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EWTA NEWS
Registration Ongoing for APA Annual Meeting and EWTA Info Fair
Registration is open for the APA Annual Meeting and EWTA Info Fair (Info Fair registration deadline is Sept. 25). The events will be held Nov. 2-5 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona. The theme of the Annual Meeting is “Beyond.” Hear about the launch of APA’s new lab and its testing capabilities, expanding market opportunities and standards work. EWTA’s Info Fair features a supplier exhibition and connection-building receptions. The dual events offer an opportunity for APA member manufacturers and EWTA member suppliers and service providers to the engineered wood industry a chance to gather industry information and build valuable network connections. Register to attend the event here and learn more about exhibiting or sponsoring the Info Fair here.
Info Fair Welcomes 59 Member Company Participants
To date, 59 EWTA members are participating in the 26th Info Fair supplier exhibition this year, with more companies registering every day. We still have space left (see above)! The event will be held in conjunction with the APA Annual Meeting Nov. 2-4 in Tucson, Arizona The following EWTA members will be exhibiting and/or sponsoring (Platinum, Gold, Silver, golf, tennis or cripple coot shoot competition):
A-Lert Construction Services – Silver
AkzoNobel Wood Adhesives
Altec Integrated Solutions – DIAMOND
ANDRITZ Inc. – Golf
Arclin - Performance Applied – PLATINUM
Argos Solutions LLC – PLATINUM
Ashland Specialty Ingredients – GOLD
BASF – We create chemisty – Coot Shoot, Golf
BRUKS Siwertell – PLATINUM, Golf
Chem-Trend LP – DIAMOND
CMA engineering Inc. – PLATINUM
Combilift USA
Con-Vey Keystone, Inc. – PLATINUM
COSTA Sanders LLC –DIAMOND
Dieffenbacher Customer Support, LLC
DO2 Industriel – Silver
Electronic Wood Systems, N.A.
Evergreen Engineering, Inc.
Fagus GreCon, Inc. – Golf
Flamex, Inc. – GOLD
Franklin Adhesives & Polymers – GOLD
FROMM Packaging Systems – GOLD, Tennis
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC – Silver, Coot Shoot
Globe Machine Manufacturing Company
Grenzebach Corporation – GOLD,Golf
Guardian Chemicals Inc.
Hansen-Rice, Inc. – Silver
H.B. Fuller – Silver
Hexion Inc. – GOLD, Golf
Hunt, Guillot & Associates LLC – Silver
IMAL-PAL Group – Silver
Intertape Polymer Group
Itipack Systems
KADANT Carmanah Design – Silver
Kimwood Machinery, Inc. – GOLD
Koch Knight, LLC – GOLD
LIMAB North America – Silver
Lonza Wood Protection
Matthews Marking Systems – PLATINUM
Meinan Machinery Works, Inc./Merritt Machinery, LLC – PLATINUM
Metriguard Technologies Inc. – Silver
Nicholson Manufacturing Ltd.
Raute – GOLD, Coot Shoot,Golf
REA JET
Samuel Packaging Systems Group/Strapping – PLATINUM
Samuel Packaging Systems Group/Coding & Labeling
Signode Packaging Systems – PLATINUM
SonicAire – GOLD
SparTek Industries – GOLD
Spraying Systems Co. – GOLD, Golf
Steinemann Technology USA, Inc. – GOLD
Stratachem Solutions Group LP – Coot Shoot
Sweed Machinery, Inc. – PLATINUM
Tebulo Industrial Robotics – GOLD
TSI – GOLD
USNR – DIAMOND, Coot Shoot, Golf
Westmill Industries USA Corp. – PLATINUM
Willamette Valley Company – PLATINUM
Wood-Based Composites Center – Silver
2020 Info Fair Dates Announced
The dates and location of the 2020 APA Annual Meeting and EWTA Info Fair have been announced. The events will be held Oct. 17-20 at the JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa in Aventura, Florida. This year’s Annual Meeting and Info Fair will be held Nov. 2-5 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort and Spa in Tucson, Arizona.
EWTA Awards to be Announced at Annual Meeting
EWTA’s annual Supplier Awards winners will be announced at the APA Annual Meeting Nov. 2-5 in Tucson, Arizona. The overall awards program features two competitions: the Supplier of the Year awards and the Innovation of the Year award. In EWTA’s Supplier of the Year awards program, APA members will vote for winners (links to an online ballot will be emailed to APA members early in October) based on quality, service and delivery of products, equipment and/or services supplied to them by EWTA members. One winner will be chosen in each of three member categories: Equipment/Tooling, Materials/Supplies, and Consulting/Services. EWTA’s Innovation Award is an annual awards program that is designed to honor new EWTA members’ new technologies, systems or products that have been shown to demonstrably reduce production costs, increase productivity, improve product quality or in some other way provide a bottom-line benefit to APA members. The Innovation Award winner is also determined by APA member email votes, combined with in-person votes at EWTA’s Info Fair during the APA Annual Meeting. Supplier Award program winners will be announced during the Annual Meeting Chairman’s Dinner Nov. 4, and winners will also be published in the Spring 2020 issue of the Engineered Wood Journal. Last year’s Supplier of the Year and Innovation of the Year award winners are on the EWTA website.
