Alabama CLT Plant Is Nearly Operational
The first and biggest cross-laminated timber (CLT) manufacturing plant in the eastern U.S. is nearly fully operational, with 25 employees currently working a portion of the plant.
Florida-based International Beams (IB), a manufacturer of pre-fabricated i-joist beams, began converting a General Electric 227,000-square-foot into a highly-specialized CLT manufacturing facility last June. One portion of the main production has been installed – a wood grading component – in which technicians are currently learning the machines.
The second portion of the plant’s main production line is arriving from overseas during the next few weeks and should be installed by June, company owner Bruno Lebel told the Dothan Eagle. The plant should be 100 percent operational by September and employ 60 employees in total.
The plant is the first of its kind east of the Rocky Mountains, says Lebel, and will be the first in the world to produce both glue laminate wood and CLT. The $19.6 million investment will create 60 jobs at the plant right away, and create other jobs in local timber, sawmill, and trucking. Two hundred jobs will be created altogether.
International Beams says the CLT panels produced in Dothan will be sold mainly in the U.S. market. The company will use Southern pine lumber to construct the panels.
From Woodworking Network: woodworkingnetwork.com.
Latest News
Vaagen Thanks Support For Midway Sawmill
The outpouring of support for Vaagen Fibre Canada’s Midway, BC sawmill, upon the early January Vaagen family announcement of the mill’s impending closure, was substantial, but apparently hasn’t changed the disappointing outcome, at least for now. The Vaagen family, whose Vaagen Brothers Lumber headquarters and sawmill is in Colville, Wash., announced on…
Mercer Gains Mass Timber Contract
Mercer International Inc. reported it has signed its first major mass timber project contract with a large consumer products retailer. The project, which is composed of cross-laminated timber panels, glue-laminated beams and connector elements, is expected to utilize four months of capacity at Mercer’s Spokane, Wash. facility on a one-shift basis over the course of 2023…
U.S. Housing Starts Rebound In February
U.S. housing starts brushed off a sluggish January and reached a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.45 million in February, up 9.8% over January. Single-family starts were 830,000, a percent above January, while multi-family (five units or more) were at 608,000, up a whopping 24% over January. The uptick in February broke a four-consecutive monthly decline for the combined starts…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Timber Processing Industry Newsletter reaches over 4,000 mill owners and supervisors.
Subscribe/Renew
Timber Processing is delivered 10 times per year to subscribers who represent sawmill ownership, management and supervisory personnel and corporate executives. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative.