Marcel Landry. e In the control room of the Rexwood operation are (1. to r.) Plant Steward John Reece; Local Executive Board member Sid Adams; Local Financial Secretary Roland Laurin; Committe member Kevin Nowry; Tom Wheeler and Plant Manager Rexwood particle board plant bounces back after having several tough years ‘p in northeastern Ontario the LW.A. is proud to represent over 60 workers at the Rex- wood Forest Products Ltd. particle board plant. The plant has survived some serious downturns over the past 12 years and is now up and running under new management. The operation, which is certified to Local 1-2995, has managed to struggle through near closure and receivership and in making a comeback in a very competitive industry. Across Canada there are 11 plants which compete amongst each other in markets that are always fluctuating. Norm Rivard, President of Local 1- 2995, who himself originates from the plant in the small city of New Lisk- heard (population 6,500) says the union has a very good plant commit- tee which has fought hard over the years to keep the operation going de- spite'some very bleak times. “The committee and the workers have stayed together through thick and thin and are a great credit to the union,” says Brother Rivard. “Without them the plant might not be open to- day.” Plant Steward John Reece, who has worked in the operation for the past 20 years, anchors the committee along with Brothers Kevin Nowry and Kevin Kelly. Today the plant is under new man- agement and making a noticeable turnaround. It is operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, producing particle board which is used for a variety of purposes. The plant puts out every- thing from 4’ x 7’ to 5’ x 8’-14’ sheets which is largely used for furniture manufacturing. The particle board thicknesses run from 3/8” to 1-1/8”. On a 24 hour shift the plant can pump out about 240,000 square feet of product based on a thickness of 5/8.” Roland Laurin, local union Finan- cial Secretary and business agent for the operation, says that the union and management have gotten things on track and that in years past their was poor management and lagging produc- tion due to numerous breakdowns. The mill has gone from a two line to an efficient one line operation and is very competitive by industry stan- dards. “With all of the new technologies in- troduced, it doesn’t take many people to operate the whole thing,” com- ments Brother Laurin. The workers are covered under a collective agreement which expires in December of 1996. Under the current contract workers received a wage ad- justment of 13% in April of last year, after having no wage increase for a few years. It’s a positive sign. Although more than 40 overall jobs have been cut since the plant opened in 1966, there are hope that more posi- tions may be on the way in the future. Whether there will be any net job gains does remain to be seen. Under the direction of Plant Manag- er Marcel Landry, the company is con- sidering putting in a value added addi- tion where they will put vinyl tops (melamine) on the particle board be- fore shipping. The manager is also considering putting in a dust pelletizing facility which will use up the waste from the sanders and then burn it as fuel. That should create some jobs with addition work if a bagging line is added. SKILLS UPGRADING The union has worked diligently with the company to seek skills up- grading and literacy training which has paid dividends. Brother Reece says that most of the workers have upgraded themselves by enrolling in the Ontario Federation of Labour’s BEST (Basic Education for Skills Training) program, which teach- es basic literacy skills. “The BEST program has gone really well,” says Reece. “Some of our guys says they wish it were here sooner. I think that management must like it or they wouldn't agree to it.” Reece says that the Rexwood Oper- ation has had one of the highest ratio of employees to attend the BEST pro- gram of any workplace in Ontario. As a result, many of the employees have taken their second term and are fast improving their skills in a number of areas. Mr. Landry praises the program and says the company is getting “good bang for the buck” in addition to the increase pride and self esteem that workers have. He points to increased productivity as a result of workers increasing abili- ty to trouble shoot production prob- lems even before they begin. As a result of the program the com- pany has put on training modules, in cooperation with the Ontario Skills Council, for most everbody - from carrier and loader operators to the control room to the sander. “We have to bring everyone to a certain level of understanding before we put on the modules,” says Landry. The company has done all of the training in-house and has supplied all materials such as desks, written and visual materials. Other spin-off benefits from the training have been lower injury rates, understanding of the WHMIS (Work- place Hazardous Information Informa- tion Systems) and more emphasis on occupational health and safety pro- grams. All employees attend monthly health and safety meetings. PRODUCTION PROCESS The production of particle board is a very high-tech procedure. The com- pany sources its raw materials in the forms of sawmill by-products of wood shavings and saw dust. It receives shipment of the materials from sever- al mills in northern Ontario, including Normick-Perron in Kirkland Lake, Timmins, and the Elk Lake planing mill in Elk Lake. The trucks dump their load of shav- ings and sawdust at the plant’s green end. The company can also utilize round wood which it hauls in 8 foot lengths from the Temagami region. It is allowed up to 30,000 cords of wood a year out of the region but has put a hold on this for the time being be- cause of the abundance of raw materi- al coming from the primary forest in- dustry. Almost all of the shavings and saw dust is either spruce or pine with some aspen and poplar thrown in. At the green end the loads of shav- ings and sawdust are separated as much as possible. Then they are taken up by a giant screw and refined to the exact geometries that are needed for the core and the surfaces. The surfaces are the finer particles from sawdust while the core particles are made into particles that are no more than 6 mil. in thickness with a size that yields 8 times longer than the width. The shavings and sawdust are sepa- rated into separate silos before they are machined to size. Then a high pressure glue resin is applied to the particles which have 2-3% moisture af- ter passing through dryers 3 times. The urea formaldehyde based glue is mixed with a catalyst, batter and water to ensure that the particle cells take up the mixture. Then the wet mixture has a moisture content of 30- 35%. Government standards specify that urea formaldehyde must not exceed .3 part per million (ppm) in airborne quantities. The plant is routinely mon- itored and it usually has no greater than .2 ppm. Some European buyers such as IKEA demand product below .2 ppm and the company is aiming for a new “E1” standard for European markets which must have a content of .09 ppm or lower. The resin treated particles are heat- ed to 185° C and then pressed be- tween 2 steel belts with a pressure of about 3,500 p.s.i. Fans blow the chips into tubes which are funneled to surface form- ers. These former lay down the small- er material on the belt first and then later the heavier core. Then the fine material makes up the opposite sur- face. The material goes through a pre- press which does not allow material to go into the main press at more that 1-1/2 times its final thickness. To insure proper density a nuclear traversing isotope is added to the ma- terial for X-ray analysis. To heat the material during the press process there are a total of 8,000 nozzles which spray boiling silicone oil. The particle board is cut with a fly- ing cut-off saw on a 20° angle which is computer controlled. Two adjustable trim saws then cut a 4 or 5 foot width. The boards are cooled for 15-20 minutes and then are sanded the with- in 15/1000th of an inch, Grading the particle board after it comes through the sander in Local 1-2995 member Tom Uttley. Sa a 10/LUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1996