Investors saw a great opportunity when they decided to build a new mill complex at Lufkin, TX.

The Texas A&M Forest Service assisted the company to validate this project that draws on logs from the region. The mill was started up in 2019, with USNR and Mid-South Engineering as major vendors in this endeavor. Today targets have been met, and production is rolling along as anticipated.

“West Fraser, Angelina is pleased with current performance throughout the operation. USNR’s support in our journey of process excellence is appreciated. The team is confident in the choice for our business relationship and has trust for our future.”  Wiley Quarles, mill manager.

Photo : Wiley Quarles Angelina Mill Manager

Tilhill, the UK’s leading forestry, timber harvesting and landscaping company is celebrating after winning the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing Sector RoSPA Award 2022, an internationally recognised award from RoSPA (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) for demonstrating high health and safety standards.

This is the second year running that Tilhill has received the Award in recognition of the Company’s hard work and diligence in ensuring its staff and contractors get home safely to their families at the end of every working day.
Organisations receiving a RoSPA Award are recognised as being world-leaders in health and safety practice. Every year, nearly 2,000 entrants vie to achieve the highest possible accolade in what is the UK’s longest-running Health & Safety industry awards.

On winning the award Gavin Adkins, Tilhill’s Managing Director said: “I am delighted that Tilhill has been judged as Winners of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Sector once again. This is a proud achievement, and my thanks go to all our staff and contractors for embedding our rigorous safety and assurance culture into everything they do.

“It is wonderful that our Health and Safety culture and system has been judged by others to be of the highest quality in our sector. Whilst we are very proud of our achievement, we cannot stop or even pause in our drive to make the forest industry safer.”

Chris Pike, Tilhill’s Head of Safety & Assurance, said: “Tilhill launched its ‘Insist On Safety’ initiative back in 2009 and is now very much integral to our culture. Our staff and contractors have all played their part in sustaining our drive to improve health and safety over such a long period. This award is fantastic recognition for them of their continuing contribution to upholding the Company’s very high safety and assurance standards.”

Julia Small, RoSPA’s Achievements Director, said: “This is a fantastic and well-deserved accomplishment. All our award entrants demonstrate their unwavering commitment and passion for keeping people safe at work. By receiving this recognition, the winners join like-minded businesses and organisations worldwide, who represent the very best in their approach to Health and Safety. I would like to add my personal thanks for all the work that it has taken to secure this well-deserved award – congratulations to all those involved, who champion and drive-up Health and Safety standards every day. You are a fantastic example to others in your sector.”

For more information about the RoSPA Awards visit www.rospa.com/awards

Contact Information
sarah.clay@tilhill.com

Tilhill:

For more information contact the Marketing Team on 01892 861008 or email marketingteam@tilhill.com

Tilhill Forestry Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the BSW Timber Group, was established over 70 years ago. It is a national company operating from a network of offices throughout the UK. The company provides a full range of consultancy and contracting services to the forest owner and forestry investor. Further information is available at www.tilhill.com

BSW is the most technologically advanced sawmill company in the UK employing over 1,200 people. The Company’s roots date back to 1848, and with seven sawmills in the UK and one in Latvia, has a production capacity of more than 1.2 million m³ of sawn timber which is distributed throughout construction, fencing and landscape markets www.bsw.co.uk

Together, BSW and Tilhill form a strong partnership in the forest industry that will deliver quality from beginning to end – from creating new forests through to producing timber end products.

(WRI Market Insights) – Russian Sanctions: Sanctions against Russian exports will permanently alter the global trade of forest products.

Lumber trade flows changed almost instantly when Russia invaded Ukraine in late February. Trade sanctions and restrictions in financial transactions by Europe, North America, and major markets in Asia halted shipments from Russia and Belarus. In addition, exports from Ukraine were also disrupted.

Total lumber exports from the three countries in the war zone were 34 million m3 in 2021. Over 25% of that volume was exported to countries with current sanctions against Russia and Belarus. In addition, the two major wood certification organisations, FSC and PEFC, have labelled all timber from the two countries as “conflict timber.” The removal of the labelling means that the timber cannot be used in certified products, which will impact any country buying wood from Russia and Belarus and manufacturing certified products, eg – lumber, plywood, pulp, and paper for sales worldwide.

The total volume of softwood lumber that is now unlikely to reach the market in Europe and Asia (outside China) because of sanctions is an estimated 10 million m3, or just over 30% of the total export volume shipped from Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine in 2021, reports the Wood Resource Quarterly. In addition, lumber sold to customers in China that require certified wood for manufacturing forest products targeting Europe and North America will no longer be available from Russia. Europe, which imported 8.5 million m3 of softwood lumber from the three countries in 2021, will be the hardest hit, as the lumber import volume accounted for close to 10 percent of the total consumption on the continent in 2021.

Although the Chinese government has not set up any barriers to trade between them and Russia, it is still conceivable that there will be interruptions in shipments between the two neighbours.

See other Sanction related posts here.

