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timbernews

A magazine for SCAs solid wood products customers | www.scatimber.com

2
2011

Collaboration results in satisfied customers


New approach proves successful at shelving factory Cassettes an efficient loading solution Advantages of pre-painted panels

timber news

What can actually be new about a plank?

Bob Albery, Buying Controller, Wickes. Photo: John Attwell

nnovation is a buzzword at the moment. Its the subject of conferences, books and expensive consultancy services. Its also seen as the key to a companys success. But the trends of the time are not the primary driving force behind companies focus on innovation. Rather, innovation is one of the most important tools a company has in terms of creating new, more attractive products when the old ones become subject to increasingly stiff competition. In short, its a means of maintaining and hopefully increasing sales.

and logistics model for supplying a million ready-packaged door frame sets to the UK market annually.

We develop supply-chain solutions so that we


can efficiently supply hundreds of builders merchant stores with solid wood products; at present, were being assisted in this by a doctoral candidate from Linkping University (plus another financed by the university). We work with our customers and take over parts of their supply process so that they can focus on their own products and customers. We finish our products through impregnation, planing and surface treatment. None of this is revolutionary, but finding efficient solutions and business models that improve the products for the end customer and make them a little less expensive requires an innovative mindset at all stages. We will continue to develop our products, production processes and business models, and we will do this together with customers who, like us, believe that it is possible to make a good thing even better. Were now also setting our sights even higher by moving from an ambition of best practice to offering our customers elements of substantial innovation. Were not exactly aiming for the Nobel Prize, but definitely for satisfied and perhaps slightly surprised customers and for constantly improving business for all parties.
Jerry Larsson Technical Director, SCA Timber

contents What can actually be innovative about a plank? New approach required for new factory Efficient loading solution for sensitive products Team spirit creates good business Getting to grips with the supply chain Painted exterior claddings save time and improve quality Ready-painted products sold over the counter save customers time Notices Unsettled spring in solid wood products market Elks annual dip 2 3 7 8 11

So what does innovation mean to a timber


company like SCA Timber? We work with what must be one of the oldest products in the world. For thousands of years, people have used wood to build houses and make utility items. And its clear that we can still derive innovations from wood. Were constantly learning how we can better exploit its natural properties. Using X-rays, 3D measurement and advanced imaging technology, we know exactly what properties a log has and how to match the raw material as well as possible with the desired product characteristics.

But innovation doesnt only apply to the product itself. In Munksund weve built a factory that manufactures window components. There, we first produce knot-free components, a total of almost 50 million individual pieces of wood in a year, which we then twist and turn to ensure that the component that will subsequently become a window frame has exactly the right properties in the right place. With modern technology and process control, we can industrially manufacture a product that was previously made using knowledge of the craftsmanship required for the raw material selected. In Kramfors, together with partners, weve designed a factory for manufacturing a million ready-to-assemble shelving systems each year. Weve also developed an efficient production

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TimberNews SCA Forest Products AB


SE-851 88 Sundsvall, tel +46 60 19 30 00 www.scatimber.com

Timber News is published four times a year Editor-in-chief Bjrn Lyngfelt Production Fryklunds Repro & printing Tryckeribolaget Subscribe to Timber News, please contact ingrid.lofqvist@sca.com Feel free to quote us, but please name us as your source.

SCA TIMBER is one of Europes leading manufacturers of wood-based products, with an annual production of 2.2 million cubic metres. The product range is supplemented with service and distribution solutions for customers in the wood industry and builders merchant sector. SCA Timber is part of SCAs Forest Products business area, which produces publication papers for newspapers, magazines and catalogues, as well as pulp and renewable energy. SCA Forest Products also manages SCAs extensive forest holding and supplies SCAs Swedish industries with wood raw materials, in addition to offering cost-efficient transport solutions to SCAs units.

