Western mills keep up with MSR technology

f uene'S anew aspec to lumber r qualit] control beyond the "grading" manufacturers and retail lumbermen have become accustomed to over the generations. Technological advances have resulted in new approaches to traditional products and a matching level of quality control has evolved.

Machine stress rate lumber is one of these products. In 1983, it is estimated 180 million board feet of machine stress-rated lumber will be manufactured by Western lumber producers. There are 16 "machines" already installed in the West with more on the way.

MSR material is increasinglY sought for engineered uses in residential and non-residential construction design calling for explicit'single-

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Story at a Glance

end-and-face-glued products as well as finger-jointed framing lumber. Visual grading of finger-jointed dimension, while considering joint appearance and quality, considers grade-limiting characteristics the same as those imposcd uPon solid lumber. The performance of each glue-joint earns special additional quality control attention. Every six months a WWPA mill's gluedproduct production is certified for each glue formula and joint configuration.

member values. As MSR technology has developed, WWPA mills have played a key role in development of quality control disciplines governing the product.

Stringent procedures cover each mill's initial certification and daily quality control. Samples of every grade/ size/species combination are pulled out of ongoing production by WWPA inspectors. Each sample piece is individually tested in a special device that applies 2.1 times the "load" its design values prescribe. The procedures provide that no lumber in a run represented by a sample can be shipped from the mill improperly labeled.

MSR stock also is visually-graded by mill graders in accordance with rules written especially for it. Most in-plant quality control testing is done by plant personnel, but is later reviewed by WWPA.

WWPA inspectors check MSR grades for visual accuracy. Four times a year, a WWPA MSR technologist makes a spot "service check" of available shipping grades at each mill. He conducts tests independent of mill tests and checks test equipment to assure its accuracy.

Glue products also have brought about new approaches to quality control testing. New adhesives have made it possible to assemble pieces of wood into larger members. WWPA has quality procedures that apply to

Samples typical of production selected by WWPA lumber inspectors are tak€n off the production line, shipped to an independent laboratory and subjected to intensive durability and bending tests. This provides a periodic third-party technical check of each mill's performance. Meanwhile, each mill conducts daily quality control. Samples are pulled hourly from current production. Each is "loaded" to double the assigned design values of its particular grade as a test.

If the grade is STUD, using different glues than thosc with certified exterior joints, the same durability test is conducted by specialist mill personnel as in laboratory certification. The hourly samples are placed in a special chamber where intense vacuum saturates the glued joint area far beyond the nonns experted in actual use. Then it is dried in an oven, approximately to its original moisture content.

This waldry pr(rcess places the glue line under extraordinary stresses. When broken under doubleload static bending tests at the mill, examination of the finger-joint must reveal that the wood, not the glue, is what gave way most. Production which meets this criteria may be grade stamped accordingly and ship ped. The objective of testing and quality control is a product which can be used with confidence.

JlefetlERS and consumers in r r the South are prime targets in a major new marketing effort designed to make Western lumber more competitive with other geographical areas and alternate products.

According to John Barrett, chairman of the Western Wood Products Association's marketing services committee, in addition to competing in cost,this campaign will come to the market with programs that will generate genuine demand for products of the Western mills.

But competing in cost is only part of the story, Barrett points out. "Now we must come to the market with programs that will generate genuine demand for products of Western mills."

Entitled "Impetus" because that's precisely what it hopes to give to Western lumber sales, the program was first proposed to wwPA's membership at its March spring meeting in San Francisco, and approval was given at the fall meeting in Scottsdale to send the plan to the membership for a mail ballot. If approved, portions of the program will begin after the first of the year.

Impetus is based upon both usermarket and geographical-market strategies throughout the U.S. Four "geomarkets" are delineated in the plan, with high priority on an expanded "Mid-America" geomarket plus Texas and traditional Midwestern states.

Retailers are key players in the Impetus plan. WWPA would provide extensive merchandising programs expressly involving retailer tie-ins, with heavy publicity and advertising directed both to trade and consumer audiences. Also included in Impetus are LaBelle and other audio-visual programs.

Over the years, WWPA's promotional publications have "led the