Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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September/October 2023

VALEMOUNT, B.C. SEES COMMUNITY VISION fulfilled with new sawmill

LANDRICH 2.0 HARVESTER

has a new home for production WITH THIS ISSUE...

ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF INDUSTRY INNOVATION

CANADIAN ELEMENT

to new Louisiana sawmill

SURE AND SAFE HARVESTING

at Alberta’s Sureway Logging

FEATURES On the Cover: The Village of Valemount, B.C., had a shrewd idea about how to expand the community’s role in the forest industry, involving getting into the sawmilling business, and using the village’s assets.

That idea is now reality with the start-up of a sawmill in the community-owned Valemount Industrial Park which is being supplied with wood from the Valemount Community Forest. Read all about the new sawmill, and how the village is having its forestry vision achieved, beginning on page 28 of this issue (Cover photo courtesy of the Valemount Sawmill/Valemount Industrial Park).

September/October 2023 Volume 54 • No. 5 Editor Paul MacDonald Contributing Editors Jim Stirling, Tony Kryzanowski George Fullerton Tech Update Editor Tony Kryzanowski Publisher/CEO Anthony Robinson • (778) 991-3500 E-Mail: arobinson@forestnet.com Associate Publisher Hannah Robinson • (778) 688-9127 E-mail: hannah@forestnet.com

4 Spotlight:

In the driver’s seat …

Social Media: Kaitlin Davidson Digital Marketing: Hannah Robinson Email: hannah@forestnet.com

The forest industry needs more women—and young people—in the driver’s seat of logging trucks, and there are programs out there to work on getting them in the seats of those logging truck cabs.

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10 Canadian element to

Accounting Manager Shelina Jessa • (604) 731-1535 E-mail: accounting@forestnet.com

new Louisiana lumber mill

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Published September/October 2023 “We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada” Logging & Sawmilling Journal is a member/associate member of the following industry organizations:

18 New home for

harvester production

Logging equipment manufacturer A. Landry Fabrication now has a new facility for turning out their state-of-the-art Landrich 2.0 harvesters.

ISSN 0226-7572. Back copies from 1996 onward are available through our website www.forestnet.com

Printed on FSC®certified paper.

One of the largest new sawmills in North America—the $240 million (U.S.) Bienville sawmill in Louisiana—will be starting up later this year, and there’s a Canadian element to the operation, both in its construction, and ownership.

24 Building a new kiln helps build stronger customer relationships

B.C. cedar mill Gilbert Smith Forest Products recently built a new state-of the-art Nyle dry kiln that is allowing it to dry their wood in-house, and help build stronger relationships with customers.

DEPARTMENTS

Calendar...........................................8 Tech Update....................................38 Suppliernewsline............................42 Ad Index/Subscriptions..................45 Classifieds......................................45

27 Guest Column

Finding—and keeping— quality people

Richard Poindexter, President and Senior Recruiter with Search North America (SNA), on how to attract—and retain— quality talent for your wood products company.

28 Valemount sawmill vision

The village of Valemount, B.C., is seeing a community vision fulfilled, with the startup of a new sawmill that is sourcing its timber from the community forest.

32 Sure—and safe—

logging approach

Alberta’s Sureway Logging reflects sure stability—and a safe approach, including an award-winning safety record—in an ever-changing forest industry world.

36

Included in this edition of The Edge, Canada’s leading publication on research in the forest industry, are stories from the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC) and FPInnovations.

46 The Last Word

The past devastating forest fire season shows the urgent need for a shift in fire and forest management, towards coexisting with fire, says Jim Stirling.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

3

spotlight

In the

driver’s seat…

The forest industry needs more women—and young people—in the driver’s seat of logging trucks, and there are programs out there to work on getting them in the seats of those logging truck cabs.

By Jim Hilton

I

n September, the Canadian Trucking Alliance, the country’s national trucking group, held National Trucking Week, a celebration of the trucking industry that recognizes the important contributions made by the 400,000 Canadian men and women who keep the country’s freight—including logs and lumber, of course—moving.

That sounds like a lot of drivers, but there is, in fact, a growing need for more truck drivers, especially in Canada’s forest industry.

The issue of the Canadian forest industry needing more logging truck drivers is not a new one—but it has gained more urgency, post-COVID, as logging contractors sometimes have to scramble to find drivers and trucks to move wood from logging sites.

In fall 2022, Angela Splinter, CEO of Trucking HR Canada, introduced a report to the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities about anticipated labour shortages in the Canadian transportation sector.

“Even before the pandemic, the driver shortage was threatening growth,” she said in the report.

“In 2020, Trucking HR Canada estimated that the driver shortage was costing the truck transportation industry as much as $3.1 billion in lost revenues every year.

“For example, the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) estimates that the truck driver shortage is costing their industry about $450 million in lost business. In terms of underlying causes, our research suggests that safety concerns, high upfront training costs, work-life balance, and environmental concerns are some of the reasons.”

Transportation costs can account for up to one-third of a forest company’s total production costs, noted FPAC President and CEO Derek Nighbor, in support of Trucking HR Canada’s efforts to address the driver shortage.

“Efficient and reliable trucking services are essential to our business, so it’s important that challenges in Canada’s trucking and logistics industry are well understood and addressed,” said Nighbor.

Splinter noted that retirements are a factor, too, in the report, “with 35 per cent of our truck drivers being 55 and older, compared to 22 per cent in all sectors. Our industry also has some of

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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spotlight from page 4 the lowest representation of women and youth—each group accounting for under four per cent of our truck drivers.

“What are some considerations to help address this?” she asked, in the report.

There continue to be specific concerns: in the first quarter of 2023 the vacancy rate among Canadian truck drivers was 7.9 per cent—with 17,640 vacant positions across Canada.

The labour supply forecasting model projects that about 7,300 drivers will have retired in 2022 alone.

Add to that, an estimated 27,000 additional drivers will leave the profession each year for reasons other than retirement.

Considering the importance of the forest industry in Canada, it’s clear the industry could benefit from recruiting more women to drive logging trucks—but it can be a challenge to secure positions in this typically male dominated occupation.

But training is available. For example, Gennaro Transport Training out of Alberta has some courses specifically designed for women. One program, Alberta Government Supporting Women in Commercial

6

The BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC) says the B.C. forest industry recognizes that log hauling is a critical component of the supply chain, and industry members have been working in partnership with the BCFSC to enhance recruitment, training, and retention within the log hauling sector.

Trucking Careers, has earmarked $3 million to help support women who are seeking job opportunities in the transportation sector. This funding aims to provide women with new skills to achieve success in the industry through a combination of individual Class 1 driver’s licence training, program development and the promotion of new career choices in transportation.

There are also some highly recommended training programs in B.C.

A BC Forest Safety Council newsletter describes the experience of Dorothy Teichroeb, a professional log truck driver based in Vanderhoof, B.C., who has been hauling logs for three years. She received all of her training with the E and R Professional Driving Centre located in Vanderhoof, and recommended them highly.

Driving a loaded logging truck on resource roads can be much different than paved highways, so a mentor is helpful for

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

spotlight everyone’s safety. As Teichroeb points out, just to have “professional” written on her driver’s license did not give her the training she needed for driving off-highway.

Like many new logging truck drivers, she gives a lot of the credit to her employer and her mentor (her brother, in her case) for her hands-on training following getting her licence. Teichroeb credits her mentors for helping “smooth the road” with help for everything from throwing wrappers, fixing air lines, to how to come around a switchback. She worked with Blue Valley Enterprises in Vanderhoof a lot, and the other drivers have been incredibly helpful, she says, and after a while, become family out there.

“I’m there to get the job done as safely and as smoothly as possible,” she says. “The hours are incredibly long and nights are short so safety is a huge part. I have made many new friends and I enjoy my job.”

Logging and Sawmilling Journal interviewed Tiara Seitz who owns her own truck and has been a log hauler for 22 years and still loves the lifestyle, which she says may not be for everyone. She tries to get eight hours of sleep before her 1 a.m. start. On a good day, she’s back

home at noon or early afternoon. Then there’s maybe some truck maintenance to do, along with household chores and family time before the cycle repeats. On weekends, sometimes a day will also be needed for truck maintenance.

Tiara credits her longevity in the business to the people she has worked for, and the flexibility of her son Spencer and daughter Delayla, who spent many hours with her in the truck.

When Tiara got a truck with a sleeper everyone remembers that day. Not surprisingly, Spencer wanted to be a truck driver at an early age, but Mom wanted him to complete high school, which he did along with some mechanics training.

Now Spencer, at age 26, owns a number of logging trucks and his sister is also involved with the forest industry. Tiara still owns Woodrow Trucking in Lower Nicola, B.C. and is not planning on retiring as long as she still enjoys driving. Her goal is to encourage more women to get involved as truck drivers, which she says has improved compared to when she started.

Dustin Meierhofer, RPF, Director of Transportation Safety for the BC Forest Safety Council (BCFSC), says the B.C.

forest industry recognizes that log hauling is a critical component of the supply chain. Given this, industry members in partnership with the BCFSC have been working to enhance recruitment, training, and retention within the log hauling sector. This includes the development of a strategic plan to address current and future needs of the industry. A key component of the plan has been the development of a Professional Industry Driver Training Program (PID). The program identifies the specialized skills, knowledge and attributes of a Professional Industry Driver and Professional Log Truck Driver in British Columbia. It also provides tools to assist employers with meeting their responsibility to ensure workers are qualified and competent as required by regulations.

BCFSC has partnered with the College of New Caledonia to deliver five such programs in Vanderhoof, Quesnel, Prince George, Mackenzie and Burns Lake. In addition, Okanagan College in Vernon has also run a program.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

to page 8

7

spotlight

from page 7 In these programs, the college also engages local driver training companies to deliver the Mandatory Entry Level Training (MELT).

Once students have successfully completed that component and acquired their Class 1 licence, BCFSC teams each student up with a qualified, experienced log or chip truck driver who mentors the student. This is said to be an excellent example of community-level partnership, with truck owners who are looking to hire drivers and willing to invest in developing

them. The drivers who take this challenge on are investing in the future of their community by helping to guide students to become capable professional drivers.

The mentorship gives students the opportunity to safely develop necessary skills and knowledge (such as doing pre-trip inspections, securing the load, installing tire chains, and so on). The mentor helps the student build driving behaviours and attitudes that serve them well as they start on their career in the forest industry.

The programs mentioned above are supported by federal and provincial government funding (Project-Based Labour Market Training). Given that funding, successful student candidates stand to capitalize on training that would otherwise have a substantial dollar value attached to it (e.g., MELT training alone costs about $15K+).

BCFSC has worked with other partners and models to deliver the training. And it is actively seeking opportunities and partnerships to help train students who can meet the demand for new drivers in the forest industry, men and women, young and not-so-young.

It seems like there are several take-

aways from the current situation.

• Even though there are not many women logging truck drivers, those that are in the business have proven they are very capable of having successful driving careers, especially those who owned and operated their own trucks.

• All new drivers need to have mentors for the best training outcomes.

• Industry-supported training programs are currently available and will be critical in supporting current and future industry needs.

• Perhaps a lease-to-purchase approach is a way to attract new drivers to longer term employment.

