The BID Group has acquired MoCo Engineering and Fabrication Inc, located in Spokane, Washington. MoCo is a leading manufacturer of sawmilling equipment, specializing in stickering lumber stackers and stick recovery systems.
The BID Group says that the combination of MoCo’s industry leading reputation and a joint dedication to customer service continues BID’s plan of worldwide growth and expansion.
Formed 22 years ago by co-owners Chuck Moles and Erik Humble, MoCo will continue to operate from its existing facility in the Spokane Valley.
“Erik and I are excited for the MoCo team to be joining The BID Group. We believe this is a very good fit for MoCo and our employees. Like ourselves, Brian Fehr and Alistair Cook worked in the mills for years to grow to where we are today,” says Chuck Moles, co-owner of MoCo.
“The acquisition of MoCo allows us to expand our worldwide product offerings and further enhance the turnkey solutions we provide for customers in North America,” says BID CEO, Alistair Cook. BID’s founder and Chairman is Brian Fehr.
Based in Prince George, B.C. and with facilities throughout North America, The BID Group is a privately owned company with over 30 years of experience in providing equipment, construction, and turnkey solutions to the forest products industry.
Tigercat makes changes to 822D series carriersTigercat has swapped the Tigercat FPT C87 engine for the N67 engine to more closely match the duty cycle of this series of harvesters and feller bunchers.
Models with the N67 engine will include the 822D, L822D, H822D and LH822D. The machines will be available with Tier 2 or Tier 4f engine configurations for sale worldwide. Tigercat will continue to produce the LX830D with the C87 engine and closed loop track drives for the North American market.
The 822D platform has a higher capacity cooling system and a new engine enclosure profile that improves right hand side visibility. A new cab structure with narrower front posts and larger side windows further enhances visibility with improved sight lines. The skylight has been replaced by the SKYVIEW camera system providing the operator with a much wider field of view. The 822D is now standard equipped with LED lighting for improved productivity in night shift operations.
Peterson introduces new 6310B drum chipperThe all-new Peterson 6310B drum chipper, offered by Peterson Pacific Corp, is said to be suited for high volume biomass producers who have a wide variety of feed material, from logs up to 36 in diameter, to brush and small feedstock.
The 6310B drum chipper is powered by a 1050 hp C27 Caterpillar engine, and has an optional Tier IV engine available.
At 86,000 lbs, the track mounted 6310B was designed for operations requiring high production and frequent moves between jobs.
The 6310B drum chipper has two drum configurations, an 8-pocket drum to make standard biomass chips or a 16-pocket drum to make microchips. An optional grate system has been redesigned to allow for adjustment from a microchip to a 1¼” chip with the same grates. Traditional Babbitt-type knife systems are standard equipment, or an optional Key Knife system is available.
Peterson’s chip accelerator system adds load density or throws chips well away from the machine for land clearing operations.
The chipper uses a 50' diameter by 60' wide drum. Other key features include a sloped feed deck for feeding ease and wear resistant AR400 wear surfaces on the drum pockets and shell. The feed chain has been upgraded to WDH120 for improved strength and long life.
Airex Energy has now started production at its biomass torrefaction plant, located in the La Prade industrial park, in Bécancour, Quebec.
The industrial size demonstration plant, which required around $10 million in public and private investments for its design, construction, and start-up, showcases the latest biomass torrefaction technology, called CarbonFX. This unique, revolutionary technology, designed by Airex Energy, significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions for many industries still using coal or coal byproducts.
Airex Energy’s torrefaction process transforms biomass residues into biocoal pellets, a clean and renewable fuel that can replace coal and oil. Biocoal’s unique properties allow it to easily disintegrate, so it can be ground up and combined with bituminous coal in thermal power stations producing electricity, without major changes to existing systems for handling, storing, and grinding coal.
John Deere introduces narrower stick booms for M-Series tracked harvestersTo help loggers maximize timber quality, John Deere has upgraded its harvester stick boom attachment across all 800MH and 900MH-Series tracked harvesters.
The new stick boom geometry delivers the same high level of boom envelope performance, but with a narrower design to help operators minimize damage to harvested trees.
The new boom stick is 4.8” narrower at the attachment end than the existing booms, reducing contact with the harvested tree. This narrower boom uses the standard Waratah-supplied dogbone adapter for traditional external hose routing. A new, narrower cradle, supplied by Waratah, will continue to offer customers with an optional through-the-nose plumbing solution.
On the Cover:
Producing wood chips for manufacturing pulp is an important part of the forest industry in Canada, but producing forestry biomass for energy facilities is also of growing importance. Industry research organization FPInnovations has some solid tips on achieving the standards expected of biomass in a story on page 45 of this issue of Logging and Sawmilling Journal (Photo of B.C. Interior chipping operation by Paul MacDonald)
Keeping lumber on track
The rail system is an essential link in the supply chain for Canadian lumber producers, and industry associations are stressing that the system needs to be maintained and reviewed to get the best service—especially as the industry seeks to develop overseas markets, and get lumber to ports.
Maxing out value from logs
B.C.’s Skeena Sawmills has launched a broad-based effort to improve log utilization, and that effort includes the installation of a new small log canter line—and it’s also looking at a new log scanner, to maximize the value from each log.
New planer mill technology delivers
A new planer mill at IdaPine in Idaho is helping Evergreen Forest Products meet growing market needs—and standards for the company’s appearance grade products have been greatly enhanced by innovative Finnish scanning technology created by FinScan.
The right stuff—all the way ‘round
Nova Scotia logger Peter Archibald understands full well that he needs the right gear to deliver the right wood to the right mill, and he now has some new equipment—and some newly-trained operators—to deliver that wood.
Rolling uphill with logging changes
The B.C.-based Clusko Group is used to adapting to new environments and making changes, and the latest is a move to higher ground and steep slope equipment, with the Remote Operated Bulldozer (ROB) winch assist system.
Resourceful sawmilling
Vancouver Island sawmiller Lawrence Wheatley has weathered two decades of the ups and downs of the sometimes unpredictable wood products market by being extremely resourceful, and having a strong focus on local customers.
The Edge
Included in this edition of The Edge, Canada’s leading publication on research in the forest industry, are stories from the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Alberta Innovates, Alberta Agriculture and FPInnovations.
The Last Word
The forest industry must lead on developing a national carbon credit trading system, says Tony Kryzanowski.
Departments
