° Offbearing spruce veneer of Cantree are Local 1-3567 members (I. to r.) Satnam Sihota, Rose Fossett, and Jim Nelson.

Coast plywood and veneer operations
continue to survive in modern times

n the coast of British Columbia, plywood used to be big time. At one
time during the early 1970's there were eight plywood mills in the low-
er mainland of the province employing over 4000 members. Those
workers, who were members of IWA Locals 1-357 and 1-217 worked at
a time when the market had few competitors and an ample supply of large size

peeler logs.

Over twenty years later, there still remains a coastal plywood industry, but a
radically different one. Gone are the giant plants which employed hundreds and
hundreds of workers. Left are only a few plants which are fighting over an ever
decreasing log supply and substitute products.

The plywood sheathing industry faces competition from oriented strand-
board and waferboard and the higher quality plywood faces competition from
some particle board products finished with veneers.

Today the IWA has only three plywood related operations in the lower main-
land that are unionized. They are the Cantree plywood and CIPA Industries op-
eration both situated on Annacis Island near New Westminster and are certified
to Local 1-3567. The remaining operation, certified to Local 1-217, is the West-
coast plywood plant in south Vancouver.

The Lumberworker recently had an opportunity to visit both Local 1-3567 op-
erations and find out why these particular plants have been able to hang on.
One, Cantree Plywood, has made it through the last recession without closing,
while the other, CIPA picked up operation after a 1991 closure when the plant

was owned by Fletcher Challenge Canada.

CANTREE PLYWOOD

One of the true survivors of the
downturns that hit the plywood indus-
try has been the Cantree Plywood
plant. For nearly 20 years the opera-
tion has hung in there through the re-
cessions and has developed into a
very efficient operation. It employs
over 120 union members today.

Unlike most plywood plants which
have green ends and peel their own
logs, the Cantree operation gets its ve-
neer stock shipped in. Due to its man-
agement structure and the dwindling
peeler log supply on the coast, the
plant gets almost all of its veneer
shipped in from the province’s interi-
or region.

Since 1983 the plant has received its
veneer from interior mills. Today
Cantree’s co-owners - Riverside Forest
Products and Slocan Forest Products,
send their own veneer to Cantree.
Riverside ships from it Lumby ply-
wood operation and Slocan sends its
veneer down from as far as Ft. Nelson
in northern B.C. Most of the interior
wood species consist of spruce, fir,
and hemlock and there is also some in-
terior fir available on occasion.

In addition to producing high quali-
ty sheathing, the plant produces a spe-
cial tongue and groove grade and, in
the last 6 months, has begun to mar-
ket and new type of panel called
“COFI FLOOR.” The new products
which have deeper grooves, can be
easily put together by one worker dur-
ing construction.

Cantree has been marketing the
product in the U.K., Sweden, and oth-
er European countries. It has also
shipped some of the product to Korea
and Japan.

The company’s quest for new mar-
kets has risen as the quality and quan-
tity of production has arisen as well.
That hasn’t happened without a con-
siderable amount of effort on the
union’s part.

“This place has come a long way,”
says Ron Paradis, plant chairman and
Local 1-3567 Executive Board mem-
ber. “The crew has worked to make
the plant a viable operation. We hope
the company recognizes that.”

In previous times the mill experi-
enced a lot of difficulties with too
many D grade panels, wood loss, and
delamination.

“Quality is way up and the wood
loss is way down,” says Brother Par-
adis. “If the crew wasn’t as supportive
as they have been, in improving quali-
ty, we probably wouldn’t have sur-
vived until today.”

Plant manager Al Mellander said
that quality improvements have come
because of the result of good work on
the part of the crew.

“We give a lot of credit to employ-
ees who have made adjustments of
handling different types of wood in
the plant,” Mr. Mellander told the
Lumberworker.

About 85% of the plant’s production
is in spruce, pine, and fir, while hem-
lock makes up the other 15%. The

14/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1994

hemlock has a higher moisture con-
tent and takes more glue, thus it is a
slower wood to dry. It is harder to
handle and splits more often than the
other species.

Cantree gets most of its veneer
from its parent companies, but Mr.
Mellander said that its is going more
and more into the open market and is
seeing a greater move into hemlock
and fir.

As far as technological change goes,
Cantree has also upgraded some of its
capacity to increase efficiency.

It has put a new burner in its #1 dry-
er which dries 4’ by 8’ sheets. As a re-
sult there has been much less redry
going through. The drying cycle is just
now over 15 minutes to reach a 15%
moisture content.

There have also been modifications
on the lay-up line where the #1 sheet
station used to have problems with
too many curled sheets of veneer. The
core is fed down a V-belt to the core
layer where it then lays the core on

sheets. There are five glue booths that
spray the veneer along the way.

There are two presses which each
have a 26 sheet capacity, producing
the 4’ by 8’ sheets with thicknesses
varying from 3/8” to 3/4”, There are
various grades including select face
up, construction sheathing, D grade
and delaminate.

In recent years the company has
also upgraded its sander, tongue and
groove machine, and grading line. On
the lay-up line there were some modi-
fications done to help thaw out veneer
that was sticking together during win-
ter months.

In addition to working out the
plant’s technical problems there has
been some work in other areas that

Today the union has
three unionized ply-
wood or veneer
plants in the B.C.
Lower Mainland. At
one time it had over
4000 members in
plywood alone

affect workers. The plant has a func-
tioning ergonomics committee. That
committee worked together to build a
proper bench behind a strapping rack.
This reduced the number of steps the
worker has to take, which lessened
the chances of an accident with a
loader.

The union would like to see further
safety improvements made in the
workplace. Those changes necessary
include the reduction of dust and
noise levels in various areas of the
plant.

The crew also wants to be paid the
full wage rate of the coast master col-
lective agreement.

Now that Cantree is well in the
black, workers want a little payback
for the sacrifices that they have made
in the past, says Gordon Emery, plant
committee member.

“We've made the plant run better
and we’d like to be rewarded on our
paycheques,” says Brother Emery.
“That's the message that we've got
from the crew.”

“It’s a damn good crew,” says
Brother Paradis. “As a committee
we're absolutely proud of all our
members in the plant.”

Next issue: CIPA INDUSTRIES

¢ Checking out the plywood press at the Annacis Island operation is Kelly
Moore.

a