• Some companies might be reluctant to hire women drivers, regardless of their experience. This could prove to be a major problem for them in a challenging labour market.

• Given the current labour challenges, an option may be for male and especially women drivers/owners to consider some type of job sharing (part-time work) when the drivers have home commitments. While it means more paperwork for the owner, at least a full-time job could be filled.

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newsawmills

Canucks helping with

NEW LOUISIANA LUMBER MILL One of the largest new sawmills in North America—the $240 million (U.S.) Bienville sawmill in Louisiana—will be starting up later this year, and there’s a Canadian element to the operation, both in its construction, and ownership.

10 10

Logging Logging & & Sawmilling Sawmilling Journal Journal -- September/October September/October 2023 2023

newsawmills

By Paul MacDonald

T

hrough many years of playing baseball, all the way up to the minor leagues, Richie LeBlanc knows all about working as a team.

These days, though, LeBlanc, the President of Hunt Forest Products, is working with a different kind of team in building what will be one of the major new sawmill projects in North America this year— the $240 million (U.S.) Bienville Lumber Company sawmill in Louisiana.

And there are Canadian players on that team, too, in the form of B.C. forest com-

pany Tolko Industries, and the B.C.-based BID Group, which is building the massive new mill on a turnkey basis.

In July 2022, Hunt Forest Products and Tolko announced they would build the state-of-the-art sawmill in Bienville Parish, near the town of Taylor, about 40 miles west of Shreveport, in northwestern Louisiana.

Construction started in 2022, and the new facility will employ approximately 60 people when operations begin later this year. The sawmill will employ approximately 130 people when it is operating at full capacity.

The mill will prioritize buying timber locally—it’s estimated the mill will require approximately 1.3 million tons of wood to produce approximately 320 million board feet of Southern Yellow Pine lumber annually. The facility is located on approximately 255 acres, including the former Taylor sawmill site and some adjacent timber land.

As of this summer, concrete was being poured for the new building foundations, and there were about 200 people on site building the new sawmill.

“There is a lot of activity at the site,” says LeBlanc. “We will start commissioning equipment in September, and are looking at going operational on the Number 1 sawline in October, and bringing the second sawline up sometime in December.”

They anticipate having the first shift of employees working during 2023, and the second shift coming on late in the second quarter of 2024.

During the construction process to date, they have had to deal with some severe weather, with hail, and “rain going straight sideways,” says Le Blanc, and the extreme heat that the region often experiences in summer. But they are working with the weather conditions, and moving steadily ahead with construction.

“One of the positive things for us with the Bienville sawmill is we’ve learned so many lessons from our experience building our LaSalle sawmill in 2018-2019,” says LeBlanc.

The sawmill in Bienville is the second project resulting from the collaboration of Hunt Forest Products and Tolko. The two companies partnered to develop the $115 million LaSalle Lumber Company mill in Urania, Louisiana, about 90 miles from Taylor, in 2018.

“We’ve employed a lot of the lessons learned from the LaSalle mill here in Bienville, so we anticipate having fewer challenges than we had on LaSalle,” explained LeBlanc.

The BID Group has been involved

in building a number of sawmills on a turnkey basis in the U.S. South, including the LaSalle sawmill. Besides Bienville, BID also has several other sawmill projects in the U.S. southeast under construction now, including one for Canadian-based forest company Canfor, in Alabama. to page 12

New mill off to a FastStart thanks to workforce development program

T

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

he Louisiana Department of Economic Development (LED) has worked closely with Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries on the new Bienville sawmill.

To secure the project, the State of Louisiana offered the companies a competitive incentive package that includes the comprehensive services of LED FastStart—which is said to be ranked the No. 1 workforce development program in the U.S. for the past 11 years.

FastStart is working in coordination with Bossier Parish Community College to build and equip the local workforce with the skills required for the new state-of the-art sawmill. The involvement of LED and the local community college is seen by the companies as a significant advantage, considering the tight labour situation in the U.S. The state package also includes a performance-based grant of $2 million, subject to the companies reaching specified investment and payroll benchmarks. The companies are expected to utilize the state’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs for the sawmill William “Bill” Sims, president of the Bienville Parish Police Jury, the governing body of the parish, said Hunt Forest Products is working with the parish community to coordinate services for the new mill, and to identify and address potential infrastructure issues.

“The forestry industry has been a vital part of the Bienville Parish and regional economy for more than 100 years, so we’re very pleased to be working with Hunt Forest Products and Tolko to bring a new and significant economic engine to our community,” Sims said.

11

newsawmills from page 11 Choosing to go with the BID Group for a second time on Bienville was a natural choice for Hunt Forest and Tolko, says LeBlanc.

The technology in the new Bienville mill is similar to LaSalle, but with improvements in some areas, such as controls, due to the continuing advancement of mill technology, says LeBlanc. The biggest difference is that the Bienville mill has two lines versus LaSalle’s one line.

The Bienville operation incorporates the full spectrum of BID’s best-in-class wood processing technologies including equipment, software, automation systems, Artificial Intelligence-enabled optimization, and plant-wide Industry 4.0 solution, Oper8, says BID. As with LaSalle, the Bienville sawmill includes a Comact optimized log bucking

system, followed by a Comact 22-inch debarker. PHL supplied chipping equipment with Andritz knives.

The Comact high recovery saw lines with profiling systems include a Comact OLI-CS3 overlength infeeder, and a Comact TBL-cant optimizer. Both mills rely on U.S. Blades in West Monroe, Louisiana, to handle the sharpening and reconditioning of their cutting tools.

Lumber will be dried through naturalgas powered DelTech DPK dual path continuous kilns. The lumber will then be moved to sheds, where the mill will assemble the runs it needs for customers, and send the lumber through a high speed Miller 830E planer. The planer will also include Comact’s GradExpert 2.0 automated lumber grading system.

Comact, DelTech, PHL and Miller are all part of the BID Group family of companies.

Bienville not the first sawmill rodeo for Hunt/Tolko

T

o borrow a popular phrase, this is not the first rodeo for the joint venture partners involved in the Bienville sawmill.

Tolko Industries, a 60-year-old family-owned Canadian forest industry company based in Vernon, B.C., partnered with Hunt Forest Products to build the LaSalle sawmill in Urania, Louisiana, which began operations in 2018.

Similar to the Urania sawmill, Tolko will own a 50 percent share, and the Bienville mill will be managed and operated by Hunt on a day-to-day basis.

“Our first venture into the U.S. was in partnership with Hunt Forest Products, a family-owned company like ours, and that has been very successful,” said Brad Thorlakson, Tolko president and CEO, of the project. “So, we are looking forward to working with the Hunt family again to bring another

state-of-the-art sawmill, and jobs, to Louisiana.”

“This sawmill will provide a local outlet for the massive inventory of Southern Yellow Pine that exists in this state,” said James D. Hunt, co-owner and vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Hunt Forest Products. “It will boost the local economy, bring a new generation of sawmill technology and provide another outlet for regional Louisiana timber. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the state strongly supports the project and is particularly pleased that the facility will be in Bienville Parish. The project is a great economic boost to the northwest part of the state, strategically located to have access to the heart of Louisiana’s historic timber industry, he said.

The LaSalle and Bienville mills also include equipment from other companies, including Signode and Samuel equipment, as part of fully-automated lumber handling and stacking systems.

One major lesson learned from the LaSalle facility and applied at Bienville is the hiring of operations personnel early in the construction process.

“One thing we did differently with Bienville is we hired our key personnel earlier in the process,” explained LeBlanc.

“In the summer, we had about 40 people hired, mainly in our electrical and maintenance group, and they were actually embedded with some of the BID Group subcontractors, so they will know the facility from the ground up, literally, and that creates a lot of personal ownership in the Bienville mill, from day one—they will have been fully engaged even before the start of operations.”

Another lesson applied at Bienville is building an inventory of critical spare parts early on. Noting that the facility currently has more than 20 trucks a day of mill equipment arriving on site, LeBlanc said it’s vitally important to know where all the pieces are right from the get-go, including key spare parts.

“We are talking about critical parts for a $240 million mill with a production capacity of up to of 320 million board feet a year—we know from experience that it’s critical to be carrying a significant number of spare parts so that we can minimize downtime and maximize production,” LeBlanc says.

Improved construction sequencing is also a LaSalle lesson being applied at Bienville, including early completion of laydown yards and several buildings.

“We now know what to expect with BID and their schedule—they need a lot of laydown area, and it helps to get ahead of that, and to have completed buildings that can be used as staging areas for equipment assembly.”

And while no one can control the weather, especially in Louisiana, the experience at LaSalle yielded yet another lesson.

“We had rain almost every day with LaSalle,” says LeBlanc. “When you look back at the pictures, it was amazing we got LaSalle built in the time we did because it was a muddy mess.”

As a result, at Bienville, yard paving has been a priority so that BID and its contractors have dry areas to unload.

“We pretty much have an all-weather to page 14

12

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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newsawmills from page 12 site now. That has been a huge benefit because of the sheer volume of equipment that is being delivered every day,” says LeBlanc.

While COVID is now pretty much in the rear view mirror for the forest industry, it was still present and an issue when planning was being done for the new mill.

“When we made the decision to build the mill, in late 2021, we were still knee deep in what was going on and COVID was still on everyone’s mind.”

But as construction has proceeded, it has, thankfully, become a non-issue and even initial COVID-related supply chain issues with equipment for Bienville were fairly minor.

The 255-acre Bienville site had been home to a Weyerhaeuser sawmill until 2009, when the company shuttered it due to the economic downturn. The site has a long history as a sawmill—Willamette Industries, which was bought by Weyerhaeuser, acquired the Taylor sawmill on this site, with its purchase of the WoodardWalker Lumber Company in northern Louisiana in 1980.

14

Despite its prior uses, the site still required significant ground preparation and dirt work, LeBlanc says “We had to bring approximately 500,000 cubic yards of dirt onto the site to deal with the local topography and ensure that we had a solid foundation,” explained LeBlanc.

The site also now has an improved road set up, thanks to construction of a new bridge and major road, “I knew the site before and, for the main entrance, all the logging and lumber trucks had to cross over the KCS rail line that parallels the site,” he says. But one of the features that initially attracted us to the site was that the state had recently built a new bridge over the rail line, and a major highway, so now we don’t have to cross over any of that with our trucks.

They can all enter the mill just to the south, over this bridge, a huge consideration when you’re talking about hundreds of trucks every week.”

The new sawmill will have a healthy appetite for timber, which can easily be met locally, says LeBlanc. Hunt Forest Products has some forestland in the region, which will be harvested for timber

for the mill, but the majority of the timber will come from other landholders.

“There are a lot of folks locally, from those who own small 40-acre tracts to much larger timber holdings, who will now have another option with the Bienville mill for selling their timber, says LeBlanc.

“It’s an outstanding opportunity for them to capture value for their timber, right at their back door,” he says. “There is a raw material base here in northwest Louisiana that is very robust, and that we believe is sustainable over time, and that’s why we chose this particular site,” he added.

“The site is also just south of Interstate 20, and 60 miles to the Texas state line, so it is a natural gateway to the Texas building materials market, which is also certainly very attractive to us,” said LeBlanc.

