Weyerhaeuser Co., Federal Way, Wash., is acquiring Vancouver, BC-based MacMillan Bloedel for $2.45 billion (U.S.). Once the transaction is complete, Weyerhaeuser will boast annual sales of approximately $13.3 billion. The transaction includes three oriented strandboard (OSB) facilities with an annual capacity of 1.1 billion SF (3⁄8 in. basis), along with the new Saskatchewan OSB mill currently under construction.

Laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and I-joist demand has been growing rapidly in recent years as the U.S. housing market continues its upward trek. Growth projections for the next five years indicate that both LVL and I-joist demand will more than double by the year 2002. To capitalize on that demand, particularly in the Southeast where housing starts lead the nation, Willamette Industries has adopted an integrated, cost-efficient approach to servicing its Eastern and Southern engineered wood products (EWP) customers.

Sawmillers from around the world made the trip here June 24-26 for the largest Southern Forest Product Assn. Forest Products Machinery & Equipment Expo ever. The event, held at the Georgia World Congress Center, featured sold out indoor exhibition space and more than 50,000 sq. ft. outside in a new outdoor area as more than 450 exhibitors competed for show visitors’ attention.

Don Tolson recovered from fiery disaster just months after starting his pallet business to build a modern mill with $3 million in annual sales in a rural corner of Ohio to the southwest of Dayton. Tolson was working at a paper mill in the 1960s and was intrigued by the truckloads of pallets constantly streaming into the plant. “I was raised near a sawmill and I thought I could make pallets,” he says.

Two years after its initial offering in the South by PSI Sales, Inc., the log singulation machine known as the Log Ladder is showing up in an increasing number of sawmill and chip mill merchandising applications. Tried and proven in more than 300 installations in Western Canada, according to PSI, the patented log ladder concept continues to be a preferred method for singulation and indexing of logs for ring debarking systems and primary breakdown systems.

Autolog, Production Management Inc. introduces its Planer Optimizer. The linear planer optimizer measures wane, bow, skip, crook and twist. Placed in-line immediately following the planer, the Planer Optimizer determines grade and a trim solution, measuring width and thickness to within .01" and length to within .125".