Arauco North America is investing $325 million to build the largest continuous press particleboard mill in North America. Located in Grayling, MI, the new mill will produce 424MMSF (750 MCM) of panels per year, along with full lamination capabilities to support the Prism TFL decorative surfacing program.

The Canfor (TSX:CFP) sawmill in Canal Flats, British Columbia, which has a two-shift production capacity of 180 million board feet, will permanently close in November 2015. Employees will be transferred to other sawmills.

As timber grows, it soaks up carbon dioxide, and that carbon is stored in wood products, a carbon sink mitigates climate change. About half of the dry weight of wood is stored carbon; while 16 percent of global fossil fuel goes into manufacturing steel, concrete and bricks. www.TheMostNaturalResource.com. touts benefits of building with wood.

The FurniQi RTA side table, with Qi wireless charging technology, is made from hand-harvested Mao Zhu bamboo and is expected to launch in October.

What’s the best method for profile cutting veneered plywood without getting tearout? We asked, and you answered, in the first Shop Smart challenge presented by Woodworking Network. Woodworking experts put their know-how to the test, for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card.

Furniture maker Southern Enterprises leased 148,635 square feet at the LogistiCenter at Cheyenne distribution center in Las Vegas, NV.

Plywood, flooring and green mills would be removed and fees would be scaled back under a simplified Hardwood Checkoff program being proposed by sponsors. The proposed changes to the "Hardwood Lumber and Hardwood Plywood Promotion, Research, and Information Order" would result in program funding being cut from an estimated $10 million down to around $3 million to $4 million.

London-based OpenDesk is a plywood furniture startup seeking to change the face of furniture making and design by offering open-sourced designs that can be manufactured locally and delivered flatpacked to consumers. The start-up plans to "use Local CNC's to do to IKEA what Airbnb did to hotels.

ATLANTA -- Georgia-Pacific announced a sales and distribution agreement with Lamco Forest Products for the production of laminated fingerjointed lumber (LFL) products, to be sold under the Georgia-Pacific brand.Based in Quebec, Lamco says it uses a patented process combining double tongue and groove and fingerjoints to produce the engineered wood structural building products. (See video, courtesy of Lamco.)[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"79176","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]

Masco CFO John Snzewajs spoke at the RBC Capital Markets Global Industrials Conference today, stating he is proud of progress at the maker of KraftMaid, Merillat and QualityCabinets in turning around its cabinets business. Masco saw cabinetry sales decline in the last quarter of 2014 on implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning computer system.