Resolute Forest Products Inc. appoints Yves Laflamme as Resolute’s new president and CEO, and a member of the Board of Directors, succeeding Richard Garneau.

Mr. Laflamme currently serves as senior vice president, Wood Products, Global Procurement and Information Technology for Resolute. He is a 37-year veteran of the industry, as well as Resolute and its predecessor companies.

Mr. Laflamme began his career in Finance working at Donohue Inc.’s Saint-Félicien integrated pulp mill and wood products operations in 1981, and moved on to serve as controller for the company’s integrated newsprint and wood products facilities in the Abitibi region of Quebec.

Over the past 15 years, he held a series of successive roles as vice president and senior vice president, covering the overall wood products business, including both Operations and Sales, as well as the company’s former Recycling business.

Over the past several years, Mr. Laflamme expanded his scope to also include a wide range of corporate support functions, including IT and Global Procurement, among others. Mr. Laflamme currently serves as chairman of Resolute-LP Engineered Wood joint ventures, a Board member of Toundra Greenhouse, an Executive team member of the Quebec Forest Industry Council, and is a past chairman of the Canadian Wood Council. He is a CPA (CMA), after pursuing his university education in administration and finance.

Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including market pulp, tissue, wood products, newsprint and specialty papers.

Bergs Timber AB in Sweden has signed a letter with Bergs Timber’s principal owner, Icelandic Norvik hf  for the acquisition of a number of companies within Norvik Timber Industries with operations in Latvia, Estonia and the United Kingdom.

“With the planned transaction, our product offering is increased significantly. We will cooprate in different ways in the new planned group to further improve the profitability and the service to the market. At the same time, the business will continue to operate with a strong decentralized responsibility under existing brands,” says Peter Nilsson, CEO of Bergs Timber.

A completed acquisition will increase Bergs Timber’s product processing and is thus intended to limit Bergs Timber’s sensitivity to fluctuations in the economic cycle. At the same time, Bergs Timber assesses that there is potential for synergies within areas such as raw material procurement, distribution and sales.

FPInnovations and Resolute Forest Products announced a significant investment in the implementation of a TMP-Bio pilot project in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The pilot project will focus on developing new ways to efficiently produce and commercialize innovative bio-chemicals derived from wood, contributing to the development of a bio-economy in Northern Ontario, as well as elsewhere in Canada.

The $21 million project is part of an initiative to renew and transform the forest products industry, building on investments made in 2012 by Resolute, the Ontario Centre for Research and Innovation in the Bio-Economy (CRIBE), and Natural Resources Canada. This investment covers cost of capital and R&D and has the support of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), CRIBE, FedNor, the City of Thunder Bay CEDC and Natural Resources Canada.

Resolute is contributing $3.5 million and hosting the pilot project at its Thunder Bay pulp and paper mill. TMP-Bio is a patented technology developed by FPInnovations with financial support from Natural Resources Canada’s Transformative Technologies Program.

This project comes at a very opportune time as market interest for sustainably sourced green bio-chemicals and bio-fuels continues to build. The development and availability in significant quantities of bio-sourced chemicals, such as the cellulosic sugars and high-quality H-lignin produced by the TMP-Bio process, is a key step in growing new market value for the forest products sector by connecting it to the bio-chemical supply chain.

FPInnovations is a not-for-profit world leader that specializes in the creation of scientific solutions in support of the Canadian forest sector’s global competitiveness and responds to the priority needs of its industry members and government partners.

Resolute Forest Products is a global leader in the forest products industry with a diverse range of products, including market pulp, tissue, wood products, newsprint and specialty papers.

More than 220 companies are confirmed exhibitors at Expoforest 2018. The fourth edition of the fair takes place in April, in a 200-hectare eucalyptus forest in the Ribeirão Preto area

The Brazilian forestry market is one of the few segments that do not directly reflect the country’s economic situation. Even with the threat of recession and political scandals abounding, the forestry sector exported over USD 7.7 billion in 2017 alone – and that is only counting pulp, paper and plywood. This figure represents an 11% growth from the previous year.

