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Crowds Turn Out For Expo
Coming off a great first event in 2011, the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Logging & Biomass Expo, which took place in Selma-Smithfield, NC on September 20-21, was even better. Almost 2,700 attended, the largest component being logger families and employees. With nearly 550 exhibitor staff on hand to talk products, technologies and the overall state of the industry, the event was pulsing with energy.
Friday saw solid attendance not only in the various booths and demos, but from more than 200 students and 12 teachers from around the area. “Swamp Logger” Bobby Goodson commented that having students at the show allowed exhibitors a unique education opportunity.
The show returned to the same tract as in 2011, where owner Allen Wellons and his professional forestry adviser, Mike Perry of Forestry Services, Inc., demonstrated exceptional generosity and cooperation. The central location of the site proved ideal, and the show benefitted further from improved demand for wood products in the region.
Ken Murray with Maxi-Load scales noticed how busy his booth was Saturday, saying, “Lots of people, lots of interest and confirmed sales were a bonus. This was the best show I have attended, period.”
Deere dealers James River and R.W. Moore, just like Maxi-Load, saw lots of traffic Saturday, commenting that it was full in their live demo bleachers, saying the quality of attendees could not be beat.
Peter Anderson and his family from Tarboro, NC were interested in in-woods chippers primarily, citing new and upcoming markets in the area. Dusty Cordelle, from Andrews, NC, said he was there to look at “anything and everything on the good old wish list.”
“The Selma-Smithfield community again supported this large undertaking,” says Doug Duncan, Executive Director of the NCAPL. “Pulling off a live harvesting outdoor event is no small feat and the excellent partnership with the NCAPL, NCFA and Hatton-Brown came through again. We look forward to 2015 and are now identifying future sites in the area.”
Foresters were able to gain three Category I SSF credits, which brought a lot of foresters to the show. Chris Smith, VP of Operations with Wake Forest, NC firm Dougherty & Doughtery Forestry Services, Inc., said he was not only pleased that he obtained SSF credits, but that the family friendly event was an improvement from the previous one. “My family thoroughly enjoyed it and I did notice the improvements in layout, registration and food vendors. I am proud to have such an event in our state and right in our back door.”
David Harsh, a vintage chain saw collector from Amelia Courthouse, Va., was back this year with a not-to-be-missed exhibit. His cranking of vintage saws drew plenty of crowds. While most of his 600 chainsaws are indigenous to the Carolinas, he had plenty of old-world German two-man saws that had some of the vintage loggers reminiscing.
As part of a North American factory tour, a group of New Zealand loggers found themselves in Selma-Smithfield at the Expo. Connor McCormick, a second generation logger, runs a crew for his father. He enjoyed the live demos, as some of the equipment is similar to what he has on his job site, albeit on a smaller scale. “We use different systems back home, but there’s lots to learn from how this is done,” he said.
The group toured Caterpillar’s manufacturing facility in LaGrange, Ga., before heading up north to view the Cat facilities in Illinois.
Morbark Hosts Fall Demo Days
Morbark, Inc., held its seventh Demo Days event—its second of the year—with current and potential customers and members of their authorized industrial dealer network in attendance for factory tours, networking opportunities, vendor booths, an informational seminar, and the first Boxer Rodeo Team Leader Competition. The event concluded with demonstrations of equipment for the forestry and recycling markets.
Thursday’s seminar featured Aaron Cozart from Cummins Bridgeway, Steve Kimbell of Superior Diesel, Inc. (John Deere), and Shane Patzer of Michigan CAT, speaking on the upcoming Tier 4 final engine standards.
The Boxer Rodeo showcased Morbark’s newest equipment line, the Boxer compact utility loaders, as staff members raced the mini-skid steers while performing a variety of tasks. Mike Hadanek, Morbark Research and Development Specialist, won the competition.
Approximately 150 people from eight countries attended the Demo Days. Morbark listened to customer feedback when choosing the equipment to run, which included the 2755 Flail Chiparvestor as well as the new 40/36 Whole Tree MicroChipper, which debuted in May. The MicroChipper is designed to produce superior microchips for use by pellet mills and as supplemental fuel for cogeneration at coal facilities.
Completing the demonstration were the Beever M20R forestry chipper, the 50/48 NCL whole tree drum chipper, the 6600 Track Wood Hog horizontal grinder, and the 1600 tub grinder.
Log Cranes Bound For Canada
Fulghum Industries, Inc. reports it has entered into an agreement to manufacture two 170 ft. log handling cranes for use in Canada, purchased by a pellet manufacturer and engineered to handle the extreme Canadian winters on top of an already demanding workload.
Fulghum’s 170 ft. log crane is the largest of Fulghum’s standard-sized cranes and was selected for its size and resilience. With their combined storage capacity, these two cranes will be able to unload, store and feed 1,000,000± metric tons of logs per year, meaning that their operators will be able to process timber even when the roads are too icy for trucks.
TSI Launches Emissions Division
TSI Inc. of Lynnwood, Wash. recently launched its own in-house division for the production of Emission Control Systems, specifically wet electrostatic precipitators (wet ESPs) and regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs). The systems are designed for wood chip and flake drying systems; they clean particulate from the gas stream and remove harmful volatile organics generated by the drying process.They are tailored to work with TSI’s well-known rotary drum drying systems and as such allow TSI to offer the entire system from one source. TSI reports it is the only company in the world that manufactures both dryers and emission control systems.
Andrew Johnson, Vice President of TSI, comments, “We have a long history of working with other suppliers of this equipment with successful results; however, with experience, we began to see shortcomings in design that we were powerless to address and were often left holding the bag for performance issues as a result. The solution was to take matters into our own hands and develop systems that we knew would match the high standards we implement in our other products.”
TSI has hired two highly experienced executives from the emission control industry: Gary Raemhild and Jarred Markley, and tasked them with recruiting the staff and setting up a process control and engineering group with the existing TSI structure.
Early projects are now coming on-line with a new large wood pellet plant in Texas being started up in record time and several other projects for rebuilds and new equipment in progress. The designs look conventional on a superficial look but closer examination reveals several key improvements to both construction and gas flow that enhance overall productivity and maintenance, according to TSI.
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