by Web Editor | Aug 3, 2016 | News
Kronospan Plans $362 Million Expansion In Alabama
Kronospan announced plans for a $362 million expansion of its operations in Oxford, Ala. The expansion will consist of four projects: two laminate flooring and decorative paper impregnation lines; a particleboard and thermally infused laminate line; an expansion of the KronoChem resin plant; and development of a furniture cluster. Kronospan plans to hire an additional 160 persons for its workforce. Startup for the expansion projects will roll out from late 2016 through 2018.
“We sincerely appreciate the State of Alabama, acting through the Dept. of Commerce, the city of Oxford and Calhoun County, for supporting our expansion project and making it a reality,” comments Tim Pack, CFO of Kronospan. Once the expansion project is completed, Kronospan will have invested $650 million and will employ more than 270 at its Oxford operations. Kronospan will utilize the services of the local Alabama Career Center to recruit for the expansion. Hiring will be undertaken in phases and include a job fair in the near future.
Kronospan is a leading manufacturer of wood-based panel products and related value-added products. The company is privately owned, with more than 40 manufacturing and distribution sites throughout the world.
In 2008, Kronospan started up operations at Oxford where it currently manufactures MDF, HDF and resins. Notwithstanding very difficult market conditions in the housing industry, Kronospan has maintained its level of employment at the Oxford facility since startup.
In December 2015, Kronospan made another significant investment in the United States when it acquired Clarion Industries in Shippenville, Pa. Clarion Industries produces MDF, HDF and laminate flooring. The Pennsylvania operations employ 320.
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by Web Editor | Aug 1, 2016 | News
The Environmental Protection Agency rolled out a formaldehyde emission standard, working with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in setting the rules that are mandated by Congress.
The EPA moved to reduce exposure to formaldehyde vapors from laminate panel and engineered wood products produced domestically or imported into the United States. The agency worked with the California Air Resources Board to make its final national rule consistent with California requirements for composite wood products.
One year after the rule is published, composite wood products that are sold, supplied, offered for sale, manufactured, or imported in the United States will need to be labeled as TSCA Title VI compliant. These products include: hardwood plywood, medium-density fiberboard, particleboard as well as household and other finished goods containing these products.
The action was triggered in large part by discovering that Lumber Liquidators’ flooring supply from China has been labeled CARB compliant though it was not. Lumber Liquidators has since settled with CARB and the Consumer Products Safety Commission over its liability for the matter. The new rule requires other sellers of laminate panel to meet the CARB standards for formaldehyde exposure.
EPA says the new rule will level the playing field for domestic laminate flooring manufacturers who have a high rate of compliance with the California standard and will ensure that imported products not subject to California’s requirements will meet the new standard and thus, not contain dangerous formaldehyde vapors.”
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/epa-issues-final-formaldehyde-exposure-rule-guided-carb
by Web Editor | Jul 27, 2016 | News
Vancouver-based real estate developer PortLiving and world-renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban have unveiled plans for an upcoming hybrid timber structure said to be the tallest in the world. If so, this would mean it will be higher than other CLT wood structures, such as the 34-story design planned for Stockholm.
The residential high-rise Terrace house, which will be located in Vancouver’s Coal Harbor neighborhood, may set a new standard for urban luxury in design, sustainability and engineering innovation. The high-rise will feature a cross-laminated timber frame supported by a concrete and steel core. Wood for the project will be locally sourced from British Columbia, minimizing its carbon footprint.
Cross-laminated timber has been gaining popularity as of late, due to its lightness, sustainability, and ease of use. Planks of timber are glued and orientated at 90 degrees to each other, and are then crosslaid in layers. Those pieces are then shipped to construction sites and can be assembled by just a few workers, even for large buildings.
Its use in tall wooden buildings has also been growing. London, Stockholm, and Quebec are just a few of the cities who either already have large timber towers or have one in the works. Recent plans include a Swedish firm’s 436 ft. residential wood skyscraper in Stockholm, while a 12-story mixed wood high-rise is planned for construction in Portland, Oregon.
Building codes are being adjusted in Oregon and Washington State to permit the tall wood structures. But CLT hasn’t gone without opposition.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/news/woodworking-industry-news/canadian-high-rise-will-be-tallest-timber-structure-world?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
by Web Editor | Jul 20, 2016 | News
For years, it was known as the ugly duckling, cheaper alternative to plywood. One design maven described it as “like the turkey loaf of building materials.” But oriented strand board – OSB for short – has come into its own over the past 3 1/2 decades as a major player in North American wood-frame housing construction and is increasingly used for industrial and other applications.
Structural OSB panels – made of wood strands that are resin-bonded under high pressure and heat – are mostly used as floor, roofing or wall substrate in home building. They’re also getting play these days on fashionable interior-decoration websites as a “shabby-chic” finishing material.
Capitalizing on OSB’s rise like no other forest-products company is Toronto-based Norbord Inc. Norbord, once a diversified forestry company, has shed assets over the years and focused on OSB. Now boasting annual sales in the $1.5-billion (U.S.) range and a market capitalization of about $2.4-billion (Canadian), it bills itself as the world’s largest producer of OSB.
The $763-million acquisition in 2014 of Vancouver-based Ainsworth Lumber Co. Ltd. gave Norbord – whose operations were concentrated in the U.S. southeast – a strong presence in Western Canada as well as a foothold in the promising Japanese market.
Right now, the steadily growing number of housing starts in the United States is giving Norbord a big boost, and low-key, media-shy chief executive officer Peter Wijnbergen says there are major growth opportunities in Europe and Asia.
From The Globe And Mail: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/forest-products-firm-norbord-riding-the-rising-wave-of-osb-sales/article30985989/
by Web Editor | Jul 13, 2016 | News
Projects in Springfield and Portland have landed a collected $200,000 as leaders test the viability of cross-laminated timber.
The funding, awarded by the Business Oregon-backed cleantech champions Oregon BEST and the National Center for Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing and Design, will back research that fast-tracks CLT as a green construction material usable throughout the U.S.
Of that money, $155,000 will go to the planned four-story Glenwood Parking Structure in Springfield. The project’s developers will use the money for research, performance testing and code documentation. The team will measure such factors as vibration, moisture, post-tension loss in rocking shear walls and seismic instrumentation. The SRG firm designed the 360-space structure.
The National Center for Advanced Wood Products Manufacturing and Design, a collaboration between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, will perform the research and testing functions. The Carbon 12 mixed-use condominium complex in Northeast Portland was awarded $45,000 for acoustic and moisture testing.
According to Oregon BEST, U.S. architects and builders wanting to use the new material in construction projects “must negotiate a maze of additional documentation, atypical performance modeling requirements, unfamiliar construction methods and building code hurdles that can delay CLT projects and has slowed adoption of the material.”
From the Portland Business Journal: https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2016/07/new-springfield-portland-buildings-get-200k-to.html
