Ready to jump Down Under
Submitted by The EWPAA
“The Australian timber industry must focus on preparing for an inevitable upturn in the economy or risk losing market share,” says Simon Dorries, General Manager of the Engineered Woods Products Association of Australasia. “The industry must be ready to act on competitive products, including timber imports; as they also emerge from the downturn they won’t be putting as much pressure on our markets.”
“Forest and wood products businesses that are agile and prepared for the next cycle will steal the march on their competitors,” Dorries adds.
The EWPAA now speaks for a notable portion of the timber industry. It represents plywood, LVL, particleboard and MDF manufacturers and services an industry in Australia and New Zealand valued at well over $1 billion, supporting more than 5,000 jobs.
Newly-elected EWPAA President Ben Sawley, who is General Manger of Boral Timber’s plywood division, says the development of new and insightful engineered wood product solutions was the Australian industry’s answer to competition from wood alternatives.
“These products will give us a smoother – and safer – ride in the downturn as well as positioning Australian businesses well for the inevitable industry rebound,” Sawley says.
“Also, the engineered wood panels industry is well placed to be a part of the climate change solution, through carbon sequestration in wood fiber. The more engineered wood panels can displace high-embodied energy panels such as steel and aluminum, the less carbon will be released into the atmosphere and the more carbon will be locked into wood panels.”
Sawley says through product innovation, unrivalled service and support, and the strictest adherence to Australasian building codes and compliance, the Australasian engineered wood industry is well placed for the future.
“EWPAA members have continuously, over a long history, provided the building and construction sectors with a ‘gold standard’ for certified products, a standard unmatched by overseas competitors,” he says.
PROMOTING LOW EMISSIONS
An industry-driven organization, the EWPAA remains fiercely independent of government support and is voluntarily funded by veneer, plywood, LVL and wood panel manufacturers in Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.
The EWPAA maintains two NATA-accredited laboratories – to test for formaldehyde emissions and for a full range of structural and physical properties. Bond quality from all member plywood and LVL mills is tested daily by the EWPAA laboratories with other properties tested on a monthly basis. The schemes are accredited by the Joint Accreditation System of Australian and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ).
EWPAA has initiated a national consumer campaign to identify and promote low-emission Australasian products, an initiative supported by Australia’s Housing Industry Association and the Furniture Industry Association of Australia.
Thousands of adhesive labels have been distributed to wood panel suppliers and joinery component producers carrying a “peace of mind” assurance that EWPAA members’ engineered wood and panel products have been independently tested and certified for low emission.
“Plywood, particleboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF) stamped with the PAA-EWPAA grade mark is the best guarantee of a safe and dependable product,” says Dorries. “All these products have emissions class E0 or E1 and are certified suitable for use in all residential and commercial applications.”
ENSURING ACCREDITED PRODUCTS
Meanwhile, there is an exciting resurgence in use of “home-grown” plywood products as a building material. This is part of a quiet revolution in Australia in residential and light commercial building practices, where the products are used creatively as exterior cladding, decorative flooring, interior wall and ceiling linings and as a lightweight but strong roofing substrate.
New innovations, like glueline additives for faster, cheaper and enhanced termite resistance by plywood and LVL products, are helping to extend plywood’s versatility. Against this, however, are the increasing quantities of imported “structural” plywood that fail to conform to Australasian standards and in many instances do not have the structural strength of true, certified plywood. Some of these imported products are misrepresented by false labeling or counterfeit stamps.
EWPAA has independently tested Asian structural plywood claiming to have Type “A” bond in its composition. It was found to be something closer to non-structural Type “D” with added dye coloring to make it look like a durable structural Type “A” phenol formaldehyde.
Also, large volumes of imported plywood are unfairly gaining market share in price-driven commodity grades where they are being “off-loaded” well below the cost of production – threatening local businesses and jobs.
Timber traders who misrepresent the structural ability of engineered wood products could face legal action under the Trade Practices Act. These suppliers are damaging their own market and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has put importers of panel and plywood products “on notice” that the marketing and sale of non-compliant and un-branded material is under scrutiny.
MEETING INDUSTRY STANDARDS
All plywood manufactured in Australia and New Zealand originates from certified forests, either Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) or Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
In addition, much of the Australasian plywood product range is now certified for chain of custody under AFS to Australian Standard AS 4707:
2006 or FSC.
Chain of Custody is a management system that ensures that an unbroken link exists from the certified forest to the customer; that products from certified forests can be identified; that no illegal wood enters the distribution chain;
and documentation identifying the origin of materials is verifiable.
This Chain of Custody Standard is intended for voluntary application by any organization that seeks to assure its customers that the certified wood and forest products they buy are sourced from a certified forest. Its application will assist in ensuring or delivering access to domestic and international markets that seek assurances on the origin of wood or forest products from sustainably-managed forests.
With the increasing availability of recycled wood-based raw material in the marketplace, this CoC standard also allows organizations utilizing virgin and recycled raw material to participate in CoC certification of mixed products.
Accredited, independent, third-party certification against this CoC standard provides a clear statement that wood and forest products have been produced in accordance with a set of clearly-defined performance requirements, from certified forests that demonstrate sustainable forest management.
To learn more about the Engineered Woods Products Association of Australasia, please visit: www.paa.asn.au
View Digital Corporate Profile of EWPAA in Manufacturing Digital February 2010