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Photo: Per-Anders Sjquist

new approach required


for new factory
Building a new factory with the annual capacity to transform 45,000 cubic metres of sawn wood raw materials into a million shelves for IKEA requires both imagination and new thinking. Its resulted in a completely unique facility, says Site Manager Lars-Erik Frage.
he greenery on the birch trees has just started to appear. On the gravel outside TrTeams factory, the lorries come in thick and fast. Some are being relieved of their load of sawn timber from the sawmill in Bollsta, while others are being loaded with finished shelving destined for IKEA stores in northern Europe. Two years ago, an agreement was signed between SCA Timber and IKEA on supplying the classic Gorm storage shelving unit. The task was assigned to TrTeam, one of SCA Timbers highly skilled sub-contractors and long- time partners. But major investments in new technology were required to succeed. Above all, it was crucial that the technology was both functional and cost-effective so that it could compete with low-cost countries such as Rumania. To ensure the projects profitability, a volume of one million shelves was required. We definitely had our work cut out, comments TrTeams Site Manager Lars-Erik Frage.

Building a new facility using tried


and tested technology is easy nowadays. The supplier simply does the assembly work and hands over the keys to the purchaser, who then only has to press a button. A few hours later, production is up and running at full speed.

All potential stumbling blocks have already been analysed, documented and attended to, concludes Frage. But in the case of Gorm, the circumstances were completely different. Everything was new and hadnt been tested before. The requirement was to manufacture a million shelves per year 30 shelves a minute with a high level of uptime. There was no scope for any production line downtime.

It would have been considerably easier to build a facility that manufactures products in steel, says Frage. Wood is a living material, with knots and varying hardness, which makes very special demands.

The entire project, including procurement, planning and commissioning, has been coordinated by SCA Timber. Lennart Wilhelmsson, Development Manager at SCA Timber, is one team

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The bags of screws are fed through, with the right number at the correct speed, to be attached to each shelf.

member who has spent a great deal of time on site in Kramfors. It helps to have several pairs of eyes to see whats going on, he sums up. And many great minds are needed to analyse and deal with all potential flaws. The facility was ordered from local industrial innovation company Nyland Design, whose owner Lars Stenstrm had previously succeeded in pulling off several seemingly impossible projects. He was asked if he thought he could find a solution for this task to design a machine that could produce 30 shelves a minute based on a precise specification of requirements. He said yes without a moments hesitation. Initially, the idea of procuring the technology out in Europe was on the table, but we soon realised that the physical proximity to Nyland Design was an important argument in their favour, says Wilhelmsson.

The timber goes straight from the planing mill to the new cutting line, the lengths successively decreasing. There, tried and tested, well-known technology is used to assess the quality of the timber, sort it and then cut it into the right lengths. But after that stage, everything is completely new. The edge lists come ready cut, four by four in one piece, and are drilled with a tolerance of 0.5 millimetres. From another line come the planks that will become shelves. They are sorted and then nailed to the edge lists.

the bags of screws out of the big boxes they are delivered in from Taiwan, in the right number and at the right speed, required a lot of thinking. At the same time the legs are bound together in pairs and drilled with 28 holes in a single resolute action.

The line was principally constructed


to produce shelves and legs separately, produced as loose components, and this represented 80 percent of initial production. The remaining 20 percent comprised additional shelves, known as units, in separate packages. That proportion has now reversed, due to demand from IKEA customers. The individual shelf packets have now increased to 80 percent of production, and this now triggered a second phase for the production line. Amongst other things, corrugated pallets are used as carriers. They are manufactured on the production line by a robot from ABB. Another robot staples the finished products on the corrugated pallets to packets. Completely new challenges, says Frage, and looks almost full of appreciation. In an untested control system of

And now its on site: a completely unique and largely automated production line, customised to meet IKEAs requirement of always being able to offer its customers a Gorm shelf, regardless of where in Europe theyre located.

The nailing line is fully automated and uses hydraulics to attach the 300 nails that are used each minute. Thats about 66 million nails a year. As the hardness of the timber varies, we chose to use hydraulics, which presses in the nails to the same depth each time, instead of compressed air, which shoots them into the wood, explains Frage. Following that, a bag of screws and mounting instructions are glued to each shelf before it is packaged, either loose or in a packet complete with legs and diagonal braces. Simply working out a way to get

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such complexity, bugs naturally occur on a regular basis; a fault here and a fault there lead to a third fault that no-one was able to predict in advance. And since the speed of the production line is so high and the bugs occur intermittently over long periods of time, a mobile camera system has been installed that films the tasks in which problems are encountered. The human eye has quite simply no chance of keeping up, says Frage. Now, the operators note down when the fault occurred so that we can find it on the film and see what happened. This is simple and inexpensive we just needed to come up with the idea.

