Taking Advantage of Current Trends, Market Opportunities and Improvements 

May 12, 2016. Hyatt Place. 4401 S. Laburnum Avenue, Richmond, VA 23231

8:00-9:00am . The Housing Market, its impact on the Wood Products Industry, and opportunities- Urs Buehlmann

This session will focus on the current state of the housing market and discuss its future. The U.S. private construction market generates, with roughly $750 billion per year, approximately 5% of U.S. GDP and if housing services are included it accounts for about 18 percent of U.S. GDP. An estimated $360 billion is spent on residential construction, four-fifths (on a Dollar basis) on single-family homes (700,000 units/year) and one-fifth on multi-family homes (350,000 units/year). The residential building market is of outmost importance to the U.S. wood industry, with an estimated 70 percent of softwood and more than 50 percent of the appearance hardwood harvest going to this market.

9:00am–10:00 am. Building Bigger : New Market Opportunities in Massive Timber– Dan Hindman

Massive timber is a new class of wooden building materials including cross laminated timber and nail laminated timber.  Current production in the United States is limited, but growth and interest in the engineering and architecture community continues to grow.  This presentation will discuss what massive timber is and what market opportunities for softwood and hardwood lumber are available

10:00 am:10-15 am. Break

10:15 am-11:15 am. Hardwood Exports: Current State and Opportunities – Mike Snow

11:15 am-12:00 pm. The Pallet Story – Hardwood and Softwood Use, Recovery/Repair/Recycling, and Greenness Opportunities – Phil Araman

 This session will cover information on wood material use and pallet production and will focus on ways to minimize production waste from pallet cants and parts while producing better pallets. Pallet recovery, repair, and recycling techniques and numbers will be discussed. Ways to to be certified by an international environmental group for recycled pallets will be covered.

12:00 pm-1:00 pm. Lunch break. On your own.

1:00 pm- 3:00 pm – Identifying and measuring waste in your supply chain- Henry Quesada

 Measuring waste in your manufacturing process is a critical activity to increase production efficiencies and customer satisfaction levels. However, little has been developed to adopt lean management tools to the entire supply chain. In this presentation we will explain how to use value-stream mapping, a key tool in lean management, to quantify and analyze waste in your supply chain in wood products industries.

3:30 pm- 3:45 pm. Break

3:45 pm- 5:00 pm.  Meeting Your Customer’s Needs: Improving Your Lumber Drying Quality – Brian Bond

Regardless of your position in the value chain, logger, sawmill, drying facility or secondary producer, many aspects of wood quality and customer satisfaction are related to the drying process. This session will focus on achieving the best final moisture content, proper moisture content spread, prevention of warp, stain, and other drying quality issues.

• Registration: The investment is $70 for the morning or the afternoon sessions. If you register for both sessions the investment is $100. Coffee breaks are available. For registration please follow this link: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/vfpa/

• Venue: Hyatt Place. 4401 Laburnum Avenue. Richmond, VA, 23231. Phone number is (804) 549-44865
• Contact information: If you have any questions regarding this event, please email Mrs. Angela Riegel at ariegel@vt.edu or call at (540) 231-7107

• Non-discrimination Statement

Virginia Cooperative Extension programs and employment are open to all, regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital, family, or veteran status, or any other basis protected by law. An equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

• ADA Statement 

If you are a person with a disability and desire any assistive devices, services or other accommodations to participate in this activity, please contact Henry Quesada at 540-2310978/TDD* during business hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to discuss accommodations 5 days prior to the event. *TDD number is 800-828-1120

• Sponsor by:

Virginia Forest Products Association (VFPA)

Workshop: A Competitive Edge: Reducing Energy Costs in Hardwood Manufacturing
Presented by: Virginia Tech Wood Science and Forest Products Department

Location:   

USDA Forest Service Wood Education & Resource Center
301 Hardwood Lane Princeton, WV 24740

Date:   March 22, 2012
Fee:   $50
Registration:   Online at: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/rec/

Website:   http://woodscience.vt.edu/workshops/reducing-energy-costs/

Preliminary agenda: To get a copy of the workshop agenda, click here

Why attend?

Energy expenses are the third largest cost for the US forest products industries, after raw materials and labor. Over the last decade, electricity prices have risen at an average annual rate of 1.4%, diesel prices by 9.3%, and prices for natural gas for industrial use by more than 100%. Natural gas and electricity account for about two fifths of total energy consumption of the wood products industry. These higher energy costs undoubtedly negatively impact the industries profitability, which has also been significantly impacted by other issues such as hardwood stumpage prices, higher transportation costs, increasing government regulations, a challenging economic situation, and the ongoing globalization of markets. Given the trajectory of energy prices and the energy intensity of the US hardwood industry, energy consumption and the resulting costs, strategies to reduce energy consumption should be a priority issue in order for our industry to remain competitive.

