, Managing Editor, Panel World

The staff at Panel World magazine is in full in-person-conference mode in preparation for the eighth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) to be held March 31 to April 1, 2022 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta. On page six of this issue you’ll see a listing of the exhibitor sponsors who had signed on as of early December.

Below, you’ll see some of the keynote speakers we’ve lined up, including, Roseburg’s Jake Elston, Swiss Krono’s Wedig Graf Grote, American Wood Council’s Jackson Morrill, Coastland Wood Industries’ Doug Pauze, RoyOMartin’s Scott Poole, AFRY’s Philipp Sauter and Kennesaw State economist Roger Tutterow. We’re in negotiation with several others as well and will be announcing those soon. Attendee registration is open at www.pelice-expo.com.

READ MORE

JAKE ELSTON

WEDIG GRAF GROTE

JACKSON MORRILL 

SCOTT POOLE

DR. PHILIPP SAUTER 

ROGER TUTTEROW

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The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.

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Idaho Producers Supply Mass Timber Arena

Idaho Producers Supply Mass Timber Arena

by | Nov 17, 2021 | News

Idaho Producers Supply Mass Timber Arena

Industry stakeholders of all types worked to supply materials for the recently opened ICCU Basketball Arena at the University of Idaho in Moscow. The 4,000 seat facility, which opened in October 2021, incorporates several innovative mass timber elements across some of the longest spans in the country. Designers and engineers were able to source many of the structural wood products and materials to make them—including cross-laminated timber (CLT), dowel-laminated timber (DLT), glulam, plywood, and cedar siding—from local suppliers and producers.

Some of the timber used was specifically harvested from the university’s experimental forest. Associated Loggers Council-Idaho board member Mark Swanson, of Swanson Logging in Lewiston, was on hand for the grand opening. Aaron Walter Logging, Frederickson Logging, Jack Buell Trucking and other contractors also participated in the effort.

Local manufacturers that supplied wood products included Boise Cascade, PotlatchDeltic, QB Corp., Idaho Forestry Group and Tri-Pro Cedar Products. The structural engineer of record was StructureCraft, which fabricated the roof structure and associated timbers and specialty engineered wood components.

The facility is noted for its use of EWPs in innovative ways, such as a plywood roof diaphragm that clear-spans 250 feet from end-to-end of the arena and acts as the lateral bracing system for both wind and seismic loads. A review in an architectural paper explains that the building incorporates “a hybrid structural system comprising glulam beams, steel king-post trusses, and concrete shear walls that rises to form a broad canopy over a cast-in-place concrete seating bowl, itself ensconced in a trim of zinc-and-glass curtain wall.”

Designers pursued a rolling geometric motif reflecting the surrounding Palouse region’s channeled scablands created by cataclysmic floods at the end of the Ice Age.

 

Latest News

TP&EE Sets 2024 Show Dates

Hatton-Brown Expositions LLC announces that the next Timber Processing and Energy Expo (TP&EE) will be held September 25-27, 2024 at the Portland Exposition Center in Portland, Ore. The 2024 show will be the sixth biennial TP&EE to be produced since 2012 by Hatton-Brown Expositions, LLC, an affiliate of Hatton-Brown Publishers, Inc. and of Timber Processing, Panel World and Wood Bioenergy magazines. All of the TP&EEs have been held at the Portland Exposition Center. (The 2020 event was canceled due to…

Roseburg Announces Massive Investment

In a much-anticipated announcement, Roseburg Forest Products revealed in last week its plan to invest $700 million during the next four years to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon, including the construction of a MDF facility in Dillard, current site of multiple operations and where the company was founded nearly 90 years ago. The total investment package includes the creation of two new manufacturing plants, and technological improvements and upgrades at existing plants in rural Douglas and Coos counties…

LP Adds New VPs

LP Building Solutions (LP) has announced that Libby Berman has been named Vice President, Chief Tax Officer and Bob Hopkins has been named Vice President, Treasurer. “Bob and Libby have been invaluable contributors to the LP team for many years now,” says LP Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Alan Haughie…

Find Us On Social

Newsletter

The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.

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Subscribe/Renew

Panel World is delivered six times per year to North American and international professionals, who represent primary panel production operations. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.

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