Welcome to the latest issue of WoodTECH.News. When taking a look at new stories across New Zealand and Australia, it is hard not to see that staffing and timber shortages are dominating the headlines. Post-covid, or more correctly, living with covid, has seen a massive increase in timber demand worldwide. There’s also a lack of available workers to meet this demand. …
Worker shortages start to bite
New Zealand’s forestry industry is facing a “perfect storm” of skyrocketing demand and being unable to meet its staffing needs. A shortage of employees due to COVID-19 illness and border-related worker shortages has meant a decrease in productivity around the country. Overall, the industry’s productivity has plummeted 25 percent in the past decade. Jeff Tanner, the managing director of Pukepine …
Australia faces critical housing timber shortage
Australia’s housing construction sector faces a critical timber shortage and our reliance on imported timber will double by 2050 if our nation falls short of the plan to plant an additional One Billion Production Trees, a new interim report by Forest & Wood Products Australia (FWPA) has found. The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) says the report reveals the demand …
Lucidyne competes brand integration with Microtec
Lucidyne Technologies, Inc., a North American leader in automated lumber scanning and optimization, has announced its brand integration with MiCROTEC, a global technology partner for the sawmilling and wood processing industry, has been completed. Lucidyne will work under the common corporate brand of MiCROTEC to build a world-leading wood scanning solutions for customers in North America, Australia and New Zealand. …
AU$16m kiln upgrade complete at Jubilee
OneFortyOne’s second Continuous Drying Kiln is now online, completing an AU$16million capital investment project at the Jubilee Sawmill site in Mount Gambier, South Australia. Jubilee Sawmill General Manager Paul Hartung said the kilns are working well and have increased site capacity while improving the quality of the timber dried. “The CDK’s are powered by our own sawdust and wood waste …
Where to Start with Robotics and Automation?
The technology has advanced and the cost come down considerably. If manufacturers have learned anything during the last several years, it is that the stakes of doing business have been permanently raised. Prior to 2020, the manufacturing environment was characterized by a focus on quality, cost competitiveness, worker safety and protecting the environment. Over the last couple of years, manufacturers …
Pulp log trial for EWP receives funding
Plans are underway to use low-value wood fibre to produce a new structural timber product One of Australia’s largest timber-producing regions will explore using low-value wood fibre in engineered products to address the nation’s growing structural timber deficit crisis. The Green Triangle forestry industry, spanning parts of western Victoria and the Limestone Coast in South Australia, has received a AU$1.3 …
Cusp Building Solutions GM appointed
Well-known and respected timber researcher Michael Lee has been appointed to the new position of general manager at Tasmanian timber processor Cusp Building Solutions. Michael Lee has been involved in timber research for nearly 40 years. Throughout his career he has either been conducting research or collaborating with research bodies, so he’s no newcomer to R&D. Michael has spent decades …
Stora Enso divests Russian sawmills & forest operations
Stora Enso has entered into an agreement to divest its two sawmills in Russia. The Company’s Nebolchi and Impilahti sawmills will be divested to local management. In addition, the divestment includes Stora Enso’s Russian forest operation which through its harvesting supplies wood to the sawmills. Stora Enso’s assessment is that due to the uncertainties in the Russian market, local ownership …
Automation’s impact on manufacturing employment
Up to 34% of jobs risk being lost to automation by 2040. But technology will also create new workforce opportunities. Up to a third of job roles in Europe could be made redundant by automation over the next 20 years as companies battle to increase productivity and fill skills gaps created by an ageing population, according to Forrester. The tech …
WoodTECH News | Issue 46
Welcome to the latest issue of WoodTECH.News. After a couple of years of disruption and travel restrictions, WoodTECH 2022 will be back in person for New Zealand in October of this year. While Australia will still have to wait another year, borders will be open and we encourage those keen to make the trip across the Tasman or arrange for on-site …
Skills feedback for sawmilling and timber industries
The Australian sawmilling and timber processing sectors are developing new skills as the industry undergoes rapid digital transformation and technical progress. State-of-the-art equipment is being integrated into workplaces to increase productivity and produce innovative products, including cross laminated timber (CLT) and glue laminated timber (GLT). Unique expertise is required for working with these new timber products and processes. Operators, line …
Flexible planing of small batches up to 8 m long
Holzwerke van Roje installs a new planing mill in its existing facility at the Oberhonnefeld-Gierend location (Rhineland-Palatinate). Holzwerke van Roje strengthened its own processing with the installation of an automated planing mill last year. Connected to the sawmill, around 50 % of the main product is processed further here. The company invested around 3.7 million euro for this purpose in …
More Swedish innovation: Cardboard wall studs
Wood Tube: Climate Smart Studs Made of Paper ~ Among the many difficulties that the construction industry currently faces, confronting the climate emergency continues to be one of the main challenges. In fact, considering that the sector is responsible for around 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions, aiming towards net-zero, carbon-neutral architecture should and must be the top priority. Although …
World’s first fully bio-based furniture board
World’s first fully bio-based furniture board is born from the cooperation of Stora Enso and Koskisen Oy Finnish plywood manufacturer Koskisen is the first company to start using the bio-based binder NeoLigno® by Stora Enso in its new sustainable product family. Koskisen and Stora Enso’s co-operation has resulted in the world’s first entirely bio-based furniture board, called Zero Furniture Board. …
FTMA launches timber podcasts
The Frame & Truss Manufacturers Association of Australia (FTMA) are proud to launch their new Podcast series ‘F&T Time with Kersten Gentle’. “We haven’t been able to sit and have a cuppa with members for 2 years due to the pandemic, so the aim of F&T Time is to keep the fabricators and the whole timber and construction supply chain …
Looking inside a mass timber manufacturing operation
This video discusses mass timber manufacturing and shows an advanced mass timber factory in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada (Element5). Building components are modelled using 3D modelling software and then translated into drawings for the factory. Factory components are built on advanced assembly lines and robotically machined to precision. Take a “walk” through the new factory and learn about the cross-laminated …
Public share float of Carter Holt Harvey?
