WoodTECH News provides the latest updates on breaking news, research results, reports and links relevant to sawmilling, wood manufacturing and wood products companies in Australasia.
WoodTECH Events provides an independent platform for companies to evaluate the very latest in wood processing and manufacturing technologies, innovations and techniques from around the globe.
Featured News
WoodTECH 2018 – Early expressions of interest
After an absence of over eight years, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) will this year be focussing the WoodTECH 2018 event on innovations and new technologies around dry-mill and wood manufacturing operations. The previous two WoodTECH events, 2017 and 2015 have both concentrated on sawmill scanning, sawing and green-mill optimisation technologies. WoodTECH 2017 was a SELL OUT. The WoodTECH ...
News, Reports & Resources
Site for new AU$190M CLT mill selected
Early last week the potential site for the Hermal Group’s new hard wood operation in Tasmania was being debated by the media. Late last week the announcement on the location was made. The Hermal Group on Thursday announced th...
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Inside the new Red Stag sawing line
The worlds most advanced sawmill and the first ‘super-mill’ in the Southern Hemisphere, Red Stag Timber, was opened in Rotorua on 23 March last year. A new sawmilling line and upgrade programme, valued in excess of NZ$100 m...
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Softwood lumber exports into US soar
The streak of record-high U.S. lumber prices caused offshore softwood lumber exports to the U.S. to expand rapidly in 2017 versus 2016 reports Russ Taylor, Managing Director of FEA Holdings – Canada Inc. The same trend is exp...
0Thanks to our WoodTECH 2018 Sponsors
Enter the robots: automation filling the gaps
Plant manager Gabor Kiraly remembers the meeting a couple of years ago when he and his Austrian bosses learnt how severe the worker shortage in Hungary was about to become – it was, he said, a “shocking realization”. The ...
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Queensland sawmill opens after 7-year shut down
Tambo’s reopened sawmill is reviving the town’s fortunes after a million-dollar investment and seven years in mothballs. Queensland’s Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning Cameron Dick...
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BC saw filers share knowledge at 2018 convention
The BC Saw Filers Association drew an impressive crowd of around 160 registrants to Kamloops, B.C., April 26-28 for what is being called the largest convention of its kind in North America. It’s an encouraging sign for the fi...
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XLam Australia now commercially producing CLT
XLam has announced that it has now begun manufacturing Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) panels at its Wodonga site in Australia. “XLam is very excited to finally offer the building and construction industry a locally produced tre...
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Stellar sawmill earnings being recorded
From a recent article by Russ Taylor, Managing Director of FEA Holdings – Canada Inc, he has outlined how the recent run on lumber prices has put big smiles on the faces of North American sawmill operators and lumber traders....
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Flexible New Wood Scanning Solution For the Mill
Wood scanning in today’s saw and planer mills demands a flexible sensor solution that delivers several technologies to achieve maximum value recovery at high speed. LMI’s new Gocator 200 series offers a modular approach to ...
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WoodTECH Update – Issue 3
Welcome to the latest update for Australasia’s sawmilling and wood manufacturing community. We’ve had a great response since we’ve launched this service at the end of last year. The concept of improving communication betwee...
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New equipment for the saw-filing room
From a recent issue of Canadian Forest Industries some of the latest equipment for the North American saw filing room is reviewed. Cut Technologies Cut Technologies / Burton Saw & Supply Saw Tension Analyser (STA) is an electro...
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Saw guide sales: beware of these 4 tactics
Udo Jahn, GM of Modern Engineering, Canada who spoke at last year’s WoodTECH 2017 event in both Australia and New Zealand has added another blog – this time an entertaining and informative look at just what sawmillers shoul...
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Rethinking sawmill safety culture
How many times you have heard the phrase “safety first” or “everything starts with safety”? I’m pretty sure that we have all heard some variation of these phrases at one point or another. As a safety professional at a...
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Robotic collaboration in new timber construction
Digitalisation has found its way into timber construction, with entire elements already being fabricated by computer-aided systems. The raw material is cut to size by the machines, but in most cases, it still has to be manually...
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A daily checklist for chipper and grinder maintenance
This checklist and pointers for inspections of your wood grinder or chippers recently appeared in the Wood Business publication. A full link to the original story is detailed below. As a business owner, you do not simply purcha...
