Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) (NYSE: LPX) today announced it has entered into an arrangement agreement to acquire Watkins, Minn.-based International Barrier Technology Inc. (Barrier) for $22 million.  The agreement is for 100 percent of the shares of Barrier, a British Columbia company publicly traded on the TSX Venture Exchange, making Barrier a wholly owned subsidiary of LP.

The transaction is subject to the approval of the Barrier shareholders and satisfaction of customary conditions, including court approval.

“We are confident that this acquisition will help accelerate our growth into new markets,” LP CEO Brad Southern said.

Barrier manufactures the fire retardant coating used in LP® FlameBlock® fire rated products. Southern said the trend for more fire resistance in residential and commercial buildings continues to escalate, driven by changing building codes and their enforcement.

“Over the last seven years we have validated the market acceptance of the FlameBlock brand and demonstrated strong sales growth,” Southern noted. “Flame retardant products are a key development target of our Growth and Innovation plans.”

Barrier CEO Mike Huddy said the success of the FlameBlock brand and LP’s commitment to flame retardant products is one of the reasons why he believes Barrier is a good fit for LP. “We believe our fire resistant technology is in great hands with an innovative company like LP,” he said.
LP will continue to honor Barrier’s existing contracts and service its customers’ needs. Barrier will operate as part of LP’s OSB business. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of this year.

About LP
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation is a leading manufacturer of quality engineered wood building materials including OSB, structural framing products, and exterior siding for use in residential, industrial and light commercial construction. From manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, Chile and Brazil, LP products are sold to builders and homeowners through building materials distributors and dealers and retail home centers. Founded in 1973, LP is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee and traded on the New York Stock Exchange under LPX. For more information, visit www.lpcorp.com.

Contacts
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Media Relations
Mark Morrison, 615-986-5886

The US pellet plants have produced a total of 1,727 million tonnes of pellets during the first quarter of 2017, 5.4% more than in the same period last year.

According to figures of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) at the U.S. Department of Energy, production of pellets for the heating market and of industrial pellets developed along contradictory lines. Whereas production of industrial pellets increased by 11.5% to 1,364 million tonnes in the first three months, production of high quality pellets for the heating market decreased by 12.6% to 362,590 tonnes.

There is a contradictory development also in terms of regional distribution of production of pellets for the heating market. In the east region, the pellet production declined by 36% as compared to the Q1/2017, reaching 157,618 tonnes, while in the west, the production increased by 20%, to 107,186 tonnes.

In the south region, where there is exclusivity for industrial pellets production, the figures of the wood pellets production increased by 24%, to 97,782 tonnes.

As EIA also reported, there are also more considerable changes concerning the mix of raw materials used for the first quarter, as compared to the Q1/2017.

Accordingly, producers increased use of roundwood by 29.4% to 599.300 tonnes, whereas in contrast the use of sawmilling residue ranges from the sawmill industry decreased by 21.0% to 489,400 tonnes.

Hiab, part of Cargotec, has appointed Hans Ekman as Vice President, Forestry & Recycling Cranes as of 14 August 2017. He will report to Joakim Andersson, head of Hiab’s Cranes Business Line, and be part of the Cranes Leadership Team. Hans is located in Raisio, Finland.

“Hans has worked for Hiab’s Demountables Business Line since 2001 in several roles, most recently as Director for Sales & Product Business Management in Demountables. Hans has gained excellent and versatile business and industry knowledge and has great leadership skills. I am very delighted to have Hans join the Cranes team to ensure that under his leadership we continue on the successful path with strong focus on growing Hiab’s forestry and recycling business,” says Joakim Andersson.

“Over the last years, Hiab has regained a strong position in the forestry cranes segment with its renowned LOGLIFT and JONSERED brands. This opens up new business opportunities within and beyond forestry, and has positioned Hiab again as a pioneer with the ground-breaking HiVisionTM control system. As an independent business unit, the Forestry & Recycling Business Line will continue to aim for further growth in these important business segments for Hiab,” says Hans Ekman.

Hans Ekman succeeds in this position Jon Lopez, who decided to continue his career outside of Hiab.

Further information:
Joakim Andersson
Senior Vice President
Cranes
Hiab
joakim.andersson@hiab.com

Nikolaus Scheurer
Vice President
Marketing & Communications
Hiab
nikolaus.scheurer@hiab.com
tel. +46 706 005 237

Hiab is the world’s leading provider of on-road load handling equipment, intelligent services and digitally connected solutions. As the industry pioneer, Hiab’s more than 3,000 employees worldwide focus on our commitment to increase efficiency in our customers’ businesses and to shape the future of intelligent load handling.

