Mark the dates into your diary – if you’re a local sawmiller. 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 Zealand. Over 400 delegates from all major sawmilling companies in the region in …
ABARES snap shot of Australian wood processing
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) released the ABARES National Wood Processing Survey: 2016–17 report on Thursday 13 June 2019. Although maybe already out of date (it does though provide broad trends over a ten-year period), key findings from the survey include; – ABARES estimates that a total of 299 mills (excluding value-add only) operated …
The Automated Warehouse of the Future
They call it “the hive,” or “the grid.” Or sometimes just: “the machine.” It’s a huge structure that fills a warehouse on the outskirts of Andover, a small and quiet town in southeast England. It’s impossible to take in at a single glance, but standing on a maintenance walkway near the building’s rafters, you look over what seems to be …
Australian sawmiller recognised in Honours List
Arbuthnot Sawmills has just celebrated its 130-year anniversary and what better way to be acknowledged than to see its General Manager, Paul Madden, awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia, which was announced in Monday’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List. A VAFI Executive Committee member, Paul was recognised for his service to primary industry and the community of the Riverina. …
SmartStruct brings in new mass wood panel system
SmartStruct, a division of Tilling Timber and the Principal Partner of the 2019 Timber Offsite Construction conference and exhibition, has announced it is bringing a new type of mass wood panel system down under for the first time. Owned by Metsä Wood, Kerto-RIPA is a large-scale panel system for floors and walls, with superior stability, strength, acoustic and rigidity attributes. …
Featured Sponsor: World’s First Third Party Approved Quick Suppression System
Higher Safety with Quick Response Time When protecting critical machinery or high-risk areas from fires, the response time of a fire protection system is essential. The quicker a fire can be detected and extinguished, the less damage it will cause, production losses can be kept to a minimum and employee safety will be greatly enhanced. By using an appropriate fire …
Wood. The Ultimate Renewable™ launched
Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA) hosted a launch event in Melbourne on Tuesday evening, unveiling a new brand to the industry ahead of a consumer advertising campaign next month. The Ultimate Renewable™ (detailed in a lead story two weeks ago) will promote the sustainability and environmental advantages of Australia’s forest and wood products industry, with the goal of reframing …
Electronic tags for prefabricated timber
The advantages of prefabricated timber systems in construction are being given a boost by researchers trialling Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) tracking technology to improve on-site processes. The latest podcast episode of WoodChat focuses on research funded by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), which has been testing the value proposition associated with attaching small, computerised tags to timber construction elements manufactured …