In the Highlands of Scotland, just along the coast from Inverness, a 99-year-old Scottish sawmiller’s Timber Systems Division is gearing up to take further advantage of the burgeoning I-joist market.
At Forres James Jones & Sons Ltd has been investing heavily in its JJI-Joist factory in anticipation of growing its market share.
Landmark achievements in 2003 included production of three million linear metres, the opening of the first finger-jointing line of its kind in the UK, the commissioning of a second I-joist production line and new warehousing – costing a total of £2m. Investment has now topped £4m since production started in 1999.
This year the finger-jointing line has moved to a double shift and various JJI-Joist floor configurations have been independently tested to meet the requirements of the amended Part E of the Building Regulations. In May, the National House-Building Council gave the configurations Type Approval for Part E, the only I-joist manufacturer so far to have achieved this recognition.
Tom Bruce-Jones, director of James Jones’s Timber Systems Division, said the current conversion rate from solid timber to I-joists is about 50-55%. And he believes this trend will continue to rise over the next couple of years to about 75%.
“We have got the infrastructure and ability through future capital expenditure programmes to add further production capacity,” he said.
The seeds for the JJI-Joist were sown in the late 1990s when Brian Robertson, factory general manager, spoke to James Jones’s managing director John Kissock about I-joists while they were both members of a TRADA committee. Mr Robertson was subsequently asked to start up an I-joist operation for the company.
“It was a fairly small scale operation, basically a pilot, and machinery was bought under licence from Canadian company Nascor in 1999. But it was sufficient for us to get into the market and for us to be able to compete in the UK without major investment,” said Mr Robertson.
Rigorous testing
The new product, which is BBA-approved, was exhaustively tested before launch, with both TRADA and Brighton University researchers putting it through its paces. James Jones also wrote its own design software to be used with the joists.
“The JJI-Joist is a British product. We designed it to British codes and sizes,” said Mr Bruce-Jones.
The product, he added, proved an early hit, with builders Persimmon and George Wimpey among the first customers.
“We decided on a very small core of distributors,” said Mr Robertson. “We started with 10 located around the UK, so we have a full coverage of the market. We picked distributors that had good relationships with the major or regional builders.”
The first production line had an annual capacity of 1.2 million linear metres but went to a double shift in 2002 and boosted capacity to 2.7 million linear metres.
Mr Bruce-Jones described the second line, commissioned in 2003, as a “quantum leap”. Whereas the first was dependent on manual labour, this latest system is highly automated and designed to dramatically improve JJI-Joist output.
The new press is four times the size of line one and a vertical carousel reduces glue curing times and manual handling.
Both lines feature visual grading, a groover and gluing of OSB end sections before the web and flanges are bonded and pressed. They are then crosscut to exact length and samples are tested to check compliance to British Standards.
Line two was designed in-house and built by a local engineering company. “There is real pride within the company because it was designed and specified by the James Jones team,” said Mr Bruce-Jones.
Finger-jointing lne
The finger-jointing line is designed to give flexibility in producing individual lengths for just-in-time delivery and also makes James Jones less reliant on imported flange materials.
The line works two 11-hour shifts a day with the high level of automation requiring just three people on each shift.
A key differentiating factor between the JJI-Joist and competitor products is its use of a softwood flange rather than LVL. Mr Bruce-Jones said the lightness of softwood flanges makes the product popular on building sites. “A softwood flange is preferable to a lot of trades people because they can nail into it easily,” he added.
JJI-Joists are made to standard lengths of 8, 9, 10 and 12m. But the company also produces non-standard lengths for customers, including Stewart Milne Timber Systems.
Focus on training
Education and training are strong focuses at Forres – the company even has a room showing how not to construct a floor system. Training for architects, specifiers, housebuilders and distributors has become a core part of the business.
In-house engineers and sales technicians provide knowledge of the JJI-Joist, with personnel located strategically across the UK to give support throughout the supply chain. More than 50 technical bulletins have been published to keep architects and distributors up-to-date.
Mr Bruce-Jones said: “The intellectual assets of the company are as great if not greater than the physical assets. We are designing products to strict guidelines and tight tolerances.”
The company’s JoistMaster and FloorMaster design software, for architects, specifiers and engineers, has also been updated this year. In addition, a state-of-the-art design office has been built, allowing distributors and end users to outsource their designs and engineering. The company has already recruited five new designers and has plans to recruit more as demand picks up.
Mr Bruce-Jones added: “We are working on a number of innovative research and development projects for the residential and construction market using the JJI-Joist. There is a large amount of investment in R&D work currently on the drawing board which we anticipate will come to fruition this year.”
