“We look forward to being an integral part of the community and a key partner in the future success of the county and the state. We are pleased and excited to bring this new investment and set of employment opportunities to Itasca County and the surrounding areas,” says HEW President Brian Carlson. “It is our desire for our new Minnesota operations to be a shining example of our company’s commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce.”

Contingent upon site acquisition, approval of certain legislative initiatives and financial assistance from additional state entities, the Cohasset location will be HEW’s sixth mill in the U.S. and its first presence in Minnesota, as well as its largest capital investment to date. The new mill will expand HEW’s current production footprint of five mills located in Georgia, Maine, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Virginia and represent a production increase of 30%.

Carlson adds, “We’ve seen a strong start to 2021 and are optimistic for continued growth of our specialty products in the coming years. We are pleased to share our plans for increased production to help keep pace with the growing demands of our customers for ZIP System and AdvanTech products, as well as future innovative solutions that we strive to deliver.”

The new 750,000 sq. ft. HEW manufacturing facility will be located on more than 400 acres, and is located next to Minnesota Power’s Boswell Energy Center. Announced earlier this year, by 2035 the utility intends to close and convert Boswell’s remaining coal-fired units.

“This new chapter of growth for our company is the result of tremendous collaboration between our organization, Governor Walz and the state of Minnesota including Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), and MPCA, and the local community, the city of Cohasset, Itasca County and Minnesota Power,” says Carlson.

“I support and recognize the significance of this project, as does my leadership team,” remarks Governor Tim Walz. “Minnesota’s state government commissioners are making the success and expedition of this project a top priority. Huber is an innovative and unique leader in the building products industry, and we are excited they are joining the successful companies that operate and thrive in northeastern Minnesota.”

This project coming to the state of Minnesota, and the selected Boswell site, is contingent upon financial assistance from IRRRB (which has voted to approve a $15 million forgivable loan requiring the plant employ at least 100 for its first six years), the state of Minnesota, DEED (which has committed to a $20 million investment in the project), the city of Cohasset, Itasca County and Minnesota Power. The manufacturing facility is projected to provide over 150 direct new jobs, while contributing growth opportunities in adjacent local industries including timber and trucking.

APA–The Engineered Wood Assn. has announced the winners of its 2020 Safety and Health Awards, the industry’s premier safety award program encouraging and recognizing operation excellence with the goal of reducing injury and illness rates.

The 2020 average Weighted Incident Rate (WIR) for the industry was 7.14, an improvement over last year’s WIR of 8.11. The 2020 average Total Incident Rate (TIR) was 1.25, a nearly 22% reduction over last year’s TIR of 1.60, setting a new benchmark for the mills participating in the program. These 2020 values signify the industry’s commitment to injury prevention and the health and well-being of its employees. 2020 marks the fourth consecutive year the average TIR was below 2.00. The WIR is calculated using both the number and the severity of recordable incidents.

The Equipment-Based Innovation in Safety Award went to Resolute-LP Engineered Wood in Larouche, Quebec, for its miniature nester. After a close call with I-joist manipulation at the rework station, the team chief envisioned a simple and compact leverage concept. The I-joist bundles that came from the rework station had been manually nested, as there was no automatic nester. Fortunately, there were no serious incidents, but hazards remained. Deep depth I-joists can weigh 200 pounds or more. The miniature nester is placed on the I-joist bundle and leveraged to raise the I-joist into the proper location. This innovation has eliminated crushing and entrapment hazards to employee hands in the manipulation process. Operators are now completely outside operations, resulting in zero contact between hands and I-joists. The first tests took place in June 2020, and after conclusive tests, the mill implemented the tool, and positive results were seen immediately. Since implementation, there have been zero related incidents reported.

The Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation winner was Boise Cascade Co. in Thorsby, Ala., for its Lock-Out Simulator Training Board. The innovation was sparked by the vision of the plant’s safety committee to build a lock-out training board to help new-hire team members understand how to control risks associated with energy sources. The board is powered through a 120 V system and is programmable, allowing the trainer to simulate different scenarios. Each lock-out point has a hidden switch, which is connected to a programmable logic controller. During the verification phase of the lock-out procedure, the control panel will show any mistakes made by a team member when the test button is pressed. The Lock-Out Simulator Training Board was put into effect June 2020 and is now being used for new-hire training, to teach employees where to stand to help minimize the safety impact should an arc flash occur and for supervisors to complete annual refresher training.

Sixty-nine APA-member structural wood panel and engineered wood product facilities in the U.S., Canada and abroad participated in the 2020 program. A total of 17 facilities representing seven APA member companies earned awards in various competition categories. Some mills were multiple award winners.

Besides the Safest Company and Innovation awards, other competition categories include Safety Improvement (2018-2020), Annual Safety and Health Award and Three-Year Safety Award. The annual award, three-year average and safety improvement categories are divided into three divisions based on the type of product manufactured at the mill (plywood; OSB; and glulam, CLT, I-joist, LVL and SCL).

While the program awards are limited to APA members, data is collected from both member and non-member mills to provide a broad-based industry performance benchmark. A total of 80 mills reported data for 2020.

The full list of award winners:

Innovation In Safety Award

• Equipment-Based Innovation Winner: Resolute-LP Engineered Wood; Larouche, Quebec
• Jeff Wagner Process-Based Innovation Winner: Boise Cascade Co.–Thorsby EWP; Thorsby, Ala.

Safest Company Award

• Three or Fewer Mills: PotlatchDeltic Corp.
• Four or More Mills: Norbord Inc.

Annual Safety And Health Award

• Division I – Plywood
  1st Place: PotlatchDeltic Corp.; St. Maries, Id.
  2nd Place: Murphy Plywood Co.; Rogue River, Ore.
• Division II – OSB
  1st Place: LP Brasil; Ponta Grossa, Brazil
  2nd Place: LP Chile S.A.; Lautaro, Chile
• Division III – Glulam, CLT, I-Joist, LVL and SCL
  1st Place: LP; Red Bluff, Calif.
  2nd Place: Anthony Forest Products Co.; Washington, Ga.

Three- Year Safety Award

• Division I – Plywood: RoyOMartin; Chopin, La.
• Division II – OSB: Norbord Inc.; Nacogdoches, Tex.
• Division III – Glulam, CLT, I-Joist, LVL and SCL: Boise Cascade Co.; White City, Ore.

Safety Improvement Award (years 2018-2020)

• Division I – Plywood: PotlatchDeltic Corp.; St. Maries, Id.; 97.6% improvement
• Division II – OSB: Norbord Inc.; Joanna | Kinards, SC; 100% improvement
• Division III – Glulam, CLT, I-Joist, LVL and SCL: LP; Red Bluff, Calif.; 100% improvement

RELATED ARTICLES

APA SELECTS NEW PRESIDENT

APA NAMES NEW DIRECTOR OF QUALITY SERVICES