To associate CertiWood™ Technical Centre in Vancouver, BC with Canada's long tradition of producing quality plywood is correct, but it's like thinking of plywood as excellent material for subflooring - accurate but one-dimensional.
CertiWood™ Technical Centre is as multi-dimensional and versatile as the plywood, OSB, LVL, I-beams, Glulam and other engineered wood products the organization is capable of certifying.
A visit to the CertiWood™ Technical Centre in North Vancouver, B.C., made it clear how CertiWood™ earns the certainty its name implies.
Solid background, expanding scope
CertiWood™'s expertise goes 50 years deep into the history of the plywood industry and reaches out to cover a wide range of new and evolving engineered wood products.
The Canadian Plywood Association (CANPLY) formed CertiWood™ in 2006 to service Canada’s engineered wood products sector. CANPLY member companies became founding members of the new organization and continue to be its main partners.
As stated in the CertiWood™ launch announcement, "by providing services to a larger sector of the engineered wood products industry, access to CANPLY's renowned reputation for quality and reliability can be cost effectively delivered to all engineered wood products manufacturers."
Why certify?
As CANPLY President Jim Shaw, also President of CertiWood™, said at the time, the certification, testing and quality auditing services that CertiWood™ supplies provides members with a competitive “edge” in the marketplace.
"Customers of plywood, veneer, OSB, Glulam, LVL, I-Joists and other engineered wood products want assurance that these products are the best quality and perform in a satifactory and predictable manner according to manufacturing specifications" he said. "CertiWood™ can offer that assurance."
Who certifies the certifier?
The layers of certainty that CertiWood™ builds for the products it certifies might be compared to plywood itself - one layer of veneer in itself maybe fragile, but multiple layers make it very strong and as more layers are added, strength increases.
These layers of certainty begin with the certification of the certifier.
CertiWood™ is accredited by International Accreditation Service as conformity to ISO/IEC 17020 - Inspection Agency Type A (Third-Party) Body, ISO 17025 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories and ISO Guide 65 Accredited Certification Body.
The IAS laboratory accreditation program is modeled on the international standard ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005, General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories (ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005) and is recognized globally by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation and the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation, and nationally by the National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation.
According to IAS, the testing laboratory accreditation program provides the following benefits:
• Proof of Compliance: IAS accreditation provides proof of compliance with ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005.
• Confidence: IAS accreditation to internationally accepted criteria provides complete confidence in the quality of services provided by testing laboratories.
• Transparency: IAS accreditation is independent and objective, and is based on a transparent accreditation process, which instills confidence in the accreditation results.
• Competency: IAS accreditation provides evidence that laboratories render competent and consistent services in line with international standards.
• Outstanding quality of assessments: IAS places tremendous importance on the training of its assessors. This leads to high levels of assessor competency and increased technical expertise.
• Enhanced knowledge base: With its excellent knowledge base and team of technical experts, IAS helps to improve the quality of work performed by its accredited testing and calibration laboratories.
• Proficiency Testing and Interlaboratory Comparisons: IAS provides for proficiency testing and interlaboratory comparisons that laboratories use to demonstrate their technical competence. IAS provides independent feedback concerning a laboratory’s actual performance and can be used as a tool to monitor improvement efforts.
Dale Black, CertiWood™’s Manager of Quality Management Systems, adds that CertiWood™ is subject to audits under 4 different ISO/IEC accreditations. "What that entails is that we have auditors come here annually or every two years to assess how we run our operations."
Earning marks worldwide
CertiWood™ is accredited by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture Forests and Fisheries (MoAff) as a Registered Overseas Certification Body (ISO/IEC- Guide 65 ) for JAS products.
CertiWood™ is also authorized by BM TRADA, a Notified Body accredited by UKAS , to certify conformance of wood-based panels to EN 13986 (CE Marking and other CE Grade Marked Wood Products).
New horizons CertiWood™ is expanding its capabilities and services to meet the evolving needs of the industry.
"Right now we're working on a program for the emission standards for California for formaldehyde emissions," says Dale Black. " Structural plywood is exempt from CARB (California Air Resources Board) regulations but within two or three months, CertiWood™ will be recognized as a third party certifier for other composite wood products requiring emissions data. This certification allows these products to enter the Californian marketplace."
The CARB formaldehyde standards are the strictest in the world and significantly impact the particleboard industry. All products sold in California that contain formaldehyde-based resins are subject to the regulations and must be tested and certified by third party certifiers.
Calibration of equipment in the mill is another service that CertiWood™ has begun to offer.
Paul Jaehrlich, Manager, Technical Services, who is responsible for the program, explains that "fingerjoint mills require annual calibration under the current standards. It's a new thing for us over the last year and we are really gaining momentum in this market segment of our business."
CertiWood™ will also offer testing of a range of new glues and adhesives coming on the market.
Product development
In addition to accredited certification, testing and inspection, CertiWood™ has facilities to perform other tests and provide additional services.
CertiWood™ is a valuable resource for product development as the case of I - Joist development work completed recently.
CertiWood™ worked on a year-long project with Tolko Industries focused on developing, building and evaluating wood I-joists, in preparation for their planned I-joist plant in Alberta. CertiWood™ is accredited to provide a variety of certification and testing services related to engineered wood products. Here’s a summary of that project:
• CertiWood™ staff built wood I-joist prototypes in their custom-built press. The press was 25’ long and replicated in-mill pressing and curing conditions.
• Once manufactured and cured, the 25’ I-joists were destructively tested in CertiWood™’s Long-Span Beam Tester. Test results were used to evaluate the adequacy of the adhesive, the OSB and the flange-stock. The tests also benchmarked performance for further improvements to the I-joist’s construction.
• CertiWood™ technologists machined the OSB webs in our Panel Edge Profiler. Web tips were custom cut for a proper fit into the flange groove. CertiWood™ engineers worked with the client to maximize the strength in the web-to-flange connection.
• Finger-jointed flange stock was destructively tested in CertiWood™’s Tension Tester, to quantify strength and ensure adequate design values.
• CertiWood™ engineers used these test results to help develop with the client, custom grade rules to optimize recovery.
Where it all happensThe CertiWood™ facility is a one-of-a-kind, 8100 sq.ft. technical centre in North Vancouver, British Columbia. It is staffed by a team of engineers, technologists and technicians with well over 100 years of collective wood products testing expertise.
A growing list of manufacturers have partnered with CertiWood™ to benefit from this Canadian based, low cost certification organization. The current list of members include:
• CANFOR
• Federated Co-operatives
• Louisiana Pacific Canada Ltd.
• Richmond Plywood Ltd.
• Thompson River Veneer Products
• Tolko Industries Ltd.
• Westlam Industries
• West Fraser Mills
• Synergy Pacific
• Arclin
• Canadian Willamette Industries
• Hexion
• National Silicates
For more information, visit the CertiWood™ website at www.certiwood.com
Join us on a video visit to the CertiWood™ lab.
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