OSB output now exceeds plywood productionBy Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOTUp until recently, the use of plywood was standard for the paneling needs of the North American wood frame residential construction market. But times are changing. In 2000, production of oriented strand board marginally exceeded plywood production for the first time. By 2004, oriented strand board production grew to nearly 60% of the North American panel market share. What is oriented strand board, or OSB? OSB is an engineered, mat-formed panel product made of strands, flakes, or wafers sliced from small diameter, round wood logs and bonded with an exterior type of binder under intense heat and pressure. OSB panels consist of layered mats. Exterior or surface layers are composed of strands aligned in the long panel direction. Inner-layers consist of cross- or randomly-aligned strands. These large mats are then subjected to intense heat and pressure to become a master panel and are cut to size. Production of oriented strand board in North America has grown remarkably in the last couple of decades. This is attributed, according to the Structural Board Association, an industry group, to OSB’s growing acceptance as an economical and competitive structural panel. In 1980, North American OSB panel production was 751 million square feet, or 0.7 million cubic meters, according to the SBA. By 1990, that figure had grown to 7.6 billion square feet, or 7.0 million cubic meters, and in 2001, to 22.0 billion square feet, or 19.4 million cubic meters. The Structural Board Association says that oriented strand board is favored over plywood, and other non-wood construction materials, because of its superior strength. This strength comes mainly from the uninterrupted wood fiber, interweaving of the long strands or wafers, and the degree of orientation of strands in the surface layers. Waterproof and boil proof resin binders are combined with the strands to provide internal strength, rigidity and moisture resistance. Information provided by the Structural Board Association indicates, that, pound for pound, wood is stronger than steel because it has a more favorable strength-to-weight ratio. When compared by weight, wood is used more in North American residential construction than all plastics, metals, and concrete combined, according to the SBA. OSB provides builders and homeowners with other advantages as well, according to the SBA. Analysis of earthquake damage in California and Japan, the SBA says, revealed that panel sheathed wood frame structures fared better than did masonry and concrete buildings. The product also provides environmental benefits when compared to other construction materials. Unlike steel or concrete, the SBA points out, OSB is made from a completely renewable resource, small-diameter, fast-growing trees. The United States is a net importer of oriented strand board, according to Dominique Janssens, a spokesperson for the Structural Board Association. In 2004, US importers received 8,556,000 million cubic meters of OSB, mostly from Canada. Rail and truck are used to move the OSB across the border, although, Janssens notes, “Rail cars can be in short supply at times,” leaving the industry heavily reliant on cross-border trucking. A relatively smaller amount of OSB imports, 200,000 cubic meters last year, arrived by from European and South American points of origin, and offloaded primarily at East Coast US ports. The United States also exports some oriented strand board, mainly to Canada and Mexico. These exports amounted to about 145,000 cubic meters in 2004, according to Janssens. US producers also exported smaller amounts to other overseas countries, a total of around 30,000 square meters last year. The United States was the chief producer of OSB last year, with production 12.09 million cubic meters. Canada came in second producing 9.16 million cubic meters, Europe was next with 2.70 million cubic meters, while South American produced 0.40 million cubic meters.