Wood & Panel Europe is the bi-monthly digital magazine that covers what industry professionals prefer to know to accelerate their business operations. Ranging from SME decision-makers to multinational production plant managers, we are read by all. Our subject caters to forestry, high-end automated technologies, panel manufacturing, solidwood processing, veneers, laminates, finished and semi-finished products, construction, general woodworking and a lot more.
Stora Enso Building and Living is further developing its Building Solutions business with the delivery of its first CLT (cross-laminated timber) shipment from Europe to Australia. The Docklands Library and Community Centre in Melbourne, built by Lend Lease, one of the world’s leading property and infrastructure providers, will be the first public building in Australia to use CLT as a construction material.
A joint project by Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences and the Hettich Group named as "Hettich Experience 2013" was successfully completed on June 27, 2013. For the seventh time, students of industrial engineering worked on company projects as part of a semester assignment to combine theory and practice. 
NHLA would be offering a special two-day culture course named "Doing Business in China." The class will be held from August 7-8, 2013 at NHLA Headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. by Mr. Marco Chan. 
Over the past months many WEINIG customers in South America have decided to upgrade their modular horizontal finger jointing lines. So far these lines have been fed manually. Given a capacity of up to 120 pieces per minute, a manual feeding process is not continuously possible. Thanks to the so-called WEINIG brush-type feeding unit a finger jointing line can be fed continuously, and the overall performance of the line is thus increased.
"We manufacture close to our customers!" is one of the mottos of Siempelkamp Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG. Five production locations worldwide guarantee, the best of Siempelkamp services are readily available when customers need them. They guarantee short delivery routes, a high degree of in-house production and re-duced costs!In cooperation with its subsidiary CMC Texpan, Siempelkamp has developed an innovative resin blending system for particles: Due to a large number of special nozzles, the new Ecoresinator provides resin savings of up to 10 percent for particleboard production. Siempelkamp now also provides the Ecoresinator concept for particleboard production.
GreCon, who excel in spark extinguishing systems and measuring technology for the worldwide wood processing industry, exhibited numerous product innovations and developments of their spark extinguishing systems and measuring systems. Additionally, the latest range of services were presented, and the company's new corporate design was introduced. 
The new large- area gripping system FMP/ FXP from J. Schamalz GmbH features over 86 percent more holding force than the competition, higher flexibility and increased energy efficiency. The new series ensures efficient handling in automated processes and will be introduced onto the market in 2013 as the third generation of grippers.
MAFELL’s new cordless models bring together proven drive components and compelling functionality with state-of-the-art battery technology. The offering is the outcome of an exclusive collaboration with a leading manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries.
The merger of the Swiss two-layer parquet producer Bauwerk and the Norwegian parquet maker Boen, which specialises in three-layer parquet, was given the green light by the competition authorities in the middle of May. 
In response to a government initiative requiring that all central government building procurement contracts use BIM from 2016, the Construction Products Association together with the NBS have today launched a guide for manufacturers entitled ‘BIM for the Terrified’. 
Ilim Timber chairman Boris Zingarevich became a member of the FAO Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries, where he will be representing Russian Federation. Stora Enso has planned to simplify and organise its operations to focus its different businesses, enable greater focus on growth in value-creating businesses. The potential EUR 200 million annual Group fixed cost reduction from actual costs in year 2012 to second quarter 2014 run rate will include the earlier announced EUR 30 million streamlining of the Building and Living Business Area. 
Schattdecor has launched their new website during 2013 interzum show in Cologne. Trade show booths and distinctive interior decoration would be available at the website in the form of over 120 digital-print decors. Ranging from replications of natural materials such as Pepper, Blowball and Pebbles to interpretations such as Broken Glass and Reflections, Schattdecor's work offers much of interest for designers and architects. 
Dieffenbacher group and Sunds MDF Technologies are chosen to supply EVOjet dry resination system to Masisa located in Brazil. The EVOjet will be installed at the Ponta Grossa plant, and is scheduled for start-up in early 2014. 