In addition to shipping lumber by road, they will be building a rail siding and spur to link the mill to the CPKC (the new combined rail company, with CP Rail taking over Kansas City Southern this year) main rail line. The LaSalle mill is on the

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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The Bienville sawmill now under construction in Louisiana, which will have a production capacity of up to of 320 million board feet a year, is the second project resulting from the collaboration of Hunt Forest Products and B.C.-based Tolko Industries. The two companies partnered to develop the $115 million LaSalle Lumber Company mill in Urania, Louisiana, about 145 kilometres away, in 2018.

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from page 14 Union Pacific line, so they have diversification in rail transportation.

“I think we’re in really good shape from a rail standpoint,” LeBlanc said.

With construction well underway and proceeding smoothly at the Bienville site, the decision to go with a turnkey approach to building the mill with the BID Group has been reinforced as a good business move.

“One of the advantages of dealing with BID is that the equipment is tested and true—it’s established, proven technology,” says LeBlanc, adding that they consider BID a true partner on both the Bienville and LaSalle projects.

“They want us to succeed as much as we want to succeed, and we feel that’s a good way to do business,” he said. “We’ve had a very good experience with BID.” Also working on the project, as the owner’s representative, is Louisiana-based project management and consulting firm, Hunt, Guillot & Associates (HGA).

In addition to the equipment that BID has under their umbrella—such as Comact, Miller, and DelTech—the company also has strategic partners. These include B.C.-based companies, such as BM&M Screening Solutions, and more

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

newsawmills North America-wide firms such as Rockwell Automation, Timken, data solutions platforms company PTC, and industrial robotics company, Yaskawa.

BID Group has, in fact has entered into a strategic partnership with Yaskawa America’s Motoman Robotics Division.

The focus of the partnership is to implement robotic systems into BID’s operations and develop new wood processing innovations.

Another difference between the LaSalle and Bienville mills is that Bienville opted for higher capacity Serco cranes in the millyard versus the Deshazo cranes at LaSalle.

“We just felt that two Serco cranes would serve us better at Bienville, for providing raw material to the mill,” Le Blanc said. The Serco cranes are able to unload a logging truck in a single bite.

“We think it’s important to keep the

logging trucks moving, and be able to deliver the maximum number of loads per day,” says LeBlanc. “At LaSalle, we average 12 to 14 minutes from scale to scale, and we’re looking to replicate that at Bienville—making more loads keeps everybody happy.”

LeBlanc also noted that in building Bienville, they have been very fortunate to call on the people and experience of LaSalle Lumber. “We’re assembling a really strong team at Bienville, including some Bienville employees who are working at LaSalle now, in advance of the Bienville start-up. Because we’ve got a whole other operation at LaSalle, we can call on their experience and knowledge base and create synergies between the two facilities.”

For example, the Bienville manager, Scott Walker, was the plant superintendent at La Salle.

And importantly, the learnings between

the two mills will be flowing in both directions.

“We made major strides forward with technology at the LaSalle sawmill,” LeBlanc says. “But we’re still looking at how we can enhance the LaSalle operation with the technology we will employ at Bienville—it’s a great opportunity to further improve operations at LaSalle.”

Overall, LeBlanc is feeling positive about the huge Bienville project. “Our expectations are high—this is not our first rodeo with a BID Group-built sawmill,” he notes. “I’d like to see our run rates at the mill at acceptable levels more quickly than we had at La Salle because of the experience we now have under our belt.”

Like the baseball teams LeBlanc used to play on, everyone involved with the new project knows what their role is— and they are determined to succeed.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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equipmentmanufacturing

HARVESTER PRODUCTION has a new home...

Logging equipment manufacturer A. Landry Fabrication now has a new facility for turning out their state-of-the-art Landrich 2.0 harvesters.

By George Fullerton

I

t was a time for celebration a little more than a year ago at east coast logging equipment manufacturer, A. Landry Fabrication. On July 27, 2022, the first Landrich 2.0 emerged from their new 63,000 square foot production facility at Eel River Crossing, located just a few kilometres from ALPA and A. Landry Fabrication facilities at Balmoral, New Brunswick.

A. Landry Fabrication was founded by Armand Landry and as a sister company to ALPA Equipment Ltd., which was cofounded by Armand.

A. Landry Fabrication developed expertise in building excavator conversions for forest harvesting and other custom industrial equipment. Although excavator conversions offered a cost advantage over purpose-built forest harvesters, conversions lacked the reliability and productivity of purpose-built tracked harvesters.

ALPA Equipment carries multiple lines of forestry and construction equipment, and provides parts and service in five maritime locations.Through their experience servicing and repairing heavy equipment, the Landry’s developed a clear understanding of the engineering required to build a reliable and productive forest harvester. They decided that they could take that knowledge, and build a superior tracked harvester. Armand along with his son, Serge, arrived at the decision to build their own tracked harvester, and set about to recruit talent to turn their combined vision into reality.

Their recruitment efforts led to hiring Yves-Michel Thibeault, a young mechanical engineer with experience working for a Quebec company manufacturing airport service vehicles. Thibeault came on board in 2005, and began designing the harvester using Computer Assisted Design (CAD).

Thibeault went on to supervise cutting steel and fabricating the prototype Landrich, and then testing it with contractors in harvest operation in northern New Brunswick.

The fabrication was done initially in a 18

small 6,000 square feet shop, which over the next few years expanded to 13,000 square feet.

“The shop floor was very challenging when the Landrich got into production,” explained Thibeault. “We were literally standing on each other’s feet. Sometimes, we would move a pallet of parts to allow a step in the assembly, and then move the pallet back so we could continue with another step in production.”

The Landrich harvester prototype was equipped with a Ponsse harvester head, and was thoroughly tested and proved

reliable and productive. Contractors who participated in the prototype testing could see potential in the Landrich.

“Building the first Landrich, we used a skid steer loader to lift components onto the track body,” explained Thibeault.

“Later we graduated to a forklift and later still to a wheel loader. It was all very difficult in the crowded shop. Eventually, we installed overhead cranes to facilitate more efficient assembly.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

to page 20

A CUT ABOVE THE REST

The first Landrich 2.0 harvester emerged in 2022 from the new 63,000 square foot production facility at Eel River Crossing, located just a few kilometres from ALPA and A. Landry Fabrication facilities at Balmoral, New Brunswick.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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equipmentmanufacturing

New installations at the new A. Landry Fabrication facility include large powder coating and paint booths. New equipment includes an overhead trolley system which allows fabricated components to transfer safely and efficiently to the powder coat/ paint booths, and then back into the production facility for assembly. from page 18 Despite challenges, the small shop produced two harvesters in the first year of production, and up to five a year as the crew became more familiar with parts manufacturing and assembly. The team was able to closely monitor each machine produced due to the small-scale production; producing a track harvester that was perfectly adapted for the demands of the market and loggers needs.

The new factory came about through a meeting between Armand and Serge Landry and the owner of an engine rebuilding business in Eel River Crossing.

The owner shared that he was planning for retirement, and was looking to sell the building housing his business. The 63,000

square foot building was only partially used for the engine rebuilding business, with about 90 per cent of the space used for RV and boat storage. The building was initially designed to house a shampoo bottling plant.

Following the purchase of the building during the winter of 2021, initial steps to convert the building for constructing the Landrich harvester got underway. First on the list was to clear out the building and carry out minor repairs and painting, and some structural work to install a series of overhead cranes.

In addition to new lighting, the building was outfitted with a new and comprehensive clean air and ventilation system.

“Ideally, a production facility would separate the steel cutting, bending and

welding from the assembly part of the production plant,” said Thibeault. But the cutting, bending, welding is in same room as the clean assembly side. “So it was important to have an air quality system that would remove the welding and cutting fumes and dust, and maintain the cleanliness required for the assembly steps,” he added. “We invested a lot of time designing the system and made a major investment, and we now have a very effective system and healthy environment for all workers.”

While some of the production equipment was transferred from the fabrication shop in Balmoral, a good deal of new production equipment was acquired through 2021-2022.

New installations included large powder coating and paint booths. New equipment includes an overhead trolley system which allows fabricated components to transfer safely and efficiently to the powder coat/paint booths, and then back into the production facility for assembly.

Receiving loads of steel and component parts is completed inside the building.

The production plant is an open concept facility with four production centres.

In the metal transition zone, delivered metal is cut. In the component fabrication zone, the cut metal is assembled into the various components. In the assembly zone of the plant, those components are brought together and assembled into the Landrich 2.0 harvester. The fourth production centre includes receiving large and small parts, procurement group offices and engineering offices. to page 22

20

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

equipmentmanufacturing from page 20 The open concept may be, arguably, not the most efficient production system, but Thibeault explained that it does in fact go a long way to developing a team approach to production, with everyone in the plant seeing a harvester emerge form a pile of steel and supplied parts.

The metal transition zone operates with two five-tonne overhead cranes.

The fabrication zone is also served with two, five-tonne overhead cranes, and the assembly zone has one, five-tonne overhead crane.

The facility also includes tidy racks for storage of purchased components and supplies, staff offices, employee lunch room and lockers.

In the new facility, 95 per cent of component manufacturing will be done in-house, whereas previously some of the component production was contracted to third party shops.

A. Landry Fabrication currently plans to produce 25 harvesters annually, but the new facility has the capacity to produce 100 machines annually.

Thibeault is the chief engineer for Landrich and operations manager at the new facility. Two of Armand’s grandsons have joined the Landrich production team. Sebastien Firth comes with a degree in mechanical engineering, and was formerly in charge of fabrication, and has also taken charge of harvester assembly.

Jeremy Firth brings his qualifications of a Business degree to the Landrich production and marketing.

Long time employee Daniel Landry, who worked several years as a machinist, has moved into a supervisory position overseeing welding and machining production.

Armand himself has taken up residence in a front office of the new facility and has a tour of the production area on a daily basis. Serge Landry is the General Manager of A. Landry Fabrication, and makes a daily visit when he is in the area, and is also President and CEO of ALPA Equipment.

Serge Landry explained the timing of the development of the Landrich 2.0 was driven by the requirement to redesign the harvester to fit the current requirement for Tier 4 pollution control on the engine, and the future requirement for Tier 5 technology.

“The only parts of the old Landrich that are the same as in the new Landrich are the boom and the undercarriage,” he explained. “The entire upper body was 22

In the new facility, 95 per cent of component manufacturing will be done inhouse, whereas previously some of the component production was contracted to third party shops. A. Landry Fabrication currently plans to produce 25 harvesters annually, but the new facility has the capacity to produce 100 machines annually. redesigned. Some of the components were upgraded by a new series or just relocated in the machine.”

New optimization technology came by way of Ponsse. Serge explained: “The machine optimization is a product of computer and software designed by Ponsse.

Ponsse are world leaders in wheeled harvesters, forwarders and harvester heads, using software control systems they produce themselves. Landrich worked with Ponsse to customize software for the Landrich 2.0.

“Since we had to redesign some of the machine for the new engine, we decided that it was a good time to make over the base machine addressing 10 years of customer feedback,” he added.

The new Tier engine is spec’ed to produce the same horsepower as the old Landrich, but with significantly more torque.

