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Title: |
American West Structures
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Type: |
Biomass utilization
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Jurisdiction: |
City/town
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State: |
Arizona
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Program Description: |
Established in 1998, American West Structures is a successful and growing small-diameter business. The company specializes in manufacturing and pre-assembly of glued-laminated wood trusses, pedestrian and vehicular bridges, and laminated log home packages. The company also provides prepackaged headers (for doors, windows, and garage doors) and custom beams.
American West Structures utilizes small-diameter wood as their main source of raw material and uses a unique horizontal finger jointing system to make laminated beams that span more than 24 feet without support. The company also has a waste collection system and sells their manufacturing waste to Forest Energy Corporation in Show Low, Arizona, a wood-pellet manufacturing plant about 60 miles away.
The company faces two major barriers. First, is the volume of lumber needed to be dried locally. There is no local supplier available to kiln dry lumber to the product�s required 8% moisture content. The second barrier is lost sales because American West Structures currently cannot provide laminated wood decking, which is one of the most popular choices for large open spans. There is a preference for purchasing both trusses and laminated decking from the same supplier. Currently, the closest manufacturer of laminated decking is in Montana.
To address the marketing problem in 2005 the company received a National Woody Biomass Utilization grant from the USDA Forest Service to purchase deck laminating press equipment and to secure increased capacity to dry lumber to 8% moisture content. Rather than build their own dry kiln, American West Structures is helping fund a dry kiln at Reidhead Brothers sawmill, another White Mountain Stewardship contract partner, where the kiln will benefit both businesses.
Structural laminated decking will be available in lengths up to 24 feet through the production of random length and long-length laminated decking from local softwood species such as Douglas-Fir-South, ponderosa pine, and various face species. The face is a sound, tight-knotted grade that is machine sanded to accentuate the grain and the growth characteristics of the wood. The face wood requires kiln drying to 8% moisture content rather than the standard 19% for most lumber. This lumber is then laminated with a fully waterproof exterior adhesive.
With the additional dry kiln capacity, American West Structures is able to increase their small-diameter lumber supply from the White Mountain Stewardship Contract from 20% to 35%. The company currently uses about 450,000 board feet each year of local, small-diameter lumber for various wood products. As a result of the laminated decking presses and the increased dry kiln capacity, usage can increase to 2 million board feet each year and payments to Reidhead Brothers Sawmill can be increased by $20 per thousand board feet. Sales are expected to increase 20% annually over the next 4 years. Employment is also expected to increase from 13 employees in 2005 to 21 by December 2007.
American West Structures plans to be begin receiving and shipping orders for laminated decking by July 2006. Few companies manufacture laminating decking, and trends show that this market will continue to grow substantially.
For additional information contact:
American West Structures, LLC
2000 West Central Ave.
P.O. Box 2008
Eagar, AZ 89525
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Images: |
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Construction of small-diameter building to house deck laminating press equipment.
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Vehicular bridge manufactured from pre-assembly glue-laminated wood trusses.
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