Hiab’s offering encompasses class-leading load handling equipment, including HIAB loader cranes, LOGLIFT and JONSERED forestry and recycling cranes, MOFFETT truck mounted forklifts, MULTILIFT demountables, and tail lifts under ZEPRO, DEL, and WALTCO brands. Hiab’s ProCareTM service, award-winning HiVisionTM crane control system, and HiConnectTM platform demonstrate our constant drive to provide intelligent services and connected solutions that add value to our customers. www.hiab.com

Hiab is part of Cargotec Corporation. Cargotec’s (Nasdaq Helsinki: CGCBV) sales in 2016 totalled approximately EUR 3.5 billion, and it employs over 11,000 people. www.cargotec.com

Motion Industries, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company, announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Numatic Engineering. Execution of the transaction will occur on August 1, 2017.

Founded in 1955, Numatic Engineering has over sixty years of experience selling and supporting automation components. Their vast product offering ranges from pneumatic automation to electrical motion controls, PLCs, VFDs, machine vision, sensors and industrial communication.

For more than a decade, Numatic Engineering has been selling multiple lines of robotics, including end-of-arm tooling. Numatic Engineering is one of the leading companies in California selling and implementing revolutionary “collaborative robot technology.

” Their sales and application support teams have the in-depth knowledge to help engineers, from both OEMs and end users, apply the right products to solve customers’ challenges. Their value-added solutions team, with UL508 listing, provides Numatic Engineering the ability to assemble the products they sell into engineered solutions to meet specific customer needs.

Numatic Engineering’s reputation is built on superior product knowledge and representing world-class suppliers. Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Numatic Engineering has a proven and powerful reputation in the California and Nevada markets. The company’s success is a testament to their quality people and outstanding culture.

Steve Leach, Numatic Engineering’s President, commented about the acquisition, “After meeting with several potential buyers, we found a cultural fit with Motion Industries and are very pleased to become part of their team. Becoming part of Motion assures that our employees will be well-cared for in the future and that we will have the ability to continue to service our customers and represent our supplier partners in the way which they are accustomed. At the same time, we’ll now have access to even greater capabilities and resources, enabling us to accelerate the growth of our already successful business.”

Tim Breen, President and CEO of Motion Industries, said, “We are very pleased with the addition of this well-established company. The acquisition of Numatic Engineering continues to build upon and complement our growth strategy in the area of industrial plant floor automation.

Numatic Engineering will be operated as part of Motion’s Automation Solutions group, which includes Braas Company, acquired in October 2016. We are happy to welcome all Numatic Engineering employees to the Motion family, and we look forward to the contributions they will make to our Company in upcoming years.”

With annual sales of $4.6 billion, Motion Industries is a leading industrial parts distributor of bearings, mechanical power transmission, electrical and industrial automation, hydraulic and industrial hose, hydraulic and pneumatic components, industrial products, safety products, and material handling. Motion Industries has over 530 locations, including 13 distribution centers throughout North America and serves more than 300,000 customers from the food and beverage, pulp and paper, iron and steel, chemical, mining and aggregate, petrochemical, automotive, wood and lumber, and pharmaceutical industries.

Motion Industries is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC). Visit website at www.MotionIndustries.com. Contact toll-free at (800) 526-9328.

Pictured: Tim Breen, President and CEO of Motion Industries,

Forestry investment manager Global Forest Partners has hired investment bank UBS to sell its pine plantation business in New Zealand.

It’s understood Global Forest Partners has asked UBS to commence a sale process for Nelson Forests Ltd, which owns more than 60,000 hectares of pine plantations in New Zealand’s Nelson and Marlborough regions.

The business also includes the Kaituna Sawmill.

UBS is expected to pitch the forestry assets to potential buyers in coming months. The owners announced they were considering selling the business last month.

Global Forestry Partners and its predecessors have owned the Nelson estate assets for the past 25 years. Nelson Management Ltd, which runs the forestry business, is owned by Nelson Forests Ltd.

Global Forest Partners is one of the world’s oldest and largest forestry investment advisers and manages about $US3.1 billion in forestry assets in eleven closed-end funds. It was founded in 1982 and spent almost a decade as part of UBS. The fund manager has been employee- owned since 2003.

Global Forest Partners’ investments include assets in Australia, New Zealand and South America.

Source: Financial Review

Increasing lumber exports leads to new technology investment – Signs are good right now for the country’s wood processing industry. Shipments from New Zealand into the US market have in fact gone up 37% over just the past four years and during the first five months of 2017.

