Release #: C16-07
Date: November 16, 2007
APA Contact: Jack Merry, 253-620-7413, E-mail: jack.merry@apawood.org
Note to Editors: Photos of the APA annual meeting will be posted soon.
70th APA Annual Meeting Draws 375 to Indian Wells, California
Some 375 representatives of the engineered wood products industry, including APA member manufacturers; product, equipment and service suppliers; spouses; media; and guests, converged at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells, California Nov. 10-12 for the 70th annual meeting of APA.
The three-day event featured reports on the housing market and global fiber developments; roundtable discussions on green building, biofuels, and adhesive industry challenges; recognition of mill safety program award winners; and a record number of exhibitors at the Info Fair supplier exhibition, among numerous other highlights.
Speaking at his last APA annual meeting as chairman of the APA Board of Trustees, Jonathan Martin, chairman and CEO of Roy O. Martin Lumber Company, Alexandria, La., told a general session audience that the industry faces “some difficult conditions right now. But as an association,” he added, “we are financially strong. We have an excellent staff. We have an excellent strategic plan. We are prepared for contingencies. And we have strong leadership. I like our chances going forward.”
Succeeding Martin as chairman of the board immediately following the meeting was Richard Huff, vice president and general manager at Tolko Industries Ltd., Vernon, BC. Also elected vice chairman was Jim Enright, president of Standard Structures Inc., Windsor, Calif.
During his address to the membership, Martin also announced that the recipient of the 3rd annual Bronson J. Lewis Award was Thomas Maloney, director emeritus of the Wood Materials and Engineering Laboratory at Washington State University and founder of the International Wood Composites Symposium. The award is dedicated to Bronson J. Lewis, whose 24 years of service as secretary and then executive vice president of APA spanned both the introduction of southern pine plywood and the advent of oriented strand board. The award honors individuals for their leadership and contributions to the engineered wood products industry. Accepting the award on behalf of Maloney, who could not attend, was his longtime colleague and friend C. James Quann, registrar emeritus at Washington State University.
APA President Dennis Hardman, while acknowledging that the past year has been a challenging one for the industry, said it also has been “a promising one. I can tell you with confidence,” he said, “that you, through your association, have laid a strong foundation for better times to come.” He then went on to update the attendees on APA’s market access and industry integration activities, two of the five goals in the Association’s Vision 2009 strategic plan. He reported that industry nonresidential construction and Gulf Coast rebuilding programs are moving forward under the auspices of the Wood Products Council, and praised the Engineered Wood Technology Association (EWTA), APA’s related supplier organization, as “a valuable asset for industry networking and information transfer.”
Hardman reminded the delegates that “if there’s a good thing about bad times, it’s the realization that economic downturns eventually give way to upswings, and that setbacks will yield to successes—provided we do our part to prepare for the opportunities that lie ahead.”
General session keynote speakers were Jim Bowyer, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, and David Lereah, executive vice president of Move Inc., which operates Realtor.com, the official web site of the National Association of Realtors. Bowyer spoke on biofuel and bioenergy developments; Lereah on the housing market.
Bowyer also lead a roundtable session discussion on the biofuel topic. Other roundtable sessions covered green building, led by Ward Hubbell, executive director of the Green Building Initiative, and adhesive trends and issues, led by Earl Phillips, phenolic resins technology manager at Hexion Specialty Chemicals.
The Info Fair supplier exhibition, sponsored each year in conjunction with the meeting by EWTA, featured a record 70 exhibitors. EWTA Managing Director Terry Kerwood also presented Supplier of the Year Awards to Panel World magazine, consultant category; Ventek, Inc., equipment category; and Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc., materials and supplies category. The supplier awards program recognizes the value and importance of the business relationships between APA member companies and their EWTA member suppliers.
Also recognized for their years of continuous participation at Info Fair were Raute, Willamette Valley Company and Coe Newnes McGehee, all of whom have been at all 15 Info Fairs. Others receiving recognition were Adalis Corporation, 14 years; Corvallis Tool Company, GreCon, Inc., Spar-Tek Industries Inc. and Ventek, Inc., 12 years; Ashland Performance Materials, Durr Systems, Inc., Grenzebach Corp. and TSI, 11 years; and Carmanah Design & Manufacturing Inc., Matthews Marking Products and Mill Machinery LLC, 10 years.
The meeting also included a special awards banquet for the winners of the latest APA mill safety competition. A total of 18 awards are given in three categories—Divisional, Three-Year Average Divisional, and Top Ten. Companies earning multiple awards included LP (six awards), Weyerhaeuser Company (five), Georgia-Pacific Wood Products LLC (three), and PlyVeneer Products (two). The other winners were Norbord Inc. and Boise Cascade LLC. The annual competition honors the management and employees of facilities with the lowest incidence rates based on guidelines established by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Eleven of the 16 winning mills posted perfect zero incidence rates.
Other meeting highlights included a market forecast presented by APA Market Research Director Craig Adair, an assessment of the California market by APA Engineered Wood Specialist Greg Bates, and APA Strategic Marketing Plan activity updates.
APA’s 2008 annul meeting and Info Fair will be held Sept. 21-23 at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, Nev.
Based in Tacoma, Wash., APA is a nonprofit trade association representing North American manufacturers of plywood, oriented strand board, glued laminated timber, wood I-joists, laminated veneer lumber, and other engineered wood products. Its primary functions are quality auditing and testing, applied research, and market support and development.