Both Frage and Wilhelmsson also say that staff collaboration has been crucial to achieving successful results. The operators of the new line have been involved from the start theyve heaved the machines into place, laid cables and seen the line take shape.

This means that all new employees have also taken part in the entire process. Theyve not been presented with a finished concept but instead have been involved in building up something unique something that they take great responsibility for themselves. The operators are the best maintenance personnel, says Wilhelmsson, summing up. They help with troubleshooting, can access the control system and make changes, deal with non-functioning cables and change layers. And as theres no need to wait for maintenance staff to tackle any faults that arise, downtime in production is minimised.

we arent quite there yet. Frage estimates that theyve achieved 90 percent of their goal, which is being compensated by some extra time. But for a completely new and untested facility of such capacity, he still considers that the growth in production has been satisfactory. He hasnt received any complaints either. Of course, the aim is to reach 100 percent nothing else will do but with small time adjustments, weve done what we committed to doing. All that remains now is to do the fine-tuning.
Mats Wigardt Images: Olle Melkerhed
Footnote: Gorm was the king of Denmark in the first half of the 900s. He was also father of Harald Bluetooth. According to king Sven Estridsen, Gorm was a dreadful snake who was to a large extent antagonistic towards all Christians.

When the production line for the


Gorm shelving was commissioned, the aim was to reach full capacity by the end of 2010 or beginning of 2011, with a million shelves manufactured. And weve come a long way, but

all those working at the factory have been involved in building up something completely unique.
Lennart Wilhelmsson, SCA

Jan-Erik Frage, Site Manager, and Lennart Wilhelmsson, Development Manager at SCA Timber.

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As SCA Timber grows and the customer base is consolidated, we are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of optimising the entire value chain. Flexible logistics is one example. This is why finished components are delivered on cassettes to door manufacturer JELD-WEN in the UK directly from the planing mill at Tunadal Sawmill.

Efficient loading solution for sensitive products


J
ELD-WEN is the worlds biggest door manufacturer. From its origins as a local family business in Oregon, USA, the company has expanded into a major international wood industry corporation. It has had operations in the UK since 1999 and is currently the countrys leading supplier of doors and windows. One factor that contributed to JELD-WEN choosing SCA as a preferred supplier was SCAs logistics solution. This is a business that has grown enormously over a short space of time, says Markus Henningsson, Key Account Manager for JELD-WEN at SCA Timber. Today, around 20,000 cubic metres are sent from Tunadal to JELD-WENs UK factories. Twice a week, door and window components are loaded on special cassettes at the planing mill in Tunadal and driven onboard a ship bound for Tilbury, just outside London. There, they are lifted out onto lorries to be transported on to their final destinations. The cassettes 12 metre-long and 2.60 metre-wide iron platforms were actually developed for sensitive paper products. But they have proved equally effective for processed wood. customer. The wood must not be damaged, become damp or get dirty. Each re-shipment involves the risk of damage. Using SCA Transforests system ships has thus proved an ideal solution: its safe, careful and resource-efficient.

Henningsson, who has recently taken


up a business development post at SCA Timber in France, is convinced that the system of using cassettes to transport components to the UK is here to stay. But other solutions may be required for other markets, he says. In the thesis that Markus, in collaboration with SCA, presented at Linkping University, he also states the importance of flexible logistics and efficient distribution when the degree of processing at sawmills increases. With a more fit-for-purpose range, its important to come up with costeffective solutions for the entire value chain, he says. And to know which solution is optimal for each product and customer.
Mats Wigardt

When JELD-WEN was planning to


streamline its raw materials processing for manufacturing doors and windows the other year, the company started discussing various alternatives with SCA Timber. The discussions resulted in collaboration with SCA Timber, which had sufficient resources to be able to integrate parts of the processing in the sawmill in Tunadal, thereby guaranteeing suitable raw material finished product components based on the customers own specifications and service requirements in sufficient volumes.

With finished components, its particularly important that the quality is maintained all the way to the

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team spirit creates


The concept of partnering - creating trusted cross-disciplinary project teams from construction clients and contractors - is now an established one. Innovative use of this concept in retailing has created a profitable bond of excellence between DIY retailer Wickes, its parent company Travis Perkins, and SCA Timber in Britain and Sweden. Its a fluid, responsive partnership with a single aim: satisfying end-user customers, says SCA Timber Supplys Head of Procurement, Paul Oldham.

