Steve Carroll

Vice President of Operations, Arauco NA

Arauco Grayling: Building a Future

The North American panels business is growing rapidly in capacity as the largest producers in the world see the U.S. as the new frontier for growth and demand expansion. Arauco Grayling is the first of several new plants of significant scale that have or are coming on line in the next three years. Steve discusses the construction and startup of the world’s largest particleboard plant, and the many challenges and opportunities that this presents.

Ashlee Cribb

Senior VP-Chief Commercial Officer, Roseburg Forest Products

Growth through Investment and Innovation

Roseburg Forest Products has a growth strategy that requires investment, innovation and diversity. Ashlee shares how Roseburg continues to invest in people, processes and capital to position the company for growth in key opportunity areas. Another catalyst of growth in the mature wood products industry is innovation. Ashlee discusses how Roseburg views innovation and the impact of manufacturing and product innovation on their business. Closely related to innovation is the strength of diversity in the workforce. Research has shown that companies that build diversity in an organization (gender, ethnicity, social, etc.) have more success in innovation, better decision-making and improved results than those that are more homogenous. Ashlee provides insight into how Roseburg is creating a culture of innovation and growth.

Frank Goecke

Director, AFRY Pöyry

Dynamics in Wood-Based Panels and Engineered Wood Products—Opportunities and Challenges for the North American Industry

Changes in building regulations and a positive macro-economic outlook make the North American market attractive for new investments in wood-based panels and engineered wood products. Upgrading the existing asset base offers additional opportunities for many producers in North America. It will be essential to remain competitive, considering that new investments in production equipment will potentially bring cost advantages compared to existing equipment with a considerable technical age. New investments in furniture, flooring or door production would also drive panel demand for composite panels. Product substitution for substrate panels and surfacing materials would also provide upside demand potential for composite panels. The future supply/demand balance will lead to changes in the industry structure. Industry consolidation is likely to continue and it remains to be seen which players will be the likely “winners” or “losers.” Ultimately, what will the North American WBP and EWP industry look like by 2025?

Kip Howlett

 President, Decorative Hardwoods Association

Why Specify North American Decorative Hardwood Plywood and How?

It’s natural. It’s sustainable. It’s legal. It’s durable. It’s North American. Specify to a standard. Specify it’s tested and safe for the end user. Ask for the proof point. Unfair trade has completely distorted the market price structure due to the globalist free traders policies of open markets at any cost without fully measuring the opportunity costs of the next best choice.

Kaichang Li

Professor, Chemical Engineering, Oregon State University

Research and Development of Isocyanate-Free and Formaldehyde-Free Cold-Set Wood Adhesives

Thick wood-based composites such as cross-laminated timber, glulam, and laminated veneer lumber are produced with a cold-set adhesive via a cold-press process. Resorcinolformaldehyde, phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde, melamine-urea-formaldehyde, and polyurethanes are the currently used cold-set wood adhesives. They are derived from carcinogenic formaldehyde or toxic isocyanates, and may release hazardous air pollutants during the production and use of the wood-based composites. Oregon State has recently developed two formaldehyde-free and isocyanates-free cold-set wood adhesives from epoxy resins for production of exterior plywood panels. All plywood panels that were made with the adhesives were evaluated for their shear strengths and water resistance in accordance with the American National Standard For Hardwood And Decorative Plywood/Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association for exterior plywood, and met the industrial property requirements for exterior applications. In this presentation, Kaichang reveals the compositions of the adhesives and the critical procedures of making the adhesives, and discusses the structural requirements for each component of the adhesives and adhesion mechanisms. He presents and discusses the pot-life and the viscosity of the adhesives, and optimum cold-press conditions for making exterior plywood panels. He also discusses efforts at lowering the overall cost of the adhesives.

Mark Lindquist

VP-Operations, Huber Engineered Woods

Huber Engineered Woods – Spring City Plant Restart

After the worst housing downturn in modern history, which resulted in Huber Engineered Woods taking extreme actions to curtail operations at its Spring City, Tennessee OSB plant, the company carefully planned for the plant’s imminent brownfield startup. By viewing the restart through a “People, Planet, Profit” lens, the team was able to identify environmental performance opportunities, improve operational consistencies and solve safety risks. This planning activity enabled them to understand plant deficiencies, state clear goals and timelines for the project, and implement best practices. As a result, the Spring City plant achieved outstanding restart outcomes. Because of their efforts, the project and plant teams won the 2018 Mike Huber GOLD Award, an honor dedicated to exemplary performance within the J.M. Huber Corporation. Through the Spring City plant restart story, this presentation explores specialty products, challenges and developments facing the OSB industry.

