Many European standards refer to 'hazard' and 'service' classes when detailing the use of various panel products. These two classes are related but different and are easily confused.   Both define environmental conditions which will cause different equilibrium moisture contents in panels. A 'hazard' class describes the risk of biological attack in a given condition, while 'service' class is used to modify the mechanical properties of a 'dry' panel so structural designs have adequate safety margins.   The table shows there are three service classes, defined in the first part of Eurocode 5: Design of timber structures; and there are five hazard classes defined in EN 335 Durability of wood and wood based products. It's clear there is a link between the two class types, but that they are not exactly the same. The most striking difference is that the limits of the conditions of hazard class 2 would be classed as service class 3; here lies the risk of confusion.   For structural purposes, all panel types can be used in service classes 1 and 2 (for certain grades of a panel type). But for service class 3, only veneer based products can be used - with precautions to prevent bio-deterioration.   Densified panels - OSB, MDF and particleboard - should not be used in service class 3 conditions as they will swell, causing irreversible loss of mechanical performance. However, solid wood and many veneer based products will recover their mechanical properties when re-dried.   Under EN335, cement-bonded particleboard can be used in any of the hazard classes without preservative treatment. Plywood would have to be treated or made with naturally durable veneers.  

So-called 'illegal logs' are a big topic among legitimate US mill people concerned about price cuts affecting their profits. Others, however, might be generating more profits through using illegal material.   In his report, Dr Jim Bowyer challenges: "If you have in your product line wood that comes from anywhere in the tropics, the Russian Federation, or China, chances are good that a significant portion of that wood is of illegal origin. The fact you may be buying illegal wood matters. Illegality is directly linked to a number of problems, including corruption, financing of regional conflicts, forest loss and degradation, and the loss of billions in revenue to developing nations and to the domestic forest products industry".   Dr Bowyer, a retired University of Minnesota forestry professor, said The UK was one of the first governments to recognise the role of consumer countries in driving illegal logging, and the first to attempt to curb international trade in illegally logged timber. In 1997 the UK government issued voluntary guidelines for ministries regarding the purchase of timber and timber products from sustainable and legal sources. Implementation became mandatory in 2000.   In 2003 the European Commission announced an action plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) under which EU governments would develop and implement measures to address illegal logging and related trade.   Later in the year came the US Presidential initiative against illegal logging to help developing countries combat such logging, selling and exporting of illegally harvested timber and fighting corruption in the forest sector. At the time, US Secretary of State Colin Powell estimated that governments were losing US$10bn to US$20bn annually to illegal logging.   Dr Bowyer said most illegally produced timber is used domestically and does not enter international trade. Illegal logging constitutes about 1% of global softwood and hardwood combined, but ranges from 12 to 17% of roundwood entering international trade. However, he said as much as 23% of hardwood lumber and plywood traded globally, and 2 to 4% of softwood lumber and plywood, may arise from illegal logging.   He said nations in which illegal timber makes up the greatest proportion of harvest are Indonesia, China and other Asian nations, West and Central Africa, Russia, Malaysia, Brazil and eastern Europe.   Last year Japan began requiring that all timber and timber products be harvested in a legal manner consistent with the forest laws of timber producing companies and harvested from forests under sustainable management.   New Zealand, Norway, Canada, Australia and the US are exploring options for removing illegal timber from their markets, while the US and Indonesia have an agreement focused on halting the flow of illegal wood from Indonesia. The Forest Products Association of Canada adopted a statement committing to purchasing and using wood only from legal sources and, by 2008, to trace all fibre back to the originating forest area.   Dr Bowyer concluded: "If you are involved in the international trade of timber, you have a responsibility to help solve the illegality problem. Proactive action to investigate potential problems in your supply chain is the responsible thing to do. It could help restore value to international timber trade and help improve the image of the forest sector in the public's eye".  