Häfele America Co. announced an online service named Häfele-to-Order (H-to-O) for the Aluflex Sliding Door System can now be ordered, customised and pre-assembled. 
Reference is made to the offer dated April 5, 2013 (the “Offer”) by ET Acquisition Corporation (the “Offeror”), a new corporation indirectly owned or controlled by funds managed by Kelso & Company (“Kelso”), as amended and supplemented by the notice of extension dated May 10, 2013, to purchase all of the issued and outstanding common shares (“Common Shares”) in the capital of EACOM Timber Corporation (“EACOM”) at a price of $0.38 per Common Share.
Norbord Inc. has announced that S&P Dow Jones Canadian Index Services has confirmed that Norbord will be added to the S&P/TSX Composite Index, effective after close of trading on June 21, 2013. 
The high-performance bandsaws in the speedliner hybrid series for perfect wet and dry cutting and the fully automatic speedfiller spot repair system – Fill Machine Engineering underpinned its leading role with a whole range of high-tech solutions for the solid wood and plywood processing industry at LIGNA 2013 in Hanover. The Fill exhibition stand turned into a popular meeting place for the sector.
Apra Industriale has introduced the latest smart material for the interior decor industry FENIX NTM.
Tourism New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) are pleased to announce that Tourism New Zealand will be leading the development of a China service delivery ‘toolkit’, to enable the tourism sector to better meet the needs of our fastest growing and second most valuable tourism market.
Industry leading aircraft lessor, ILFC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American International Group, Inc., has signed a firm contract for the purchase of 50 additional A320neo Family aircraft.
Last week Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) shared its new Three Year Marketing Strategy with industry – presenting a strategy that is both an evolution and expansion of its current activity, with refined strategic priorities.
Doric Lease Corp has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the purchase of 20 A380s at the 50th Le Bourget Airshow.
Air New Zealand has taken delivery of its first A320 equipped with fuel saving wing tip devices, or Sharklets, at a ceremony during the 50th Le Bourget Paris airshow.
The Lufthansa Group has firmed up a previous Supervisory Board decision from March this year and signed for 100 A320 Family aircraft (35 A320neo, 35 A321neo and 30 A320ceo with Sharklets) at the Paris International Airshow in Le Bourget, France.
The Sheraton Maldives Full Moon Resort & Spa recently reinforced its commitment towards sustainability by implementing a comprehensive audit of its Carbon, Energy and Water.Back when we first started talking about our new three-year marketing strategy, the industry told us loud and clear that they wanted to see more research from Tourism New Zealand.
Ghana exported a total of 64,166 m3 of wood products during the first quarter of 2013 to earn Euro 29.48 million. Compared to exports in the same period in 2012 there was a 4.6% increase in export volumes and a 35% increase in export earnings in the first quarter 2013.
DOMOTEX Russia has been moved to a new time slot in first half of the year. The second season of Russia’s leading tradeshow for carpets and floor coverings will therefore now be held from 1 to 3 April 2014 instead of 25 to 27 September 2013 as originally planned. The venue has also changed, with Deutsche Messe AG’s Russian subsidiary Deutsche Messe RUS now staging the fair at the ARTPLAY Design Center in Moscow instead of Moscow’s Crocus Expo International Exhibition Center. Attracting some 53000 visitors from 148 countries, Interzum 2013 underscored its status as the world's leading trade fair for suppliers to the furniture industry. For Hettich, Interzum is the platform for presenting new products and trends. Besides the main "Slide it. Love it." theme, this year's stand also focused on new sliding door system products as well as improvements to core products from the drawers and hinges segments. 
The data shows that while more than 100,000 hectares have been cleared in the Peruvian Amazon on annual basis since 2005, the rate of clearing has slowed in recent years. Between 2009 and 2010, some 108,571 ha of forest were lost in the region. Between 2010 and 2011, that number fell to 103,380 ha or 0.16 percent of the Peruvian Amazon's forest cover annually. Overall, more than 78 percent of the area is forested, down from 80 percent or about 63 million hectares in 2000.