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New camera cuts sawmill maintenance by almost 60%
A self-cleaning camera created by ExcelSense Technologies, a UBC-based venture, has cut maintenance downtime at one of the log lines in a British Columbia sawmill by almost 60 per cent. By providing the ability to see a critica...
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AKD finalises Yarram sawmill purchase
Associated Kiln Driers Softwoods (AKD) officially took ownership of the Yarram Sawmill after finalising the purchase with Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) Woodproducts earlier in March. Regular operations of the mill resumed on Monday ...
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Sensors drive future manufacturing plants
One of the beautiful things about fair competition is that it foments positive development. With a few exceptions, almost every major change in history came with a fight by entrenched industry against it. One of those exception...
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Automation & robotics in the wood industry
There is a high potential for robotics and automation within the forestry sector. Actually, with a very low unemployment rate at the moment in North America, it is really difficult to attract and to retain qualified workers in ...
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Latest quarterly Timber Market Survey results released
The December quarter 2017 TMS has shown upward price movements for untreated MGP10 and MGP12 products ranging between 0.4% and 1.4%, while treated F7 products showed upward price movements of around 0.8%. Prices for outdoor sof...
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Red Stag to invest NZ$20M in CLT plant
Red Stag Group, which runs the largest sawmill in the Southern Hemisphere, plans to invest more than NZ$20 million developing a large-scale cross-laminated timber plant at its wood processing site in Rotorua, New Zealand. The p...
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Caboolture sawmill sold to AKD
Associated Kiln Driers Softwoods (AKD) and Carter Holt Harvey Woodproducts have finalised the sale of the Caboolture sawmill located at Henzell Road, Caboolture, Queensland with AKD taking ownership from 9 March 2018. The Caboo...
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What sawmills of the future will look like
Will the sawmills of the future be run entirely from an I-Phone or I-Pad? Logging and Sawmilling Journal has looked at what might be in store for future sawmills with UBC wood science assistant professor Julie Cool. It really i...
0WoodTECH 2018 – Early expressions of interest
After an absence of over eight years, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) will this year be focussing the WoodTECH 2018 event on innovations and new technologies around dry-mill and wood manufacturing operations....
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Springer Group acquires FinScan
International technology supplier Springer Group has acquired a majority stake in Finnish company FinScan. FinScan is a specialist in scanners and software for automated optimization of lumber in sawmills, having installed more...
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USNR acquires Mid-South Engineering
USNR announced that it has recently completed the acquisition of Mid-South Engineering Co., the leading consultant and provider of engineering services to the wood products industry in North America. USNR President George Van H...
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Band saw sharpening technology passes to ISELI
From 1 January 2019, ISELI, swiss producer of processing and sharpening machines for band saw, gang saw and circular saw blades, will support the product line “wood cutting band saws” from VOLLMER. Guarantees and warranty o...
0Welcome to 2018 – WoodTECH Issue 2
Welcome to the second update for Australasia’s sawmilling and wood manufacturing community. We had a great response when we launched this service back in November 2017. The concept of improving communication between companies a...
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WoodTECH 2018 – Focus on wood manufacturing tech
After an absence of over eight years, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) will this year be focussing the WoodTECH 2018 event on innovations and new technologies around dry-mill and wood manufacturing operations....
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New Gisborne sawmill announced
Activate Tairawhiti and Eastland Community Trust have jointly announced the sale of Prime Sawmill (photo) to New Zealand-owned Far East Sawmills, guaranteeing the creation of between 50 and 60 jobs at the Prime Wood Processing ...
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Aging ironwork? No, it’s MDF for outdoor use
Large scale installations by Alexander Devereux for a sculptural park in the North East of England, inspired by famous bridges in the region, were fabricated from Tricoya, a specialized MDF for outdoor use. Devereux used Tricoy...
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Simonds merges with Burton Saw
The merger of Simonds International and Burton Saw will create a leading producer and marketer of cutting tools and related equipment for the primary wood fibre industry. The combined company, known as Wood Fiber Holdings, Inc....
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Death of the saw salesman?
For as long as filers (saw-doctors) have been hammering saws, the manufacturers have sent smiling representatives out into the wild seeking the fertile ground of working filing rooms to sew their seeds of promise: saws, tools a...
