Timber from Russia has in recent years been sent through China for processing but since the Ukraine invasion by Russia, and the declaration of Russian timber as conflict timber, the volumes have grown substantially. Australian builders, architects, and specifiers who for nearly nine months have agonised over an ever-widening supply gap in high-strength engineered wood products have found an unforeseen …
Expressions of Interest: Residues2Revenues 2023
Early expressions of interest to present at next year’s Residues2Revenues 2023 event are now been called for. This year saw record numbers of forestry, wood harvesting, timber products companies and wood residues extraction and handling specialists turn up in Rotorua, New Zealand. The venue, with conference, pre and post conference workshops and exhibitions sold out. With developments in biomass utilisation so rapidly unfolding …
Industrial robot installations hit record high
With more than 500,000 new units put in place last year – topping the half-million mark for the first time – the IFR reported that annual robot installations have more than doubled worldwide in the past five years. A global market summary by the International Federation of Robotics reports that 517,000 industrial robots were put in place worldwide during 2021, …
Australian timber research centre continues vital work
WoodChat Episode 26 places spotlight on National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life A hugely positive mid-term review of the FWPA-supported National Centre for Timber Durability and Design Life has resulted in the extension of the Centre’s important research activities for a further five years, with the potential for three more. The latest episode of FWPA’s WoodChat podcast series …
Europe’s energy crisis: the wood squeeze
As much as 70 percent of European heating comes from natural gas and electricity, and with Russian deliveries drastically reduced, wood — already used by some 40 million people for heating — has become a sought-after commodity. Prices for wood pellets nearly doubled to 600 euros a ton in France, and there are signs of panic buying. Hungary has banned …
November 2022 NZ log market update
Opinion piece: Inflation is front and centre of everyone’s minds at present and is more than likely causing Grant Robertson many sleepless nights. One of his biggest worries (and he’s got plenty) will be whether Adrian Orr brings out the big guns in the next OCR round and gives us all a 75-basis point punch in the face. Then there’s …
RFID tracks workprogress for frame producer
Van de Vin predicts it will save tens of thousands of euros, having replaced its paper-based manual tracking system with the automated capture of digital data. When builders and homeowners require custom-made windows and frames, they typically have little room for delays. With that in mind, Van de Vin recently deployed an RFID-based solution to track its custom wooden window …
What it took to get us to stay
The top reasons for staying with a company include pay, training and schedules. Pouring over data, analysing trends and evaluating the efficacy of policies are often how companies study their retention efforts. While those methods offer insights, the best resource for finding out why employees stay at their jobs is to ask them. IW did that and spoke with three …
40% denser than engineered wood – SEB
Pretentious as it may sound, we can say with certainty that bamboo is one of the most promising materials for the future of the construction industry. Neil Thomas, principal engineer at atelier one, says that if we were to design an ideal building material, it would look a lot like bamboo. This is because it grows very fast, is present …