With excellent soil and climate conditions, Brazil arises as a key player in the global scenario of forestry production. This is largely thanks to two foreign species – pine and eucalyptus – which have adapted extremely well to the country’s conditions. Brazil’s territory covers 8,516,000 km² (or 2.104 billion acres). According to Ibá (the Brazilian Tree Industry), the country’s most representative forestry association, only 7.84 million hectares (19.373 million acres) are occupied by planted forests – a mere 0.92% of the country’s land. Pine and eucalyptus species represent the majority of planted trees – over 90%. Conifers (pine) represent 20% of planted areas, whereas eucalyptus forests account for 71%.

The rapid growth of eucalyptus and pine species in Brazilian lands is the most important factor motivating these planted areas, as well as research and investments in these species. In 2016, Brazil led the global forestry productivity ranking, averaging 35.7 m3/hectare per year for planted eucalyptus forests; and 30.5 m3/hectare per year for planted pine forests, according to the most relevant companies in the sector. On average, the eucalyptus production cycle is 7 years long, and 15 years for pine.

Expoforest
In order to present present this promising market to investors worldwide, as well as showcase what Brazilian silviculture does best and attract new technologies from the world’s most important timber producing countries, the Expoforest – Brazilian Forestry Fair was created. The fourth edition of the world’s largest dynamic forestry fair in 2018 takes place from April 11th to 13th, in Santa Rita do Passa Quatro, a town within the greater Ribeirão Preto area in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The event will be held in 200-hectare cloned eucalyptus forest belonging to International Paper.

Taking place every four years, Expoforest is a key part of the global calendar for the most important forestry events in the world. “We believe Expoforest 2018 will once again prove to be a great opportunity to gather the world’s entire timber production chain and demonstrate once and for all the sheer strengths of the forestry sector in Brazil and in the world,” says Jorge R. Malinovski, president director of Malinovski, the company behind Expoforest.

At the moment, still a few months away from the event itself, 226 companies are already confirmed exhibitors for the fair, and they are getting ready to present their new product launches, technologies and trends covering the entire timber production cycle. According to Malinovski, over 30,000 visitors – from Brazil and other countries with long-standing tradition in forestry – are expected during the three days of the event.

Expoforest is a part of Forestry Demo Fairs (FDF), a specialized board responsible for ensuring quality and safety in the world’s largest dynamic forestry fair. In this group, Expoforest stands alongside Asturforesta (Spain), EKO-LAS (Poland), Elmia Wood (Sweden), Euroforest (France), FinnMETKO (Finland) and KWF-Tagung (Germany).

It’s already possible to ensure your spot at Expoforest by registering early on the official event website: www.expoforest.com.br

The event:
Expoforest is a dynamic forestry fair. In its last edition, held in 2014, over 208 exhibitors were present, showcasing new machinery, equipment and technology employed in timber production from planted forests. In total, 25,107 specialized visitors from Brazil and 27 other countries were present at the fair, resulting in USD 48 million in successful business transactions. Expoforest is organized by Malinovski.

Service:
Expoforest 2018
Date: April 11th – 13th, 2018
Location: Santa Rita do Passa Quatro – Greater Ribeirão Preto area (São Paulo state)
Brazil Phone number: +55 (41) 3049-7888 / +55 (41) 9 9924-3993
E-mail: expoforest@malinovski.com.br
http://www.expoforest.com.br

On January 26, 2018, Komatsu Ltd. (President & CEO: Tetsuji Ohashi) signed an agreement to acquire from Prenbec Equipment Inc. (CEO: Charles MacLennan), a company based in Quebec, Canada, the Quadco and Southstar forestry attachment operations, excluding the forestry equipment businesses of Tanguay and Forespro delimbers.

The acquisition will be made through a wholly owned subsidiary of Komatsu in the United States and is expected to close in February 2018, subject to completion of the closing conditions.

By adding the Quadco felling heads and Southstar large harvester heads to the existing lines of Log Max and Komatsu small and medium-sized harvester heads, Komatsu will become an industry leader in forestry attachments.

This will allow Komatsu to offer its customers a full range of forestry attachments. Quadco and Southstar will continue to operate as independent companies within the Komatsu group following the completion of the acquisition and will maintain their existing sales networks.