The Landrich 2.0 is powered by a Mercedes engine. “We engineered the 2.0 to fit in the Mercedes Tier 4 engine, but after production of the new harvester was underway, Mercedes informed us that they would no longer supply the Tier 4 design, but would substitute it with their Tier 5 model, which would meet and exceed North America Tier 4 requirements,” explained Thibeault.

“It was a bit of a challenge to fit the Tier 5 after-treatment into the engine area. We take thermo-management in the Landrich very seriously, and we had help from Ponsse to get the technology correct

so we ‘keep things cool under the hood’,” he said.

“The Tier 5 engine is a common rail design and has quick response to power demand, and still remains very fuel efficient—and the torque curve suits the harvester application very well.”

Serge stated that the 2.0 has about the same fuel consumption per hour as the original Landrich, but achieves greater production, “less litres per cubic metre.”

“The cab redesign was based on customer feedback,” he said. “We now have the largest cab in the tracked harvester field, with an unmatched operator view, which helps them be more efficient.”

Included in the cab redesign, (which was ROPS and FOPS certified) is an improved air conditioning system. The fuel tank was increased from 550 litres to 750 litres and a toolbox was integrated in the track frame, and an in-cab toolbox is an option.

A. Landry Fabrication are happy to be in the new factory, and have a new and more efficient manufacturing system.

Since Landrich production has increased, new staff has been hired.

“We have been very successful in attracting new talent with highly advanced skills to be part of our production team,” said Thibeault. “Our staff see a good future with our company, and are proud of the very productive machine that they build.”

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

lumberdrying

BUILDING A NEW KILN helps build stronger customer relationships

B.C. cedar mill Gilbert Smith Forest Products recently built a new state-ofthe-art Nyle dry kiln that allows it to dry their wood in-house and help build stronger relationships with customers.

By Tony Kryzanowski

I

t’s the start of a new era at familyowned Gilbert Smith Forest Products, a primarily Western Red Cedar specialty lumber producer located in Barriere, B.C., with the installation of a new Nyle-brand 80,000 board foot capacity, fully electricpowered, Heat-Pump based dehumidification (DH) dry kiln.

In business since 1955, Gilbert Smith

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can now offer its customers in-house, kilndried lumber for the first time. The result is higher value dry reman blanks that can quickly go into various customers’ pattern stock programs or dry surfaced products that Gilbert Smith can send directly into distribution. Less handling of the product compared to third-party drying has improved delivery times to the end users, resulting in an improved flow through the supply chain.

“With most of the remanufacturing plants that are purchasing our green, rough, reman blanks, if they have a kiln on site, they are paying workers to hand unwrap our green load and then handstick the lumber with multiple people,” says Steven Wourms, Quality Control Supervisor at the Gilbert Smith sawmill.

It’s a very slow process.

“So for us to be able to direct the product from our manufacturing line,

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

lumberdrying automatically place it on sticks from the same stacker that does our finished products, and then load it into the kiln generates a lot of efficiency,” Wourms adds. “We de-stick and deliver it— and our valued-added customers produce their final products in a timely manner.”

The addition of this service has helped to build stronger relationships with customers, especially in these challenging markets.

It has also allowed Gilbert Smith to achieve a consistently high-quality finish on high-value cedar lumber decking and S4S lumber by having the ability to plane the lumber after drying rather than when it is green.

With the installation of the first fully electric Nyle dry kiln in the B.C. Interior, the Gilbert Smith sawmill can dry Western Red Cedar down to between 12 to 14 per cent moisture content (MC), typically in 72 hours. Nyle is based in Brewer, Maine, and offers a variety of lumber drying options.

“Nyle seems to be a fairly progressive company, which is how we view ourselves as well,” says Wourms. “We had some different ideas on operating the kiln and the energy monitoring system, and Nyle was excited to work with that. At the end of the day, we generally try to do things outside the box, and Nyle was very willing to work with us.” It was that willingness to respond to the sawmill’s philosophy and goals that made Nyle the preferred choice for this new venture.

For example, by making a few package size and construction adjustments, including a heated floor, the Gilbert Smith sawmill has helped to expand the dry kiln’s capacity.

“To be perfectly honest, we as a company ask a lot of our suppliers,” says Shelby Nickel, Operations Superintendent at the Gilbert Smith sawmill “And if a supplier is willing to step up to what we are asking of them, that’s who we will go with.”

The sawmill also wanted to work with a company with an eco-friendly attitude, specifically with the goal of minimizing energy consumption while using a clean form of energy, in this case, hydro power. They have developed an energy monitoring system with independently controlled heat and heat pump/ DH units that allows them to manage energy consumption and demand so it is used efficiently when the kiln is in operation.

Gilbert Smith promotes this environmental benefit through its ECODRY Lumber label designation on all its dry products.

The dry kiln is automated, stepping through its schedule and shutting down once the cycle is complete. The sawmill’s kiln operators can log into the kiln control system remotely using a cell phone, and they do so multiple times each day to ensure that the drying system is stepping through its schedule properly.

They also conduct a manual MC check every 18 hours to ensure everything is performing as scheduled. The checks show that the kiln is hitting its mark every time. University of British Columbia Wood Products Processing student Colin Hillmer led the kiln implementation and drying schedule development. Various drying trials were carried out to achieve Gilbert Smith’s desired MC, drying time, and energy consumption costs for each product dried in the kiln.

“It is a user-friendly system,” Nickel says, “and as far as expectations, I think it has exceeded the expectations that we initially had. Drying costs, for example, are less than what we expected, and we are able to fit 100,000 board feet into it, which is more than we anticipated.”

He adds that as far as after-sales support, “Nyle has been fantastic,” he said. Any issues they have had have been relatively minor, and the kiln is gentle on the wood, he added.

With the installation of the first fully-electric Nyle dry kiln in the B.C. Interior, the Gilbert Smith Forest Products sawmill can now dry Western Red Cedar down to between 12 to 14 per cent moisture content typically in 72 hours.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

25

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GuestColumn

HOW TO ATTRACT —AND RETAIN— QUALITY TALENT for your wood products company

By Richard Poindexter

F

inding quality employees has been a struggle for most companies since COVID-19 entered our lives in 2020. Many employees have left the workforce, and many employees moved on to other jobs during the “great resignation”. Companies across Canada and the U.S. in most industries have struggled with this, so don’t think the wood products industry has been singled out.

So how do you bring good people into your organization? Here are some ideas to consider for your company: DEFINE YOUR WHY—Create a mission statement for your company that defines your objectives and your culture.

Here is a good example from wood products company Neiman Enterprises: “We’re committed to timber production practices driven by forest health. We believe we are caretakers of the forest, utilizing experts who understand the science of legacy-focused forestry practices and committed to take action based on sound research and experience. Since the forest involves many stakeholders, we are partners, choosing to take an active collaborative stance when it comes to the work of ensuring our forests remain a viable, thriving resource, and choose stewardship efforts in pursuit of outcomes that will improve access opportunities for all of our partners.”

TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES WELL— Your employees are your greatest asset. To quote Richard Branson, “Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your clients.”

Look for ways to invest in your employees, from tuition reimbursement to employee development programs to anniversary gifts for years of service. Other options for employees include family days, tickets to sporting events, and catered meals for employees on special occasions. Employees are much more likely to stay with a company when they are offered opportunities for advancement, compensated fairly, and enjoy the people they work with on a daily basis.

EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING—Make sure that safety is a top priority at your company. Make sure all employees have the appropriate safety equipment for the job (from steel toed shoes, safety glasses, ear protection, to reflective vests). Provide an employee assistance program (EAP) so that employees can get quality care for their needs when they arise. Make sure your employees have access to good medical, dental, and vision insurance.

HIRING—Streamline your interviewing process as much as possible. Candidates don’t expect to be hired on the first interview, but they don’t want the process to drag out either. If your human resources team is swamped with other objectives,

consider bringing in a recruiting firm that specializes in the industry. You can also reward employees with referrals to help find good people.

Establish relationships with local colleges and universities—this can be a great way to find the next generation of workers for your company. Recent graduates may want to stay in the area and would consider working at a company that allows them to do that.

COMPENSATION—You knew it would come up at some point right? In a tight labour market, compensation is important. Evaluate what other companies are paying for similar roles in your area, and make sure you are offering a competitive compensation package. Take a look and see if you can offer a bonus and/or commission program that rewards individual employee performance along with company profitability. Consider an employee stock ownership program (ESOP) for your business to give every employee an ownership stake. __________________________________ Richard Poindexter, CGP, LEED AP BD+C, is President and Senior Recruiter with Search North America (SNA), which has been helping wood products companies find quality talent since 1982. He can be reached at richardp@searchna.com Cell: (336) 456-8657.

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BCsawmilling

VALEMOUNT SAWMILL

VISION

The village of Valemount, B.C., is seeing a community vision fulfilled, with the start-up of a new sawmill that is sourcing its timber from the community forest.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

BCsawmilling

By Jim Stirling

E

ach log processed through the head rig becomes part of the metaphor.

Every precision cut reinforces what community resolve can collectively achieve when it is driven by a vision, in this case to diversify the regional forest industry.

The Village of Valemount, B.C., its mayor and councillors, had a shrewd idea about how to expand the community’s role in the forest industry. It involved getting into the sawmilling business.

The village already had the essential ingredients represented by two sister companies owned by the village. The Valemount Community Forest (VCF) was created in 2007 and now has an allowable annual cut of 100,000 cubic metres.

It contains the feedstock to support a sawmill with the capability of providing the larger class sizes of timber. It represents part of the resource profile under-utilized by the traditional forest industry. It still cloaks sections of the valleys surrounding Valemount, an attractive mountain-ringed village in east central British Columbia, near the border with Alberta.

The other key part of the village strategy—and the second sister company—is the Valemount Industrial Park (VIP). It offers the ideal location for the new sawmill.

The two village-owned assets are separate companies but share similar views and principles.

“Our goals are to develop and strengthen the economic diversity of the community while promoting social well-being in and around Valemount,” summarizes

Andy Hubbell, mill manager with the VIP. “And to use community forest resources in ways that are sustainable, environmentally respectful and fiscally and legally responsible.”

The first major hurdle for the village was to find a suitable and available sawmill to acquire. The village team cleared that obstacle in Prince George.

The mill was trucked back to Valemount in sections, for re-assembly at its new home in the VIP. The timing turned out to be less than perfect. The COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench into everyone’s personal and business plans. Among the fallouts from the pandemic were a dislocation in supply chains compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The global upheaval created frustration and delays in faraway Valemount. But now, in 2023, the rejuvenated VIP sawmill has overcome most of its problems and is now making lumber.

“Mainly we focus on speciality and value added planks and timbers,” explains Hubbell. “We are great with everything up to 2 x 10. We aren’t here to compete with the big boys for the 2 x 4 markets.”

Versatility with larger speciality products is the mill’s forte. “We will do long term orders or one-offs—anything from bridges to cottage decks,” he explains.

“Most of our early orders have come from customers in B.C. and Alberta, though we are definitely looking to expand to other markets,” adds Hubbell.

