Hekotek AS has signed a supply contract for the delivery of a new log sorting line to Versowood OY in Finland.

Versowood is one of the largest private sawmills in Finland, which acquired 2022 for its existing production units. in August, in addition, the Kissakoski sawmill, where the aforementioned line will also be delivered and installed.

The new sorting line, equipped with a turret turner, has 32 sorting pockets and the annual production volume is planned to be approximately 200,000 m³ saw logs per year. In addition to the log sorting function, where the logs are sorted into sorting pockets according to the given parameters, the receiving measurement of the logs is also performed on the sorting line – using an X-ray and 3D meter, and the obtained measurement results are the basis for invoicing with the log suppliers.

Delivery and installation of Hekotek is planned to start in summer 2023.  As usual, Hekotek is responsible for the production of the equipment as well as the full installation and start-up.

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Tigercat Industries will be showing off the 920 dozer at CONEXPO 2023. The 920 is branded under the new TCi badge. The TCi brand differentiates Tigercat’s core forestry machines from the on and off-road products developed for the construction, utility and industrial sectors. All products falling under the TCi brand are, and will continue to be designed, manufactured, and supported by Tigercat Industries.

The TCi 920 is powered by the Tigercat FPT N45 Tier 4f engine rated at 101 kw (135 hp). It is equipped with a 190 mm (7.5 in) pitch heavy duty undercarriage, and a responsive and efficient closed loop track drive system. As the 920 was initially designed as a forestry dozer, it is built stronger and more robust than an ordinary construction dozer. With impact-resistant belly pans, and durable structural components throughout, it can operate in tougher conditions such as land clearing applications.

The carefully designed cab offers the operator clear sightlines augmented by the sloped front hood and rear-mounted exhaust. The cab is quiet and comfortable with a heated and cooled air ride seat, ergonomic armrest mounted joysticks, and a large touchscreen machine control system interface.

About Tigercat Industries

Tigercat is a privately owned, vertically integrated Canadian company with deep expertise in engineering, fabrication, manufacturing, and the support of machinery suited to severe duty applications. The company’s the three main products streams are forestry, industrial equipment and material processing machinery.

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Lumin, Uruguay has decided to invest in the new Raute Green Veneer Composing Line R7. The line will be installed as an in-line solution into a non-Raute brand peeling line and will be used to combine green veneer sheets to handle full sheets instead of randoms.

With the green veneer composing line, LUMIN is expecting to maximize the utilization of raw material, improve overall recovery, save manpower, and increase drying process efficiency.

“In this new project, Raute and LUMIN did together a raw material test at the mill before ordering the equipment. This was an excellent opportunity to know better the behavior of the local raw material at the composer and also at the drying process”, says Ricardo Inciarte, COO of LUMIN.

This will be the first new generation Green Veneer Composing Line R7 to be delivered in Latin America. The line will be delivered by the end of 2023

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HASSLACHER Group has acquired a 40% stake in Egoin Wood Group. This domestically and internationally active company, with production facilities in Ea (Biscay) and Legutio (Araba), has more than 30 years of experience in the development of constructional timber solutions and currently employs around 160 people.

“The HASSLACHER Group’s 40 percent holding represents an important strategic step for the Egoin Wood Group to strengthen its position in the field of industrial timber construction and timber engineering in Spain and the international markets,” says Unai Agirre, CEO of Egoin Wood Group. “This partnership is an ideal synergy and enables the exchange of know-how and optimization ranging from forest management through the production of high-quality system solutions for modern timber construction to renewable energy solutions such as biomass and photovoltaic systems.”

Specialists in engineered timber

“The 40 percent stake in the Egoin Wood Group is an ideal opportunity to drive further the expansion of the HASSLACHER Group and strengthens our position in Southwest Europe,” says Christoph Kulterer, CEO and owner of the HASSLACHER Group. “In addition, from the family origin and the culture and values by which we live, we also share the strategic vision in terms of development, circular economy, and decarbonization as well as sustainable forest management and thus the preservation of forests.”

