All posts by Jo English

Limab Oy

Image Systems AB acquires Limab Oy

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Image Systems AB has concluded an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares outstanding of the Finnish company Limab Oy.

Limab Oy, with offices in St Michel and Helsingfors, is active in contactless measurement technology with applications in the sawmill industry, thereby complementing business area RemaSawco with products as well as market shares, especially in Finland, the Baltic States and Russia.

Limab Oy has 22 employees with revenue in the financial year 1 March 2017 – 28 February 2018 of approximately MSEK 56 and profit after taxes of almost MSEK 15. The company is acquired on a debt-free basis MEUR 6.1 (approximately MSEK 62.8). The initial purchase money amounts to MEUR 4.0 (approximately MSEK 41.2).

Additional purchase money will be paid over a period of two years on the condition that Limab Oy’s current shareholders remain employees of the company. The acquisition will be financed by a bank loan in the amount of MSEK 41.2 and a seller’s promissory note in the amount of MSEK 21.6. The debt financing may at a later date be refinanced in the form of a new issue of shares. The transaction is expected to have a positive effect on Image System’s earnings per share in the current year and going forward.

The transaction is expected to close on 8 June 2018.

”We are very happy to integrate ourselves with Image Systems and its subsidiary RemaSawco, a leading company in our industry, with which we share the vision of leading the development of the Digital Sawmill”, says Juho Virta, the majority shareholder and development chief of Limab Oy.

”Our strategic plan for growth includes acquisitions as well as organic growth in the form of new products. The acquisition of Limab serves both of these purposes as we will acquire market shares as well as complement our own product offerings with new products that are a good fit with our ambition to lead the development of the Digital Sawmill of the future, says Johan Friberg, President and Chief Executive Officer of Image Systems.

After the acquisition Limab Oy will change its corporate name to RemaSawco Oy.

Questions will be answered by: Johan Friberg, President, telephone +46-13-200 100, e-mail johan.friberg@imagesystems.se

The information in this press release is such that Image Systems AB is obliged to publish in accordance with EU’s Market Abuse Regulation. The information herein was provided for publication at 8:30 noon (CET), 1 June 2018 by the aforementioned contact person.

Photo: Juho Virta, Sales Director  Limab Oy

progressive kilns

Heinola to supply two HFB Progressive Kilns to IKEA

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IKEA has ordered two large automatic 2-zone progressive kilns type HFB from Heinola Sawmill Machinery Inc. with annual capacity of ca. 55,000 cubic metres when drying 50 mm pine to 9% final moisture content.

The new progressive kilns will be taken into production at Swedish furniture manufacture’s production plant in Stalowa Wola, Poland, in the beginning of year 2019.

Heinola has earlier delivered to furniture manufacture’s sawmill in Wielbark five chamber kilns and three large chamber kilns to Chociwell plant.

Heinola Sawmill Machinery Inc. is the only supplier in Finland concentrating on development of high-quality drying kiln technology.

BSW

BSW announces €40m investment plans

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BSW Timber, the UK’s leading integrated forestry and timber company, has announced its latest investment of €40m in Slovenia, constructing a new sawmill, CHP plant and pellet manufacturing facility which will see the creation of 170 new jobs.

Representatives from BSW, including CEO Tony Hackney, were in Slovenia , Tuesday 22nd May to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for their ambitious development plans, together with their partners Government of The Republic of Slovenia, The Slovenian Forest Agency and other stakeholders to launch the investment.

The investment will see the construction on three sites, including a modern sawmill in Gomilsko with state-of-the-art wood processing technology, the development of pellet production and wood biomass cogeneration at the Šoštanj site, and a final site in Letuš will focus on the production of value added products.

Tony Hackney, Chief Executive at BSW Timber, said: “After seeing the success of our Latvian sawmill we were keen to explore new opportunities within The EU.

“Slovenia has some of the best forests in The EU and a largely undeveloped processing sector. We are delighted to be working alongside the Slovenian government to increase the competitiveness of the country’s timber supply chain, in line with their ‘Wood is Beautiful’ strategy.

