manufacturers+distributors+retailers

Georgia-Pacific announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Grant Forest Products’ oriented strand board (OSB) facility at Englehart, Ontario, and the associated facility at Earlton, Ontario, as well as its OSB facilities at Allendale and Clarendon, S.C., for approximately $400 million. Grant Forest Products intends to seek approval of the agreement in the near future from the Canadian Court overseeing Grant’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act case and a United States Bankruptcy Court. Georgia-Pacific intends to operate the OSB manufacturing facilities that employ more than 300 people in Ontario and at Allendale, SC. At the Clarendon plant, Georgia-Pacific plans to complete the unfinished construction and begin operations as soon as market conditions allow, which will entail employing more than 100 people in Clarendon County. In addition, Georgia-Pacific plans to make capital investments worth several million dollars to improve facilities and deliver enhanced reliability and efficiencies.

Tamarack Technologies CEO Tom Colasanto has announced the company’s first international distribution agreement with Air Exchange Pty Ltd. of Australia. Directors Shane Bouverie and Robert Francis, commenting on the appointment, said, “We are excited about the possibilities of bringing Tamarack products to Australia. There is a substantial unmet need for alternative cooling and ventilation products in the Australian marketplace, especially whole house fans. Our summer days are hot and nights cool and dry, which is the perfect environment for whole house fans. As a leader in high-quality, functional products at sharp price points and with energy-saving features, Tamarack gives us an immediate advantage over all of our competitors in Australia.”

Wolf, suppliers of kitchen cabinets and a provider of composite and PVC decking, railing, trim and other building products, has announced it has expanded its service area in North and South Carolina. Starting in January, the company began filling orders from a cross-dock facility in Lexington, NC, the second phase in Wolf’s previously announced plan to expand its service territory. Wolf will serve dealers in a region that includes Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro and Winston-Salem in North Carolina and Columbia in South Carolina. The new service area also stretches westward to Asheville, NC. By the end of the first quarter, Wolf’s service area will also include the coastal area stretching from Wilmington, NC, to Charleston, SC, and Savannah, GA.

Honeywell has launched its Honeywell EnovatePRO Contractor Program designed to help contractors expand their business offerings in the area of air sealing and weatherization for home and buildings. The program features new Honeywell products, including energy-efficient foam insulation and sealants, as well as professional development training, ultimately helping program participants to become authorized Honeywell EnovatePRO Contractors. The Honeywell EnovatePRO Contractor Program will include products specifically designed to allow contractors to perform air sealing and weatherization work. The product line will include EnovatePRO brand Insulating Foam Sealant, which will be available in both cans and two-component kits, as well as a complete line of weather-stripping and caulks to provide contractors with all the products they need to properly air seal a house or commercial building.

Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies (A.E.R.T.), in alliance with PacTrim, has introduced MoistureShield trim and moulding products. Manufactured with the same process of totally encapsulating reclaimed wood fibers in recycled plastic that A.E.R.T. uses for its MoistureShield composite decking, the new trim and moulding products provide builders with durable, water-resistant and beautiful finishing materials for home exteriors. MoistureShield trim and moulding products are easy to handle and come with a limited lifetime warranty. Builders can use standard tools and fasteners to cut and install the products, which come in a variety of sizes and two primed profiles—smooth or wood grain.

Lasco and Aquatic merge

Lasco Bathware and Aquatic Whirlpools announced in January that they have merged into one company called Aquatic, letting distributors, builders, architects, other specifiers and consumers tap a single source for more than 330 luxury hydrotherapy, everyday and accessible bathing products.

“At Aquatic, we recognize and are inspired by the power of our products to relax, refresh, reinvigorate and renew—to deeply enhance every customer’s life, whatever his or her needs,” said Gary Anderson, President of Aquatic. “That inspiration is built in to everything we do—from the way we design, engineer and manufacture our products to how we work with our distribution partners to the customer experience at every touch point while planning and shopping for and ultimately benefiting from our tubs and showers.”

The new Aquatic provides new efficiencies for distributors and builders as a result of consolidating key functions. These include:

• National production by six plants geographically distributed across United States
• Distribution through the company’s own trucking operation of 200-plus tractor trailers
• Centralized customer service for placing/tracking orders, technical support and field service/warranty repair