TORONTO - It was tough to end the Toronto Woodworking Machinery and Supply Expo Saturday as attendees hung out in clusters in booths. Exhibiting companies increased a dramatic 23 percent from the previous show at the International Centre in Mississauga, an industrial suburb at the edge of the city within where the Toronto airport is located.By the NumbersRegistered Attendees: 4,000Exhibitor Personnel: 1,400Brands Exhibited: 260+Product Categories: 50Countries Represented: 35

Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek will merge, creating a $23 billion timber, land and forest products company structured as a real estate investment trust (REIT), in an all-stock transaction. Plum Creek holds 6 million acres of forest in 19 states, and operates wood products mills in the Northwest.

JB Cutting’s corporate headquarters in Mount Clemens, MI completed a $300,000 total renovation project to convert the 3,000 square foot combined office and break room into an open office by re-imagining the layout and diminishing some of the under-utilized break room.

Lowe's Holoroom, an augmented reality room visualizer that lets customers walk right into a virtual kitchen cabinet design, will be installed in 19 stores across the United States beginning this month.

Mass-Granite, a granite countertop manufacturer in Acton, MA, faces $87,000 in OSHA fines for exposing employees to safety hazards, including some for which it was fined previously but didn't correct, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration.

Alphacam has expanded its rapidly growing technical support department with the addition of a new applications engineer to serve its burgeoning customer base.Recently hired Applications Engineer Justin Maynard contributes extensive practical knowledge in support of Alphacam users. Having accrued eight years of experience as a CNC programmer and machinist, Maynard has garnered hands-on knowledge that will aid in delivering top-notch customer support.

Organizers of LIGNA, the giant biennial wood manufacturing trade show, will launch a companion conference series during the off-years. The first will be held May 3-4, 2016 in Hannover, Germany, carries the theme, "Integrated Manufacturing in the Woodworking Industries - the Woodworking Community on its way to Industry 4.0." LIGNA also resets exhibitor categories.

Panel processing and the integration of machines and technology were discussed in a recent webcast. Broadcast recently, “Panel Processing in the 21st Century,” addresses a number of developments including panel sizing, edgebanding, material handling systems and software.

Sunbelt Forest Products subsidiary of wood products firm PalletOne, Inc., has announced the purchase of two pressure treated wood facilities from Southeast Wood Treating of Montgomery, Alabama.

A consortium of more than 40 Canadian woodworking shops that build furniture brought their shared manufacturing model to furniture buyers and sellers at the fall 2015 High Point Market in North Carolina last month.