In order to offer improved value to customers, a forestry attachment division within Komatsu Forest AB will be formed, which will manage the Quadco, Southstar, and Log Max brands.

Komatsu anticipates that this acquisition will have no material impact on its consolidated business results and performance for the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2018.

1.　Background and Objective of the Acquisition

In April 2016, Komatsu launched a three-year mid-range management plan (2016-2018) under the slogan “Together We Innovate GEMBA Worldwide –Growth Toward Our 100th Anniversary (2021) and Beyond”. In line with this plan, Komatsu decided to make this acquisition and expand its forestry attachment business.

Forestry attachments are classified into two categories: the Cut to Length (CTL) method, which involves the use of a harvester and forwarder and is popular in Europe, and the Full Tree Length (FTL) logging method, which involves the use of a felling head attached to a base-machine and a skidder, which is popular in North America.

The global market for forestry machines, including forestry attachments, is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. It is anticipated that there will be particular growth in the North American market, where FTL is the dominant method.

2.　Method of the Acquisition

Komatsu will acquire the forestry attachment operations of the Quadco and Southstar brands through a wholly owned subsidiary.

The Ardcastle floating pier project is part of a strategy for sustainable transport planning initiated by Scotland’s £1bn timber industry sector. It will allow c£10m worth of timber reserves to be unlocked in West Argyll. The new pier has been commissioned by JST Floating Piers Ltd and is open to all users that want to transport timber from the region. An arched back linkspan connects the floating barge to the shore and the large barge accommodates JST’s new 40 tonne Liebherr LH 40 C material handler. On the land-based side is a wheeled A 934 C material handler from JST’s fleet. Building of the new pier underpins a long-term contract between Forest Enterprise Scotland and wood processing company Norbord.

With approximately nine million tonnes of timber harvested every year, Scotland’s timber industry has a significant positive impact on the region’s economy and community. This £1bn sector has recognised the need for sustainable transport planning with the west of Scotland’s proximity to the Irish sea and associated lochs and waterways making a modal shift to sea the obvious choice. The Ardcastle floating pier project is part of this strategy and will enable approximately £10m worth of timber reserves to be unlocked in West Argyll. The new pier will handle an estimated 250,000 tonnes from the local forests over the next 10 years.

Situated on the banks of Loch Fyne, the new pier has been commissioned by one of the UK’s largest cargo handling specialists, JST Services (Scotland) Ltd, through its sub-division JST Floating Piers Ltd. Its piers are uniquely engineered pieces of mobile marine equipment that enable the company to deliver timber between the shore and a depth of water suitable for the mooring and loading of vessels of up to 3000 tonnes in capacity. Where there is a suitably developed infrastructure on the landward side, JST Floating Piers can set up a pier from delivery to working condition in a 12-hour shift.

The floating pier is open to all users transporting timber from the region and has a storage / handling area of up to 8000 tonnes in capacity. The pier will reduce the impact on infrastructure by more than three million lorry miles over the course of harvesting the area. Some development costs were met with grant assistance from the Scottish Strategic Timber Transport Scheme. John Scott of JST Services commented, “I am delighted to be steering this project, which will help improve the flow of timber from the forests of Argyll to processors and help to increase the volume of timber transported in a sustainable manner.”

An arched back linkspan connects the floating barge to the shore and the large barge accommodates the company’s latest purchase: a 40 tonne Liebherr LH 40 C-EW. JST has a long history of purchasing Liebherr machines but, unusually, this new material handler has a crawler undercarriage. JST has opted for a hydraulically-elevating cab mounted with a fixed 1.2 m riser that, with its theoretical eye level view of over 6 m from the ground, is ideal for looking into the hold of the coasters being loaded. Precise attachment control makes positioning logs within the ship hold easier and with a 1.5 m3 HSP timber grab, the Liebherr can empty a full 28 tonne load in under three minutes. JST has specified the curved main boom option at 8.6 m and a 7.5 m flat angled stick, which gives a maximum reach of over 15 m, and a choice of position for the lift cylinders enables a deeper reach into cargo holds.

