May 2017

May 2017

Connections encourages EWTA and APA Members to submit news of interest to scain@engineeredwood.org

EWTA NEWS

EWTA Holds Spring Membership Meeting

The Engineered Wood Technology Association held its spring advisory committee meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Springfield, Oregon, April 13. Twenty-two EWTA and APA members met and received reports on EWTA activities, programs, research and finances. The meeting also included updates on industry standards from APA staff as well as a presentation on “Formaldehyde Emission Standards for Composite Wood Products” from Jeff Swartzentruber of member company Hexion Inc. Following the meeting, attendees were treated to a tour of the Springfield Hexion laboratory. Additional highlights of the meeting included EWTA’s strong financial footing, with net reserves over $150,000 and a total of $165,000 going to industry research in 2016 and 2017. For additional information about the association or updates on EWTA research, contact ewta@engineeredwood.org.

New Members Join EWTA

Two new companies have joined EWTA:

A-Lert Construction Services, based in Fredonia, Kansas, specializes in manufacturing and installing rotary dryers and related process equipment. Sales Manager Jordan Stewart can be reached at jstewart@centurionind.com.
ATCO Wood Products Ltd., based in Fruitvale, British Columbia, Canada, is a forest management company and a producer of softwood veneer. ATCO specializes in producing custom softwood veneer for plywood and engineered wood products customers in both Canada and the United States. COO Mark Semeniuk can be reached at mark.semeniuk@atcowoodproducts.com.

The addition of these two new member companies brings EWTA’s membership to 112.

Early Bird Registration Open for
Info Fair 2017

Early registration for EWTA’s 2017 Info Fair is now open through August 22. The event, along with APA’s Annual Meeting, is scheduled for October 28-30 at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach, California. APA’s Annual Meeting registration opens June 28. For Info Fair exhibit information, visit the registration website or contact Melinda Lilley. For APA Annual Meeting information, contact Kim Sivertsen. Check out the 2016 Info Fair group and individual photos, posted on the EWTA’s Facebook page and “Like” our page!

Connections Welcomes Member News

EWTA’s Connections newsletter, published electronically every other month, welcomes news from its members. News suitable for publication in upcoming issues includes press releases about new hires, new products, company news, awarded contracts or awards won. Please send your information or direct questions to Sheila Cain, editor, at scain@engineeredwood.org.

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EWTA MEMBERS NEWS

Metriguard Inc. Purchased by
Raute Corp.

Wood product machinery company Raute Corp., with world headquarters in Finland, recently purchased Pullman, Washington-based Metriguard Inc., a company that specializes in high-speed strength grading technology for lumber and veneer. The acquisition will strengthen both Metriguard and Raute’s product lines, according to a press release, amalgamating and enhancing the best practices of both businesses in the future. The Metriguard team will stay intact, with the exception of Jim and Jean Logan, who will remain as consultants for a period of time to oversee the transition before stepping away from the business completely. The new president of Metriguard is Jani Roivainen, who has successfully managed the Mecano business unit for Raute Corp. since that acquisition. Metriguard will continue to operate in Pullman under the legal name of Metriguard Technologies Inc.

NESTEC Partners with
A.H. Lundberg Systems

NESTEC Inc. and A.H. Lundberg Systems Limited announced in a press release a strategic alliance to mutually promote each company’s technologies in North America and other parts of the world. The partnership will expand the reach of new and state-of-the-art technologies in the U.S. and also provide NESTEC with a complement of proven control systems to further strengthen its broad spectrum of single source clean air solutions, according to the announcement.

Sweed Machinery Introduces New Technology

Sweed Machinery recently introduced “Smart Pause” technology that increases dryer production. The veneer infeed technology provides the dryer operator with additional time to fix veneer infeed issues and still maintain 100 percent fill rate—all without having to stop the dryer. The infeed section operates independently from the dryer through feeder programming and independently driven decks, allowing the operator to pause the feeder for up to 20 seconds without stopping the dryer. The technology reduces misfeeds and improves veneer presentation to the dryer.

IMEAS Introduces New Line of Sanders

IMEAS recently announced that it introduced a new sanding machine with numerous options to process a wide range of panel board types, including MDF, plywood and CLT. Changes includes a special feeding system that has been engineered to process thin panels at a very high speed, as well as built-in technologies that allow the machines to be monitored remotely. The new machine will be featured at IMEAS’ booth at the LIGNA show in Hannover, Germany, May 22–26.