“With the developing wood shortages in UK, Slovenia is a very attractive country for us to invest in. The Slovenian Government has agreed a 15-year long term contract for 120,000 cubic metres of roundwood which will be backed up by supply from a very supportive private sector while working with domestic sawmills.”

The location of the new mill was decided following an extensive study completed by BSW and Tilhill Forestry, part of the BSW Group, and the Slovenian Forestry Institute.

Alexander Brownlie, BSW’s Commercial Director and Chairman of BSW SI, continued: “The site in Gomilsko is the ideal location for our new sawmill, providing us with access to high quality raw material, a good history of timber processing as well as the added advantage of the site’s geographical location, very good road links and with the Port of Koper offering excellent export links.”

The new sawmill will have the capacity to process an annual input in excess of 300,000m3 sawlogs, making it the largest mill in Slovenia. Its products will be available for the Slovenian market, however BSW plans to build on its successful Latvian marketing model and predominantly export to international markets, such as UK, Southern Europe, North Africa, North America and Asia. Co-products from the Gomilsko mill will be transferred to Šoštanj where the Company will invest in CHP capacity and pellet manufacturing.

Mr Hackney added: “From our experience, every direct job at BSW goes on to create an additional five across a range of relating industries, such as harvesting and logistics. This would mean that from our 170 new roles, up to 850 additional jobs could be created across Slovenia.

“We are really excited about the new development, and look forward to a successful future, building relationships with suppliers, stockists and the timber professionals in Slovenia over the coming years.”

BSW is set to begin construction in September 2018, with the aim to start production in early 2020.

To find out more about the new sawmill, or for more information on the BSW Group,  or call 0800 587 8887.

Photo: CEO Tony Hackney

Tilhill Forestry

Tilhill Forestry new appointments

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Tilhill Forestry has announced the recent appointments of Neil Bond and Chris Grice.

Neil Bond has been appointed Fibre Supply Operations Manager based at UPM Shotton and Chris Grice has joined the North and Central England Team as a Senior Forest Manager. Both are highly-experienced in their fields and their appointments are a further indication of Tilhill’s ongoing development and strengthening of their capabilities in both regions.

Neil Bond graduated from Plymouth University, formerly Seale Hayne College, with a BSc (Hons) in Agriculture. Following a period working for the MAFF, now Defra, and British Sugar Plc, he transferred into the biomass sector and has since worked with every form of biomass fuel – from straw to chicken litter. In addition, his career has also seen him gain experience with a wide variety of wood products, including, wood chip, wood pellets and recycled wood. In recent years, he has specialised in the development and financing of biomass projects in the UK, Ireland and the US.

Remarking on his appointment, Neil said: “Much of my work has been around engaging with both fuel suppliers and service providers – supplier relationship management. I look forward to bringing this experience to Tilhill Forestry as we strive to create stronger and more profitable bonds with end users.”

Hailing from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, Chris Grice followed military service with a move to Inverness and a place at the Scottish School of Forestry. Before joining his course, he was employed by Forest Enterprise as a pre-course student for two years, experience which he says has been invaluable because it gave him a thorough grounding in all aspects of forestry management and harvesting.

Chris began his professional career-life working as a beat forester in West Argyll with responsibility for forest management, conservation and recreation. As his role developed, he also took the lead in several hydro-electric and renewable energy projects. He then returned to Yorkshire and the North-East of England and took a position as a Woodland Officer.

Commenting on the challenges ahead, Chris said: “I am very much looking forward to the challenges and opportunities that working in the private sector present and to helping landowners maximise the potential of their natural capital assets. This is an exciting time and Tilhill’s experienced forestry team is second to none when it comes to seeing woodland projects through from conception to completion.

Damien Donoher

Tigercat appoints Damien Donoher as Product Support Rep In Pacific Northwest

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Tigercat has announced that Damien Donoher has been appointed to the position of product support representative for the Pacific northwest.