FAE is expanding its product line with the RCU series, a compact and professional, remote controlled tracked carrier that is the result of merging FAE’s extensive experience in designing tracked carriers for the PT series and remote-control systems for the vehicles in our Demining line.

The RCU-55 is designed to work on hard-to-access areas and steeply sloping terrain that requires dedicated equipment to ensure operator safety and operating efficiency. It’s excellent for working in hilly wooded areas, near railroad tracks, power lines, gas and oil pipelines, gardens, roadsides, highways, canals, rivers and lakes.

The new FAE tracked carrier is powered by the Kohler Common Rail electronic fuel injection engine — a compact, powerful and fuel-efficient 56-hp propulsion system that complies with the most stringent emission standards.

The heavy-duty undercarriage features a hydraulic extendable & retractable independent track system and an automatic tensioning system that is built to work in the toughest conditions, thanks to a rubber track structure, oscillating rollers system and triple-flange style idlers. High-tech solutions give the RCU unbeatable traction, enabling it to work on steep slopes up to 55°.

A dual hydrostatic transmission provides better traction and optimal management of the attachment. Electronically controlled piston pumps combined with a dedicated electronic control unit provide an integrated technological system. The result is high performance and reliability that lasts, plus simple and intuitive operation.

The RCU-55 is guided by an ergonomic remote control with a large 3.5” display for superior management of all vehicle and attachment functions and with customizable function keys. A 2.4 GHz transmission frequency ensures reliable communication.

The RCU-55 can be paired with two specialized FAE forestry mulchers. The BL1/RCU mulcher, designed to mulch vegetation up to 5” in diameter. This mulcher features a fixed tooth rotor and Bite Limiter technology that provides higher productivity with even less horsepower due to low power absorption. The PML/RCU is a swinging hammer forestry mulcher ideal for mulching vegetation up to 2” in diameter.

The FAE RCU product line will be further expanding in the coming months with the introduction of the RCU-75, FAE’s remote controlled compact tracked carrier that can take on the more demanding jobs.

See other FAE Group related posts here.

A new type of forest machine is currently driving around the forests of Sweden. It combines a low-impact approach, increased productivity and an improved operator environment and is the result of a major cooperative project that has been under way since 2019. The concept machine is called Centipede and it has been developed by eight Swedish forestry companies and a forest machinery manufacturer. The machine is currently being test driven and the results are promising.

Swedish forestry is facing major challenges and the issue of sustainability is the focus of attention. For this reason, Södra, Sveaskog, SCA, Holmen, Norra Skog, Mellanskog, Stora Enso and BillerudKorsnäs, as well as the forest machinery manufacturer Komatsu Forest, have jointly developed a new forest machine for low-impact forestry. With its innovative technology, the machine – called Centipede – is designed to ensure the most sustainable possible management of forests for both the environment and people.

Low-impact, productive and comfortable work environment

Centipede has been developed to meet the challenges of forestry and offers three important benefits: Lower soil compaction, increased productivity and better work environment.

“This is a comprehensive project, in which the parties are taking a long-term approach to promote sustainable forestry. In the project, we have fundamentally challenged today’s technology and taken a step into the future,” says Erik Nilsson, CTO of Komatsu Forest.

The machine is built to reduce the risk of ground damage, to increase transport speed and to reduce whole-body vibrations for the operator. The machine has a newly developed forestry track system, with a large support surface to minimize ground impact. It also has a fully suspended chassis to handle uneven ground conditions, enabling the speed of the machine to be increased significantly without the corresponding increase in vibrations.

With this newly developed technology, Centipede can be driven both on sites that are normally regarded as winter sites and on sites that are significantly impacted by precipitation. In addition to being able to satisfy timber supply throughout the year and thus provide better prerequisites for profitable harvesting operations, Centipede has a number of characteristics that will directly increase production.

As a result of its innovative design, Centipede can move around the terrain significantly faster and can carry a larger load than the Komatsu 855, which was used as the benchmark. Both of these characteristics create conditions for significant increases in productivity. In addition, Centipede has demonstrated in simulations that fuel consumption is reduced by up to 15 percent in soft terrain, which is also positive for both the environment and profitability.

An extensive preliminary study was implemented and a new machine concept was developed during the project. The machine has been thoroughly evaluated through simulations and test drives. The comprehensive testing will continue in spring 2022 and decisions will thereafter be made about the project’s continuation.

Participants’ views on Centipede, tomorrow’s forest machine

Magnus Bergman, manager for technique and digitalization at SCA Skog and Chairman of the project’s steering committee:

“The forest industry and Komatsu are now jointly taking a major technology leap with a machine that is more gentle on the environment and the operator, at the same time as it enables a more efficient flow of timber. With Centipede, we can meet the challenges arising from increasingly shorter periods of frozen ground and, for this reason, the machine is one of the most important development projects in forestry.”

Magnus Petersson, Head of Contractor and Technology Development at Södra:

“Those of us who are active in forestry know how important it is to cultivate the forest without damaging the ground. Our members who own their forests want to hand over land to the next generation that is managed with a low-impact approach. This enhances the forest’s financial, social and cultural values. By being involved in the development of the next generation of forest machine, we are doing something that is highly valued in family-owned forestry.”