New plywood lay-up plants aren't popping up all over North America these days. Lowering housing starts, OSB competition and even raw material supplies are the leading factors limiting the plants.   Thompson River Veneer Products' plant, just east of Kamloops, British Columbia, has a completely new drying system, combined with equipment obtained from a mill in southeastern US. It opened last year in its new 75,000ft² building.   The mill buys and sells both green and dry veneer as well as plywood, with the proportions depending totally on the market. Plywood sales are in Douglas fir and Canadian softwood sheathing.   Suppliers truck Douglas fir, spruce, hemlock and balsam fir veneer to the mill in 1'7in, 1'8in and 1'10in thicknesses. Five acres of outside yard space provide storage; the climate is dry so outside storage is not a problem. A 9,000lb Toyota forklift services the storage.   "It's all market-driven," said Charlie Tate, production superintendent. "When dry veneer market prices are low enough, we'll certainly buy the dry and forgo drying the green. When we can dry the green cheaper, then we do the opposite. This mill is intended to play the marketplace and take its profit from there. We don't have to go with the punches."   Product is sold mainly in British Columbia with some in the Pacific Northwest of the US.   Regarding OSB competition, he said: "A plywood guy will always buy plywood. Plywood is probably the old-fashioned way of doing it - and a better way to do it. Every piece of wood you buy, when it gets out there, wants to bring moisture back in. With OSB, it's a little more so".   Thompson buys most of its veneers from one main supplier in BC which delivers it to the mill and generally has a back-haul to Vancouver, which works well. The mill also buys dry veneer from a variety of suppliers.   The mill has a Sweed feeder to a Coe jet dryer, running three shifts, with three heated sections, automatic feeding, and off-bearing to a Metriguard 2800 and a Ventek GS2000 automatic veneer grader.   The Ventek uses its own information, combined with that from the Metriguard and a Sequoia moisture meter, to grade each piece. These go to their assigned bins in an Elite 12-bin automatic stacker.   "We take the grades and apply them either for sale on the open market or use them for our own plywood manufacture," said Mr Tate.   Veneer bundles are strapped or marked for the mill's use and stored in the indoor warehouse.   Two Globe spreaders serve the press installation: a Globe pre-press, Globe loader, Burrard 30-opening press and Durand unloader. A panel feeder feeds single panels to the skinner and then to the cut-off Globe saw line cutting the 4x8ft panels as required, followed by manual grading and five sorting bins. Plywood production is 4x8ft sheathing in 3'8in to 3'4in thicknesses.   Next step will be to add tongue-and-groove plywood to the product line.   Among the values added to the veneer are LVL supply, concrete form panels, construction and industrial grade panels.   "It's been a tough market to grab workers," Mr Tate lamented. "Our workforce is new to this whole process. We've been training them from scratch. With the economy doing so well, you sometimes struggle to find the right people; we're lucky to have the people we do." The mill operates with 42 employees.   "I never thought I'd get the opportunity to be involved in a brand new plywood plant - it's the opportunity of a lifetime. It certainly has been challenging, right from the start-up," Mr Tate concluded.  

Natural gas has been a popular heat source for veneer dryers, but escalating gas prices have cancelled out some of that heat source's advantages and caused mills to look for alternative fuel sources.   One of the early companies to manufacture its own gas is Tolko Industries Ltd's Heffley Creek plywood operation near Kamloops, British Columbia.   Tolko partnered with Nexterra Energy Corp, Vancouver BC, in designing and building the new operation alongside one of Tolko's veneer dryers. Most of the manufactured gas heats that dryer, although some is used to condition peeler blocks.   The company estimates that the system, producing 38 million btu per hour, will save more than Can$1.5m in annual fuel costs, replacing 40% of the mill's natural gas consumption; this is 235,000 gigajoules per year. It also will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 12,000 tonnes per year.   The end product is clean-burning. In addition to replacing natural gas, it can substitute for propane gas and fuel oil in producing hot air and hot water, steam and even electricity.   The automatic plant runs around the clock, using 25,000 tonnes per year of bark and hog fuel with a moisture content of up to 60%.   Two gasifiers produce syngas; an oxidiser combusts the gas; a heat exchanger heats air for the veneer dryer; a boiler heats water for conditioning logs; and, to round out the benefits, VOCs (volatile organic compounds) from the dryer are consumed in the oxidiser.   In a principle rather similar to charcoal production, the wood is 'burned' while starved of oxygen, receiving about a quarter of that drawn to a normal fire. The product is mostly gas with a minor amount of wood actually burned and this produces the heat for the process. A granular ash remains, containing some nitrogen. A farmer whose fields adjoin the mill thinks it could possibly be used in those fields.   The system is much more versatile than burning the residues to produce heat. The syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and methane, can be used right along with natural gas.   In the process, the fuel comes from the debarker, dropping onto a 1,000ft-long conveyor belt lined with shut-off pull cords.   The fuel drops into a metering bin where a vertical auger system feeds the twin gasifiers where it is dried, undergoes pyrolysis, and is gasified.   Partially processed fuel is reduced to ash, which is automatically removed intermittently through openings.   The syngas leaves the gasifier at 500 to 700ºF (260-370ºC).   The heat comes down and proceeds either to an air-to-glycol heat exchanger, or to an air-to-air heat exchanger.   The emissions from the next-door dryer are fed into the oxidiser, located between the two gasifiers, for incineration. If the dryer is not operating, an alternative port provides outside air for the process.   The dryer is fed 22 million btus 600ºF (316ºC) hot air, while the glycol transferring heat to the vats is in the 145ºF (63ºC) range in summer and 170ºF (77ºC) in winter, taking 16 million btus. Block conditioning time is 12 hours.   The whole system operates automatically, controlled from an Allen Bradley Panel View Plus 1500. The various variables can be set on the screen and the status of every component is available on that screen.   With its three dryers in the mill, Tolko could possibly add a second system.   Hog fuel storage can hold 48 hours' worth of material and the system retains heat for 48 hours.  

