New Gear Equipment Wood Panels
USNR acquires plywood systems company Ventek

Based in Eugene, Ore,, Ventek has designed and built vision-based and moisture-based grading solutions for veneer since the company was founded in 1991. From the very start, Ventek developed a reputation for having some of the best technology in the industry, and for many years the company has been the go-to choice for veneer scanning and grading solutions. Building on its expertise in veneer scanning and grading, Ventek formed an internal group to design and build green and dry veneer handling systems. The group’s patented multi-point diverter has become the flagship product of Ventek’s veneer handling product catalog.

Chris Blomquist, USNR’s Senior Vice President for Sales and Engineering, commented, “Our customers on the lumber side of our business have long recognized the value of tightly integrated mechanical and optimization technology. With the addition of Ventek’s veneer scanning, grading, and handling solutions to USNR’s lathe, dryer, and downstream product portfolio, we now have an opportunity to bring this integration benefit to our customers on the plywood side of our business as well.”

Rodger Van Voorhis, formerly President of Ventek and one of its founders, added, “I am thrilled to join the USNR team, and I am excited to see what we can do with our veneer scanning, grading, and handling products as part of a larger organization. I think there are going to be a lot of great opportunities to learn from each other – such as taking our plywood technology and applying it to lumber grading, and vice versa.” Rodger has joined USNR as Director of Sales for Veneer Systems.

“I am tremendously pleased that Rodger and the rest of the Ventek team have decided to join USNR to help us build the next generation of products for the plywood industry,” commented Alan Knokey, Vice President responsible for USNR’s plywood and panel business. “The people – the engineers, the service technicians, the guys who actually build the systems, and everyone who supports them – they are the most important part of this transaction.”

USNR / Söderhamn Eriksson operates five large manufacturing plants in the United States, Canada, and Sweden, in addition to more than a dozen regional engineering, service, and sales offices in North America and across Europe. USNR / Söderhamn Eriksson is best known around the world for providing end-to-end solutions for sawmills and planermills, including log lines, curve sawing gangs, edger lines, trim-sort-stack systems, dry kilns, and the optimization and control technologies that maximize the output and performance of that equipment. USNR is also known around the world for its Coe brand products used in the manufacture of plywood and other panel products. You can learn more about USNR and its product line at www.usnr.com