The recent Timber Processing & Energy Expo, held in Portland, Ore. September 28-30, had a knockout crowd of sawmillers from around the globe walking the aisles. 110 wood producer companies sent representatives to the three-day trade show which featured a sold-out exhibit floor, and one-day, optional add-on education session. As well as beer and brats available for purchase all three days and a special open reception honoring Collins Co.’s Eric Schooler, Timber Processing magazine’s 2022 Person of the Year on the first day, sponsored by Real Performance Machinery.

The event, held at the Portland Expo Center, featured 170 exhibitors, 1,225 (non-exhibitor) registered attendees and another 900 exhibitor personnel. All mill personnel who attended the show and took advantage of pre-registration online were given free admission. Produced by Hatton-Brown Expositions, an affiliate of Timber Processing magazine, the every-other-year event was last held in 2018 (due to the pandemic canceling the show in 2020). It marked the fifth TP&EE since its inception in 2012.

The add-on education, the second edition of Productivity & Efficiency, a conference by Timber Processing, featured 10 speakers, across two sessions. The morning session, Sawmill Of The Future: The Future Is Now discussed the viability of digital twins in sawmilling, new scanning technologies, as well as robotic feasibility hearing from BID’s Simon Potvin, Justin Price with Evergreen Engineering, MiCROTEC’s Norvin Laudon, Mid-South Engineering’s Chris Brown and Terry Brown with the Lumber Quality Institute. In the afternoon session, Project Planning & Implementation: Bring It On, in the trenches sawmill personnel Vaughn Emmerson with Sierra-Pacific, Mike Zojonc with Gilchrist FP, and sawmill industry legend Phil Johnson shared the good, the bad and the ugly of recent projects. Kevin Colins with Strategic Energy Group and USNR’s Sam Pope rounded out the afternoon.

The next TP&EE is scheduled for September 25-27, 2024. As always, it will have free pre-registration for mill personnel.