Based in Snohomish, Washington, Donoher is joining Tigercat from the agricultural equipment industry. He holds a degree in agricultural engineering and has previously worked as a product support representative and field service engineer for agricultural equipment manufacturers based in Canada and Europe.

Donoher has strong technical knowledge related to diesel engines, hydraulic and electronic systems for mobile equipment and electronic control systems.

“I am very excited to learn and get started in the forestry equipment industry and to interact with our dealers and customers, especially with such an innovative and progressive engineering driven manufacturer like Tigercat,” “I am very excited to learn and get started in the forestry equipment industry and to interact with our dealers and customers, especially with such an innovative and progressive engineering driven manufacturer like Tigercat,” Damien comments.

With his extensive experience working with dealer networks and equipment manufacturers, he will be primarily involved with product and dealer network support as well as assisting Tigercat engineering with technical issues and product improvement initiatives.

Photo – Damien Donoher, Tigercat product support representative for the Pacific northwest.

 

Go-Live

Coillte completes “Go-Live” Connected Forest Solution

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Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced last month the successful go-live and implementation of the Land Resource Manager (LRM) and Business Resource Manager (BRM) enterprise planning solutions at Coillte, Ireland’s largest commercial forestry company.

Trimble’s LRM solution is an intuitive, interactive and spatially aware enterprise application for managing land and forestry operations. The BRM solution simplifies financial transactions associated with log accounting and procurement. Together, the solutions serve the critical functions of forest resource planning, management and decision support with flexible customer-specific business workflows. LRM and BRM are key components of Trimble’s Connected Forest portfolio, which manage the full raw materials lifecycle.

Coillte began using the solutions to support the growing business needs associated with the delivery of quality wood and the protection of nature in a sustainable way. The solutions allow for the streamlining of business processes, the integration of all land and forestry supply chain data and the creation of efficiencies for the management of its 440,000 hectares.

The multi-phase implementation included activity planning, scheduling and work recording of silviculture, road management, log production, log sales, invoicing, log delivery and woodflow. Simplified work processes and enhanced decision making was augmented by the integration of LRM and BRM with Trimble’s fiber management and logistics solution (WSX) already operating at Coillte.

Trimble’s Connected Forest solutions manage the full raw materials lifecycle of planning, planting, growing, harvesting, transporting and processing. The solutions improve decision making at every step—from forest to mill and from land acquisition to product delivery¬—by combining industry-specialized software and state-of-the-art hardware into solutions for land, forest, fiber and mill management. Trimble offers the most comprehensive supply chain solutions available to the forest industry today.

About Coillte
Coillte is Ireland’s largest commercial forest company operating in forestry, land-based businesses, renewable energy and panel products. The company employs approximately 1,000 people and was established in 1988. Coillte owns over 445,000 hectares of land, about 7 percent of the land cover of Ireland. The company harvests approximately 2.5 million cubic meters of timber annually and is the major supplier of raw material to the Irish wood products industry. To find out more, visit: www.coillte.ie.

About Trimble’s Forestry Division
Trimble’s Forestry Division offers land, forest, fiber and mill management solutions that improve the productivity and operations for some of the world’s most recognized integrated forest product companies, forest land owners, timberland investment, conservation, state and federal departments as well as international food processing companies involved in environmental, social and economic land management. The Connected Forest solutions manage the full raw materials lifecycle of planning, planting, growing, harvesting, transporting and processing. For more information, visit:  www.trimble.com/forestry.

“Coillte is making investments to drive a more agile business process across their functional organization,” said Ken Moen, general manager for Trimble’s Forestry Division. “As a recognized leader for advancement of timber supply chain management, Trimble Forestry is pleased to be working with Coillte to help the company transform to a connected digital supply chain network.”