Anders Järlesjö, Head of Forest Technology at Sveaskog:

“Minimizing ground impact in our managed forests is an important issue. This is therefore a significant and long-awaited development and it is also fully in line with Sveaskog’s long-term orientation for more sustainable forestry. With this, we can see an opportunity for us in the forest industry to jointly take a major step forward with an efficient forest machine that is gentler on both the environment and the operator.”

For further information, please contact:

Magnus Bergman, manager for technique and digitalization at SCA Skog and Chairman of the project’s steering committee:
E-mail: magnus.bergman@sca.com
Tel: +46 (0)60 19 34 75

Annelie Persson, head of Communications, Komatsu Forest
E-mail: annelie.persson@komatsuforest.com
Tel: +46 90 70 97 32

For more information, please visit:
www.centipede.komatsuforest.com

Södra, Sveaskog, SCA, Holmen, Norra Skog, Mellanskog, Stora Enso, BillerudKorsnäs and Komatsu Forest

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CRJ Services Ltd announces an exclusive dealership agreement with German machine manufacturer JENZ GmbH Maschinen- und Fahrzeugbau, for the UK and Ireland. This announcement comes off the back of a period of sustained growth for CRJ Services, and further establishes them as a market leading recycling machinery solutions provider. The new dealership agreement commenced on the 1^st February 2022.

“I am sure that with CRJ we have a strong partner by our side and I am pleased that we can guarantee our British and Irish customers exceptional support.” – Hans Heinrich Hermeier, Managing Director at JENZ GmbH

JENZ GmbH is a leading manufacturer of mobile and static high-speed shredders and chippers. The addition of these machines to the CRJ Services sales portfolio will allow them to offer a comprehensive range of machinery solutions to the forestry, waste management, recycling, and biomass industries.

Speaking on the announcement, CRJ Services Director, Ben McQuaid said; “CRJ Services is looking forward to supporting new and existing JENZ customers with machinery requirements, including equipment sales, servicing, and parts. The JENZ brand is renowned for its quality and has a dedicated customer base that we will look to support and expand over the coming years.”

The JENZ high-speed shredders and mobile chippers will complement CRJ Services existing shredder offering alongside the HAAS TYRON which has long been a market leading slow-speed shredder.

Aside from the addition of JENZ to their sales portfolio, CRJ Services will be adding the JENZ high-speed shredder range to their existing hire fleet of over 100 mobile machines.

“We are very pleased to be adding the JENZ brand to our machinery portfolio, in both our sales, hire and parts divisions. As a company, we have a lot of experience with high-speed shredders having run them in our hire fleet for many years, and the expansion into the chipper market is something we are all very excited for. – Rob Symons – Director at CRJ Services Ltd

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John Deere’s new 904 P-Tier wheel loader, on display for the first time at World of Asphalt 2022 in Nashville, is designed to load trucks with aggregate in just two passes.

Available soon, the new 904 P-Tier provides the durability and reliability to take on processed aggregate stockpiles and more efficiently load trucks or rail cars all day long.

The 904 P-Tier replaces John Deere’s 844L aggregate handler.

“It gets trucks in and out of the site a lot quicker,” said Luke Gribble, solutions marketing manager, John Deere. “This machine has increased counter weight. It’s got larger tilt cylinders, the engine’s got more horsepower and it’s got more breakout force. With all that, it’s more capability to really do handle truck-loading applications.”

Based on proven components and designs, the new 904 P-Tier offers obstacle intelligence features, such as the Advanced Vision System — an industry first for loaders, according to John Deere. This allows increased visibility to sides of the machine by integrating two digital cameras on the rearview mirror platform and combines views into a dedicated single display in the cab.

The 904 P-Tier also offers an improved rear object detection system. This feature overlays a projected vehicle reversible path within the same dedicated monitor, enhancing the operator’s situational awareness.

“We’re introducing dynamic reversing line, similar to what you’d see in the automotive industry,” Gribble said. “So if you’re articulating back, the lines are going to move with you instead of staying straight the whole time.”

The 904 P-Tier comes equipped with 9.8- and 9.3-cubic yard material-handling buckets with integrated spill guards and curved side cutters, and seat-mounted hydraulic controls for easier and more intuitive operation.

High-capacity, heavy-duty axles with standard axle cooling filtration deliver durability in difficult conditions compared to previous models. With advantages such as fuel-efficient engines, lockup torque converters and a dedicated steering pump, the machine is designed to help operators do more while burning less fuel.

In addition, the 904 P-Tier is JDLink compatible, providing real-time machine data and alerts, leveraging a suite of dealer and factory tools to deliver increased productivity, uptime and lower daily operating costs. JDLink is now available without a subscription and no cost.

The machine will be available later this year.

Photo: The John Deere 904 P-Tier has increased counter weight and larger tilt cylinders than the 844L it replaces

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