Wickes is not an every-day customer: we are partners in growth, Paul Oldham states. The Wickes chain of 197 stores UK-wide focuses on the experienced DIY enthusiast and the smaller tradesmen, with its offering of over 4,000 building, decorating and garden-related product lines. Founded on trust built up over recent years, the Wickes-SCA team spirit is manifest in the supply chain for solid timber decking, produced by SCA Munksund sawmill. Product Manager Anders Petersson comments: Its an open and transparent partnership. Were acting as our customers manufacturing unit, as if were part of their business.

This spring has seen Wickes solid


timber decking sales increase dramatically, despite the lack-lustre British economy. Added together, the decking products sold to Wickes consumer and tradesman customers would almost reach from London to Cairo. Whats at the root of this success?

Close monitoring of every factor from Britains famously-changeable weather to sawmill production and deliveries. Weekly telephone meetings throughout the main decking sales season bring together a friendly but professional dual-company team, with disciplines ranging from advertising and marketing to procurement and logistics. Wickes Buying Controller Bob Albery relates: The strength of this partnership lies in trust, collaboration, and in the continuity we get from working with SCA. Its a huge advantage that SCA owns the whole supply chain from tree to finished product. The key factors for us are product quality, consistency across operations and delivery, and the ability to maintain the supply chain, even when were way above forecasts.

Seasonality Supply Manager; Tarnia Carson, Category Supply Manager; Akil Panjwani, Garden Category Manager, and Nickki Malkan, Supply Chain Analyst. Team meetings are chaired by SCAs national account manager Nic Attwell, a renowned decking specialist, and include SCAs Paul Oldham on procurement, and David Foster, SCA Timber Supplys head of logistics. Also integral to the SCA side of the partnership is mill liaison & shipping manager Diane Bailey at SCA Timber Supplys Hull facility.

Bob Albery says a combination of


unusually good weather, a late Easter and an extra public holiday for the recent royal wedding have benefitted the decking sales environment. Wickes has capitalized on this through targeted advertising: The Wickes brand is being revitalised by projecting product quality in various categories, Bob Albery comments. Our decking is miles better on quality and we benchmark price against our competitors.

The Wickes side of the dual-company team comprises: Bob Albery; Nicola Bourlet, Buyer; Mike Farrants, Product Manager; Dave Maddison,

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good business

Mike Farrants, Product Manager, Wickes;Nicola Bourlet, Buyer, Wickes; Bob Albery,Buying Controller, Wickes, andNic Attwell of SCA Timber Supply.

The television advertising campaign radiates solid timber quality and appeals to customer desires for a lasting, home-enhancing result. It simultaneously promotes Wickes reputation for quality in the wider marketplace. Comparing Easter 2011 with Easter 2010, sales are exceptionally high. Its a real testament to SCA that they can flex with us and keep us supplied even when were so much above forecast. We also look to SCA for innovation. Future success relies on making life easier for the end customer, so were working together on a readystained decking product. This saves the customers time from installation forward.

Paul Oldham, David Foster and Diane Bailey, SCA Timber Supply.

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Bob Albery also realises the importance of physical access to the future of decking sales: The ordering of decking is still roughly 80 percent storebased and 20 percent by other means, but an integrated offering is essential in todays marketplace, he asserts. Weve opened up a new customerbase through our Big & Bulky supply service, launched last year. Customers can order online or by telephone and have products delivered next-day. Its had a disproportionately beneficial

effect on sales of longer decking lengths.

The Travis Perkins decking offering


differs from Wickes in the broad range of customer types it needs to serve. Travis Perkins is involved with major contractors in the construction sector and providers of social housing, as well as serving landscaping contractors and jobbing builders. Our marketing proposition is a quality product, capable of suiting a wide variety

of end users, explains Martin Cunliffe, Timber Buying Manager at Travis Perkins. In our marketing, decking features amongst a number of solutions in our annuallandscaping brochure, which we present in a format that builders and contractors can use to show their customers. It covers our complete range from softwood decking to composite decking made from recycled wood-based materials and hardwood decking. We promote our

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range through local radio and through other messaging media. Full boat-loads of decking, this time produced at SCAs Bollsta sawmill, arrive at a dedicated Travis Perkins Timber Supply Centre at Kings Lynn on the UKs East Anglian coast, from which theyre distributed across the Travis Perkins 600+ branch network. Forecasting sales in a market including large-scale construction is a totally different science to that used by our colleagues at Wickes. Influencing factors vary as widely as our customer base. The weather and seasonal factors affect smaller trade customers, whilst the macro-economic situation affects larger-scale construction. For example when the UKs recession began, it would have been logical for decking sales to follow the market downwards, but conversely they went up. Thats because decking represents less of an investment than, say, paving slabs, Martin Cunliffe reports.

ification and orders we place: theres no room for manoeuvre. The old-fashioned notion that nearly right is right enough does not work in todays efficiency-driven construction market. Construction companies expect Travis Perkins to deliver, and we expect the same of our suppliers. Martin Cunliffe also sees an emerging hierarchy in the decking product category: Specifiers are being attracted to recycled products which are being promoted by producers as an environment-friendly option. This trend though is a long way from impacting softwood decking markets, he confirms.

Summarising the inter-linking relationship between Wickes, Travis Perkins and SCA, Nic Attwell concludes: Business needs to be profitable for all parties. The seamless integration which SCA and its customers have attained on timber decking shows just what can be achieved when all parties are focussed totally on serving the end-ofchain customer. Text: Camilla Hair Photos: John Attwell
Construction companies expect Travis Perkins to deliver, and we expect the same of our suppliers, says Martin Cunliffe, Timber Buying Manager, Travis Perkins.

Working with construction contractors makes significant demands on the merchantsupplier partnership, Martin Cunliffe relates: We rely on companies like SCA to fulfil precisely the spec-

Getting to grips with the supply chain


Which factors are most important at
merchant or retailer level when launching a new product? This is the topic currently being investigated by Wei Guan, Ph.D. student at Linkping University. The research is being conducted on behalf of SCA Timber. Wei has already presented her Licentiate thesis showing the structure and development of the distribution sector in the UK.

Daniel Ellstrm is the second Ph.D.


student conducting research on behalf of SCA Timber. Daniel, who is being employed by SCA for the duration of the project, started in September 2010.

The project primarily targets the


national builders merchant groups in the UK and aims to increase supply chain efficiency by standardising the product range offered to their stores. By encouraging a customer with multiple stores all over Britain to sell the same products in all their outlets, increased efficiency can be obtained in both product manufacturing and distribution. The challenge in this project is to understand the effect on local outlets and particularly how end-customers - builders and DIYers - would react to such a change.
Wei Guan and Daniel Ellstrm, Ph.D. students conducting research on behalf of SCA Timber.
Photo: Johan Holtstrm, IEI, LiU.

The continuing project focuses on marketing new products and is being conducted in three phases. The initial stage is to identify and describe successful case studies in the building materials sector. The second is to link them to perceptions and activities at distributor level. The final phase is the identification of key factors for successful product launches, which hopefully will help SCA improve its understanding of the builders merchant market.
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painted exterior cladding

save time and improve quality


Its now possible for Scandinavian builders merchants to order surface-treated exterior cladding from SCA Timbers painting facility in Stugun. These industrially-painted cladding offer advantages in terms of quality and time savings for both of builders merchant customers and housing producers.
As a buildings outer shell, exterior cladding is vulnerable, being exposed to weather and to the changing seasons, with their varying temperatures and humidity. UV radiation, pollutants and micro-organisms, including mould and algae, are examples of external factors that reduce the durability of the wood. To efficiently protect the timber and prolong durability, it is important to surface-treat the wood while it is fresh. SCA Timbers exterior cladding, made of slow-grown Norrland pine, is planed directly before basic surface treatment to guarantee that the surface is completely free from pollutants. Apart from priming, there is the option of treating the cladding with further intermediate coats of alkyd- or acrylate-based top coat. When the industrially surface-treated cladding is then mounted on the building, one or two final coats are recommended. The various treatment options can be carried out using the paint colour of your choice from the ranges of well-known paint suppliers, based on the international Natural Color System (NCS). There is also the option of selecting the amount of paint for each individual coat; a standard coat consists of a 60my (180 g/m2) paint layer.
Text: Ingrid Lfqvist Images: Per-Anders Sjquist