The US has now overtaken Australia as the number one export destination for pine lumber produced in New Zealand. In terms of value, New Zealand is now the second largest overseas lumber supplier into the US, behind Chile, but still ahead of lumber exporters from Europe.

Even better is news that US market growth is expected to continue. International WOOD MARKETS Group reports that rising consumer confidence; high builder optimism; historically low interest rates and tight inventory levels of both new and existing housing in the US are all strong indicators supporting new housing starts. After a long period of under-building and price recovery, US housing starts are forecasted to grow by seven per cent per year in 2017 and 2018.

The impact of duties on Canadian lumber exports into the US could also be a game-changer for lumber exporters to the US. Any increased duties will see Canadian exports to the US drop by 10 to 15 per cent. With growing demand there and reduced lumber supplies from Canada, US buyers are expected to look for lumber from the Southern Hemisphere and Europe.

For New Zealand sawmills to meet rising log costs, remain internationally competitive and increase exports to the US, many are now investing in new sawmilling technology.

The world’s most advanced sawmill and the first “super-mill” in the Southern Hemisphere, Red Stag Timber in Rotorua was officially opened recently. Having invested over NZ$100 million, general manager Tim Rigter says it has the capacity to now process over one million tonnes of logs per year. In Otago, Japanese-owned Pan Pac Forest Products completed a NZ$24 million redevelopment of it’s Milburn sawmill. Other mills are increasing their production, investing in automation and looking at new equipment.

To assist local mills evaluate the very latest in sawmilling technologies, specialist tech event organisers, the Forest Industry Engineering Association (FIEA) is running WoodTECH 2017. It’s a two-yearly programme of tailored presentations from global technology leaders, trade exhibitions and practical workshops which runs in Rotorua on 26-27 September.

“It’s a who’s who of international saws and sawmilling technology who will be travelling into Australasia” says Brent Apthorp, FIEA director. “We already have over 20 of North America’s leading technology providers, a significant number of European sawmilling equipment suppliers together with local innovators involved in the WoodTECH 2017 series”.

“What makes 2017 special is the series of workshops that this time have been set up for local sawmills” says Mr. Apthorp. “For the first time, a series of practical troubleshooting workshops have been designed for a much wider cross section of sawmill production and operational staff. They’ll be providing an insight into how local sawmills can extract the very best performance out of their saws and sawing operations”.

In addition to showcasing new sawmilling technologies at WoodTECH 2017, another one-day conference is being run the day after WoodTECH 2017 on 28 September titled, “Changing Perceptions of Engineered Timber in Construction”. “The week of planned activities will be providing a unique showcase of new production and construction technologies for wood producers, wood suppliers and wood users throughout the country.

Information links: WoodTECH 2017 Conference & Exhibitions – Wood Scanning, Sawing, Optimisation, 26-27 September, Rotorua, www.woodtech.events

Changing Perceptions Conference – Advantages of Timber in Midrise Construction 28 September, Rotorua www.cpetc2017.com

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Thanks to the great team at Champion Freight we’ve got the latest export market activity update for you in a series of really self-explanatory charts. They have some easy-to-read labels on the charts so they are readily identifiable even when printed in black & white, reports Wood Week

http://www.woodweek.com/index.cfm?id=442

For log exports from New Zealand to China the news is outstanding – month on month shipment values are up 20% (June 2017 vs June 2016) and year on year values are up 28% (for year to end of June).

Sawlog prices in Brazil have gone up over the past 12 months after five years in decline and the expectations are that the recent upward trend will continue for the remainder of the year.

Stronger wood product exports from Brazil have resulted in higher demand for logs and increasing sawlog prices during 2016 and early 2017, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. Despite the recent price increases, current prices are below the long-term trend lines in the local currency.

In the 1Q/17, pine sawlog prices in Brazil increased in both US dollars and in the Brazilian Real quarter-over-quarter. Over the last 12 months, sawlog prices have gone up by 26%, according to the Wood Resource Quarterly. Most of the rise in prices has been the result of a stronger Real, but there have also been smaller upward price adjustments in the local currency because of higher labor and energy costs. The recent price increases follow a downward price trend that lasted for much of 2011-2015.

There are expectations that sawlog prices may continue to go up in the coming months because of improved opportunities for Brazilian exporters of lumber, plywood and valueadded products such as doors and mouldings to increase shipments overseas. During the first quarter of 2017, pine lumber exports reached an all-time high and were equal to the annual export volume just five years ago. The countries that have increased imports of Brazilian lumber the most in the past year are, in descending order, the US, Mexico,China and Saudi Arabia.