About Egoin Wood Group

Based in Spain, Egoin Wood Group is an international timber industry company with sites in Ea (Biscay) and Legutio (Araba) and has an experienced team of over 30 engineers who work with leading architects, developers and contractors in the design of timber construction solutions. Egoin Wood Group currently employs around 160 people in total and, once the new cross laminated timber plant in Legutio is up and running, the Basque timber industry company will employ over 200 people. Egoin Wood Group currently has a total production capacity of 22,000 m³ engineered timber products (14,000 m³ cross laminated timber, 8,000 m³ glulam), which is expected to double to up to 52,000 m³ when the third cross laminated timber plant in Legutio comes on stream in mid-2023.

Photo:

Unai Aguirre (CEO Egoin Wood Group) and Franz Meließnig (CFO HASSLACHER Group) celebrating HASSLACHER Group’s 40 percent stake in Egoin Wood Group. © HASSLACHER Group

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Ten tree nurseries across the state are receiving over $4.4 million this year to help them increase their ability to produce badly needed seedlings. The seedlings are needed to help reforest millions of acres deforested in recent years by wildfire, disease and pests.

The money was given to ODF after passage by the Oregon Legislature in 2021 of House Bill 5006. The bill was a response to the devastating 2020 wildfires which burned a million acres of forest. In the wake of those fires, there were many barriers to reforesting, including shortages of money, labour, and for some smaller landowners appropriate tree seedlings.

ODF Small Forestland Owner Assistance Unit Manager Nate Agalzoff said, “These grants are helping nurseries make strategic investments to increase their ability to grow more seedlings, which will enable them to better support reforestation needs in the future.”

Nurseries are using the funds to invest in everything from adding irrigation to building new greenhouses and seedbed space as well as storage facilities for storing seedling trees. Funds can also go toward:

• equipment
• the cost of collecting or purchasing tree seeds,
• buying land on which to expand nursery facilities.

“These grants are increasing overall capacity across the state for whenever seedling demand rises,” said ODF Reforestation Program Project Coordinator Astrea Strawn. “In the case of nurseries in Union and Hood River counties, the grants also ensure there will be capacity to provide geographically appropriate seedlings for those areas.”

Strawn said funds must be spent before the end of this summer.

“This makes us optimistic that landowners, especially smaller ones, will have better access to seedlings. When they do, they can promptly reforest after future tree losses to keep Oregon’s working forests working for Oregonians,” she said.

“The funding will allow Lava Nursery, Inc. to increase seedling production for the small woodland owners, helping them to meet their reforestation needs after forest fires and/or harvest operations,” said Lava’s Assistant Nursery Manager Jeff Snyder. “These funds will also allow for additional freezer storage capability for long-term storage of seedlings to ensure the best quality seedlings are available at the time of planting.”

To qualify for a grant, a nursery had to have experience growing high-quality commercial conifer trees for reforestation in Oregon, including Douglas-fir, grand fir, noble fir, western redcedar, ponderosa pine and others.

“The awards were targeted to nurseries which showed interest in helping with future reforestation needs, whether from wildfires or climate change losses,” said Strawn.

Nurseries which received funds include:

• Brooks Tree Farm – Salem in Marion County $540,000
• Drakes Crossing Nursery – Silverton in Marion County $540,000
• PRT Growing Services – Cottage Grove and Hubbard $540,000
• Trillium Gardens – Eugene in Lane County $531,000
• Weyerhaeuser – Aurora and Turner in the Willamette Valley $500,000
• Champoeg Nursery – Aurora in Marion County $458,000
• Lava Nursery, Inc. – Parkdale in Hood County $458,000
• Scholls Valley Native Nursery – Forest Grove in Washington County $367,000
• The Plantworks, LLC – Cove in Union County $276,000
• Kintigh Nursery – Springfield in Lane County $238,000

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BID Group has announced it will be expanding its digital offering with its new AI-Powered Smart Vision. Ideally positioned to lead the digital transformation, BID is bringing sawmills to higher productivity levels. BID Group provides industry-leading solutions for its highly valued customers by delivering a complete range of smart equipment, turnkey installations, digital technologies, and aftermarket services.

