Northwest Panel Industry Comes Together 

The 2024 version of the Timber Processing & Energy Expo (TP&EE), held September 25-27 at the Portland Expo Center in Portland, Ore., while as usual heavier to lumber manufacturing, once again drew significant players from the veneer, plywood and engineered wood products industries.

Nearly 1,200 attendees (non-exhibitors) registered for the event, which featured 180 exhibitors on 45,000 sq. ft. of booth space. The biennial event was the sixth TP&EE produced by Hatton-Brown Expositions, an affiliate of Panel World magazine, which served as a media host along with Timber Processing and Wood Bioenergy magazines.

The event included a mini-conference on “Panel Manufacturing Today.”

“Making Wood Matter: Automation Advancements Driving the Mill of the Future” was presented by Connor Eaton, account manager at Raute. Eaton reviewed the company’s versatile R-Series technologies integrated into Raute’s compact layup line and panel repairing stations, with customized options.

How do EWP producers gain an edge? “The answer is clear: embrace automation, AI, and deep data analytics to increase speed, efficiency, output and unit cost,” Eaton said, adding that AI solves two key pressure points for mills—data and manpower.

Eaton said the mill of the future is happening today, and pointed to Raute’s $93 million (Euro) contract for the technology delivery to a new LVL mill for Metsä Wood in Aänekoski, Finland.

George Harmati, Technical Sales Manager, Westmill, spoke on “Advancements in Dryer Technology,” and noted that recent projects for Westmill included the installation last summer of the world’s longest jet dryer at Roseburg in Coquille, Ore., and two new jet dryers for Hood Industries in Beaumont, Miss. with “dual heat” technology; and a new 400 ft. long, 10-deck fiberboard dryer for Huebert Fiberboard in Missouri.

Harmati reviewed the evolution of dryer technology, and pointed to more recent Westmill innovations in dryer design and material handling, including Westmill’s WestVac capture technology, now standard on new Westmill dryers; humidity control enhancements; and Westmill’s electrically actuated tipple.

The next TP&EE is scheduled for September 23-25, 2026 at the Portland Expo Center.

Latest News

Kronospan Announces Further Expansion At Alabama Site

Kronospan will begin construction of a new OSB manufacturing plant on its 460 acre site in Oxford, Ala. The new facility, employing 125, will have a footprint composed of 44 acres of new development, including substantial areas designated for product storage, rail spur and loading docks. Groundbreaking for the $350 million facility is scheduled for later this year…

Dates Announced For Ninth PELICE

The next Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) will be held March 14-15, 2024, again at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia. PELICE is hosted every other year by Panel World magazine and Georgia Research Institute. This will be the ninth PELICE since its inception 2008…

Panel World Gears Up To Exhibit At Ligna

Panel World magazine and its affiliates will be exhibiting at the upcoming international wood products fair, Ligna, to be held May 15-19 in Hannover, Germany. In addition to Panel World, the Hatton-Brown organization, which dates back to 1948 in Montgomery, Ala., today publishes five business magazines geared to the wood products industry…

LP To Acquire Ontario OSB Facility

LP Building Solutions (LP) and Forex Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement for LP to acquire the assets owned by Wawa OSB Inc., a subsidiary of Forex Inc. The manufacturing facility in Wawa, Ontario will be converted into an LP SmartSide trim and siding mill. The transaction, which is subject to court approval and customary closing conditions, is expected to be completed in early May 2023…

Georgia-Pacific Names New Building Products Leader

Andy Konieczka, currently President–Structural Panels, will assume the leadership role for the building products business as Executive Vice President–Building Products. Konieczka will report to the company’s President and CEO Christian Fischer. Konieczka has been with Koch companies since 1992. In 2006, he joined Georgia-Pacific, holding strategy, optimization and management roles in wood and fiber, and…

Structurlam Files For Bankruptcy, May Sell To Mercer International

Structurlam Mass Timber Corp. has filed for bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell the company’s new Conway, Ark. CLT plant and its Canadian assets for $60 million, pending court approval. Structurlam entered the asset-purchase agreement with Mercer International Inc., a global forest products company which operates a mass timber facility in Spokane, Wash. However, Mercer’s purchase is subject to a better offer in a court-monitored process…

Panel Producers Make Key Hires

Roseburg has named Lorraine Russ as Director of Structural and Specialty Panels, a newly created role in which she will lead the company’s commercial efforts for softwood and hardwood plywood. Russ comes to Roseburg with a solid depth of leadership experience in strategic sales planning, product innovation and commercialization, and marketing after more than a decade in the building products industry….

Find Us On Social

Newsletter

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

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.

Advertise

Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative. Contact us today!