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Juken NZ to refocuss its products and markets
Forestry and wood processing company, Juken New Zealand has this week begun consulting employees at its Gisborne wood-processing mill about potential changes to the products made there in order to return the plant to profitabil...
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Substance abuse tops H&S risks in sawmills
Like a wisp of smoke, a waft of alcohol, or a tiny pill, it’s difficult to measure the exact size of the problem of substance abuse in the workplace, but a group of sawmill industry experts in Canada has placed the issue firm...
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AKD Softwoods looks at CHH mills
Carter Holt Harvey (CHH) and Associated Kiln Driers (AKD) are in advanced negotiations regarding the potential purchase of the Yarram sawmill located at Yarram, Victoria and the Caboolture sawmill located at Caboolture, Queensl...
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Juken to defend court action over J-Frame
Juken New Zealand will defend court action being taken against it by Red Stag Timber (see story this week) over its J-Frame product, saying the rival wood processor is trying to remove the growing competitive threat of laminate...
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Red Stag Timber filing proceedings on mislabelling timber
New Zealand’s largest sawmill operator, Red Stag Timber confirms that it has filed proceedings in the Auckland High Court against Japanese-owned company, Juken New Zealand Limited. Red Stag Timber claims that Juken has breach...
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WoodTECH platform launched for Australasian wood producers
Together with industry, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) will be communicating much more regularly with sawmilling, wood manufacturing and timber preservation companies along with key suppliers to this part of...
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Saw Guides: Tips to Improving Sawing Accuracy
This presentation, which includes full narration, was presented at WoodTECH 2017 in Melbourne, Australia and Rotorua, New Zealand. Josh Bergen is the Owner of Canadian company, Precision Manufacturing. Their key distributor in ...
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Australian saw millers invest AU$900m in industry future
Australian saw millers and associated manufacturers have invested an estimated AU$900 million over the last five years in efficiency and productivity initiatives on the back of strong demand for timber fuelled by the booming ho...
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What Colour Is Your Saw Guide?
What colour is your saw guide? If it’s not grey, you have a problem. Learn about the consequences of using cosmetic saw guides instead of industrial grade saw guides from Vancouver CNC machine shop owner and public speaker Ud...
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Drone scanning of timber stacks
At WoodTECH 2017 in Rotorua, TimberSmart joined Saito to showcase a new drone scanning technology that can be used in the mill or timber yard to collect packet data. The drone has the ability to travel up to the top stack and u...
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WoodSolutions launches comprehensive Timber Species App
WoodSolutions has launched the WoodSolutions Species App to support professionals in the design and build industry, including furniture makers and DIYers to choose and specify the best timber species and products for structural...
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Understanding lumber size control
As part of the recent WoodTECH 2017 series, Nick Barrett, President of SiCam Systems, Canada gave a 90-minute workshop to event delegates in both Australia and New Zealand. In the workshop Nick covered; establishing the importanc...
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Simplifying robotic pick-and-place with 3D
Robotic pick-and-place is an important automated manufacturing process in many industries. In this application, robots pick up parts presented one at a time and place them in a preset order and location, even when the exact loc...
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Selecting & operating your log carriage & optimiser
Another practical workshop given at the WoodTECH 2017 series was from two of the industry’s leading specialists in carriage head-rig operations. Together, Marv Bernhagen, COO, Lewis Controls and Chuck Boaz, President of Cor...
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Hundegger expansion in Australasia
Hundegger Australasia Pty Ltd are the regional representatives for Hans Hundegger AG of Germany, leading manufacturers of up to 6-axis CNC machinery for the truss and frame, engineered timber and CLT panel processing industry. ...
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Timberlink launches employment campaign
Timberlink’s growth and reinvestment has been significant over the past 5 years and the plans are for this to continue. With this strategic imperative of growth and sustainability, the company has recently launched a campaign...
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Boral Timber Murwillumbah back in operation
One of the larger, purpose-built flooring manufacturing businesses in Australia – the Boral site at Murwillumbah – is now back in operation, following major repair work over the past two months. The Hardwood Engineering Man...
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Anyone use a wooden nail?
Nails are wonderful things; the invention of the cheap wire nail made them into a cheap mass produced commodity that contributed to the development of the American housing industry. But they are also a problem; they make it har...
