Softwood Forest Products Buyer - January/February 2024

Equipment Forecasts for

Equipment Forecasts for 2024 Continued from page 61 Lumber Forecasts for 2024 Continued from page 7 the hardwood industry, as well as the addition of new service team members and support staff. Softwood mills benefit from USNR’s MillGenius, the next level of optimization software that brings together all the data from sensors and optimizers throughout the mill with the goal of (a) producing the highest quality material as efficiently as is possible and, in time (b) using the data accumulated to identify trends and upstream events that impact production. This has the potential to guide maintenance teams in the pursuit of issues as they happen, not after catastrophic failure. USNR is an integral part of a much bigger picture: Wood Technologies International (WTI). WTI is the No. 1 source for all products and services needed in both the hardwood and Softwood manufacturing industry. WTI is comprised of four related divisions: Mid-South Engineering, with offices located throughout North America providing engineering services to new and existing mills. USNR, the largest global supplier of all machines associated with sawmills, from log yards through debarking and primary breakdown, to lumber handling, kiln drying and planer mills. This includes industry-leading scanning and optimization technology for every stage of the process. USNR also supplies machinery to the Engineered Wood Products industries, including lathes lines, dryers, presses, RF generators, continuous lumber edge gluers, crowders, proof loaders and all aspects of controls associated with OSB and plywood manufacturing as well as glulam beams and cross laminated timber (CLT). Burton Mill Solutions and Global Tooling & Supply are components No. 3 and 4 in the WTI portfolio and here the focus is on cutting tools and the filing room. Burton supplies saw blades, knives, sharpening services and filing room equipment to sawmills in both hardwood and Softwood and Global Tooling & Supply is a leading millwork tooling provider creating knives, cutter heads and grinding room supplies. These four groups bring together the widest variety of products and services for the wood manufacturing industry. At USNR, we are constantly being reminded of the growing need to automate the process of manufacturing lumber. In the world of commodities, ie. high volume, this is justifiable, and investments are made accordingly. The challenge going forward is being able to bring automation and optimization to production facilities in both the Softwood and hardwood industry where volume is not the primary goal. We focus on ways that increases quality and work with customers to develop niche processes for the years to come. In other words, technologies such as robotics will absolutely help in the manufacturing process as human resources are evolving away from manual labor towards highly technical positions. Claus Staalner American Wood Technology LLC Jefferson, GA MOLDRUP Lerbaek Moellevej 2 DK 7100 Vejle We work with both the hardwood and Softwood industries by the importing and selling wood protection equipment exclusively from IWT-MOLDRUP Claus Staalner in Denmark and Singapore. We have seen that on the Softwood side there have been strong investment trends, while we are seeing the opposite on the hardwood side, with them investing very little. I believe that this trend will continue throughout 2024 with strong investments from the Softwood industry and cautious attitudes from the hardwood industry. Our strengths for the hardwood industry are thermal modification equipment and creosote impregnation plants for railroad ties. We also offer thermal modification equipment to the Softwood industry; although our heaviest business in 2023 and in 2024 are CCA and CA-C vacuum/pressure impregnation plants developed and manufactured by IWT-MOLDRUP based in Denmark and Singapore. CCA and CA-C are liquid wood preservatives that are pressed into the wood to make it last longer and are used in certain quantities and measurements, adhering to U.S. standards. IWT-MOLDRUP has developed some turnkey operations that are very low labor intensive treating plants, often able to be run by one man only, for pressure treating up to more than 40 million board feet annually, which allows us to deliver fully automatic treating plants to the industry as it is today. n We did not install any new equipment. Labor shortages were not an issue for us in 2023. Trucking/shipping was much easier in 2023. We had no challenges and we actually saw the rates drop. Dean Garofano Delta Cedar Specialties Pitt Meadows, BC Overall 2023 was successful for Delta Cedar Specialties. Despite a slower market, we managed to exceed our sales targets and grow business with some key partners. With the current economic environment, I suspect demand will stay on the softer side next year putting emphasis on quality products, reliability and great customer service. We sell our products to distributors across the US, Dean Garofano Canada, Europe and Asia. Our best sellers this past year were our Delta Supreme and Superior fascia and decking as well as our Delta Premier timbers. We have just completed the installation of an automated trim line with an 80 bin sorter at our Halo Sawmill. Kelsey Kennedy Kelsey Kennedy Gates Milling Gatesville, NC 2023 had its interesting challenges; however, we are lucky to say that Gates Milling has had a successful year. Challenges we face for 2024 are on par with our usual concerns: log supply, market pricing and employee turnover. Our customers are predominantly wholesale distribution. American Cypress finished products maintain their spot as our top selling items. Gates Milling, Inc. introduced a new line of knotty poplar finished profiles this year. Customers have been extremely pleased with the price, appearance and workability of the items. This year, we installed two 50,000 BF SII Package Dry Kilns. The addition of these two kilns has increased our total drying capacity to 240,000 BF which has had a very positive impact on order lead times and lumber availability. Keeping a full staff has proved to be an ongoing challenge. We have raised wages and continue to add benefits to attract and maintain employees. We have had good luck with shipping and logistics management this year. Hunter, our Logistics Manager, does a phenomenal job of keeping trucks under loads and ensuring timely delivery. Olivia Goodfellow Goodfellow Inc. Delson, QC In 2023, we at Goodfellow proudly celebrated our 125th anniversary. This important milestone was celebrated with our employees, customers and suppliers who all share our passion for wood products and the industry. While market conditions in certain sectors were challenging, these circumstances were nothing new for our team. We navigated them by working with our suppliers and supporting customers – an approach that has served us for many decades and continues to deliver positive results for the company. We have customers from coast to coast in Canada and the U.S. and fall under residential, commercial, retail, industrial and government sectors. Because our product offering and customers are so diverse, there were no clear product winners this year. However, certain product categories were strong such as structural timbers and engineered wood products. We had no significant new products or services added to our offering. In 2022, we saw the implementation of our new finger-jointer and Hundegger, but not in 2023. Like many in our industry, we are facing an aging workforce with more and more employees retiring each year. We are challenged with transferring their Continued on page 65 like and follow us on social media! @millerwoodtradepub Sawmill • Planer Mill • Dry Kilns • Remanufacturer Page 62 Softwood Forest Products Buyer • January/February 2024 Softwood Forest Products Buyer • January/February 2024 Page 63