The land-based side of the operation is catered for by another Liebherr material handler from the JST fleet: a wheeled A 934 C. With a similar specification to the LH 40 C-EW, it unloads incoming vehicles and loads the two 8 x 4 rigid Volvo trucks used to carry timber from the stock yard to the floating dock. ‘Neil Stoddart, General Manager of JST Services (Scotland) Ltd, commented, “Once again, our close working relationship with Liebherr has resulted in a solution that increases productivity and reliability for both JST and our customers.”

The building of the new pier will underpin a long-term contract between Forest Enterprise Scotland and wood processing company Norbord. Kevin Thomas, UK Wood Supply Manager at Norbord, said, “We are delighted to be able to offer our support for this project. The opening of this pier is aligned with our investment plans at Inverness and the subsequent increase in raw material demand that follows. Norbord is committed to modal shift on both raw material and finished product wherever practicable and the opening of this facility allows us to do this on volumes purchased from Argyll.”

Ponsse celebrates two important milestones today. The biggest extension project in the company’s history has reached the topping-out phase, and the factory has produced the 13,000th forest machine made in the Vieremä facility in Finland.

PONSSE machine number 13,000, a PONSSE Ergo 8w, was delivered to the company’s German customer FoWi GmbH & Co. This also marks the beginning of Ponsse’s and German distributor Wahlers Forsttechnik GmbH’s jubilee year: 25 years have passed since Ponsse and Wahlers signed their contract on distribution and service collaboration in the German-speaking regions of Europe.

The seeds of this collaboration were sown already in the early 1970s when Einari Vidgrén, Ponsse’s founder, was logging on a storm devastation sites in Germany.

Quality and flexibility through investments
The current production facility investment is the biggest in Ponsse’s history: the factory will expand from the current 2.7 hectares to 4 hectares. Most importantly, the investment contributes to ongoing improvement and development of quality, flexibility, safety and productivity of Ponsse’s operations.

The extension of production facilities enables the company to respond to changing market situations with more flexibility, and to tailor machines to customer requirements more efficiently in a serial-production environment. The new facilities in Vieremä will be completed by the end of the year, and will be the most advanced forest machine production facility in the world.

– Our strong focus on the development of cut-to-length forest machines requires constant development of our production operations. That is the only way we can fulfil the needs of our customers and stay at the forefront of technology in the demanding forest machine market. A safe, modern factory is also an important investment in our employees’, says Ponsse’s President and CEO Juho Nummela.

The Ponsse factory in Vieremä currently employs 570 employees, 390 of whom work in production tasks. All PONSSE forest machines are made in Vieremä, Finland.

New factory in operation by end of year
New assembly lines and storage facilities housed in the new extension will be phased in gradually during 2018. Relocation to new facilities starts in March with warehouse operations. New smart warehouse technologies make production warehouse logistics more efficient and increase the degree of automation considerably. Warehouse automation covers 15,500 storage slots for small items and components and 3,900 pallet positions.

After the warehouse relocation, a new harvester head assembly line will move to the new facilities. A new assembly line for base machines will be in operation by the end of the summer, and by end of 2018 cabin and crane assembly lines will also be renewed. The amount of production-time testing used to support quality control will increase in all production lines.

High-quality work from local experts
Starting with earthworks, most of the factory extension has been built by local companies. The massive project was split into several smaller parts to enable local companies to offer their services. The main contractor, construction company U. Lipsanen, delivered the factory extension project that was started one year ago to Ponsse today.

FURTHER INFORMATION
Juho Nummela, President & CEO, Ponsse Plc, +358 400 495 690
Tommi Väänänen, Director, supply chain, Ponsse Plc, +358 400 373 178

Komatsu Forest joins forces with Komatsu construction machinery distributor, McHale Plant Sales Ltd, to provide and further improve forest machine sales and after-sales support to the Irish market.

Since November 1st, McHale Plant Sales Ltd. is the official distributor of Komatsu Forest machine sales, parts and after-sales support in Ireland. McHale Plant Sales specialises in the supply, hire and servicing of machinery and became a Komatsu franchise for Ireland in 1994. The company has a good reputation and their focus is to provide all their customers with the best products and support.