An analysis of long-term timber price trends, volatility, and a point-in-time assessment of current timber prices relative to historical trends was recently undertaken by the timberland investment consultancy firm ForestEdge LLC (www.forestedgellc.com). Sixteen products were tracked, generally representing plantation roundwood products in Brazil, Chile, South Africa and New Zealand, in addition to conifer sawlogs in Sweden and hardwood pulpwood in the US South. Only pulpwood in Brazil (both pine and Eucalyptus) and conifer products in South Africa (pulpwood, small and large sawlogs) registered increasing prices over the 1995-2016 period in inflation adjusted US dollars.

With respect to current delivered timber prices in local currency, it is interesting to note that with few exceptions, most timber prices in the local currencies in the 4Q/16 were not far from their trend-line values. Prices in both Brazil and Chile remained below their local currency trend lines, reflecting somewhat depressed timber markets. Global lumber, sawlog and pulpwood market reporting is included in the 52-page quarterly publication Wood Resource Quarterly (WRQ). The report, which was established in 1988 and has subscribers in over 30 countries, tracks sawlog, pulpwood, wood chip, lumber and pellet prices, trade and market developments in most key regions around the world.

To subscribe to the WRQ, please go to www.woodprices.com

Contact Information
Wood Resources International LLC
Hakan Ekstrom
Seattle, USA
info@woodprices.com
www.woodprices.com

Vancouver, WA – JoeScan, Inc., a market leader in 3-D laser scanning technology, has announced the appointment of Jason Farmer as vice president of engineering. In his new role, Farmer will manage engineering, oversee product development and contribute to strategic direction.

“The market for JoeScan’s products is strong,” says Joey Nelson, president and founder of JoeScan. “The company has grown considerably over the past few years. Jason brings a wealth of engineering and management experience to our team that will help accelerate JoeScan’s growth.”

Farmer started his career at Aculight (now Lockheed Martin Aculight), where he led numerous technology development programs in solid state lasers and nonlinear optics. The success of these programs led him to cofound a spin-out company, nLight, with colleagues from Aculight.  At nLight, Farmer held a series of technical and management roles in R&D, product development and business unit management.  He was instrumental in helping the company raise venture capital from leading firms and growing the company to over 400 employees.

“JoeScan has a great core technology and a strong team,” says Farmer.  “I am excited to work with them to enhance and accelerate JoeScan’s product roadmap.”

Farmer received his B.S. in Physics from the UCSB and his M.S. in Astrophysical, Planetary and Atmospheric Sciences from the CU Boulder. He has co-chaired technical conferences, been a principal investigator on numerous government programs, authored technical papers and is an inventor on over 20 patents.

About JoeScan Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Vancouver, Wash., JoeScan develops reliable, easy-to-use 3-D laser scanning technology that improves recovery in sawmills. For more information, call +1.360.993.0069, visit www.JoeScan.com or email sales@joescan.com.

Södra is investing just over SEK 100 million ($12.3 million) in the Långasjö sawmill in Sweden and mid-July marks a milestone in the major investment project. This is when the old sawmill from 1982 will be demolished to make way for a new profiling line. A total of 25 people are working with dismantling operations. The sawmill will return to full production by the end of October.

The investment will increase capacity at the sawmill from 280,000 cubic metres to 360,000 cubic metres. A capacity increase equivalent to 15 more timber trucks per day. To achieve this, the old small-diameter timber saw line will be replaced with a new profiling curve sawing line. This means throughput at the saw will be simplified and streamlined. In addition, a stacker and binding stick stacker is being built, a brand new wood dryer and a new 8,000-square-metre warehouse.

“25 people are working during the week with dismantling operations. It is demanding work, where each person removes two tonnes of scrap metal per hour. On 31 July, the premises will be ready to begin moving in the new profiling line. The premises are also being extended to manage the boards and planks from the new line,” said Markus Förster, project manager for the profiling line.

The sawmill currently consists of one line for large dimensions and one for small-diameter timber, where the large-dimension line will be retained. The small-diameter line will be replaced with a fully optimised profiling line with a maximum speed of 150 metres per minute, compared with the current speed of 88 metres per minute.

The supplier is AriVislanda. The production line will be adjusted between 11 September and 15 October. From November, it will be in full production. The sub-projects for the new wood dryer and new warehouse are already complete and the new stacker is scheduled for takeover by mid-November.

The investment also means 25 new jobs in Långasjö. Employees at the Torsås sawmill, which will close down this autumn, have been able to apply for these jobs.

Photo: From the left: Nicklas Nilsson, Production manager, Marcus Förster, Project manager for the profiling line, Niclas Elmgren, Maintenance manager.

For more information, please contact:
Daniel Nolin, Project Manager
Södra Wood,
Tel: +46 (0)471-507 09