Terry Secrest

Executive VP of Manufacturing and Product Sales, RoyOMartin

The RoyOMartin Journey to a World Class Safety Culture

Roy O. Martin, Sr. founded his family business in 1923 and began what would become a nearly century-long journey in timber and wood products. Throughout the years, the Martin family has operated pine and hardwood sawmills, flooring plants, treating, OSB, and plywood facilities, and, most recently, a timbers mill. The company, now known as RoyOMartin, remains family-owned and continues to operate with the strong set of values set forth by its founder. Although one of the most successful forestry and wood products manufacturers in the South, RoyOMartin—like many others in this industry—has not always held safety in the highest regard. In fact, as the company was gaining momentum as the premier producer of OSB, plywood, and pine lumber in the early 2000s, that success came at a cost. Hear how significant events set the organization on a different trajectory, and how for the past 15 years RoyOMartin has undergone a dramatic shift toward an award-winning safety culture.

Jerry Uhland

CEO, CalPlant I

The RoyOMartin Journey to a World Class Safety Culture

A chronological review of the project that wouldn’t go away. Jerry, who is co-founder and CEO of CalPlant I, LLC, provides a summary of the events that took place during a two-decade struggle to bring the world’s first rice straw-based MDF project to fruition: from the early R&D years, a seven-year span with Metso, surviving the Great Recession, the transition from Metso to Siempelkamp, the escapades with equity investors, a presidential election that almost immediately saw $28 billion flee from the safe-haven bond market to the equities market, and finally a financial closing in June 2017. The presentation includes a look at the two-plus-year construction phase and ensuing plant startup in 2020.

WOMEN IN MANUFACTURING
(Room C)

3:10-3:35 p.m.
A Look into Self-Growth, Working Outside the Norm and Mentoring Future Leaders
—Michelle Driscoll, Technical and Environmental Manager, Corrigan OSB

3:40-4:05 p.m.
If You Can See Her, You Can Be Her: Raising the Profile of Women In Manufacturing at Georgia-Pacific
—Anna Umphress, Senior Director, Business Unit Communications, Georgia-Pacific

AIR EMISSIONS TREATMENT
(Spruce Room)

3:10-3:35 p.m.
Advancements in WESP Design for Dryer Particulate Control
—Rodney Schwartz, Vice President Sales & Business Development Americas, Dürr Systems

3:40-4:05 p.m.
Base-Metal Catalysts in the Board Industry: Continuing Application Experience
—Dr. Grigori Bunimovich, Owner and COO, Matros Technologies

4:10-4:35 p.m.
Forty Years of Wood Dryer Emission Control—Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?
—Steve Jaasund, Geoenergy Product Manager, LDX Solutions

SCANNING TECHNOLOGIES
(Pine Room)

3:10-3:35 p.m.
The Total View of Board Quality by HighResolution Ultrasonic Linear Array Scanning Technology
—Konrad Solbrig, Head of Technology Wood-Based Composites, Electronic Wood Systems

3:40-4:05 p.m.
3-D ParticleView: Three-Dimensional Particle Measurement
—Torben Marhenke, Research and Development Engineer, GreCon

EXHIBITORS/ATTENDEES RECEPTION
(Grand Ballroom North)
5:00-7:00 p.m.

EWP PERFORMANCE
(Pine Room)

10:30-10:55 a.m.
Stranding Mainly Young Eucalyptus to Produce, Cost-Effectively, a Portfolio of Superior Performance Engineered Wood Products and Solutions, Including Cross Laminated Strand Timber
—Graeme Black, CEO, Lignor

11:00-11:25 a.m.
Effective Protection of Engineered Wood Products from Termite Attack
—André Siraa, Global EWP Technical Manager, Lonza Wood Protection

11:30-11:55 a.m.
Scrimber: How to Make Structural Material from Any Kind of Wood
—Stefan Zöllig, Co-Owner, Timber Structures 3.0

PROCESS IMPROVEMENTS
(Spruce Room)

10:30-10:50 a.m.
Developments in Thermal Oil Pump Room Safety
—Michael York, Systems Engineer and Product Manager, Wechsler Technologies

10:55-11:15 a.m.
The Impact of Friction on Energy Consumption: A Case Study from the Wood Processing Industry
—Steffen Bots, Technical Manager, Addinol

11:20-11:40 a.m.
High Resistance Wear Boards
—Bert Baumann, Co-Owner & Sales Manager, BKB Industrial

11:45–12:05 p.m.
The Lifeblood of Your Plant
—Peter Smyth, Industry Sales Manager, C.C. Jensen