Most of the medium and larger sized to page 30

The timber being used in the new mill—from the Valemount Community Forest—is mostly medium and larger sized Douglas fir and western hemlock, with limited volumes of spruce.

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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BCsawmilling from page 29 wood in the community forest targeted for use by the new mill are in Douglas fir and western hemlock, with limited volumes of spruce.

Logs scheduled for processing are trucked to the VIP sawmill yard by contractors. Awaiting them there is an eclectic assortment of log handling and processing machines. A Cat 924H wheel loader removes incoming logs from the trucks and feeds them as required into the sawmill.

Another Cat machine, a TH560 telescopic

fork lift, is used for the handling of hog fuel produced in the mill and sorted out for use by area farmers as animal bedding. The fork lift is also used as a utility machine for general yard work.

A Parpak International Transtar 4200 dump truck is used to haul hog fuel from the dump to storage areas. Another machine used in the millyard is a JLG Industries 80-H mobile elevating work platform.

The primary log breakdown unit in the mill is a Morbark headrig prefaced by a Morbark 640 debarker and an in-house

A number of companies were involved in the installation of equipment at the new Valemount sawmill. The mill focused on recruiting services from the local community, for everything from building assembly to equipment fabrication. Key to the success of the mill has been a small, but highly motivated and dedicated, group of employees (above photo).

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made cut-off saw. Logs entering the mill are selected to best fit custom orders.

“We can accept a 36-inch diameter log into our mill with a maximum length of 30 feet,” says Hubbell.

After the head rig has sawn the best available cants from each log, wood is squared and cut to length. “If large timbers are what’s required, the log will be sent directly to the slide out of the mill and gets piled outside. If we are cutting boards or small timbers, they will be transferred to the edger after the cut-off saw and cut down to size before being sent outside to be sorted and stacked,” he explains. Sideboards from the head rig are dropped out to the waste conveyor under the line. Trim ends from the cut off saw are also dumped directly to the waste conveyor along with waste from the edger.

All the waste material is directed to the mill’s chipper for screening. Oversize material is recycled through again while fines go to a Lock Block silo, explains Hubbell. Chips are loaded into bins for truck transportation to Kruger’s pulp mill in Kamloops, B.C. The family-owned, Montreal-based Kruger company completed its acquisition of the Kamloops mill in June 2022 from Domtar, the previous operator.

The sawmill’s edger is believed to be a 6 x 48 gang machine manufactured in the U.S. by Corley. The mill’s chipper also has a hazy pedigree. But Hubbell says it was recently upgraded through the addition of a new chipper knife system from Andritz AB. It’s designed to help achieve a higher and more uniform chip production.

The VIP sawmill was employing eight full-time production workers plus a millwright and a welder fabricator. “We have a really good crew. They’re all local, know each other and work well together.”

Mill throughput is an important consideration for any sawmilling operation. The VIP mill is no exception. But other factors come into play for the Valemount mill.

Achieving the best value and quality wood products for its customers is an important measure of success, suggests Hubbell. It becomes a process of continual improvement and upgrades.

“We are currently working with VETS Sheet Metal on the installation of a dust control system for the mill,” points out Hubbell. VETS Sheet Metal is a 103-yearold provider of industrial ventilation, dust control and HVAC system design. Under VETS’ direction, in collaboration with AIRPLUS Industrial, the mill is installing a 38,000 CFM system, including a unique cyclo-filter collector.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

BCsawmilling

Allpoints Fire Protection in Prince George was working with the mill team on the design and installation of an alarm and sprinkler system.

Other help was readily recruited from the local community, explains Hubbell. 4U All was prime contractor for the mill build-

ing and assembly; Swift Creek Solutions Inc. is the mill’s electrical contractor; Pete Capito is “an electrical wizard” who helped with difficult problems; Mike Savarella a local fabricating contractor along with Robert Johnson “who was very important in the assembly of the mill.”; Steve Smith,

carpenter/contractor, and Gord Carson “who helped with ideas and input on what the mill should do and be.” They were all part of the Village of Valemount team, adds Hubbell, along with “the dedicated group of employees that make and continue to make the mill a reality.”

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contractorprofile eastcoastsawmilling

SURE— AND SAFE—

LOGGING APPROACH Alberta’s Sureway Logging reflects sure stability—and a safe approach, including an award-winning safety record—in an ever-changing forest industry world.

By Tony Kryzanowski

A

lberta-based Sureway Logging has been in business for over two decades and is one of the province’s largest stump-to-dump contractors, with 26 Kenworth T800 trucks in their logging and gravel haul fleet alone, in addition to

32

their line-up of harvesting equipment.

The business has grown—and succeeded—by earning a reputation for reliability with both its employees and main client, West Fraser Timber. As a further reflection of the type of business Sureway Logging operates, it was recently recognized for its health and safety record with an award

presented to it by the Alberta Forest Products Association (AFPA).

Sureway Logging is one of West Fraser’s largest contractors, supplying deciduous wood fibre to the company’s recentlyacquired, and massive, oriented strand board (OSB) plant located south of Grande Prairie. Sureway’s annual cut is between 600,000 and 700,000 cubic metres.

In addition to logging for forestry, the company also does a small amount of business harvesting wood fibre from pipeline corridors and oilfield pads. According to company assistant manager Evan Harris, working for the oil and gas sector is not really a business they actively pursue. It typically occurs in their normal course of logging operations within their designated cutblocks where oil and gas companies also happen to be active. It’s just a good fit for all parties, as the harvested wood fibre typically finds a good home, either at the OSB plant or at local sawmills.

Sureway Logging’s focus on hardwoods has its pros and cons. The average diameter of their logs is 18” to 20”. It requires

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

contractorprofile

a sturdy logging fleet to manage heavier and limby poplar logs but at the same time needing fewer sorts at roadside. All the company is required to produce is a steady diet of 16’ 6” logs for the West Fraser OSB plant, although they harvest both hardwoods and softwoods in their cutblocks.

Most of Sureway Logging’s cutblocks have an element of softwoods, primarily white spruce, usually making up between five to 10 per cent of the fibre basket.

Fortunately, lodgepole pine is not part of their species mix so managing the mountain pine beetle is not a concern. Other areas in the Grande Prairie region have not been so lucky.

But even the softwoods, destined for either the local Canfor or Weyerhaeuser sawmills, are an easy sort and are typically processed into decks with logs measuring 14’ in length. Sureway Logging does take on small logging contracts with these two softwood lumber producers as well, but West Fraser and supplying the OSB plant is their main focus.

The OSB plant, which has doubled in size over time and is one of the largest OSB production facilities in the province, has gone through several ownership changes over the years. It is now part of

Fall is one of the most beautiful times to log in Alberta’s hardwood forest, and Sureway Logging, with over two decades in the logging business, has enjoyed this view for many years. Sureway Logging is one of West Fraser Timber’s largest logging contractors, harvesting between 600,000 and 700,000 cubic metres of primarily hardwoods to supply their OSB plant south of Grande Prairie.

West Fraser’s massive forest industry holdings. They are the largest forest company operating in Alberta.

Ainsworth was the original owner of the Grande Prairie OSB plant. It was then purchased by Norbord and became a West Fraser facility with the purchase of Norbord by West Fraser in early 2021.

At the time of the acquisition, Norbord

was the world’s largest producer of OSB, operating two large plants in Alberta, in Grande Prairie and High Level. OSB’s primary use is as sheathing in home building construction.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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contractorprofile from page 33 Sureway Logging has come to depend upon Tigercat equipment, which it uses exclusively in its logging operations.

They appreciate the reliability of this brand of equipment in managing their hardwood logs, and their employees enjoy operating the equipment. They particularly appreciate the power each unit delivers, whether it’s bunching, skidding, processing or loading.

“What’s also important for the owners is how well the equipment holds its resale value, when it comes time to trade equipment in,” says Harris.

Sureway Logging keeps its fleet fresh, exchanging equipment once it reaches between 14,000 and 15,000 hours.

During and after the recent COVID-19 pandemic, however, longer lead times from equipment manufacturers have made it necessary to be more strategic in their planning to ensure that a replacement unit arrives in time. Parts availability is also a bigger challenge. Even replacing trucks in their logging fleet is not as easy as it used to be, again with longer lead times.

The cost of replacing equipment is also a concern with prices rising anywhere from $70,000 to $100,000 per unit and this issue has become a bigger factor when negotiating annual logging rates with their clients.

On the positive side, the ability of the Tigercat equipment to withstand the wear and tear of a steady hardwood diet gives Sureway Logging a bit more leeway to hold onto equipment a bit longer and

rebuild if necessary, should there be delays in replacement delivery.

Having a resilient logging fleet is becoming more and more important as they find that their cutblocks are becoming more challenging. They have found that the adage that, ‘all the good ground has been logged’, is ringing true. So they need toughness in their fleet to address more challenging logging conditions.

“It seems like we are getting into more hilly and more challenging areas and it looks like it is going to continue to trend that way,” says Harris. Alberta is not as flat as some people might think, he adds.

Their log haul distance is typically in the 80 km to 100 km range to the mill, but more and more of their cutblocks are situated further west in the Rocky Mountain foothills.

They operate four lines in total, starting with four Tigercat 870D feller bunchers equipped with Tigercat 5702 heads.

Their skidder fleet consists of five Tigercat 632E units which they can equip with dual wheels on front and back for better traction and flotation as needed.

As pointed out, these units are becoming more integral to production flow within Sureway Logging’s operations because of the steeper ground they are encountering as well as a combination of sand and clay for ground cover that tends to become very slippery, even with just a small amount of moisture. Harris says that while the dual-wheel configuration helps them to minimize site damage and maintain production flow, operators find them harder to maneuver and it does slow them down.

In addition to logging hardwoods, Sureway Logging also takes on a few small contracts with local softwood lumber producers as well as oilfield work to salvage timber on pipeline leases and oilfield pads.

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They have four Tigercat 855E roadside processors equipped with Waratah 623C heads. Sureway Logging has tried other processor brands but it is not only the performance of the Waratah head that they appreciate, but also the parts and service support if they need it.

For log loaders, they have three Tigercat 875 carriers with Weldco-Beales attachments as well as a larger, Tigercat 880D loader which is equipped with a longer stick. That comes in handy for stacking higher decks and it is sometimes used to deck logs for mills in the area.

To transport logs, Sureway Logging operates 26 Kenworth T800 trucks equipped with a variety of 10-axle trailer unit brands including Peerless, Manac and Gerry’s Trailer Sales. This trailer configuration allows Sureway Logging to transport up to 88,000 kg loads in winter on the highway.

Their support equipment consists of a variety of brands, including seven Caterpillar dozers and three Caterpillar, Komatsu and Hitachi excavators.

Sureway Logging is a seasonal operation in its forestry business, operating for about eight months a year from August till spring break up at the end of March.

This also has its pros and cons for both the company and its largely Mennonite employees, which Harris says represent about 95 per cent of their workforce.

One of their biggest challenges is keeping employees busy year round and encouraging those employees laid off during the slower season to come back. During the logging season, they employ between 85 and 90 workers.

Over the years, the company has diversified, switching gears to such activities as gravel hauling for the local municipality and contracting out their construction equipment in spring and summer. Participating in the gravel haul helps to keep some of their truck drivers in particular employed, and Sureway Logging also has its equipment available for any forest fire fighting or prevention activities.

