After much anticipation and countless hours of product development, John Deere unveils three powerful and productive L-Series utility wheel loaders. The 524L, 544L and 624L offer customers an intuitive solution, ideal for projects that require agility and versatility on the job site or farm. Designed with the operator in mind, the L-Series machines incorporate several new features, including improved cabs for more comfort and visibility, electrohydraulic (EH) loader controls for easier operation and redesigned near-parallel linkage, and enhanced performance buckets.

“Our next generation of wheel loaders improves upon the legacy of the John Deere wheel loader line,” said Chris Cline, product marketing manager for utility wheel loaders, John Deere Construction & Forestry. “The L-Series boasts several improvements over previous models designed to positively impact productivity, comfort and visibility, resulting in increased profitability.”

The most notable of changes to the L-Series from their K-Series predecessors is the improved cab, which is roomier and more comfortable, offering more functional storage and floor space. The optional premium heavy-duty air suspension seat is heated, ventilated and designed to offer additional legroom. The HVAC performance is also enhanced, now including rear defrost, increasing air flow while reducing noise. Three standard 12-volt auxiliary power ports in the cab enable the operator to charge multiple devices. Optional remote-heated, adjustable mirrors increase job site visibility.

Behind the wheel, EH loader controls with integrated third and fourth function auxiliary hydraulics provide faster cycle times, resulting in more material moved in shorter periods of time. Two multifunction buttons integrated into the hydraulic controls allow the operator to assign a function to each button, improving operability and productivity. This loader also has an ergonomically designed, seat-mounted right-hand joystick with a standard forward-neutral-reverse switch and fully integrated auxiliary hydraulic controls. A throttle lock option removes the need for the operator to push the throttle pedal to maintain engine speed.

Improvements to the machine boom structure directly result in increased productivity. The design increases visibility to the coupler, bucket or forks, reducing overall cycle times, material spillage and equipment damage. Additional bucket options include enhanced production buckets with integrated spill guards, profiled side cutters and greater rollback, improving bucket fill and material retention. A new shaft-style fork design offers more visibility and tine length options, including 48-inch, 60-inch and 72-inch. Smoother boom and bucket hydraulic kickouts reduce operator fatigue, while new standard parallel lift linkage improves load leveling, limits bucket spillage and increases fork operation speed.

Return-to-dig settings can now be set from the cab for both directions of the bucket, allowing operators to return-to-dig from any position without having to adjust the bucket to dump position. Boom and Bucket EH metering rate aggressiveness allows the operator to choose a setting — low, medium or high — for quicker hydraulics or reduced response in precision operations for improved comfort. Attachment configuration settings can be saved, allowing the operator to assign and save settings to an attachment, making it easier to switch between attachments without impacting productivity.

The 524L, 544L and 624L are available with optional High Lift (HL) and High Lift Plus (HL Plus) selections; there is also a tool carrier option on the 524L and 624L models. The HL Plus option features hinge pin heights that are 12 to 13 inches higher than current HL pin heights, allowing the operator to dump into higher trucks or wagons. The tool carrier option provides the best centerline visibility to the coupler or forks. It is ideal for customers handling materials, like pallets, pipe or logs, where centerline visibility is important.

From a service perspective, the hydraulic hose and electrical wire harness routing and retention are improved, and the machines feature 40 fewer leak points, lowering potential repair costs.

The 524L, 544L and 624L feature fuel-efficient Final Tier 4 John Deere diesel engines (6.8 liter) and boast 152 (113kW), 166 (123kW) and 192 (143kW) net peak horsepower, respectively.

Fleet managers looking to get the most out of their L-Series wheel loaders can rely on their John Deere dealers to provide Ultimate Uptime, featuring John Deere WorkSight™. With Ultimate Uptime, owners receive predelivery and follow-up inspections that include five years of JDLink™ telematics, machine health prognostics, remote diagnostics and programming capabilities and the ability to add dealer-provided uptime solutions to a customized package.

The 544L will also be on display at World of Concrete, Jan. 22-25, 2019, at booth C5451. Along side the 544L will be a JD544, built in December 1968, to commemorate 50 years of John Deere building wheel loaders. Contractors, builders, and sand and gravel-pit operators alike helped build the innovative JD544 50 years ago. The new L-Series machines are a testament of durability, dependability and productivity, and of continuous customer-inspired design. Throughout 2019, all new manufactured wheel loaders will showcase a 50 year anniversary emblem to signify this milestone.