More information:  Contact Brian Bond at (540) 231-8752, email bbond@vt.edu
or Angela Riegel at (540) 231-7107

 The Department of Wood Science and Forest Products at Virginia Teach announces the upcoming workshop “Maintaining a Sustainable Business in Today’s Market” to be prsented during the 2012 Expo Richmond.

Program Description

Today’s wood products business environment is more challenging than ever before. The markets have changed, changes to business occur faster, and competition is fierce. This program will focus on how to maintain a sustainable business in today’s market by providing a brief insight into future conditions, providing strategies to increase effectiveness and competitiveness, and reduce costs. This course is designed for anyone involved with the operation and management of a wood products business.

Tentative Agenda

• A glimpse of the Future.
• Product Costing for Wood Products Firms.
• Supply Chain Management Update
• Lean Supply Chain
• Energy Savings
• Energy Consumption in the Hardwood Industry                
• Sustainability: A Threat or an Opportunity?
• Buying into Sustainability

 A brochure can be downloaded here Education Session VFPA 2012. 

Registration

 Investment to attend the workshop is $60. This includes materials and two coffee breaks. Lunch is on your own. Please follow this link to register for the workshop: http://www.cpe.vt.edu/reg/msbtm/

 

                      

                 

Este taller está diseñado para que empresas tanto del sector primario (aserrío, productos arquitectónicos, y compuestos) como secundario (muebles) se pueden familiarizar con los procesos más importantes de la cadena de valor de producción de productos forestales. El curso pretende establecer las bases para entender el comportamiento de la madera como material biológico, técnicas apropiadas para elevar los rendimientos y disminuir los costos en los procesos de manufactura, así como dar a conocer herramientas necesarias para la planificación estratégica, mercadotecnia, y cadena de abastecimiento.

 Objetivo

 Brindar los conocimientos más importantes para la correcta administración de los procesos de la cadena de valor agregado en la producción de productos forestales.

Temática

Estado actual y futuro del sector forestal costarricense: Esta charla tiene como objetivo el presentar el estado actual del sector forestal costarricense, así como el camino a seguir para los próximos 20 años. Se cubrirán aspectos relacionados con administración forestal, política, y estructura del sector productivo forestal.

Rendimientos en aserrío. El objetivo de esta charla es presentar las técnicas de aserrío más apropiadas para elevar los rendimientos y disminuir costos operativos. Se expondrán ejemplos utilizando diferentes especies, diámetros de trozas, y en varios tipos de aserraderos.

Continue reading “Taller: Valor Agregado en la Industria de la Madera”

BLACKSBURG, Va., Oct. 15, 2010. Virginia Tech’s Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing is offering an Innovation-based Manufacturing Workshop on Nov. 11 from 8:30 a.m. until 4:10 p.m. at The Inn at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg.

This workshop is designed to explain how innovation based manufacturing is critical to achieve economic development and how it can be pursued.

Entrepreneurs, investors, policy makers, process and products engineers, plant managers, process improvement managers, marketing managers, general managers, and financial managers are encouraged to attend. A $125 investment covers the cost of the workshop materials, lunch, and coffee breaks.

The Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing focuses on the development of new innovation methodologies and their applications to challenging manufacturability problems across multiple areas. These include: renewable energies, micro- and nano-manufacturing, medical devices, etc. The center is actively working on the definition of the manufacturing of the future and the future of manufacturing.

The recently established center aims to help the university commercialize new technologies. The innovation-based manufacturing goal is to boost the commercialization potential of basic research that is currently constrained by the lack of adequate processes and systems.

Register online.

Further information is available by emailing Henry Quesada or by calling (540) 231-0978.

The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is internationally recognized for its excellence in 14 engineering disciplines and computer science. The college’s 6,000 undergraduates benefit from an innovative curriculum that provides a “hands-on, minds-on” approach to engineering education, complementing classroom instruction with two unique design-and-build facilities and a strong Cooperative Education Program. With more than 50 research centers and numerous laboratories, the college offers its 2,000 graduate students opportunities in advanced fields of study such as biomedical engineering, state-of-the-art microelectronics, and nanotechnology. Virginia Tech, the most comprehensive university in Virginia, is dedicated