Their strong connection to the area’s Mennonite community has helped. Harris describes their employees as very loyal.

Many operate farms so working for Sureway Logging works well for them as once spring break up occurs, it’s time to start thinking about seeding on the farm.

With a history of working for a couple of decades in the logging industry, Sureway Logging and its business approach has delivered on what many forestry companies appreciate and that’s some measure of stability and dependability.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

THE

ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF INDUSTRY INNOVATION

Successful field trials on integrated biomass harvesting in New Brunswick

T

he results of a recent study to determine the feasibility of harvesting biomass within existing logging operations will assist New Brunswick as it works towards the development of a bioeconomy strategy.

FPInnovations provided information on the incremental costs of harvesting, processing, and transporting forest biomass (logging residues) to roadside using field trials of current harvesting systems operating in New Brunswick. Integrating biomass recovery operations with traditional harvesting activities in the forest sector is critical to the successful implementation of a biorefinery plant in the region because of the very high costs of nonintegrated harvesting of forest biomass.

Working with Chaleur Forest Products (now Interfor), FPInnovations carried out a series of field trials to measure the quantity in oven-dry tonnes (ODT) of recovered biomass, as well as the roadside cost of comminuted biomass in $/ODT. It measured the impact on supply costs under different integrated harvesting scenarios, while ensuring that fibre formats were compatible across scenarios.

In total, FPInnovations assessed 18 combinations of stand types, harvesting systems, and pulpwood/biomass recovery scenarios. It identified each incremental process step (harvesting, processing, forwarding, piling down for drying, and roadside processing for transportation) and determined the associated costs.

The harvest systems selected for the

field trials were cut-to-length applications with both two-machine (harvesterforwarder) and three-machine (feller buncher- processor-forwarder) set-ups.

Three different stand types were studied during these biomass trials based on their stand structure and species composition (mixedwood, managed, and natural). For each of the three stand types, three different processing scenarios were analyzed: (1) baseline with no biomass recovery (logs and pulp), (2) without pulp in the biomass, and (3) with pulp in the biomass.

FPInnovations measured the time required by every machine to handle the biomass and load it at roadside, and calculated the cost for every phase of biomass recovery. For each stand type and biomass scenario evaluated, the biomass recovery ratio was determined (ODT/ m³) by system. In the “with pulp in the biomass” scenario, increasing the topping diameter to 10.8 cm for softwoods and 24.5 cm for hardwoods led to an average biomass volume increase of 73 per cent with the two-machine system, and 96 per cent with the three-machine system. The technical biomass recovery efficiency was between 50 per cent and 77 per cent, thus leaving adequate residues on site for soil productivity.

The full report, Integrated Biomass Harvesting: Incremental Cost of Harvesting and Forwarding Forest Biomass to Roadside in Northern New Brunswick, is available through FPInnovations’ online

A feller buncher preparing bunches to enable biomass processing.

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library portal at https://library.fpinnovations.ca/en/permalink/fpipub10545.

Understanding machine productivity and, ultimately, roadside wood/biomass cost will ensure that the cost of such treatments and the associated biomass values are well accounted for in the integration of this new supply chain to the regional fibre procurement processes currently in place. It allows fair compensation of all parties including loggers, landowners, and society at large, while ensuring loggers will be able to make the necessary investments (machines, training, etc.) required to conduct such operations.

The benefits of this project lie in the opportunity to validate biomass supply availability and cost to emerging bioeconomy investors.

This study was a follow-up to an earlier biomass logistics study where FPInnovations looked at how to create a biomass supply chain for the local port authority in northern New Brunswick and identified supply chain elements to implement. The data generated from these operational trials provide a benchmark to help inform decision makers and stakeholders when evaluating the feasibility of future biomass utilization projects.

For more information, contact the report’s author, Jean-Philippe Gaudreau, senior researcher in FPInnovations’ Forestry group: jean-philippe.gaudreau@ fpinnovations.ca

Forwarding residues in the managed stand with pulp in the biomass pile.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

Federal government‘s Two Billion Tree Program and the opportunities for deployment of unique afforestation scenarios

BY TONY KRYZANOWSKI

I

n the aftermath of the extreme wildfire behavior witnessed this past summer in Canada, there are positive initiatives, like the federal government’s Two Billion Tree Program, aimed at addressing the challenges of a changing climate.

The program aims to significantly increase the number of trees planted each year, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (CO2e). It is a major component of the federal government’s objective to reduce GHG emissions to net zero by 2050 by contributing 30 per cent toward achieving that reduction goal.

“Trees, considering both above and below ground biomass components, are about 50 per cent carbon, and as such are significant natural carbon sinks,” says Derek Sidders, Program Manager, Technology Development and Transfer at the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC).

Launched in 2021 and lasting 10 years, over 110 million trees have already been planted as part of this Two Billion Tree Program initiative. That is expected to ramp up significantly each year over the remaining lifespan of the program.

Other objectives of the Two Billion Tree Program are to increase habitat and ecosystem diversity, while also managing air, water, and soil quality and availability. This includes revegetation and reclamation of disturbed sites like coal mines, seismic lines and industrial construction sites, as well as sites featuring other land uses that have removed or excluded the presence of trees, biomass and ground vegetation.

By diversifying the forest land base, this enhances the resistance of the forest to wildfires, pests, pathogens and other natural or man-induced impacts on forest health. And as natural air and water filters that bring balance to ecosystems, trees also contribute to overall human and wildlife well-being by providing habitat, canopy cover to reduce heat while managing moisture, and providing natural landscapes for shelter, enjoyment and recreation.

Those qualified to apply for Two Billion Tree Program funding are private enterprise, provincial governments, municipal governments, as well as Indigenous orga-

Four-year-old high yield hybrid afforestation plantation.

Seventeen-year-old high yield afforestation mix plantation, hybrid poplar and white spruce. nizations and communities. In most cases, the participating partner is required to provide a minimum of 50 per cent of the operational funding for their approved project.

Also, the trees planted under the Two Billion Tree Program must be incremental, meaning that they are adding to the current forest land base and planted in areas not currently forested as a result of natural disturbance like wildfire, insects and disease, or previously deforested for other land uses, representing afforestation.

Furthermore, they cannot be planted to replace trees that have been commercially harvested or trees that would be planted as a normal business-as-usual management application.

Because the Two Billion Tree Program represents a significant opportunity for af-

forestation, the CWFC is a good resource for those interested in learning about and applying proven afforestation practices developed over decades by the CWFC and the Canadian Forest Service, involving fast-growing hybrid poplar as well as mixedwood plantation designs. Applying these practices on qualifying lands would be considered for funding support, and would significantly increase GHG emission reduction units due to the production of these managed plantations developed under moderate to intensive regimes.

“The suggested planting method and species that are being proposed for an afforestation program that will significantly contribute to the Two Billion Tree Program are fast-growing hardwood species, primarily poplar or aspen, which are selected clones of similar genetic makeup,” says Sidders.

Hybrid poplar has the ability to grow under moderate to high intensity management at a rate of 8 to 10 times that of the natural forest, which will allow a plantation managed at 80 per cent crown closure to capture 12 to 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year on average over its 15 to over 40-year lifespan. One centimetre of diameter growth and one metre of height per year is the expected annual average growth rate, with as much as 2 centimetres and 1.8 metres possible.

“One of the significant benefits of this technology is that fast-growing hardwoods also create a huge amount of incidental or annual released biomass as leaf fall from the tree, which is really important in terms of soil fertility and soil/organic carbon capture on lands that have low or moderate organic matter,” says Sidders.

These plantations can also be planted for diversity, for example, for habitat enhancement, with multiple species planted on site such as light-tolerant white spruce or white pine in Eastern Canada planted in the understorey. This creates an added environmental and commercial value.

For more information about establishing and managing a fast-growing, high yield or mixedwood afforestation plantation, contact Derek Sidders at derek.sidders@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca or Tim Keddy at tim.keddy@nrcan-rncan.gc.ca.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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TECHUPDATE

By Tony Kryzanowski

Log Merchandizing Systems Versatile Fab & Machine

Versatile Fab & Machine (VFM) has supplied its last five log merchandizers to leading lumber manufacturers such as Canfor, Interfor and Hampton Lumber.

Built robust to withstand handling coastal Douglas fir and Southern Yellow Pine, the technology is said to allow for high process rates and reliability for every cut. The equipment fit is ensured with VFM’s engineering team, Core Engineering Services, and equipment is designed and supplied to customers’ custom needs.

Production rates for the merchandizer system must be reported as averages due to the variable stems in and the resultant blocks produced. Typically, production rates of 8 to 12 stems per minute are realized. If the stems coming in contain a high percentage of very short or max length logs, these numbers could fluctuate. Peak rates would be seen on short, smaller diameter stems.

Every VFM merchandizer is designed and manufactured with extreme duty service in mind, says the company. Features include: - base plates to sub-steel that utilize rubber pad elements to allow for shock loads - positioning bumper cushioning circuit to dissipate impact loads - take-away conveyor with concrete-filled loading section - heavy duty, industry-known components to suit extreme mill duty service - heavy wall steel sections that are fit for purpose - shop pre-wired to junction boxes with devices mounted for expedited field connection to customer controls system - fully integrated positioning bumper hydraulic power unit included, and, - merchandizer totally shop-assembled to save time on installation.

Along with every merchandizer, one, fully-engineered, lifting frame assembly is supplied to offload carriages and install them on the track system. A saw change platform is also supplied to allow filer’s access to the arbour to change blades. www.versatilefab.ca

transverse, and U-shaped configurations to match any mill’s layout and requirements.

The merchandizing system features powerful BioLuma 3900L scanning sensors to deliver the highest speed ultra-high density (UHD) laser profiling for the most demanding lineal applications.

Transverse scanning with Lasar2 is a great option when space limitations for a linear layout cannot be overcome.

USNR’s fully integrated solution maximizes value and volume recovery from each stem. USNR says that its experience integrating mechanical equipment, PLC controls, scanning systems, and optimization software is second to none, adding that with a large log handling product portfolio, USNR can fulfill the custom needs and designs of most log handling applications. www.usnr.com

FiberPro

FiberPro is an industry leader in high speed recovery merchandizing and roundwood handling systems for corporate and independent clients serving softwood and hardwood applications, says the company.

The company’s priority is to supply its clients with high performing engineered solutions that have the highest safety standards and reliability standards in the industry.

FiberPro’s merchandizer systems have over 25 years of constant development and improvements. Its new stem/log singulation systems use an innovative new drive design and are now self-cleaning with either a full-plated design or cam/screw technology.

FiberPro’s log trimmer merchandizer systems are 7th generation, with a lineal guide system that allows saw modules to be

USNR

USNR says it offers the industry a highly accurate highproduction merchandizing system featuring the LogPro-brand merchandizer, with fully integrated merchandizing lines in lineal, 38

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

techupdate guided on a single large roundway system that allows slide speeds in excess of 100 ft/min for unparalleled shifting performance, safety and repeatable accuracy. Saw modules are designed with advanced materials such as aluminum and advanced drives like servos, for added speed and strength with less mass to move. www.fiberprollc.com

MiCROTEC

In a recent webinar, Norvin Laudon, Director of MiCROTEC Vancouver, presented what the company says is a game changing innovation that promises to reshape the wood industry. Laudon introduced the concept of CT X-ray scanning, highlighting its ability to delve into the inner characteristics of logs.