In a major move to streamline its operations, Tolko Industries Ltd closed the plywood section of its Kelowna, British Columbia, mill last January and, at the same time, modernised and speeded the mill's veneer section. Less availability of high-quality peeler logs worked into the decision to overhaul this mill, built in 1957.   But the project was also tied in with the company's other mills. "The way the sheathing market has been going we are basically competing with each other," said Brett Patricny, plant quality control supervisor.   "We are going to peel veneer, recover high-value products, and then use the sheathing material to produce sheathing in the other mills," he said.   The spectre of beetle-killed trees hangs over most of this part of the world. Mr Patricny said the beetle kill is coming into this area "really, really quick. We can work with beetle kill standing in the bush for up to two years. We are not peeling much. It is used for core. Our stud mill saws it. About half of it is lodgepole pine".   The veneer line peels 80% spruce-pine-fir and 20% Douglas fir, operating with a crew of 40, with one 10-hour shift on the lathe and two 101'2 hour drying shifts.   The Premier lathe with Coe drive has drawn most of the recent work, with an Altec x-y scanner 3-D from LMI Technologies accommodating up to 64 lasers, and new lathe controls. Tolko and Premier collaborated on a proprietary, custom-made carriage design which has emphasis on electric motors rather than hydraulics for moving the carriage. There are now two AC motors on the lathe.   For super-fine control, up to 200,000 readings are taken on each block with the computerised scanner optimiser, providing very even thickness - normally ±0.008in. This system provides thicknesses in the ±0.002in range.   The roller bar was reduced from 33'4in to 21'2in and that provides a smaller peel, according to Mr Patricny.   The average block diameter is 101'2in, with 3 to 4,000 blocks peeled per shift. Maximum diameter is 35in with a 71'2in minimum. The mill peels down to a 3in core diameter. The veneer off-bears to three trays operating at speeds up to 1,000fpm. Past the clipper, it proceeds through a Forintek-Westmill LightSORT moisture detector based on a fairly simple principle that the higher the moisture content, the more light passes through the sheet. But augmenting that principle requires quite sophisticated equipment.   It uses CCD camera and LED light transmission, pulsing specific wavelength light through the veneer where the camera takes an image. Algorithms determine the exact peak and average moisture content for each sheet. It works well with high moisture content veneer, which is a problem for radio frequency (RF) sensor heads.   Forintek ran tests on the Tolko system and found a 10% production gain, based on 7.6% on dryer output, 2.5% gain in target dry veneer, and a 2.7% reduction in re-dry.   Brian Martin, Westmill Machine Automation general manager, said the system does not require veneer contact and, unlike RF measuring, veneer variables are not a problem. The system also checks the entire sheet, rather than just the veneer passing under the heads as in other systems. This not only results in a highly accurate sort and consequent increase in dryer productivity, but also increases final veneer quality, he said.   The veneer off-bears to six bins - two for heartwood, two for medium, two for heavy.   A Raute direct-fired jet gas dryer has four decks, while two six-deck steam dryers have been in place since the plant was built in 1957. A Coe scanner is on dryer number one and a Metriguard is installed.   Tolko built its own stackers, with 18 bins on one and 12 on the other. Samuels automated strapping will soon be added.   Most of the veneer is used within Tolko's other plants, with the aim of developing a group of specific customers and serving them well.   Tolko separates species in the bush and is not buying so many logs. The plant operates one 10-hour lathe shift and two 101'2 hour drying shifts with production of 1.7m ft² (3'8in basis) weekly. The mill has a crew of 40.   Log storage is all in water, with the log dump on the far side of the 13'4-mile-wide lake. Logs are graded on the far side and rafted across the lake; though winters are quite cold, it rarely freezes. In winter, frozen logs from the bush are common and they get a thawing head start in the lake.   Logs come to a common cut-up for veneer and the adjoining stud mill. They go through a ring debarker, with hogged bark sent to the power plant, which provides six to seven megawatts of power to make the mill almost self-sufficient.   Three hot water vats heat veneer blocks to 100ºF (37.8ºC) core temperature.   Both truck and rail shipping move product out. A rail siding holds two cars behind the mill, with room for another four.  

There are times when the 'global market' that everybody talks about really makes itself felt and not always in a positive way.
The US is certainly making itself felt globally as I write this column, with the poor state of its housing market having major repercussions in two main areas at least.
Firstly, of course, there is the severe downturn in the market for structural panels in the US. Although this mainly impacts on the North American producers, there was a time, not so long ago, when European OSB manufacturers were exporting to the booming US market, which couldn't make enough to meet the demand. In the UK, where I am based, the impact of the US housing slump has, in the middle of September, wreaked havoc in the banking and political systems. The crisis in the US sub-prime mortgage market has affected the climate for borrowing and lending around the world, but the immediate effect in the UK has been to expose the weakness of the nation's eighth largest bank and fifth largest home loans provider, The Northern Rock bank. The government has, in an unprecedented move, stepped in to guarantee savers' funds deposited with the bank, without limit, as its share value plummets. At least one other UK bank is also being viewed warily by the public and by financial institutions.
In an economy such as the UK's, built largely on very heavy personal and national debt, these are worrying signs. I suspect that other countries might well have similar problems in their banking systems if the financial turbulence continues. As money supply becomes tighter around the world in the wake of the problems in the US, we must hope that the very encouraging signs of growth in the panel manufacturing industry, so apparent at the Ligna show in May, and since, are not adversely affected. Some very significant news within our own industry is the takeover by Siempelkamp of Germany of the continuous press and energy plant division of Metso Panelboard of Finland (see p6), located in Hanover, Germany. As many readers will remember, the Metso Contipress was originally the Küsters continuous press, with its unique chain system behind the endless stainless steel belts. It is also one of only three continuous presses on the world market (so far - we still await definite news from China on a new competitor press) and now Siempelkamp owns two of them. The takeover came into effect at the end of September so it is still early days. Siempelkamp has announced that it will continue to supply spare parts for the Contipress, but has only mentioned continuing full manufacture of the energy plants at Hanover......  