Glennon Brothers has received the Ruban d’Honneur medal for innovation, dynamisn and customer focus at a gala dinner in Istanbul. 
EDINBURGH Napier University is offering free places on a specialist masters degree in a bid to support the UK’s timber industry. Backed by some of the sector’s leading firms, the University is providing at least 13 scholarships on its MSc Timber Engineering – the only course of its kind in the UK – with hopes further sponsored places can be created in the future.
The Forest Stewardship Council has launched a fund to support FSC certification among small private, family, and community forest owners, or "smallholders." In the first year, €420,000 will be distributed from the fund.From 1 July the Finnish timber and paper giant Stora Enso will have a new business division called Printing and Living. The newly created division ensues from the consolidation of the former Printing and Reading division with the Building and Living division. Former chief financial officer (CFO) Karl-Henrik Sundström has been put in charge of this business division. His former tasks are being taken over on an interim basis by former financial director of the group, Jyrki Tammivuori, until a new CFO has been found. The ITTO project on ‘Monitoring deforestation, logging and land use change in the Pan Amazonian Forest – PANAMAZON II’ (RED-PD 029/09 Rev.1 (F); ITTO budget US$ 1,124,784.00) supports the member countries of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) in improving governance on issues related to logging and land use in the Amazon region, aiming at offering real–time information about extension and quality of the forest cover. The project implementation started in 2011 within the framework of the ITTO Thematic Programme on ‘Reducing deforestation, forest degradation and enhancing environmental services (REDDES), which is financed by Norway, Switzerland, Japan and the USA. Villa VIDA has signed a 10-year partnership with the British company Climate Energy Homes Ltd (CEH). The agreement means that Villa VIDA has exclusivity to produce according CEHs certified Ecotech build system during the contract period, Villa Vida said in a statement.
The survey results from the last quarter gave us vital information about the trends within our sector, indicating that joinery manufacturers remain hopeful of bouncing back after a subdued, weather-hit first quarter.The Spanish firm Grupo Garnica Plywood has announced the purchase of a veneer line from the insolvency plywood manufacturer Xilofrance. The transaction took place back on 4 April in connection with a final court ruling made in liquidation proceedings involving Xilofrance that began in July 2012. Sarawak, Malaysia, timber industry brought in RM7.455 billion ($2.44 billion) to the state in 2012 compared to RM7.085 billion ($2.32billion) in 2011. This 5.2% growth was due to strong demand in markets in the Middle East, South Korea, Singapore, India and Philippines, ITTO reported. The sixth biennial international CEOs Roundtable organized by the International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) took place in San Paulo, Brazil, Confederation of European Paper Industries said in a statement. Construction new orders for the first quarter of 2013, released by the ONS, fell 10% compared to the fourth quarter and were 0.2% lower than the same quarter one year earlier. Although most sectors showed little change, the key differences were a marked rise in private housing orders, offset by a significant fall in infrastructure activity.
A fully refurbished European fleet, three ships sailing from UK ports of call and new itineraries from Southampton on both the world’s largest and newest cruise ships, are among the many highlights of the new 2014 – 2015 Worldwide brochure from Royal Caribbean International.
The Constance Lemuria Seychelles Management team organized last Thursday its annual stakeholders meeting to reinforce its partnership with the trade and to showcase its achievement to date regarding its ISO 22 000 certification.
Called the Esplanade, the “art walk” has two parts – the first is a tree and wildflower-lined path connecting John Goulter Drive with Abbeville Estate, the second is a trail that goes around the lake, including out to a peninsula with purpose-built seating.
Derek Savy writes in the Today Newspaper in Seychelles a fitting farewell to Amelie Michel, Miss Seychelles 1975.http://www.travelandtourworld.com/news/article/miss-seychelles-1975-bids-final-farewell/