SCA Timbers painting facility has an annual production capacity of 20,000 m3. The boards are heated up for optimal paint penetration and are painted on three sides in the spray box, which has a capacity of 90 running metres of board per minute.

sca timbers surface-treated exterior cladding


Industrially painted at our own painting facility Alternative surface treatments Amount of paint controlled by weighing the board before and after painting Controlled moisture content and drying process Varying sawing techniques for different profiles NCS colour of your choice

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the counter save customers time


For some years SCA Timber has been the main supplier of solid wood products to the family company XL-BYGG Fresks, comprising seven units, which is one of the hundreds of part-owners of the Scandinavian builders merchant chain XL-BYGG. One of the products supplied is cladding, and the company is seeing increasing demand from their customers for surface-treated exterior cladding.
There is a clear trend amongst our customers to buy more finished products. Primed cladding have formed part of our range for over five years, and were seeing an increase in demand. The option to offer customers primed exterior cladding, perhaps supplemented by an additional coat, is right for the times. Painting a house takes time but in the store, the customer is presented with the opportunity of skipping one or more time-consuming tasks, according to Leif Lindholm, CEO of XL-BYGG Fresks. Lindholm and his employees have seen a general increase in interest in packaged solutions that encompass everything from the product to assembly quite simply everything that facilitates customers decisions and work-load. XLBYGG Fresks stores also offer interior design consultations, with the consultant visiting the customers home and providing advice on conversions, colour schemes and choice of materials. Getting help has become more accepted. Its also a question of age the younger generation have very little time and prefer to buy services that make things easier for them in their daily lives, says Lindholm. He continues: Sure, its more expensive for the customer to buy primed cladding instead of untreated exterior cladding, but you have to look at the deal as a whole. It also costs money to buy paint, brushes and cleaning fluids, and the labour costs also need to be weighed in. As builders merchants, we lose out on paint sales when the customer buys primed products, but you need to look at the customer benefit. A customer who is satisfied with the quality and service will return in any case, theyll need to buy paint for the final coat, says Lindholm, summing up. XL-BYGG is a chain of almost 100 independent builders merchants spanning the whole of Sweden. Together with colleagues in Norway and Denmark, they form Scandinavias highest-profile builders merchants, with a total of 270 stores.
Text and photographs: Ingrid Lfqvist

ready-painted products sold over

For more information: www.xlbygg.se


Ytbehandlad fasadpanel efterfrgas av Surface-treate dexterior cladding is in demand bde professionella hantverkare and individual by both professional tradespeople och enskilda konsumenter, sger to Lindholm, vd p consumers, accordingLeifLeif Lindholm, CEO of XL-Bygg Fresks, hr med SCA SCA Timbers XL-Bygg Fresks, pictured here withTimbers grundmlade fasadpanel. primed exterior cladding.

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NOTICES
sca timber makes sawmills more efficient
sca timber is co-ordinating the sawmills Munksund in Pite and Holmsund in Ume into an organisation with joint management. Holmsund sawmill specialises in smaller dimension sawn timber and Munksund in thicker dimension timber. The change means that production will become more cost-effective, which will help make SCA Timber more competitive. Both sawmills only produce pine products. Holmsund sawmill will maintain its production level of around 90,000 cubic metres of sawn solid wood products, but will process more logs than today. Munksund Sawmill currently produces around 430,000 cubic metres of wood products. The changes mean focusing on bigger dimensions but maintaining total production. Productive and cost-efficient manufacturing facilities are necessary for long-term competitiveness. By having different areas of specialisation at the sawmills, we can use both facilities better. Well also be able to make better use of the raw materials in the region, says Anders Nilsson, head of Munksund sawmill and head of the joint sawmill organisation.