“CT Log can look inside logs and find things like knots and splits, and virtually grade the lumber, to come up with the best

sawing solution,” he said. “By determining the best log rotation and the correct thicknesses, the highest final grade of the sawn lumber is achieved. What we’re really talking about is automated grade sawing.”

One of the most compelling aspects of CT scanning, as highlighted by Laudon, is the notion of “sawing from the inside out.” This approach allows mills to gain insights into the internal structure of a log before making any cuts, enabling informed decisions regarding its utilization. By using the data obtained from the CT Log’s scan, mills can optimize products for value rather than mere volume, ultimately enhancing the overall lumber breakdown process. www.microtec.us

Inotech

Intellibuck is Inotech’s solution for optimized stem merchandizing. Maximum optimization of the stems is achieved by determining the most profitable log bucking patterns. It generates the best bucking pattern from the true shape scanning of the entire stem (not only from diameter and length scanning), and allows log bucking according to the best sawing pattern (not only from diameter and length information). It offers precise linear reading of stems with the best true shape scanner for stems up to 80˝ long and 24˝ diameter. It features precise travelling of the sawing modules via electrical encoded motorization and ultra soft saw swing action via HD crankshaft and electrical motorization. to page 40

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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techupdate Raptor Integration

from page 39 Dual stage stem accumulation devices are independently controlled for high speed operation, and super heavy duty and well designed construction ensures long lasting components, says the company.

Inotech offers a full mill infeed equipment lineup such as stem accumulation decks, stem and log singulators, V-flight conveyors, etc. www.inotechcanada.com

BID Group

The BID Group describes its bucking optimizer as a game changer in stem optimization. Its true shape scanning design allows for precise analysis, ensuring every part of the stem is used to its fullest potential, it says, which translates to significant benefits.

With a compact design, BID’s bucking optimizer is easier to incorporate into existing layouts.

The system excels at maximizing recovery rates and log value.

By efficiently determining the optimal cutting parameters, it ensures that every log produced is of the highest quality, increasing profitability.

The product mix feature is a valuable addition, allowing wood processors to adapt to market demands. This flexibility ensures that operations can quickly respond to changing market dynamics.

The bucking optimizer offers both transverse and linear configurations, catering to different processing needs. It optimizes saw positions based on previous positions, enhancing production rates. With a production speed of up to 700 ft/min, it can handle a wide range of diameters, lengths, and wood species.

BID’s log bucking system is designed for optimal processing of stems into logs, poles, or plywood logs. It offers two configurations: transversal and linear, each with unique advantages. www.bidgroup.ca 40

The StemScanner is the evolution of Raptor’s log scanning and optimization moved upstream to tackle the requirements of the merchandizer. The system supports single or multiple linear scan zones to build a 3D model of the stem at high production speeds.

In block optimization mode, mechanical constraints and optimization preferences are considered during optimization.

It allows the user to specify a value per block which is used to determine the value of a given optimized solution. Blocks are configured by length ranges, allowable sweep and taper, output destination, and diameter constraints for small and large ends.

Full optimization builds off the foundations of block optimization. The initial logic to determine a valid solution remains the same as block optimization, however, as each block is further optimized by virtually fitting valid finished products based on value.

Both modes of operation allow for an operator to remove defects and trigger a re-optimization of remaining material. www.raptorint.ca

Endurance Equipment

Endurance Equipment has designed and implemented over 40 high speed merchandizing systems. Its systems have led the development of techniques and processes that have pushed the production limits of accurate, high speed block merchandizing, says the company. Up to 15 stems per minute can be processed.

Endurance says that its vertical carriage design coupled with its new fully electric positioning system is the superior way to accurately position the stem to the proper zero line, and cut consistently within the required block tolerances.

Heavy duty design of all stem and block handling equipment takes the abuse of continuous operation.

From the infeed deck and stem singulator through the merchandizer system to block control outfeed system, Endurance says that it can provide the custom system that will perform to mill requirements. www.enduranceequipmentllc.com

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

SUPPLIERNEWSLINE reduce downtime, and enhance overall profitability.

"Our team at Serco Loaders is thrilled to introduce the 8500-SR32 and 8500SR34 series loaders to the market," said Mark Shukla, Director of Sales at Serco Loaders. "These loaders exemplify our dedication to pushing the boundaries of what's possible in material handling. We believe they will revolutionize the way businesses handle materials and contribute to the success of our customers." www.sercoloaders.com

Serco introduces new 8500-SR32 and 8500SR34 loaders, offering improvements in material New Yale lift truck series handling more adaptable Serco Loaders has announced the launch of what the company says are its groundbreaking 8500-SR32 and 8500SR34 series loaders.

The new loaders represent a significant step forward in the world of material handling, offering efficiency, versatility, and performance, says Serco.

The Serco 8500-SR32 and 8500-SR34 series loaders have been engineered to meet the evolving demands of the storm cleanup industry. These loaders are designed to streamline operations and improve productivity while maintaining Serco's commitment to quality, durability, and safety.

Key features of the Serco 8500-SR32 and 8500-SR34 series loaders include: • Power – strongest loader in its class, says the company • Reach – longest reach in its class (32'6" and 34') • Speed – hydraulic regenerative valve results in the fastest boom extension speed.

• Engineered Hydraulics – Standard 8500 base and controls. Low pressure, smooth controls provide precise control and smoothness in operating the loader while being able to make heavy lifts.

• Serco proven quality, durability, service, and support.

• Standard tandem pump, optional triple pump with dedicated swing section.

Designed by the company’s experienced engineers, and using modern tools such as finite element analysis, these double extenda boom loaders offer innovation and power, elevating customer’s capabilities.

The 8500-SR32 and 8500-SR34 series loaders further solidify the company's position as an industry leader, providing customers with tools to improve efficiency, 42

Yale Materials Handling Corporation has rolled out the first lift trucks in its new Series N lineup with the introduction of counterbalanced models available in the 4000 lb to 7000 lb capacity range.

Built on a scalable platform, not only does the Yale Series N offer strong productivity, operator ergonomics and a low total cost of ownership, it allows material handling operations to option up based on their unique needs, says the company.

By Tony Kryzanowski West Fraser to acquire Alberta’s Spray Lake Sawmills

B.C.-based West Fraser Timber has entered into an agreement to acquire Spray Lake Sawmills (SLS) located in Cochrane, Alberta for $140 million. The transaction is anticipated to close later this year.

SLS produces treated wood products, dimensional lumber and a variety of wood residuals and bioproducts. It has an annual lumber production capacity of 155 million board feet and holds two forest management agreements with a total annual allowable cut of approximately 500,000 cubic metres.

“Spray Lake Sawmills has an experienced, dedicated group of employees who we will look to further the legacy of this proud mill,” says Ray Ferris, President and CEO of West Fraser. “With its solid safety performance, and focus on sustainability and community, the mill is an ideal fit for West Fraser.”

The acquisition enables West Fraser to grow its footprint in southern Alberta and expand its Canadian treated wood business, while providing access to a high quality timber supply, says the company. www.westfraser.com

BID Group adds Industrial Cutting Solutions

“Cost pressures and labour shortages are testing the ability of operations to balance profitability with productivity,” says Brad Long, Brand Manager, Yale Materials Handling Corporation. “Equipment can be part of the solution, but the one-sizefits-all forklift approach of yesteryear won’t cut it. The Series N gives warehouses and retail operations the freedom to dial the trucks to their own standards to meet the needs of their operators, application and business challenges.”

Some features on this series include operator-centric design, enhanced visibility, an innovative dynamic stability system (DSS) to provide automatic alerts and implementation of truck performance limitations in real time, and optional operator assist systems. www.hyster-yale.com

BID Group has entered into an agreement to acquire U.S.-based Industrial Cutting Solutions.

The company says that this transaction deepens BID’s geographic and product offering in the wood processing saw and tooling segment and further expands BID’s operational lifecycle product and service offerings.

Industrial Cutting Solutions is an innovative supplier and service provider of high quality saws and critical consumable products to the wood processing industry.

Located in Buhl, Alabama, Industrial Cutting Solutions is also ideally positioned to meet growing customer demand for wood processing saw supply and service.

“We are excited to partner with the Houston family and the Industrial Cutting Solutions team. This marks another important step in growing with our valued customers’ demand for modern, high quality and innovative saw and tooling technology solutions. Together with Smith Sawmill Service and BID’s BLADE cutting

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

suppliernewsline tool solutions, we are pleased to continue incorporating saw and tooling technologies into our BID turnkey, wood process systems, and aftermarket support offerings,” says Dustin Norris, Vice-President, Smith Sawmill Service.

The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2023. www.bidgroup.ca

systems. It is also said to offer reduced maintenance and upkeep costs, as well as easier maintenance thanks to the open framework. www.usnr.com

USNR’s new Sidewinder log turner maximizes throughput in mills

The wait is over for professional sawyers, says Dakin-Flathers, as the company has unveiled its latest innovation in timber resawing technology, the RIPPER37 QUANTUM blade.

USNR’s new Sidewinder log turner is designed to accurately rotate logs and provide precise transition control with smaller gaps between logs, says the company. It’s particularly well equipped to handle large logs from the U.S. South and short, knotty logs from Canada.

When paired with the company’s advanced PGLR turn optimization and correction system, USNR says that this piece of equipment is one of the best log turning systems on the market.

The Sidewinder accommodates smaller log gaps better than other turning systems and provides accurate log rotation with a precise transition control system, according to USNR. Capable of handling logs between 3” and 24” in diameter, the Sidewinder has a turn accuracy within 4.5 degrees at 700 fpm, which USNR says is 36 per cent more accurate than other

Dakin-Flathers launches long lasting bandsaw blade

Engineered to redefine the limits of bandsaw blades, RIPPER37 QUANTUM promises unmatched precision, efficiency, and above all, durability for resawing lumber, says the company.

Dakin-Flathers says that its RIPPER37 QUANTUM outperforms all other resaw blades, lasting twice as long as the current market leader.

It comes down to Dakin-Flathers’ patent pending and top secret manufacturing process, according to the company.

Using cutting edge materials and manufacturing techniques, RIPPER37 QUANTUM is said to be designed to withstand the most rigorous resawing applications.

It is produced in aerospace-controlled temperature conditions using the world’s first gaseous phase control. The new heat treatment process results in exceptionally low levels of oxidization, producing a near

perfect grain structure for exceptional longevity and cutting performance, according to the company.

RIPPER37 QUANTUM is currently available in 1” X 2 hook to cater predominantly for pallet manufacturing with multi-head sawmills, though it is suitable for many other resaw applications. www.dakin-flathers.com

B.C. aims for safer roads with electronic logging devices

Provincially regulated commercial vehicle operators in British Columbia are now required to use electronic logging devices (ELD) to track drivers’ time behind the wheel, reducing the likelihood of driving while tired.

