Description

The mass timber panel industry, most prominently exemplified by cross-laminated timber (CLT), is a new phenomenon. It integrates elements of mass timber design, manufacturing technologies, and construction and has not followed typical commodity-oriented forest products industry models. In fact, it would be difficult to point to an adequate precedent. Organic development of the global mass timber industry over the last 25 years has produced substantial diversity in manufacturing processes, levels of automation, scales of operation, and products and services options, as well as in market strategies and modes of interaction with its extensive supply chain. Existing global mass timber operations offer a living laboratory that provides an understanding of both the current state of the industry and its trajectory and future development. Especially important are insights in how newly emerging markets may develop.