SCA Timber invests in china


sca timber china has opened a sales company in Hong Kong. The company purchases solid wood products from SCAs sawmills and sells them on to customers in China and South East Asia. Products from external sawmills will also be purchased. With its four employees, the sales company has several advantages. For example, customers are served by staff who speak Chinese, know the regulatory framework and work the same hours. Also, administration for the sawmills that sell to China is simplified. Greater administrative efficiency gives lower sales costs. This year, were counting on selling around 55,000 cubic metres, says Mathias Fridholm, Managing Director of SCA Timber China & S.E. Asia Ltd. It is hoped that volumes will increase over the coming years. Between 2008 and 2010, imports of sawn solid wood products to China were doubled. Development in China takes place quickly, and manufacturing is moving away from a high degree of manual work to production in facilities resulting from new investments, similar to facilities in Europe. This means that demands on products are increasing. China is a market to reckon with where all raw materials and basic products are concerned, says Jonas Mrtensson, President of SCA Timber. Its therefore important to build an organisation that can cope with the future and the greater demands on knowledge transfer and technical sales, something that Chinese customers are increasingly likely to demand.

in new posts
daniel holmgren, Product Manager for processed wood products at Munksund sawmill, took up a new post on 1 April in SCA Timbers marketing organisation as Key Account Manager. Daniel will be working with sales and supply chain issues in relation to Dovista and Hedlunda Industrier, two of SCA Timbers biggest component customers. Birgitta Bostrm, Product Manager at Rundvik sawmill, will be moving to SCA Skog, taking up a new post as forest manager at Vsterbotten Forest Administration.

lars andersson, Sawmill Manager at Vilhelminasawmill, will be taking over Birgitta Bostrms post as of 1 September 2011 as product manager at Rundvik sawmill.

anders nilsson, sawmill manager at Munksund sawmill, will be taking over the position of sawmill manager at Holmsund Sawmill as of 1 September 2011.

gustav eriksson, Sawmill Manager at Holmsund sawmill, will be taking over the position of Sawmill Manager at Rundvik Sawmill as of 1 September 2011. Sten Olov Andersson, current Sawmill Manager, will be retiring at the beginning of 2012 and will be working on projects within SCA Timber until that time.

sca invests SEK 290 million in Bollsta sawmill


sca is investing SEK 290 million in Bollsta sawmill, to provide two new biofuel boilers, greater drying capacity and an upgraded saw line. The investment will increase production capacity, efficiency and profitability, whilst making the sawmill more environmentally-friendly. The biofuel boilers, which are fired with bark and other residues from the sawmill, involve a decrease in oil consumption of 3,400 cubic metres per year. Fossil-fuel carbon dioxide emissions from the sawmill will be almost entirely eliminated. Of the total investment sum, SEK 37 million will provide a timber sorting facility that will be
equipped with new technology for the entire timber management process. A new, 80 metre-long line with 78 sorting compartments will improve precision and provide opportunities to add further grades of timber. In the new facility, logs can be transferred to the sorting compartments at a speeds of 200 metres per minute. The combined effect of the investments will increase the sawmills production capacity from 450,000 to 525,000 cubic metres of sawn pine products per year

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unsettled spring in solid wood products market