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WoodTECH 2017 Event Summary
It was certainly a full house – in both Australia and New Zealand. The WoodTECH 2017 technology series that focussed on sawmilling or green-mill operations drew in a record number of over 400 delegates in September 2017. It w...
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WoodTECH 2017 Event Photos
We had a great turnout for WoodTECH 2017. This was the largest gathering yet seen of sawmilling companies, saw-doctors and technology providers from around the globe in Australasia. Click here to see event photos from WoodTECH...
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Using the RIGHT Oil
Udo Jahn from Modern Engineering and Dean Maier from Industrial Autolube sit down to discuss using oils correctly. This is part of Udo’s Sawmill Education Series on YouTube. Source: YouTube
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New startup looking to disrupt the engineered wood industry
Materialize.X launched two new products that it thinks will revolutionize the US$300 billion-a-year engineered wood market. The first is a non-toxic adhesive A lot of engineered wood is created using an adhesive called urea-for...
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Questioning the threat technology poses to employment
Many jobs that exist today will be displaced by technology. But there is nothing new in this. Manufacturing is an industry where technology has already decimated many jobs. Despite this, unemployment rates in the likes of NZ an...
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Saw & Babbitt Pads
Udo Jahn from Modern Engineering and Dean Maier from Industrial Autolube sit down to discuss using saw and badditt pads. This is part of Udo’s Sawmill Education Series on YouTube. Source: YouTube
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3D Laser Profiling vs. 2D Machine Vision
Despite the proven advantages of 3D technology for inline quality inspection applications, many organizations still rely solely on 2D machine vision for their quality control processes. While useful in a select number of scenar...
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Too Much Lubricant
Saw Lubrication – How much it can cost you if you’re using too much, and what the warning signs are. A discussion with sawmill maintenance experts Udo Jahn and Dean Maier. This is part of Udo’s Sawmill Education Series on YouTu...
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One week before WoodTECH 2017 early-bird ENDS
Registrations continue to flow in for this region’s two-yearly sawmilling event, WoodTECH 2017. Sawmilling companies, mill production staff and saw-doctors have all been making full use of the discounted early-bird registrati...
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Record turnout of global sawmilling expertise planned
Two years ago was pretty good. Over 350 delegates from all major sawmilling companies in this region in addition to leading technology providers from throughout Australasia, North America and Europe converged on Melbourne, Aust...
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Early Registration Bonus!
As well as a discounted early-bird registration rate, discounts are also being offered if you are a member of one of this region’s key industry associations. A special group rate has also been set up with discounts of over 60...
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Global sawmill troubleshooters coming to Australasia
For the first time in Australia and New Zealand, a series of troubleshooting workshops have been designed to run as part of September’s WoodTECH 2017 series. They’ll be providing a unique insight into how sawmills can extra...
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Extra one-day conference added to NZ WoodTECH 2017
As an added bonus for those attending the WoodTECH 2017 conference in New Zealand, a one-day conference, Changing Perceptions of Engineered Timber in Construction will be run on the day after the WoodTECH 2017 conference, on Th...
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Practical workshops set up for local sawmills in September
As outlined in a previous issue, the two-yearly sawmilling technology event, WoodTECH 2017 will again be running for sawmilling companies in both New Zealand and Australia in September this year. An integral part of the program...
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Sawmilling global tech series running in September 2017
Two years ago – over two weeks – the WoodTECH conference series run by the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) achieved a record turnout of sawmilling companies. They were drawn from throughout Australia and New ...
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Sawmilling tech series ready for September 2017
Two years ago – over two weeks – FIEA’s WoodTECH conference series achieved a record turnout of sawmilling companies drawn from throughout Australia and New Zealand. Over 350 delegates from all major sawmilling companies in...
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WoodTECH 2017 programme is being developed
The WoodTECH technology series has provided a unique independent platform for Australasian companies to evaluate the very latest wood scanning, sawmilling equipment and mill maintenance tools from around the globe. What’s bei...
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Post event summary 2015
Over two weeks in mid-September 2015, FIEA’s WoodTECH conference series achieved a record turnout of sawmillers from Australia and New Zealand. Over 350 delegates from sawmilling companies and leading technology providers fro...
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