“Ireland is an important market for Komatsu Forest and by cooperating with McHale Plant Sales Ltd to provide and further improve sales, parts and after-sales support for our customers, we will further strengthen our presence on this market,” says Mitsuru Ueno, CEO and President of Komatsu Forest AB.

Komatsu Forest customers will experience many benefits with the new organization. The after-sales support services will be improved since McHale Plant Sales maintains two full-service units with both workshop and technical support centre. One in Birdhill and the other in Rathcoole. Birdhill will be the centre for all forest related machinery and will also display used forest machines.

McHale Plant Sales has a service team to support customers, consisting of in-house technicians and parts personnel as well as 15 mobile technical support specialists, located throughout the country for best proximity to customers. This team will now be reinforced with current Komatsu Forest staff, which ensures that well-established relationships will continue at the same time as new ones can be built.

As of January 11th 2018 John Deere now offers Intelligent Boom Control (IBC) on its 1270G Harvester in North America. A first in the harvester category, IBC provides operators with increased accuracy and productivity — bringing harvester capabilities to a whole new level.

“We are very excited to introduce Intelligent Boom Control to the North American harvester category,” said Sakari Suuriniemi, product marketing manager for John Deere. “The 1270G Harvester is known for its versatility in a variety of logging applications. With the addition of IBC, the operator will have more precise control of the boom tip, and reducing the learning curve for new operators.”

IBC is available exclusively for the CH7 boom with 10 meter (32.8 feet) and 11.7 meter (38.4 feet) reaches on the 1270G models. With IBC, the operator controls only the harvester head while the system takes care of the boom’s movement. Designed specifically to suit the harvester work cycle, the boom’s movement and operation automatically adjust as the boom is taken to a tree and when the tree is in the grapple. IBC enables precise working and the selection of the correct working methods.

“Customers who have tested the machine noted that IBC makes work easier and reduces fatigue during long days. When we developed IBC, our focus was on improving ergonomics and reducing boom fatigue, ultimately boosting operator productivity and machine durability,” said Suuriniemi.

The 1270G Harvester still retains the features from the original launch, including excellent fuel economy in both the six- and eight-wheel models. The six-wheel model boasts a 200 kW (268 HP) Final Tier 4 engine, and an increased in torque compared to previous models. The eight-wheel 1270G Harvesters are designed for steep slopes and soft terrain. Known for superior traction and stability, operators can now utilize the intuitive IBC in application to further control movements in this difficult terrain, which will also reduce the learning curve for new operators.

The cabin of the G-series machine is designed to maximize operator comfort. The cabin adjusts automatically to boom movements while the automatic leveling functions absorb terrain changes.

To learn more about IBC and the 1270G John Deere Harvester, visit www.JohnDeere.com or contact your local John Deere dealer.

Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) is a world leader in providing advanced products and services and is committed to the success of customers whose work is linked to the land – those who cultivate, harvest, transform, enrich and build upon the land to meet the world’s dramatically increasing need for food, fuel, shelter and infrastructure. Since 1837, John Deere has delivered innovative products of superior quality built on a tradition of integrity. For more information, visit John Deere at its worldwide website at www.JohnDeere.com.

Worldwide Construction & Forestry Division Mailing: 
P.O. Box 8806 Moline, IL 61266-8806
For Media Inquiries, Contact:
Amy Jones
imre
Phone: 410-821-8220
E-mail: amyj@imre.com

Roseburg Resources Co. has completed the previously announced sale of its California timberlands to Shasta Cascade Timberlands, a new company formed by New Forests. The transaction includes approximately 170,000 acres of investment-grade timberland in northern California, largely in Siskiyou and Shasta counties.

“Shasta Cascade Timberlands is acquiring a very well-managed, high-quality tree farm, and will benefit from the services of a team of highly skilled professional employees,” said Scott Folk, Roseburg’s Senior Vice President of Resources.

Roseburg Forest Products will continue to own and operate its veneer facility located in Weed, California.

Roseburg Forest Products is a wood products company headquartered in Springfield, Oregon, USA.