A second key American Lumber Standards Committee (ALSC) hearing that reviews a technical proposal by the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau (SPIB) to lower the design values of southern pine lumber has been added after interested parties asked for more time to analyze the proposal. In addition to the original October 20 hearing, a second hearing approximately 60 days later will allow interested parties to comment in person on the technical aspects of SPIB’s proposal.

The California Redwood Company (CRC) has made many strategic decisions and capital investments over the past several years to position themselves for future success (see Timber Processing, October 2011). In addition to strategy and assets, the leadership team at CRC recognized that performance management also needed to be addressed, as smart strategy and good assets only yield solid results if they are effectively managed.

A tightly integrated saw line that can turn raw logs into made-to-measure finished lumber in a single processing pass requires a lot of coordination between the sequential process stages. Some of the more complex saw lines can contain several dozen motion axes that need to be controlled. Individual machine stations can involve as few as two axes (as is the case with a log rotator), whereas other stations, such as the curve saw, can employ between five and eight axes.

BIGonDRY s.r.l., is located in the North of Italy. Founder Bruno Bigon has a continued background of more than 25 years on product design and development, training, field work installation and customer service. The company has a staff of more than 30, including engineers and highly skilled workers. This experienced organization enables BIGonDRY s.r.l. to advise clients on the best possible options.

For a sawmill to survive these days as part of a medium to large forest products company, it needs to deliver value to shareholders and must play a strategic role in the company’s overall plan. That’s just a fact of life at EACOM Timber’s sawmill near Gogama, a small rural community situated about halfway between the larger centers of Sudbury and Timmins.

American Tree Farm System (ATFS), a program of the American Forest Foundation (AFF), announced that 782,489 acres of privately owned Alabama forestlands have been certified by AFTS for their sustainable management practices. The certification of thousands of acres representing 1,313 different forest properties was possible thanks to an innovative pilot project involving the Alabama Forestry Commission, Alabama Forestry Assn., Alabama Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Implementation Committee and ATFS.

Ex-Factory, Charlotte, NC, which specializes in the sale of used and new woodworking machinery and complete plants, has named Kevin Corder as product manager for sawmills, portable sawmills, and pallet equipment.