For additional information and model-specific specifications about the new L-Series wheel loaders, visit www.JohnDeere.com or contact your local dealer.

Together with the companies ALMAB and Arivislanda, Renholmen AB is part of the ARAT Group. Now ARAT Group has been acquired by Storskogen AB from Provator AB.

“Storskogen invests in companies that are stable and profitable. It gives us great opportunities to continue our journey with development and expansion of the company,” says Renholmen’s CEO Per Jonsson.

“We look forward to continuing to develop our three leading companies in a positive spirit together with Storskogen, which also enables further acquisitions to the group,” says Johan Andersson, CEO of ARAT Group.

ARAT Group delivers high-tech equipment to sawmills and further processing industry. The three companies operate freely and have together a turnover of SEK 300 million and have 100 employees.

Storskogen is an industry and trading group, which today owns 28 Swedish companies with a turnover of just over SEK 4 billion.

Photo: Renholmen’s CEO Per Jonsson.

Southern Forest Products Association (SFPA) welcomes LaSalle Lumber Company, LLC, a joint venture of Hunt Forest Products and Tolko Industries, as its newest lumber manufacturer member.

Tolko Industries, headquartered in Vernon, BC, has partnered with Louisiana-based Hunt Forest Products to build a state-of-the-art sawmill near Urania, Louisiana. Earlier this year, Tolko announced plans to build the new facility. The mill is designed to produce 200 million board feet annually, with three continuous dry kilns and a planer facility.

“This is our first venture into the United States,” said Brad Thorlakson, Tolko president and CEO. “And we are thrilled to be in Louisiana with Hunt Forest Products, a family-owned company like ours, and one that has played a vital, reliable role in Louisiana’s forestry industry for more than a century.”

Pino Pucci is the company’s manager and will represent LaSalle Lumber on the SFPA Board of Directors.

Photo: Brad Thorlakson, Tolko president and CEO

Declining trade of softwood lumber, plummeting lumber prices in the US and slowing wood demand in China were some of the biggest international lumber developments in the 3Q/18, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly

Global Softwood Lumber Trade
Global trade of softwood lumber from January through September 2018 was down 2.5% as compared to the same period last year. China, Japan, the United Kingdom and the MENA region reduced their imports, while the US and continental Europe have imported more lumber this year than in 2017.

Lumber markets – North America
After US lumber imports reached a 10-year high in the 2Q/18, import volumes fell 3.5% to 9.44 million m3 in the 3Q/18, which was still over ten percent more than in the same quarter in 2017. The trend over the past few years has been that the market share for overseas lumber supply to the US has increased at the expense of Canadian supply, as reported in the Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The Canadian share has fallen from 95% of total imports in 2016 to 91% in 2018.

Lumber prices in the US plummeted during the summer and fall, with major grades falling about 40% from June to November.

Lumber exports from Canada were down in all markets in the 3Q, and the total export volume was down 4.3% q-o-q. Almost 80% of the shipments were destined for the United States. During the first nine months of 2018, export volumes to China were 16% lower than the same period last year.

Lumber markets – Northern Europe  
Lumber exports from both Finland and Sweden slowed substantially in the late summer, with August shipments being down 10% (Finland) and 6% (Sweden) from August 2017. The biggest decrease in Finnish exports so far this year have been in shipments to China and Saudi Arabia, while Swedish sawmills have reduced exports to Egypt, China and Japan the most. Both countries have kept up sales in the European market in 2018 with only minor changes in shipped volumes from 2017, according to the WRQ. Lumber prices in both Finland and Sweden have remained fairly stable during most of 2018.

Lumber market – United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is the world’s third largest importer of softwood lumber, after the US and China. In 2017, the country imported 7.5 million m3 of lumber, the highest level seen since 2007 and up almost 50% from five years ago. Sweden has long been the major supplier, with a market share of about 45%. However, demand for imported lumber to the UK has fallen by 20% during the first nine months of 2018.

Import prices for lumber have trended upwards in US dollar terms in the past few years to reach a three-year high in the 2Q/18, followed by a decline of 7.3% in the 3Q/18.

Lumber markets – China
A gloomier outlook by Chinese consumers and a shortage of credits for many provincial governments and state-run firms have contributed to reduced demand for forest products. As a result, total softwood lumber imports to China have slowed in 2018, with volumes in the first nine months falling 11% as compared to the same period in 2017, according to Chinese customs data. Imports were down from all supplying countries except Russia.

Wood Resources International    LLC
hakan@WoodPrices.co