EWTA MEMBER NEWS
Evergreen Engineering Opens New Office
Evergreen Engineering, based in Eugene, Oregon, has opened a new location in the Seattle area to better serve the company’s major wood products and pulp and paper clients in Washington state, and to also take advantage of the pool of local talent available in the area. The new Everett, Washington, office will be led by Project and Office Manager Kevin Tangen, formerly based in Evergreen’s Eugene office. He is joined by Mechanical Engineer Erik Lasher and newly hired Senior Project Manager Jeffrey Tuma. Locally hired designers and drafters will round out the team.
New WVCO R&D Facility Opens
The Willamette Valley Company recently held a grand opening for its new research and development facility in Eugene, Oregon. The facility is 28,000 sq ft and houses 24 laboratory benches. The physical testing lab is utilized by Willamette Valley Company’s chemists and technicians to test the physical properties of cured materials. The analytical lab is used to peer into the inner workings of the materials: how they cure and how the chemistry interacts. The application area is used to simulate how the company’s products are applied in the field. Chemists and technicians share an open office space as well as many collaboration spaces.
Altec Hires Two New Team Members
Altec Integrated Solutions has hired two new employees. Allan McClure is the general manager of Altec’s manufacturing facility (Demco Manufacturing, Inc.) in Diboll, Texas. He brings with him 43 years of experience in the veneer and plywood industry in plant operations, machinery manufacturing and technical field service, particularly on the green end. Randy Watts is a field service technician also based out of Altec’s Diboll manufacturing facility. Watts has 27 years of experience on veneer green ends in both operations and management.
New Generation Takes Helm at Dieffenbacher
A new generation has stepped in to lead Dieffenbacher, the company recently announced. Christian Dieffenbacher recently joined the management board of the family-run company, setting a course for transferring management from the fourth to fifth generation. Wolf-Gerd Dieffenbacher resigned from the board this summer. In addition to his other responsibilities, Christian Dieffenbacher will become CEO and spokesman for the management board. Wolf-Gerd Dieffenbacher will become part of the Board of Advisors and will remain associated with the company in other capabilities.
Ashland Introduces New Coating Additive
Ashland has introduced its new Strodex PK-86NV specialty phosphate ester surfactant, a new performance enhancing additive for waterborne architectural coatings. The product contains near-zero volatile organic compounds (VOCs), no alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEOs) and is REACH compliant. The product improves substrate wetting, increases gloss, and enhances color acceptance, according to a press release.
AROUND THE INDUSTRY
SFPA Announces 2018 Sawmill Safety Awards
Seven Southern Pine sawmills – all members of the Southern Forest Products Association – are recent recipients of the 2018 Sawmill Safety Award. SFPA lumber manufacturer members are considered for the award based on information submitted regarding occupational injuries and illnesses. Safety performance is judged by how each mill’s safety record stacks up against facilities with comparable lumber output throughout the year. The results for 2018 included reports from 54 mills that recorded nearly 20 million employee hours. Division I includes sawmills that produce 50 million board feet or less; Division II covers facilities that produce 51 to 150 million board feet; and Division III includes mills that produce more than 150 million board feet annually. The seven sawmills being honored for outstanding safety records during 2018 are:
• Division I:
Weyerhaeuser Company – Zwolle, Louisiana
McShan Lumber Company – McShan, Alabama
• Division II:
Weyerhaeuser Company – Millport, Alabama
Weyerhaeuser Company – Holden, Louisiana
• Division III:
West Fraser, Inc. – New Boston, Texas
Weyerhaeuser Company – Idabel, Oklahoma
Weyerhaeuser Company – Dodson, Louisiana
LP’s Brad Southern Named 2019 North American CEO of the Year
Louisiana-Pacific CEO Brad Southern has been named 2019 North American CEO of the Year by Fastmarkets RISI, a source of commodity data and insights for the forest products industry. The award will be presented to Southern at RISI’s North American Conference on Oct. 29 in Boston, Massachusetts. The North American CEO of the Year is nominated by a group of independent judges comprised of investment analysts and portfolio managers covering the North American global, pulp and paper industry. Among the reasons cited for Southern’s win, one analyst credited him for helping the company with “capital redeployment.” Another praised Southern similarly, stating that, “LP is a company on the rebound,” due to Southern’s dedicated leadership.
CPA Awards Companies for Safety; Elects Board Members
The Composite Panel Association honored several companies for their safety records at the association’s 2019 spring meeting, and also elected new leadership. The awards for the best long-term safety record over the past three years were given to Arauco North America, Moncure, North Carolina (Class I) and Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, Roaring River, North Carolina (Class II). The annual safety awards for having zero incidents in 2018 were given to Arauco North America, Moncure, North Carolina; and Timber Products, Martell, California; for Class I plants, and Panolam, Huntsville, Ontario; and Louisiana-Pacific, Roaring River, North Carolina; for Class II plants. Two plants recognized for safety improvement were West Fraser Mills, Whitecourt, Alberta (Class I); and Panolam, Huntsville, Ontario (Class II). Steve Carroll of Arauco was elected to the executive committee, while Mike Avery of Timber Products Company and James Hogg of Uniboard Canada were elected chairman and vice chairman, respectively, to the Environmental Public Affairs Committee. Tammy Polovic of Omnova Solutions was named chairman of the Decorative Surfaces Council.
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