The rocky housing market has given all of us plenty of time to analyze our business models, structure, and processes over the last six years. One key area for TECO is our laboratory capabilities.  When we expanded our laboratory in Shreveport, Louisiana in 2004--with the goal of increasing the efficiency of our panel testing capabilities and reducing project completion times--we were in the middle of a housing boom, and testing needs for our South American and European panel clients were at an all-time high.

With the recession, demand for testing decreased so the Shreveport laboratory was officially closed and its equipment and capabilities moved to our Cottage Grove, Wisconsin facility in the fall of last year.  This decision was made for many reasons, most importantly to again match our testing capabilities to our clients' needs.  Cottage Grove is now a support lab to our main laboratory in Eugene, Oregon and can be quickly scaled up to meet future client needs.  Wall racking test capabilities are being refined and the panel test equipment is up and running.  Staff will be scaled up as the demand increases. Over the past several years, the focus in Eugene has been shifted to conducting formaldehyde emission and structural adhesive testing, all while keeping its panel testing capabilities intact. 

Cottage Grove laboratory

Our goal of having scalable, efficient, accurate, and cost effective laboratory capabilities is being met with ongoing planning, review, and improvement.  We are excited to meet our clients' growing needs and expand our testing scope to further diversify our lab capabilities. 

These changes are allowing us to run leaner and more efficiently, operate two client-focused laboratories, and position TECO for the growing needs of our clients for years to come.  Visit TECO's website for more information about our testing laboratories and capabilities.    

The American Wood Council (AWC) and Canadian Wood Council (CWC) have released environmental product declarations (EPDs) for North American wood products, including softwood lumber, plywood, oriented strand board, and other engineered wood products.  EPD's are standardized tools that provide information about the environmental footprint of the products they cover.  In working together to produce these EPDs, AWC and CWC have taken their EPDs one step further by obtaining third-verification from Underwriters Laboratories Environment, an independent certifier of products and their sustainability.  

A full explanation of the North American EPDs for Wood can be found through links to the AWC website and also the CWC website.  

Follow the links below to the EPDs for the listed products:

Softwood Plywood EPD

Oriented Strand Board EPD

Softwood Lumber EPD

Glued Laminated Timber EPD

Laminated Veneer Lumber EPD

Wood I-Joists EPD

Redwood Decking EPD

Medium Density Fiberboard EPD

Particleboard EPD  

To assist North American wood products companies in identifying specialists and experts on combustible wood dust, the American Wood Council (AWC) has developed a new web page listing consultants offering services on the subject.

This new resource was developed in response to member requests for additional assistance in providing greater safety in wood manufacturing facilities. According to a 2006 study, there were 281 combustible dust incidents in all types of manufacturing facilities between 1980 and 2005. Then, in 2008, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) placed combustible dust on its National Emphasis List, resulting in increased OSHA enforcement activities, but without clear guidance on regulatory expectations.  For more information or to access the AWC resource list, please visit:  

http://www.awc.org/fire/wooddust/index.php