This survey, covering North America and Europe to end-2006, contains more than 70 modifications and additions to the listings published last year. The new information received has had an effect on the previously forecast capacity change for 2006 and 2007; for North America and the EU15 countries this has not been positive. Some information was received too late for inclusion in the survey and this is true for most years. It is one of the reasons why the starting point for capacity change, the mill listing, is given for end-December of the year prior to publication; 2007 thus becomes a forecast year. A major comment from last year was the ongoing and increasing number of pressures on mill operations and management time. 2006 and the first half of 2007 have met or perhaps surpassed predictions. US housing is going through a torrid time and there is great pressure on interest rates. As reported in the MDF survey (issue 4, 2007, p26), the US panel industry is facing some difficulties with the CARB (California Air Resources Board) decision and the Boiler MACT (Maximum Achievable Control Technology) court ruling (also see issue 4 news, p5). The more mature industries of North America and the EU15 have seen capacity shrink again in 2006 after 2005. The contrast between these industries and those burgeoning industries in eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey is even more marked. Returning to the theme of modifications to the mill listing, even though EU15 capacity can show an apparent growth of 0.5% in 2006, this is after net upward revisions to existing capacity which ought to have been shown in 2005. This growth, therefore, is illusory and it is very likely that actual capacity was static at best. There are other published sources of capacities of individual mills or national industries. It should be reiterated that those readers making comparisons with the Composite Panel Association of North America should be aware that the CPA gathers data on just under seven days per week, 52 weeks per year. This tends to show US mill capacities 10% higher than the equivalent for the rest of the world. Much of the WBPI survey data derives directly from the North American mills but they increasingly provide similar data to that submitted to CPA. North America The North American particleboard industry, and in the US in particular, has developed in some contrast to both MDF and OSB. The last five years have seen a net reduction in capacity to levels barely above those prevailing at the beginning of the 1990s. From 2000 the North American industry shifted northwards as Canada expanded capacity sharply. However, in the last two years the Canadian particleboard producers too have suffered setbacks. During 2006 North American capacity fell 3.2% (412,000m³) after suffering a 6.8% decline in 2005. Since the beginning of 2005, a total of 1,347,000m³ of capacity has closed and this includes the temporary closure of one line at Sonae's Lac Megantic mill. The most significant closure of the year was the GP Gaylord Mississippi mill at 478,000m³ capacity. However, Green Tech, Louisiana and Rodman Industries, Wisconsin also closed their doors during 2006. This shows the US as contracting the most during the year, particularly as the Canada situation was ameliorated by the opening of the replacement line (after fire) at Uniboard's Sayabec site. The destroyed line was shown in the listings as 300,000m³ but references have been made to the new line being capable of 380,000m³ per annum. Readily apparent was that during 2006, prior to the housing market downturn, particleboard was in relatively short supply. Despite this, the sale of the Weyerhaeuser panel plants was completed to Flakeboard and Roseburg Lumber acquired the remaining GP mills., with the exception of Gaylord. Roseburg Lumber is now the largest particleboard producer in North America, owning six mills and 2,288,000m³ capacity (18% of North American total). Flakeboard is second at 1,600,000m³ per annum and Temple Inland is third with 1,131,000m³. Between them, these three companies operate about 41% of North American capacity. Excluding OSB, Flakeboard owns the largest share of panel production capacity in the region. Perhaps in response to the tight market situation, or as new owners of American mills, Flakeboard reported a series of capacity increases for the survey. Table 1 summarises the number of mills and lines in North America and Table 2 shows that, temporarily, average line size in the US exceeded that for Canada in 2006. Not unexpectedly, North American per capita capacity is less than half that for EU15 countries, at 34.1m³/1000 and 83.6m³/1000 respectively. Furthermore, despite the wide range of population densities and economic development, the 'Other Europe' region, including Turkey and Russia, achieved 52.3m³/1000 by end-2006. Other events - or in some cases, non-events - during the year included: * No change to the reported Mexican capacity even though it was believed Rexcel would expand. This is probably delayed until 2007; * An upward revision to the Canpar capacity (which was perhaps understated in the last published listings); * The announced closure of Columbia Forest Products' Hearst mill. Later CFP announced that they would be producing soy-based resin particleboard there; * The acquisition by Hambro Forest Products of Broyhill's particleboard mill at Lenoir, North Carolina (but not until after December 2006). The EU15 Countries It would seem that EU15 capacity grew by only 0.5% during 2006 (182,000m³) but a number of upward revisions to individual