innovation

Fifty years ago, the University of Idaho took a bold step: covering its football stadium with what would become the world’s longest suspended wood roof. The result was the Kibbie Dome, an engineering marvel that turned heads far beyond Moscow, Idaho. ... Read More

When our three Montana manufacturing facilities teamed up to improve their energy efficiency in 2022, they set an ambitious goal: reduce energy usage by 2 percent annually. Thanks to teamwork, innovation and grit, they more than doubled their savings, reducing usage by 4.24 percent, or 1.38 million kilowatt hours, from October 2023 through October 2024. That’s enough electricity to power 187 homes for a full year. ... Read More

At our Sutton oriented strand board plant in Heaters, West Virginia, 200,000 pounds of wood strands are dried in four sets of triple-pass dryers every hour. Those dry strands are blended with resin and formed into 12-foot-by-24-foot mats, which are then cured in the hot press and cut into 4-foot-by-8-foot boards of high-quality OSB. ... Read More

At our engineered wood products plant in Buckhannon, West Virginia, success isn’t merely a goal. It’s an ongoing journey fueled by teamwork and collaboration — a journey that has made Buckhannon one of our most consistent top performers in both safety and manufacturing reliability. ... Read More

For the third year in a row, our medium density fiberboard (MDF) mill in Columbia Falls, Montana, has won the annual Composite Panels Association Safety Innovation of the Year. In doing so, Columbia Falls — our only MDF manufacturing facility and the longest-running MDF plant in the world, celebrating 50 years later in 2024 — beat out facilities from 34 other CPA members eligible for the award. ... Read More