An outstanding crowd participated in the recent 2023 Appalachian Hardwood Manufacturers, Inc. (AHMI) Summer Conference at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
Participants heard timely updates on markets for Hardwood lumber, chips and dust and issues relating to promotion, training and cross-laminated timber. There was time for networking among owners, general managers and suppliers to the industry.
A highlight of the session was a presentation on the first Poplar CLT manufacturing plant proposed by Timberkraft. Company President Jeremy Adams discussed the Waynesboro, VA, facility that will produce panels for structural use across the region.
The company received a Wood Innovations Grant earlier this year, has leased a facility and will order equipment soon. Timberkraft’s location in the heart of the Appalachian region gives easy access to Appalachian Poplar.
He said the company will focus on Hardwood utilization and is positioned to provide materials to East Coast markets.
Adams said developers have talked with him about medical offices in a Virginia complex and affordable housing options. He said there are dozens of CLT buildings either announced or under construction across the United States and they hope to begin producing panels in the spring of 2024.
The next presentation dovetailed with the CLT plant to discuss equipment options for companies considering production of mass timber. Chuck Carter and Roland Hernandez of Stiles | Homag explained the recent purchase of Kallesoe, which manufactures presses and other CLT equipment.
Hernandez said CLT and mass timber resources are increasingly used in commercial construction. He cited dozens of projects in the United States that are underway or have been proposed.
Kallesoe manufactures equipment for each phase of CLT production. He gave examples of plant designs and capacities.
The presentation included a video tour of a production facility in Europe. Hernandez explained the equipment options available to manufacture the materials.
The fourth presentation was a biochar manufacturing facility in Virginia that plans more facilities in the region. SWVA BioChar President Jeff Wade explained the process of turning wood fiber into carbon filter material in special kilns.
It begins with solid wood waste material that is ground into chunks that are burned for several hours that results in pure carbon. The chunks are removed and ground into sizes ranging from a powder to ½ inch. The product can be used in dozens of filtration and waste removal processes.
SWVA BioChar has plans for other production facilities in Virginia and across the region.
There were also three breakout sessions the next day for attendees to learn about industry issues.
Progress on Poplar in Building Codes
Virginia Tech researcher Sailesh Adhikari reported on his work testing Appalachian Poplar for use in cross-laminated timber. The research has been the basis of an application to receive approval from the APA for Poplar to be used as a resource.
The results were very positive and exceeded requirements for structural strength. A national committee is considering the tests and expected to make recommendations this fall for inclusion in building codes in 2024.
Real American Hardwood on Magnolia Network
Consumer promotion of Real American Hardwood (RAH) has begun on Magnolia Network and streaming services. RAH Coalition member Renee Hornsby of NHLA and Dana Cole of the Hardwood Federation reported on advertisements and consumer promotion that expands to the network founded by Chip and Joanna Gaines.
RAH will sponsor a show and have advertisements on shows and the streaming service. The two also asked participants to financially support the effort with annual donations. More information is available at www.realamericanhardwood.com.
Appalachian Hardwood Training Institute
Representatives from two Virginia and West Virginia community colleges gave an update on Hardwood sawmill and yard specific training programs. The colleges are engaged with AHMI in the Appalachian Hardwood Training Institute, which has trained more than 100 workers in lumber and log grading, commercial driver licensing, OSHA compliance and more in the first six months.
The colleges are Mountain Gateway Community College in Clifton Forge, VA; Glenville State University in Glenville, WV; and Big Sandy Community College in Prestonsburg, KY. More information is available at www.mgcc.edu/appalachian-hardwood-training-initiative-ahti.
The AHMI business sessions began with a presentation on Wood Chip Demand in Appalachia by WestRock’s Aaron Plaugher, fiber sustainability manager. WestRock is a fiber-based packaging company with 31 paper mills and over 230 converting facilities that turn rolls of paper into sheets, boxes, and add coatings.
The company’s fiber supply team procures about 46 million tons of fiber for WestRock’s paper mills every year. Of that, about 39 million tons are virgin fiber and 7 million tons are recycled.
Plaugher said the production of paper and paperboard in the U.S. has been declining since the 1990s. He said there was an uptick in 2021 in the packaging and paperboard segment. There continues to be a steady increase in demand for corrugated containers and containers from paperboard.
There was a spike in paperboard consumption during the pandemic as consumers had items shipped directly to their homes instead of going out to stores and restaurants. It continues but at lower rates.
Sporting event winners were:
Golf – Low Gross: 1st Jay Reese; 2nd Peter McCarty
Low Net: 1st Peter McCarty, 2nd David Snizik
Long Drive: Sawyer McCarty
Closest to the Pin: Jay Reese
Sporting Clays – 1st Ross Frazier; 2nd Tony Honeycutt; 3rd Tom Wilder
Croquet – 1st Duke and Mary Catherine Baldridge; 2nd – Kin and Vicki Church
The next meeting of AHMI will be the 2024 Annual Meeting on February 22-25 at the Hammock Beach Resort in Palm Coast, FL.