“Trimble is an industry leader in enterprise forestry software and we are delighted to partner with them in implementing a connected forest platform for Coillte,” said David Feeney, commercial and supply chain director at Coillte. “Forestry planning and management has become much more complex over the last 15 years and we believe that we can maximize value from using Trimble’s forestry solutions to drive our business and provide employees with the tools required to balance the commercial, social and environmental benefits of forestry.”

stump cutter

SC362 Vermeer Stump Cutter | Vermeer Tree Care

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Vermeer has expanded its stump cutter lineup offering increased options for the customer.

The new SC362 stump cutter was developed with rental yards and tree care contractors in mind offering a compact, high horsepower machine for stump removal.

Equipped with a 35-hp (26.1 kW) Vanguard engine, a hydraulic ground drive and a belt driven cutter head, the SC362 provides operators with ample power and maneuverability to take out medium-sized stumps with the productivity and reliability that the field demands.

The Vermeer SC362 is a great addition to any tree care or rental equipment fleet and the right complement to any Vermeer brush chipper or mini skid steer.

https://www.vermeer.com/NA/en/N/video_library/detail/8990

Optisaw

Join Lucidyne at Optisaw West

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OptiSaw is a time-effective and affordable learning and networking opportunity for those driving the future of sawmilling in your operation. The focus is on the future of optimization and automation in our industry, including challenges and opportunities on the cutting edge of this side of the industry.
Lucidyne’s own Patrick Freeman is giving a presentation on Perceptive Sight™.

  • Sheraton Hotel Vancouver Airport –  June 5th, 2018

Listen to Patrick talk about Perceptive Sight™

DuraSense

DuraSense – a wood-based biocomposite replacement for plastic

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The step by step process to create high performance and sustainable bio-based alternatives to plastics has moved forward again thanks to a new product from Stora Enso, a wood-based biocomposite – DuraSense. This innovation, enables the use of renewable fibres, such as wood, to substitute for a large portion of fossil-based plastic. The production of biocomposites began in 2018 at Stora Enso’s Hylte Mill in Sweden, following a EUR 12 million investment announced in 2017. At full production, the mill’s annual production capacity is 15 000 tonnes, which is the largest capacity in Europe dedicated to wood fibre composites.

“Reducing the amount of plastic and replacing it with renewable and traceable materials is a gradual process. With DuraSense, we can offer customers a wood fibre-based alternative which improves sustainability performance and, depending on the product, significantly reduces the carbon footprint – all the way up to 80%,” says Jari Suominen, Head of Wood Products at Stora Enso.

The DuraSense product family is suitable for a wide range of applications from consumer goods to industrial applications. Typical applications include, for example, furniture, pallets, hand tools, automotive parts, beauty and lifestyle products, toys and items, such as kitchen utensils and bottle caps, among other uses.

The DuraSense granules are a combination of natural wood fibres, polymers and additives offering the mouldability of plastic with the sustainability and workability of wood. With DuraSense, it is also possible to combine fibres with recycled or bio-based polymers to further enhance environmental values. For example, DuraSense™ Eco100, which is one of the product grades and based on wood fibres and biopolymers, is a cost-competitive way to fully replace fossil-based plastics.

“Affordable sustainability and the environment are climbing upwards on consumer agendas,” says Patricia Oddshammar, Head of Biocomposites at Stora Enso. “DuraSense can reduce the consumption of plastic materials by up to 60%, ensuring less microplastics end up in the environment. Stora Enso’s biocomposites can be reused as a material up to seven times or recycled along with other plastic materials or, alternatively, used for energy recovery at their end of life.”

Wood Products at Stora Enso.
The DuraSense product family is suitable for a wide range of applications from consumer goods to industrial applications. Typical applications include, for example, furniture, pallets, hand tools, automotive parts, beauty and lifestyle products, toys and items, such as kitchen utensils and bottle caps, among other uses.

The DuraSense granules are a combination of natural wood fibres, polymers and additives offering the mouldability of plastic with the sustainability and workability of wood. With DuraSense, it is also possible to combine fibres with recycled or bio-based polymers to further enhance environmental values. For example, DuraSense™ Eco100, which is one of the product grades and based on wood fibres and biopolymers, is a cost-competitive way to fully replace fossil-based plastics.

“Affordable sustainability and the environment are climbing upwards on consumer agendas,” says Patricia Oddshammar, Head of Biocomposites at Stora Enso ( @StoraEnsoBio  )  “DuraSense can reduce the consumption of plastic materials by up to 60%, ensuring less microplastics end up in the environment. Stora Enso’s biocomposites can be reused as a material up to seven times or recycled along with other plastic materials or, alternatively, used for energy recovery at their end of life.”

In a busy day for the Finnish company, Stora Enso also today launched its Green Bond Framework as part of its Sustainable Finance approach. The ambition is to offer a loan-format to support sustainability-focused fixed income investors and to report the direct environmental impacts of some its investments and business activities. The Group will use this bond format to complement its other funding sources.

Irish

Irish forestry could double in value

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Coillte predicts Irish forestry will double in value to nearly €5bn. But chief executive Fergal Leamy insists State is slow to embrace sector’s potential reports Eoin Burke-Kennedy – Irish Times.

The chief executive of Coillte estimates that output from Irish forestry will double in value to nearly €5 billion over the next 10 years, as the current crop of trees mature and the timber is harvested.

However, Fergal Leamy, who took over at the helm of the State’s forestry company in 2015, said the State is still failing to embrace its forestry potential, with forestation levels and afforestation (planting) rates well below the European average despite the fact that Ireland enjoys faster tree growth than most EU rivals.

Around 11 per cent of the Republic’s land mass is forested compared to a European average of 38 per cent, while around 4,000 hectares a year are being converted to forest, significantly below the Government’s target of 7,000 hectares.

“There’s not an acceptance of forestry in this country. If you look at other countries it is so embraced as a sustainable industry, an industry that adds economic and environmental value,” Mr Leamy said, hinting that other sectoral interests still dominate the Government’s agenda.

“We just don’t get it yet,” he said, noting the planned expansion in agricultural and the likely growth in carbon emissions that implies will need to be offset by a major afforestation programme.

Traditionally Coillte, in contrast to its counterparts aboard, has not undertaken afforestation projects because the economics have not made sense, but Mr Leamy believes this will soon change as Coillte’s financial position improves and the Government considers allowing it access to grants.

He was speaking as the semi-State announced its full-year results for 2017, which showed it had doubled its operating cash from €15 million in 2016 to €30 million in 2017 on foot of record revenues of nearly €300 million.

As a result, it paid the Government a dividend of €8 million, 29 per cent up on the previous year .

Five-year plan
Coillte is in the middle of a major five-year restructuring process aimed reducing its reliance on large-scale land transactions and focusing on its three core business divisions – forestry, wind energy and wood panel manufacturing.

Mr Leamy said €20 million had been shaved off its cost base, principally by reducing head office staff from 100 to 17 and reducing the group’s reliance on outside consultants .

“We really simplified what we were doing. We’re not that complicated a business – we grow trees, we sell logs, we manufacture timber products and we build renewable energy wind farms,” he said.

His plan is to create an annual return on assets for the State of 5 per cent by 2020 – last year it was 3 per cent.

Operating cash from its forestry division increased by 13 per cent to €25.7 million driven by an increase in sawlog sales volumes and improved sawlog prices, Coillte’s figures show.

The company has begun the process of putting up for sale its stake in four wind farms it Co-developed with ESB, USE and Bord Na Móna, while it has identified 25 sites that are suitable for large-scale landforms and will later this year seek a strategic partner to develop the sites, which will have the potential to generate electricity for up to one million homes.

Coillte is expected to generate up to €125 million from the sale of its wind energy four projects, with the cash recycled through the business.

“The business is seeing good momentum in 2018 with a strong performance in the first quarter,” Mr Leamy said.

“This is a crucial year for Coillte as we expect to see a step change in earnings following an intense phase of organisational restructuring and investment,” he said.

 

Photo: Coillte chief executive Fergal Leamy on the State’s view of forestry: “We just don’t get it yet” Photograph: Nick Bradshaw