Signode Announces Packaging
Machine Enhancement

Signode Industrial Group recently announced that it is now offering additional variations of its BPX lumber and panel packaging machine that are specifically engineered to handle zero-line (side-justified) and extra-wide load applications. The original BPX compression strapping system, released in 2014, enables faster cycle times and more consistent package performance.

Raute Elects Board Members

Raute Corp. elected members to its board of directors at its annual general meeting March 28. Erkki Pehu-Lehtonen was elected chairman; Mika Mustakallio was elected vice-chairman; and Joni Bask, Laura Raitio, Pekka Suominen and Patrick von Essen were elected board members.

Corrected Listings in Spring
Engineered Wood Journal

The listings for Itipack Systems and Nondestructive Inspection Service in the Membership Directory of the Spring Engineered Wood Journal (an EWTA-associated publication) were listed incorrectly. The listings should have read as follows:

Itipack Systems
Itipack Systems has been in business since 1970. We are a manufacturer of automated strapping systems.
Contact: Harry Scholtens—Sales Manager
Phone: 905-333-3695 ext. 224
919 Zelco Drive
Burlington, ON L7L 4Y2 Canada
hscholtens@itipacksystems.com
www.itipacksystems.com

Nondestructive Inspection Service
Nondestructive Inspection Service (N.I.S.) was incorporated in 1960. Since that time we have taken preventative maintenance to higher levels of predictive maintenance while saving our customers costly unpredictable down time, on all types of process equipment along the entire production line. We are the established leader in applying our knowledge of NDT and perfecting inspection procedures to exceed industry standards. In the case of wood processing and construction board plants we have developed, tested and implemented significant innovations on the standard inspection techniques to shrink costly inspection downtime and overcome the issues of inspecting difficult-to-reach parts of the equipment.
Contact: Ed Hauldren—VP of Operations
Phone: 304-562-6835
PO Box 220
Hurricane, WV 25526
ed@nisforndt.com
www.nisforndt.com

Connections and the Journal regret the errors.

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AROUND THE INDUSTRY

WBC Offers Short Courses

The Wood-Based Composite Center is offering upcoming industry short courses:

14th Wood Adhesion Short Course: course will introduce the basic concepts of adhesion with special attention to wood. August 9-10, Corvallis, Oregon. Agenda posted at wbc.vt.edu.
Online Wood-Based Composite Science Short Course: offers continuing education for mill operators, technical professionals and suppliers to the wood-based composites industry online. Courses include Wood Structure, Wood & Water Relationships, Applied Statistics & Data Analysis and three others. This course is offered by Oregon State University in collaboration with the Wood-Based Composites Center. Modules can be started at any time. Register at pace.oregonstate.edu.

UMaine Adds ANSI/APA PRG 320 to
Scope of Accreditation

The Advanced Structures and Composites Center (ASCC) at the University of Maine has announced the addition of ANSI/APA PRG 320, Standard for Performance Rated Cross-Laminated Timber, to its scope of accreditation. The ASCC at UMaine is one of a few testing laboratories to earn this expanded accreditation. Interest in mass timber continues to grow in North America due to numerous advantages. While UMaine faculty and staff have been conducting research on mass timber, including cross-laminated timber, for several years, the addition of ANSI/APA PRG 320 to its ISO/IEC 17025 accredited laboratory provides assurance of technical competence to its clients.
For more information, visit composites.umaine.edu.

SFPA Announces Increase in
Southern Pine Shipments

The Southern Forest Pine Association recently announced in a press release that, for the seventh consecutive year, shipments of southern pine lumber recorded an increase from the previous year. Shipments in 2016 totaled 17.34 billion board feet, an increase of 4 percent over the volume shipped in 2015 and 47 percent above 2009 shipments.

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RESOURCES

EWTA /// www.engineeredwood.org
APA /// www.apawood.org
EWTA MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY /// www.engineeredwood.org
APA MANUFACTURER DIRECTORY /// www.apawood.org/manufacturer directory
APA HELP DESK /// www.apawood.org/help
ENGINEERED WOOD JOURNAL /// www.engineeredwood.org

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About EWTA

The Engineered Wood Technology Association is a nonprofit trade association of and for product, equipment and service providers to the North American engineered wood products industry.

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