mill capacities were received during the survey which were also applicable during the previous year. The listings include these revisions and, therefore, actual capacity during the year has, most likely, declined. It is entirely possible that capacity in the region, which was the engine room of the world particleboard industry, has declined in two consecutive years. It is also possible that some mill capacities (including in Eastern Europe) remain understated. This indicates that EU15 remains a net exporter of particleboard which would put production at or around the recorded capacity. Although the EPF reported significant stock reductions in 2006, the gap between production and capacity is so small as to support the premise that operating - as opposed to nameplate - capacity is higher than shown in the listings. Even so, 2006 was the sixth year that EU15 capacity remained below 2000 levels. Germany and Belgium account for most of the decline, which is more remarkable given the relatively buoyant economic conditions. Space does not permit a review of conditions in specific end-use sectors, nor the impact of competing wood and non-wood materials on particleboard usage rates. The new line for Spain in 2006 shown in last year's survey was an error but the impact of the closure at Norbord, South Moulton, was less significant than forecast. Overall, average annual line capacity was only very slightly greater than 2005 at 234,000m³. However, the comparison with the average size of the new mills/lines in all of Europe for the 2005-2008 period, of 543,000m³ per annum, is revealing. Table 3 summarises the number of mills and lines for the EU15 countries. Other Europe Capacity growth as shown in the listings was 1.5% over 2005 and significantly below the 20% growth reported in the previous survey. There are several explanations: * The delay in some projects until 2007 * Cancellation of Turkey's Orma project * The downward revision of current Turkish capacity as a result of new information received. Admittedly the downward revision in Turkey could have applied in 2005, which would have afforded net growth in 'other Europe' closer to 7%. There were, however, upward revisions to capacity for existing mills in Norway, Slovenia, Poland and Romania. Two mills have come on stream in Russia - Egger and Pfleiderer - for an aggregate of 750,000m³ per annum. More curiously, a new country and mill can be added to the lists which were unrecorded hitherto, namely Spik Iverica in Serbia, now owned by Fantoni. The number of mills and lines are summarised by country in Table 4. Both the author and the editor of WBPI will concur that Turkey has been a bit of a blind spot in the past. The current listing for Turkey shows a number of additions and deletions to the mills in operation and revisions to several capacities. The effect has been to revise downwards Turkish capacity from an estimated four million m3 per annum to 3,122,000m³, which is still a significant amount, 44m³ per 1000 capita and higher than North America. Kastamonu is the largest producer in Turkey with an aggregate annual capacity of 1,125,000m³. It also owns a mill in Bulgaria. A further project in Russia has not gone ahead. Starwood is the second company in Turkey, with all other operators of modest size only. Those who have read our 2007 MDF survey will recognise that Kastamonu and Starwood are major players in that market too, with new mills planned. The previous confusion with new plants is explained by understanding that there are three brothers in the Yildiz family and each owns separate panel companies - Yildiz Entegre, Yildiz Sunta and Starwood (Yildiz means "star" in Turkish). The confusion was compounded by the fact that the General Manager of Kastamonu is Mr Yildiz (no relation!), whom we thank for kindly giving his time. The particleboard (and MDF) market in Turkey is driven by a young, dynamic population of 70 million, in about 25 million households. In addition to natural growth, it is estimated 10-15 million homes (flats and houses) require rebuilding or significant modernisation. Annual housing starts are estimated as 5-700,000 units (of which about one-third have permits); the Turkish furniture industry is booming. As the aforementioned panel producers have developed new plants over the past few years, the older, single-line companies have come under considerable pressure; four of the remaining smaller companies on the list are known to be in financial difficulties, which provides an impetus for the larger companies to expand further. The new Orma project reported last year has been shelved as the company's assets have been frozen and it could not invest in the new Siempelkamp line. There was more success for Dieffenbacher, when its sale of a particleboard line to Teverpan ran into difficulties and was taken over by Kastamonu. The Turkish industry is not without its problems despite high demand and firm prices - there can be few panel industries which are, and will be more in the future, so reliant upon imported raw material. Future Capacity Changes In the EU15 and North America between 2007 and 2009, there are only five new or rebuilt lines, two of which result from the recently announced acquisition of the ex-Hornitex lines by Sonae/Glunz in Germany. For North America there is only one new particleboard line - Sonae Lac Megantic - but that is a replacement for an existing line. It suggests there is no real gain since 2005 in North American capacity. Some of the large operators of multiple mills are announcing capacity creep which has been calculated as +1.5% of 2006 capacity. Table 5 summarises these changes. Capacity in the US will be hardly changed from 2006 and still below 2005 levels. Canada enjoys a rebound in 2007 but there is only some forecast capacity creep in 2008 - and no new lines. The dilemma for the North American industry is that numerous mills are intrinsically old and are now faced with investments to meet environmental regulations, on top of investments in efficiency. At a time when demand is affected, raw materials are constrained by reduced logging in Canada and reduced lumber production - producing less residues - in the US, while Mexico has its forest harvesting difficulties. It is widely understood that tight raw material supply is further under threat from competitive users in the energy business, who can afford to pay more. There are four strategic options for the industry and examples exist of producers utilising all of them. These are to refurbish, rebuild, close or sell off. Not many are considering the rebuild option at this time. Among the EU15 countries there will be only one new line in 2007, at Egger's mill at Hexham in the UK. That 726,000m³ per annum gain is offset by its intention to close the existing lines of 480,000m³ per annum. Norbord in England and Puhos in Finland will also close lines. See Table 6. At best, over the next couple of years, annual capacity creep will be +1%. Thus EU15 capacity will record a net gain in capacity of 1.3% in 2007 and, together with the long-awaited Kronospan Bischweier expansion as well as modifications at Horn by Glunz, an increase of 2% in 2008. 'Other Europe' will add 18.4% to 2006 capacity in 2007, or just under three million m³, with a further 2.5 million m³ in 2008. Around 1.9 million m³ will be located in Russia and 970,000m³ in Turkey. Lithuania, Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania will enjoy large new mills and a new mill by Kronospan for which the location was not announced at the time of writing. The 5.9 million m³ of new capacity in the region continues to exceed the aggregate of all new projects in the world. Interestingly, Kronospan accounts for 3.4 million m³ (57.6%) of projects in 'Other Europe'. Boosted by these developments, the combined North American/European capacity growth will be 6.9% and 5.1% in 2007 and 2008, respectively (see Table 8). The share for 'Other Europe' rises from 26% to 32% by 2009. This demonstrates effectively the approach to the industry's problems adopted by the Europeans; find a fifth option - build somewhere else! Explanation of Terms To assist readers in understanding the survey findings and to interpret the shorthand terms used (necessary to prepare compact listings), some explanations and definitions of the terms used are provided here. Mill capacity is, where possible, reported according to the operators' own estimates. Where we have no estimate, there could be a reference list with a daily capacity. This has been grossed up by 330 days to provide annual capacity in thousands of cubic metres (m³) per annum. It would seem that the US panel association is using a slightly different measure of operating days which adds about 5% to their capacity compared with European mills. Occasionally, we have estimated from press specifications alone. We accept there will be variations under these circumstances and apologise in advance to any mills which feel their potential output has been misrepresented. It was never our intention to do so. We would be pleased to hear directly or via the website with a more accurate figure. Where information is available for each line this has been provided, but in some cases we have provided details of more than one line per mill but published only the mill's total capacity. The country total capacity is based on the sum of the capacities we have provided. Where there are too many gaps, the country total according to other sources has been used and thus may not be a sum of the figures presented in the tables. One of the aspects of the survey is that few sources agree exactly as to capacity. Nevertheless, the data published here is within 10% of most other sources. Capacity changes have been taken directly from the survey results according to the mills' own forecasts, or from published announcements of new lines available to us. It is possible that the future capacity changes are not entirely reliable because, firstly, full information regarding modifications to existing lines is not available, and secondly, we might have missed some of the new announcements or closures. We hope to correct the listings in the subsequent surveys on a rolling update basis. We would be pleased to hear from any manufacturers not represented above. John Wadsworth is the managing director of Intermark. Based in the UK, he has been researching and consulting in panel products globally for more than 25 years. Contacts: Tel. +44 (0) 1376 501565, Fax: +44 (0) 1376 501557, email: inter.mark@virgin.net