The system can be deployed at all stages of the process and uses Artificial Intelligence to analyze images from the cameras that constantly watch production and identify objects of interest, leading to an increase in productivity.

BID’s Smart Vision will better serve its customers by providing the following benefits and technologies to sawmill and planer mill operations:

• Identification of production anomalies that normally require mechanical and/or human intervention
• Reduction of major production stoppages and equipment breakdowns
• Alerts when a problem occurs so that action can be taken automatically or manually

• Continuous management and monitoring of one or more stages of the wood transformation process
• Ongoing measurement of quality control and optimization of equipment maintenance

“We are proud of our team and the hard work that was put into our new Smart Vision, a technology that will allow our customers to easily optimize their production flow and get the most out of their mill. Artificial Intelligence is changing the face of our industry and BID is leading the revolution by relentlessly pushing the limits” said Simon Potvin, President of Wood Processing.

BID’s Smart Vision is only the beginning, a series of applications is to be developed, in addition to the ones just launched.

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Alaska Airlines eliminates inflight plastic cups: West Coast-based airline becomes first U.S. carrier to replace plastic with planet-friendly alternative

Alaska Airlines 

Alaska Airlines have announced the completion of their transition to paper cups for inflight beverages, a move which eliminates more than 55 million plastic cups annually and replaces them with a more planet-friendly alternative. The change to paper cups makes Alaska Airlines the first U.S. airline to eliminate plastic cups. Combined with their Boxed Water™ partnership, these changes eliminate 2.2 million pounds of plastic waste from landfills every year, the equivalent weight of 24 Boeing 737s.

Paper cups on board Alaska Airlines flights

“Doing the right thing is one of our core values and nothing is more right and urgent than protecting the beautiful places that we connect our guests to through flight,” said Todd Traynor-Corey, managing director of guest products for Alaska Airlines. “This is another important step in our journey to eliminate single-use plastics and an important step for the industry to see how product innovations can chart a course to a greener future.”

All inflight beverages on Alaska flights are now served in Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper cups or reusable glassware for most First Class services. They began the process of eliminating their  five largest sources of plastic waste in 2018 by removing plastic straws and stir sticks from inflight service – a first for any airline at the time.

In 2021, Alaska continued their  progress by eliminating inflight plastic water bottle waste by replacing them with Boxed Water™, another first for airlines. Boxed Water™ cartons are made from renewable FSC certified paper, 92% of which is plant-based, saving an estimated 1.8 million pounds of single-use plastics on their flights annually.

“Eliminating plastics is a team effort,” said Traynor-Corey. “It requires broad collaboration with our supply chain partners and inflight team to make new products and practices that move us toward a future with less plastic. That progress only happens with a deeply shared commitment to care for our environment.”

Single-use plastics increase the use of fossil fuels, generate millions of tons of waste to landfills, and pollute waterways and natural spaces. According to the most recent EPA study, an estimated 300 million tons of plastics are produced each year worldwide with the vast majority going unrecycled, either to accumulate in landfills or the environment. While Alaska takes steps to eliminate plastics, they also encourage their guests to join them in reducing waste by bringing their own water bottles to #FillBeforeYouFly.

As part of their broader sustainability efforts, Alaska continues to pursue product innovations and supply chain advancements to achieve their 2025 goal of replacing the top five waste-producing items from onboard service and continuing to recycle. In 2021, Alaska established climate goals for its impacts in carbon, waste and water while defining a five-part pathway to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040 to keep the places we live and fly beautiful and viable for generations to come.

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