Production limitations around the turn of the year stabilised the market after a troublesome autumn. But since then, we have been on a real rollercoaster ride. Our main markets in Europe have continued to slowly increase consumption, which has been entirely in line with our forecasts. Instability in the Arab world and in Japan, on the other hand, has had a negative impact. The biggest negative effect on our markets, however, has been caused by the sawmills high production rates in both Scandinavia and Central Europe.
he total level of new-builds continues to be low in both Western Europe and the United States. However, a slow recovery from the lowest point in 2010 is discernible. This growth is distributed very differently between economically strong and weak countries. Germany, France and Scandinavia are experiencing good growth, while in the UK, Ireland and a number of Mediterranean countries, growth is weak. The important European renovation sector continues to be significantly more stable than the new-build market. Several countries are offering grants for repairs, maintenance, renovations and extensions, the latest of these being Denmark. As a result of the difficulties faced by European sawmills in respect of their historic markets in the mainland Europe, exports to new markets have gradually increased. The biggest of these market areas is North Africa and the Middle East. This is a region characterised by a young and rapidly growing population that is crying out for new housing. It is also a part of the world that is experiencing economic growth far in excess of that in Europe. In the last few years, the volume of pine timber imported into the region has soared past the levels in the European market. The instability we have seen in the region during the first quarter has involved lower consumption, but to a lesser extent than we anticipated. In our assessment, we will lose 1015 percent of annual consumption in Egypt but consumption in other major markets will hardly fall at all. The major exception here, however, is Libya, where all imports and sales have ceased since the war broke out. Libya is a relatively small market for Scandinavian sawmills, but it is important for Austria. The best-case scenario is that we are now over the worst with the exception of Libya. However, if trouble was to flare up again in Egypt and/or spread to other major markets in the region (Algeria, Morocco and Saudi Arabia), it may have a significant effect on market balance. The natural disaster in Japan destroyed cities and communities in north-east Japan. Here, we assess that a major reconstruction programme will begin in late autumn. Since timber-frame houses hold a market share of around 55 percent in Japan, it is reasonable to assume that this sector will provide an upturn in volumes over the next 12 years. Wooden houses are considered to have excellent properties for withstanding earthquakes, which is an important factor in Japan. SCA Timbers sales to China are growing at a rapid pace. As early as the end of June, we will have delivered more than we did in the whole of 2010, and the trend is towards a constant increase. Production in spring 2011 in the five major European producing countries (Germany, Russia, Sweden, Austria and Finland) is assessed to be 67 percent higher than last year, which is a rate of production beyond that for which sawmills have so far found satisfactory markets. We estimate, however, that production levels will decrease over the next six months, the reason for this primarily being the sawmills weak profitability. As the current high production rate makes price increases difficult as a means of improving profitability, the only course of action is for the sawmills to try limiting their costs. The most important cost item is logs , which can only be reduced through lower demand. Less logs results automatically in lower production. The Euro prices of sawn spruce products increased during the spring, although this increase levelled out in Q2. Price increases for pine have been more limited. Despite these adjustments, the price in Swedish Kronor has fallen somewhat due to the stronger Krona in relation to foreign currencies. If production is limited and there are no further negative events in North Africa or the Middle East, the market should once again be boosted in the autumn.
Anders Ek, Marketing Director, SCA Timber

stocks of sawn softwood in sweden (statistical group) January 2003-May 2011


1 000 m3

1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Whitewood 12 months mov. average Redwood 12 months mov. average

Stocks at Swedish sawmills increased in spring 2011. The stock level at the end of April was at an historic average level.

15 | timbernews

elks annual dip


Each year, the elks choose the same place to swim across River ngermanlven on their way to summer pasture. Photo: Erland Segerstedt

When the ice breaks in River ngermanlven and the warmth of spring brings nature to life once again, its time for the elks to take their annual dip at Kullberg. There, hundreds of elks swim across the river on their way to summer pasture.

very year at the end of April/ beginning of May, the stomachs of the hungry elks start to rumble. Just over 150 of the beasts make their way across River ngermanlven just below Kjell Mhlers and Irene Hgglunds tourist centre in Kullberg, just north of Junsele in northern Sweden, to their summer pasture. But this year, the elks started stomping around impatiently along the river bank in mid-April. The sudden spring weather had made the ice and snow melt.

Photographer Erland Segerstedt had to hurry to pack his camera. But after three days wait, he was close to giving up. He hadnt seen a single elk in the river. But, at that precise moment, two elks climbed down into the water and

started swimming across the river towards Erland. He lifted up his camera and started snapping away. Later that evening, he saw how another twelve elks did the same thing, but by then, it was too dark to take any photos. Every year we count more than 150 elks swimming across the river, says Mhler. We think there are just as many again that make the crossing, maybe under cover of darkness. He and Irene have lived in Kullberg since 1994, where there is a youth hostel, cottages, a barn for dancing and a barbecue area. Theyve even designed a special elk room offering visitors a view of the spot down by the water where the elks usually turn up prior to crossing the river.

Its likely that theyve taken the same route for thousands of years. On the

neck of land next to the river where the elks now climb ashore, there is a row of trapping pits. Elks take ancient routes that often follow rivers, says archeologist Margareta Bergvall from Murberget (Vsternorrland County Museum) in Hrnsand. For this reason, there were both settlements and trapping pits along the elk route in the Stone Age. But theres unlikely to ever be a rush to see the river-crossing action at Kullberg. Besides, both the elks and the weather are too unpredictable. Waiting day in, day out for the elks to arrive requires patience and plenty of time. We wouldnt want a lot of people here anyway, says Kjell. If there are too many people around, the elks will probably take a different route.
Mats Wigardt timbernews | 16

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