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. …

In a recent issue of this newsletter we profiled the series of more practical workshops that will be running alongside sawmilling tech innovations that will be making up the two-yearly technology series ( WoodTECH 2019) being run for this region’s sawmills in September. As part of the workshop series, USNR will be running a session on primary breakdown machine alignment …

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 …

Real time saw monitoring systems profiled As part of the upcoming WoodTECH 2019 series running in September for local sawmilling companies, new systems for non-contact real time saw performance monitoring will be profiled. As part of the practical programme set up, Josh Bergen from Precision Machinery, Canada and Justin Williams, Williams & White, Canada will be outlining their systems, both …

Timberlands Limited (TL) and Kaingaroa Timberlands (KT) are proud to announce the opening of our new Murupara based log de-barker on Wednesday 22 May. Commissioned as an alternative to Methyl Bromide treatment for log exports (to China) the plant is expected to debark 660,000 tonnes in the first year of operation, rising to 1 million tonnes in the second year. …

Laminex Australia has unveiled an innovative business partnership to enable expansion of its South East Queensland manufacturing operations, whilst also securing 42 local jobs in Gympie by taking over the operation of a particleboard plant destined for closure. A long-standing Australian manufacturer and trusted name in quality products and design, Laminex Australia has assumed control of the former Carter Holt …

Jartek delivered to New Zealand based Donelley Sawmillers Ltd the first wood thermal modification chamber and thermal oil boiler plant in 2017. During 2018, this plant with one 35m3 chamber was unable to satisfy the growing demand of thermally modified Radiata Pine. The company decided to invest in a second chamber. This new chamber was commissioned was commissioned in March …

Timberlink has welcomed the announcements from both the Australian Liberal and Labor Parties that they will provide AU$3.5 million to complete their Bell Bay Softwood Mill upgrade. “This bipartisan support from both sides of politics is great news for our employees and the broader George Town community”, Timberlink’s David Oliver said. “The Bell Bay Softwood Mill employs nearly 200 people …

Air New Zealand will begin construction on the largest single span timber arch aircraft hangar in the world at its engineering base in Auckland later this year. ‘Hangar 4’ will be large enough to house a wide body aircraft such as the airline’s 777-300 or 787-9 Dreamliner, and two narrow body aircraft such as the A320 or A321neo, at the …

In comparison to this time in 2018 — when all lumber markets were active and supply was the constraint — the situation in 2019 is quite the opposite. When we look at the key global producing and consuming markets, there is a consistent theme: too much supply chasing markets amid slowing demand in most major markets. Whether this is temporary …

John Gay, the long-time former managing director of timber company Gunns, has died aged 75. John was born into a third-generation sawmilling family in Deloraine in 1943. After attending boarding school in Hobart, he went to work at his father’s sawmill at the age of 15. He was operating his own mills at Oatlands and Bridgewater by the age of …

Following a one-day conference that discussed why wood manufacturing matters, especially in our regions, NZ Woods’ Timber Design Guide Manager Andy van Houtte launched “Design for Fire Safety,” the first of NZ Wood’s design guides in booklet form. The guides are aimed at architects, engineers, developers, quantity surveyors, building consent officials and other professionals to enable them to better understand …

“Manufacturing still matters,” Dr Alison Pennington (photo) told delegates at the Wood Processors and Manufacturers’ Association (WPMA)’s conference in Christchurch recently. Dr Pennington is an economist at the Centre for Future Work within the Australia Institute, and was a keynote speaker at the conference. “Manufacturing drives innovation,” she explained. “It continues to open new frontiers in innovation and technology, and …

No one can deny the importance of local timber mills for regional jobs and the economy, however the often-aging infrastructure has, in the past presented challenges with air pollution and quality. Even before purchasing the Jubilee Highway Sawmill last year, OneFortyOne was in discussions with the South Australian Environment Protection Authority on air quality to meet legislative requirements for the …

3D printing technology can combine timber waste products and recycled plastics to transform them into a high-performance construction element, as results from research conducted at the University of Sydney show. The Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA)-supported research is the focus of the latest episode of WoodChat, and is being conducted by a team led by Professor Sandra Löschke, Director …

Located in Lyons, Oregon, Freres Lumber has been in business for nearly a century. After starting out producing standard lumber projects, the company moved into wood veneers some 60 years ago and in 1998 purchased a plywood plant. Now, it’s made another step: getting U.S. and Canadian patents on its mass plywood panel (MPP), the first veneer-based mass timber panel …

The December quarter Australian 2018 Timber Market Survey (TMS) has seen mixed price movement results for untreated structural pine products. Price movements for MGP10 and MGP12 products were within +/-0.7%, with most products showing downward price movements over the quarter. Treated sleeper and decking prices continued to trend upwards over the quarter, with price movements ranging between 2.2% and 3.2%. …

The business and assets of RCR Energy Ltd have just been sold to Windsor Engineering Group Limited. The sale secures the future of this vital New Zealand business in the energy boiler sector, ensuring continuous employment for over 60 staff and numerous contractors and uninterrupted service for customers. Maurice Davies, Director for Windsor, noted, “RCR Energy, as Australasia’s largest thermal …

New Zealand’s Health Minister Dr David Clark says two new woody biomass boilers for Christchurch Hospital will improve the Canterbury DHB’s resilience and environmental sustainability. Polytechnik Biomass Energy, based in Austria, has been awarded the contract to design, manufacture and install replacements for the current coal-fired boilers. The total budget for the project is approximately NZ$45 million. “The existing boiler …

Sixty-five jobs have been lost with the closure of a small South Taranaki town’s biggest employer. The Waverley Sawmill, which has traded since at least 1932, has been sold and the new owner has decided it is no longer viable, South Taranaki District Mayor Ross Dunlop said. “It’s been a very valuable business in our district and has employed lots …

Tenon at Taupo, New Zealand sourced a new edger line with advanced technology to provide visual grading capability for its high-value shop and moulding products. Tenon describes the operation as the country’s largest single site producer of defect-free, appearance grade radiata pine products. The output includes lumber, solid lineal mouldings and clear pine boards, with the majority exported to the …

Leading Canadian Sawmill Machinery Manufacturer TS Manufacturing has recently acquired a majority shareholding in Automation & Electronics NZ Ltd and its AEUSA division based in North Carolina. The acquisition strengthens TS Controls division in the North American market by adding additional controls support combined with AE Optimization technology. A&E is a well-established company with a 33-year history in the Australasian …

IWT-Moldrup, a Danish company that manufactures wood treatment operations,  has in recent years supplied a number of semi-automatic wood treatment plants to Australia for treating 30,000 m3 treated timber per annum.  Some plants have been delivered ready for expansion to fully automatic material handling at a later time.  Many local companies did not want to go to the fully automated …

Determining the stiffest piece of lumber is now easier with a new smartphone app created by scientists in Mississippi State University’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center.  Called “Smart Thumper,” the app uses soundwaves or vibrations to determine stiffness, a quality that relates to strength, for individual pieces of lumber.   Developer Dan Seale, professor in MSU’s Department of Sustainable Bioproducts, …

Two similar health and safety failings within three months have cost Rotorua timber company Claymark Limited over NZ$680,000 in fines, reparations and costs. WorkSafe, New Zealand’s primary workplace health and safety regulator, says that one serious injury on a company’s watch is bad enough, but that a second in close succession shows an unacceptable approach to worker safety. Claymark was …