Content about Vancouver

Luxor Industrial Corp., a Canadian engineered wood products manufacturer, is working on developing a heavy timber line for specialty wood products, the company said in its financial filings. The Vancouver B.C.-based firm has completed initial engineering and is meeting with interested North American customers. Luxor currently focuses on sales in the industrial and commercial markets for wood products, a market it focused on in 2008 after the residential downturn.

Parallam parallel strand lumber (PSL) came on the scene at the Expo 86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and quickly left a mark on the building industry, according to Carlos Guilherme, VP engineered lumber products for Weyerhaeuser.

"The invention of Parallam was one of those building material breakthroughs that happen maybe once or twice in a generation," Guilherme said. "Engineers and scientists invented a new product that took a great building material -- wood -- and made it even better."

Wood products producer West Fraser reported C$687 million in first-quarter sales, a very slight dip from sales of C$688 million in the same quarter a year ago. Net earning were C$19 million, compared with C$29 million in the corresponding quarter of 2010. 

In the lumber division, sales were reported as C$411 million, compared with C$409 million a year ago. Shipments were down 6%, the Vancouver, B.C.-based company said, although production rose by 9%. West Fraser’s Canadian mills operated at capacity, while its U.S. mills operated at approximately 75% of capacity.

EcoBlu Products, the developer of a water repellent technology called Red Shield, has signed an exclusive arrangement with Calvert Co. to produce and private label its current line of glulam beams. 

The newly developed RedShield coating also features mold, wood rot, termite and fire protection, according to EcoBlu. Red Beam is currently shipping through wholesale channels throughout the United States, and Calvert Co. intends to introduce the glulam product into Japan, China and Korea, according to the announcement.