The Roy O Martin mill in the tiny timber town of Chopin, Louisiana, just got bigger with an entirely new Coe high speed small-log lathe line, dryer, lay-up line and press. This was a US$56m project. By the second quarter of 2008, when up to full production with the new addition, the mill will be turning out nine million ft², 3'8in basis, of panels weekly with a current staff of 528.   Martin is not lacking for raw material. It owns 580,000 acres of Forest Stewardship Council-certified timberlands, with its mills placed in the most efficient locations for minimum hauls. The firm is vertically integrated into plywood, OSB, hardwood lumber and poles for the transmission industry.   Most raw material comes from a 30- to 35-mile radius and while much of the logging is contracted, Martin also has a subsidiary logging company.   Joe Mackay, the company's plywood vice-president, said, "Our log yard has l8in thick concrete. We can store at least 30 days' of wood on the slab, but we don't tend to leave that much out there."   Rain slows hauls in the January to March period, but volumes are fairly steady through the rest of the year.   A Taylor log stacker, Volvo 340, or Caterpillar 96 unload and handle logs, with about 80 truck loads arriving daily, seven days a week. For the new line, a LeTourneau rotary crane loads the deck to a PSI unscrambler and singulator to a Nicholson 27in debarker. Oversize goes to the existing log processing.   Two scanners can handle tree lengths up to 62 feet. This provides a dimension scan for plywood blocks as well as identifying poles for length and class. Poles are treated at Martin's Pineville mill.   The small tops are chipped in a large Valon Kone 600hp chipper, while the blocks, sorted for diameter, move to one of six vats for 160ºF (71oC) water conditioning for 12 to 16 hours, producing core temperatures of 105ºF to 110ºF (40-43oC).   A Linden log ladder leads up to the Coe turnkey-project lathe line, equipped with a camera-based x-y charger and Alpha Omega software for optimising block positioning. The system peels an average of 12 blocks a minute, with a peak of l6.   Three-stage retracting chucks are included, with the smallest being 21'2in. Veneer off-bears by a clipping trash gate onto three 100ft trays and to a Durand-Raute clipper supported by Ventek software. A Coe diverter directs veneer to a pair of two-bin stackers.   Included in the expansion project was an 18-door Coe jet dryer with Accumatic vacuum feed and 14-bin Coe stackers.   On the original 1995 line a Raute 28in lathe, with Elite x-y scanner upgrade, handles blocks 12in and larger. "We segregate around a 10in block to the Coe lathe," said Mr Mackay.   Veneer from the Raute goes to four 120ft clippers and to a Durand-Raute clipper, two three-bin stackers and a short green chain for strip and fish-tail.   Three existing Raute jet dryers are fired by two Wellons furnaces with 74 million btu/hour capacity each, assisted by a new Teaford furnace producing 80 million btu/hour. Heating is totally by thermal oil.   Two 29-section Raute dryers are installed, along with a 20-section Raute for re-dry and strip. The output of each of the large Raute dryers goes through either a Ventek GS2000 defect analyser or a Mecano veneer defect analyser into a 14-bin stacker. Ventek, Sequoia and Sentry moisture meters are installed.   "We have a high-moisture drying programme so we sort into four different moisture sorts in five different grades," Mr Mackay explained.   Such moisture content emphasis is a product of the mill's timber supply. He said the southern pine forest is l00% second growth: "The second-growth trees don't produce a significant amount of heartwood."   He continued: "We choose to lay up all our veneers into plywood. We do not sort for the LVL industry. Our veneer is 18-22% high grade; we can make more money selling plywood than veneer. While LVL can offer some significant advantages in a poor market, in a medium or strong market we're better off. With LVL we would be giving up our best veneer."   An 18-door Coe jet dryer with Accumatic vacuum feed and a 14-bin Coe stacker were part of the new installation. Martin also rebuilt one of the Raute jet dryers.   Five Raimann patchers work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, producing about 50,000 faces weekly. Patched veneer off-bears to a circular sorter.   The glue technician mixes for both the spray line and the foam line without touching a bag; the whole mixing process is controlled by weight.   A new Spar-Tek seven-ply foam lay-up line, with four feed stations and three core stations, takes CD veneer and lays it up into industrial and sheathing grade to feed a Spar-Tek pre-press and a fast-closing Spar-Tek 50-opening 4x8ft hot press. For five-ply, pressing time is 5.5 to 6 minutes at 315ºF (157oC). Pressure of 200psi is applied for 120 to 180 seconds, after which the press goes to position control.   The press frame is built with two vertical end frames which are keyed and bolted to matching machined faces on the cylinder base and press crown. This produces a solid structure which maintains its integrity with no movement during a press cycle.   Another feature to simplify maintenance is an adjustable platen guide system with replaceable brass wear strips attached to the end frames, which can be adjusted for wear or replaced without disassembly.   The mill already had two Raute 50-opening presses, bringing the total to 150 openings.   About half the panels are trimmed by the Globe saw line, strapped, and go directly to distribution channels while the balance goes to the finishing department - to two Globe routing and filling lines and then to either a six-head Kimwood sander and a five-in line Globe, or to a Kimwood two-head sander and a speciality saw.   A Samuels automatic strapper serves all the lines.   The output is shipped 60% by rail and 40% by truck with Midwest, Southeast and California the major markets.   The production is a full range of speciality sanded, 1'4in to 11'8in, textured siding, AA, AB, BB, BC and industrial siding.   One speciality is beaded interior panels, pre-sanded and ready to paint. Premium 303 exterior siding is produced in rough-sawn or scratch-sanded face.