ELDs automatically record driving time, helping to ensure commercial drivers do not drive longer each day than regulations allow. ELDs accurately track hours of service and reduce the risk of incidents due to driver fatigue.

The requirement took effect on August 1, 2023, giving B.C. carriers six months to install ELDs across their fleets and to complete driver and dispatcher training.

This shift follows federal ELD regulations, which Transport Canada established for the inter-provincial trucking sector in 2021 and have been committed to by all provinces and territories. Enforcement of the federal regulations began on January 1.

FPAC announces Awards of Excellence winners As National Forest Week was celebrated throughout Canada, the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) took the opportunity to acknowledge

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

to page 44

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suppliernewsline from page 43 distinguished individuals through its annual Awards of Excellence program.

These yearly awards celebrate the achievements, efforts, and indelible impact of the incredible professionals whose dedication to not just the industry, but their communities and Canada as a whole, serves as an inspiration to all, says the association.

FPAC’s 2023 Awards of Excellence recipients include: Jim Carr Community Champion Award: Senator Colin Deacon Mayor Wendy Landry Partnership Award: Canadian Wood Council (CWC) Member of the Year Award: Bonny Skene – Domtar Lifetime Achievement Award: Bob Fleet – Tolko Industries Ltd. Women in Forestry Award Kari Stuart-Smith – Canfor Corporation Rising Star Award Alexis Bolduc-Gagnon – Resolute Forest Products Skills Awards for Indigenous Youth Makué Vollant – Member of the Atikamekw de Manawan, Technologie forestière au Cégep de Sainte-Foy (QC) Catherine Langille – Member of the Seine River First Nation, Indigenous Environmental Science & Studies at Trent University (ON) Indigenous Business Leadership Award Listuguj Mi’gmaq Government Chipping (LMG Chipping) – a 100 per cent Indigenous-owned wood chipping operation. www.fpac.ca

TimberPro expands manufacturing facility

TimberPro, a manufacturer of forestry equipment, recently completed an $8 million (U.S.) expansion project that added nearly 49,000 square feet to its facility in Shawano, Wisconsin.

The expansion will allow the company to double production capacity, enabling it to meet growing market demand for its equipment and attachments.

TimberPro was founded by Pat Crawford in 2002. The Crawfords have been involved in the forestry business in Wisconsin for more than 75 years, and in recognition of their contributions, the new 44

expansion was dedicated to the family.

“Our facility expansion represents a significant step forward for TimberPro, and we were glad to be able to showcase our enhanced capabilities to the community,” says Doug Morris, Vice-President, Forest Machine Business Division, Komatsu.

“Forestry is very important to the Wisconsin economy, and this expansion will enable us to provide more good familysupporting jobs, while also allowing us to enhance our research and development capabilities and significantly increase our production.” www.timberpro.com

B.C.’s Mosaic Forest Management achieves Progressive Aboriginal Relations Gold certification

The Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business (CCAB) has recognized B.C.’s Mosaic Forest Management with the Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) Gold certification, making it the first and only timberland owner in Canada to achieve this standard of excellence.

CCAB’s PAR certification program is said to rigorously evaluate performance and impact in key areas important to Indigenous communities, including Leadership Actions, Employment, Business Development and Community Relationships. Supported by independent thirdparty verification, certification under PAR confirms Mosaic is a committed partner with policies, systems, and resources dedicated to achieving positive outcomes for Indigenous businesses and communities, says the company.

“The Progressive Aboriginal Relations Gold certification reflects our efforts over many years in contributing to economic reconciliation,” said Rob Gough, Mosaic Forest Management’s President and CEO. “Indigenous communities are our neighbours, Indigenous businesses are our partners, and Indigenous peoples are key members of the Mosaic team. Our company is committed to building a better future together.” www.MosaicForests.com

Husqvarna launches new top-handle T540 XP Mark III chainsaw Husqvarna is offering what it says is the next level of tree care tools with the launch of the T540 XP Mark III. Remastered for reliability, the new T540 XP Mark III responds to the needs

expressed by professionals for greater power, productivity and maneuverability with products that get the job done safely, efficiently and effectively, says the company.

The new top-handle T540 XP Mark III was redesigned following consumer feedback resulting in a lightweight, balanced, and agile chainsaw for climbing and cutting. With a high cutting capacity, the T540 XP Mark III was redeveloped to ensure maximum reliability and trusted performance over hours of use. Its lightweight ergonomic design aids operator comfort and AutoTune 3.0 technology enables simple start technology, to ensure peak performance even in the toughest of environments.

The engine power of the T540 XP Mark III is enhanced with Husqvarna’s SP21G X-CUT chain, maximizing precision and productivity. www.husqvarna.com

SEPPI M. unveils exclusive “MINIFORST cl” AMERICA Special Edition for U.S. and Canadian markets

Forestry equipment manufacturer SEPPI M. has introduced its latest innovation, the “MINIFORST cl” AMERICA Special Edition.

Tailored specifically for the U.S. and Canada markets, this cutting-edge forestry mulcher is set to redefine land clearing and vegetation management, while offering a special price, says the company.

Key features of the “MINIFORST cl AMERICA Special Edition” include: • CUT CONTROL Rotor: Precision cutting and mulching are now at the fingertips of operators. The CUT CONTROL rotor ensures accuracy and efficiency in clearing overgrown vegetation and preparing land for projects.

• Variable Torque Motor with MBOOST Technology: Versatile and adaptable, this mulcher accommodates loaders with 20 to 50 GPM. With M-BOOST technology, it is said to deliver consistent power and performance in various conditions.

• Adjustable Guard Frame: Take control of the mulching process with the

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

classified adjustable guard frame. Easily adaptable to different terrains and vegetation types for optimal results.

• High-Quality Components and Craftsmanship: SEPPI M. upholds its reputation for quality with well-crafted components designed for durability in the most demanding forestry applications, it says.

• Hassle-Free Setup and Shipping: Setting up the MINIFORST cl AMERICA Special Edition is straightforward. It comes with 1” 6000 PSI hoses and 3/4” quick couplers. Plus, the fixed price includes shipping and professional setup by a Seppi M. dealer.

• Special Price: SEPPI M. offers the MINIFORST cl AMERICA Special Edition at a special price, making the innovative forestry mulcher more accessible than ever before, says the company. www.seppi.com

PRT acquires Woodmere Nursery’s Alberta facility

PRT Growing Services Ltd, which produces container-grown forest seedlings, has reached an agreement with Woodmere Nursery Ltd to acquire its nursery in Fairview, Alberta.

The 134,000 sq ft nursery has steadily grown to reach an annual production capacity of over nine million forest seedlings, serving a wide range of customers in Western Canada, including forest companies, government, private woodlot owners

and Indigenous communities.

PRT will now operate 20 nurseries, producing 340 million seedlings annually in Canada and the U.S. The company says that its extensive network of agricultural professionals and capacity to support customers across North America continues to position PRT as an industry leader and critical link in the forest sustainability supply chain, working together for real climate action for generations to come. www.prt.com

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Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

45

thelastword

Devastating forest fire season shows urgent need for a shift in fire and forest management, towards co-existing with fire

By Jim Stirling

W

ildfires have laid siege to British Columbia in 2023. Residents outside the province’s Lower Mainland region have endured a prolonged and surreal environment of fear and uncertainty, filled with toxic smoke and flurries of evacuation alerts and orders.

As a result, residents have prepared for the worst; many a bag of valuables and survival gear has been stashed behind the couch, ready to grab and flee at a moment’s notice.

The byproducts of a warming climate are being demonstrated through extremes, from droughts to floods. The unpredictable wildfires are tough on people, the landscape and all the natural populations it sustains.

B.C.’s forest fire statistics have been re-written on an almost daily basis during the months of spring and summer. Land lost to wildfires in 2017, 2018 and 2021 set records—but the terrible trio’s toll was eclipsed by July in 2023, the beginning of what is traditionally the start of the worst two forest fire months of the season.

BC Wildfire Service experts suspect lightning ignited the Donnie Creek blaze in May. It had consumed more than 6,000 square kilometres of forest land by July, the largest forest fire in the land. Despite ebbs and flows during the summer, the wildfire service anticipates the blaze will continue burning into the winter—and perhaps through it.

The massive fire didn’t generate many headlines in the province’s population centers. Its location is why. The initial lightning strike was deep in the forest southeast of Fort Nelson, north of Fort St. John, in the Trutch River valley in northeastern B.C. The nearest community is Prophet River, around Mile 208 on the Alaska Highway. The Donnie Creek fire hadn’t destroyed any permanent 46

structures—there aren’t any in its path.

But it obliterated all evidence of historic occupation, including grave sites. The fire has wiped out oil and gas wells, pipelines and compressor stations. And a countless volume of timber. Canfor’s Fort St. John sawmill and Louisiana-Pacific’s OSB plant have lost timber cutting rights to the Donnie Creek fire.

The warming climate’s interconnected impacts on the forest industry are the focus of a new report. Forest Fire Management in B.C: Toward Landscape Resilience, was prepared by the B.C. Forest Practices Board (BCFPB) and it was published in June 2023. The BCFPB is the province’s independent watchdog for sound forest and range practices. The report says there’s an urgent need for a different and coordinated approach to forest fire management on B.C.’s Crown land.

It points out fire can be a friend and not always the wildfire foe. Fire, when used judiciously, can help sustain a productive and healthy B.C. forest landscape as it did historically.

Living with fire was a natural part of the landscape’s rhythms before the establishment of industrial scale forest practices.

The BCFPB report noted the policies that were applied in B.C. during the 20th century resulted in densely forested areas and an increase in the amounts and distribution of forest fuels. The report says an alarming 39 million hectares—or 45 per cent—of the public land base in B.C. is of high or extreme threat of wildfire. As well, fire seasons are becoming longer, the risk of ignition higher and areas are burning more severely when wildfires do occur, continues the report.

“There is an urgent need to shift forest and fire management, policies, objectives and policies toward co-existing with fire on the landscape,” says the report.

“Restoring landscape resilience is required

and the first step toward that is to introduce landscape fire management into the land management framework in B.C.” The report continues: “Bold and immediate action is required by the provincial government to align policies and programs across all levels of government with a vision of landscape resilience and human co-existence with fire.”

As the steward for public lands in B.C., the provincial government is the logical leader to help protect and enhance them.

But the incumbent NDP government’s land use policies recently have been mixed toward the forest sector’s concerns.

The deferrals of more land for longer to any form of harvesting in “old growth” forests is an example.

The BCFPB report’s authors understand the challenges posed for having the consistent political commitment required for the recruiting and training of the people needed in a fiercely competitive labour market.

“Increasing access to formal education, training and professional development is critical to achieving the scale of landscape fire management required to improve landscape resiliency.”

The board noted the historical roles played in natural fire control by species like aspen and birch. But hardwoods are not remotely desired by forest companies geared to industrial scaled production of softwood lumber.

Despite the implementation challenges, the BCFPB report is a valuable contribution. The document’s recommendations are pertinent and timely. Suggestions for working practically with nature can help restore a badly damaged landscape diversity in B.C. That in turn will indicate paths forward for the forest industry to continue its renewal and vigour.

Logging & Sawmilling Journal - September/October 2023

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