Freres Lumber was awarded a $250,000 Wood Innovations Grant from the U.S. Forest Service to further develop its new mass plywood panel product.
The new material, which uses U.S.-grown wood, is a substitute for concrete and steel in multi-story projects. The grant will help pay for a computer numeric code (CNC) machine to cut panels to buyers’ specifications.
“MPP is a new-to-the-world product,” said Tyler Freres, Vice President of Sales. “It is a carbon-neutral substitute for concrete and steel in multi-level structures. It is one-sixth the weight of concrete, and will provide a stronger, lighter, smaller, less expensive option than cross-laminated timbers.”
Testing through Oregon State University of Forestry and the Center for Advanced Wood Products has proven that MPP can achieve the same structure attributes of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) while using 20% to 30% less wood, according to Freres news release. “Like CLT, MPP panels can be manufactured up to 24 inches thick, 12 feet wide, and 48 feet long.”
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