One of the New Zealand sharemarket’s former heavyweights may be destined to return, in name at least, according to Australian media reports. The Australian Financial Review is reporting that the Rank Group, owned by billionaire Graeme Hart, is looking at a public share float of building supplies group Carter Holt Harvey. It has reported that investment banks Forsyth Barr and …
Practical training improving leadership skills
Leadership training for those working in the primary industries including forestry is helping people to lead others. Andy Smith, principal of training provider About Life in New Zealand, says typically people with good technical skills are promoted to lead others with an assumption they’ll be good leaders of people but that is not necessarily the case. “The next thing is …
NZ Timber Design Centre launched
An agreement to create an industry advisory service for New Zealand’s building designers will promote and facilitate greater use of timber in New Zealand buildings, says Te Uru Rākau – New Zealand Forest Service deputy director general Jason Wilson. “This advisory service, called the Timber Design Centre, is a milestone for increasing the use of timber in the design and …
WoodTECH News | Issue 45
Welcome to the latest issue of WoodTECH.News. Biofuel announcements on both sides of the Tasman continue to pop up – almost daily now. Better utilisation of forest residues has moved from highlighting opportunities in harvesting, transporting and drying some of these residues from logging operations to now major investments in new heat plant by industrial-scale operations. In this month’s issue we …
Nature’s Flame wood pellets company sold
Norske Skog has entered into agreement with Talley’s Group, a New Zealand based dairy, fishing, produce and food company, to sell the Nature’s Flame pellets company for NZD 47.8 million. The transaction is expected to close during the first quarter of 2022. “Nature’s Flame is a company producing high quality and sustainable energy pellets from wood residues, and thus the …
Timberlink chooses hsbcad software for NeXTimber®
Timberlink Australia is delighted to partner with hsbcad, supplying an end-to-end software solution for NeXTimber Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glue Laminated Timber (GLT). hsbcad has been selected following an extensive international review to find the best suite of integrated software tools for project management, digital modelling, manufacturing, and logistics planning of NeXTimber CLT & GLT projects. The decision to …
Hyne partners UK-based wood products business
The Hyne Group (Hyne Timber and XLam) is pleased to announce a partnership with UK-based James Jones & Sons Limited (JJSL), bringing together a combined 320 years of family-owned sawmilling heritage to pursue growth opportunities. JJSL traces its history back 180 years and five generations and is today recognised as one of the most innovative and efficient timber producers in …
New biomass boiler installed by timber processor
South East Pine Sales in South Australia, has installed a new biomass boiler at its Wandilo facility, which will generate steam for their timber drying kilns and increase the efficiency of drying timber. SE Pine Sales received an AU$88,000 grant issued by PIRSA towards the project, as part of the AU$12m State Government’s Regional Growth Fund. The boiler will speed …
Specialist wood fuel suggested by Genesis
Genesis Energy believes converting part of the Huntly power station to run on biofuel could be economic, but it will need a source of the specialist wood fuel needed to be created in New Zealand, which the government could assist in setting up. Genesis chief executive Marc England said preliminary work showed converting two of the Rankine units at the …
OneFortyOne saw-shop upgrade
OneFortyOne is committed to ensuring they remain one of the most progressive and efficient mills in Australasia. By investing in new technology, they are continuing towards their objective of valuing every strand of wood fibre that they process. OneFortyOne has invested $40 million since purchasing the Jubilee Sawmill in 2018. As part of this investment, OneFortyOne has chosen ISELI equipment …
Construction starts on AU$63 million plant
Construction has started on a AU$63 million state-of-the-art timber plant at Tarpeena in the South East which will revolutionise South Australia’s timber manufacturing industry and create local jobs. Timberlink’s NeXTimber facililty, which has received AU$2 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, will be Australia’s first combined Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) and Glue Laminated Timber (GLT) manufacturing plant. “Timberlink’s new …
Astonishing speed and meticulous fabrication with mass timber
When Developer Parklea engaged i2C Architects to design their new corporate headquarters in Melbourne’s southeast, they specified that they wanted it to be as sustainable and close to carbon-neutral as possible. i2C Architects looked to cross-laminated (CLT) and glue-laminated timber (GLT), supplied by Cusp Building Solutions, to achieve the objectives. In addition to the environmental benefits, choosing CLT and GLT …
Getting smart about wood manufacturing!
The companies innovating and adapting for a changing industry A commitment to new technologies for productivity and safety Manufacturing company Timberlink has continually optimised its processes and looked to future industry trends at its Bell Bay, Tasmania and Tarpeena, South Australia sites. Both premises have received major upgrades in the past few years. The company has invested AU$90 million into …