It’s like being in a Black Museum at the unveiling of the star exhibit – some grisly relic of a bygone crime. Anthony Chapman retrieves two blocks of beech throughout board from a rack of samples at James Latham‘s Advanced Technical Panels.
‘This one was a magnum and this was a shotgun,’ he said, pointing to indentations in the wood. ‘You can see the shot in there. It hasn’t gone even half-way through. The damage to the back is from the shock wave – it hasn’t actually penetrated the wood.’
Mr Chapman is manager of James Latham’s ATP business, based at James Latham Northern, near Wakefield, which sells and distributes panels for fitting out commercial vehicles, vans and trailers.
Alongside this, it has diversified into specialist and bespoke applications for a spread of markets, and now occupies 6,250ft² on James Latham’s 70,000ft² site. Turnover is in the region of £2-3m.
The ATP business was developed in response to the rapid rise in overlaid boards coming into the UK from Finland during the 1970s. These were mainly smooth phenol overlays used for concrete shuttering.
Then the smooth finish was substituted with a mesh indentation to provide greater strength and slip-resistance. This opened up a market for flooring in the construction industry with boards for staging, loading bays and scaffolding, and also in commercial vehicles.
As the cores became more varied and the mesh patterns and thickness of the overlays increased, so did the applications. The patterns provided more show and the construction gave longer life and the capability to handle heavier applications.
Mr Chapman was working at James Latham Northern in the early 1980s. He said: ‘When these overlaid boards came out, we at Northern under Roger Latham decided we should get into the market. Other depots had people looking at them, but we were the first to start stocking the material. It was decided in 1984 to start a separate company – Advanced Technical Panels – to develop new products and sell them throughout the UK.’
ATP has a staff of five, but many of its office and distribution functions – and the use of a Giben beam saw – are shared by the Northern staff.
In the early days, the vehicle market accounted for about 80% of business, but this is now 52%. Mr Chapman said: ‘We have tried to stick with our existing business while at the same time be receptive to new products and new ideas.’
ATP continues to develop vehicle products and has several new lines. One is to overcome the damage to flooring by the narrow nylon wheels of small forklift trucks used inside commercial vehicles. The wheels tend to follow the same tracks and can cause problems. Mr Chapman said: ‘People think it is the surface, but we believe it is the second veneer that breaks up because of the sheering effect caused by vibration and turning. We believe it is the birch at fault. We have switched to beech and we are test marketing this now and will be showing it at the big vehicle show.’
ATP is also looking at selling custom kit packs for vans, with each panel cut to size and shape.
‘We are having talks with mills so that we would have a stock of kits in the UK for the common models, such as the Transit. It would cost more, but when you think of the cost of the vehicle, it is a very small proportion. It would be a quality product designed to look better, last longer and enhance the residual value of the van.’
Buffalo strength
One of the workhorses in the ATP range is Buffalo Board, a birch throughout plywood with a large dark brown mesh pattern phenolic film face and a smooth reverse with sealed edges. It is used for hard-wearing surfaces such as vehicle decking, storage and factory flooring, and staging and access tower floors.
Mr Chapman said: ‘A lot of our boards used for vehicles are a structural application, which is why we are very careful about what core material is used. This is also important because, obviously, weight is a factor on vehicles. We do have a board, which is a special construction of birch and spruce which, when laid perpendicular, has the same strength as birch throughout. This gives the strength of a 24mm board with the weight of a 21mm board. It also has a small diamond pattern, so it absorbs the weight better.’
Another big line is Hexafloor Grip, a birch throughout or plywood faced one side with a 240gsm phenol film with a hexagonal pattern and textured surface. This is used in flooring and other applications requiring good wear and impact properties.
It is the more unusual specifications and applications that ATP believes have to be developed, both in the vehicles and construction sectors, and more unusual markets – which is where the bullet security panel (BSP) comes in.
Mr Chapman said: ‘This board was designed for pattern-making in engineering. The story goes that the managing director liked shooting and used these boards for targets. The bullets did not go through and from there we have BSP. It has a lot of potential and that’s not just because of the increase in security areas in businesses or the growth in building society banks. I feel shopfitters could get into this area. BSP is easy to work with woodworking tools and you can veneer it.’
Among ATP’s diamond-patterned boards, Vameldeck has also been sold for flight and instrument cases, the metal-framed heavy duty carry cases.
Painting Film has also gained popularity. This has an impregnated Kraft paper overlay, which reduces dimensional changes of the basic board by controlling moisture. The paintable overlay helps resist checking by knitting together the wood fibres of the face veneer.
Mr Chapman picks up a test sample. ‘This has been soaked and heated, you name it, and you can see that there is no cracking. The film side is still good but the back is cracked.
‘We also have the grey pre-primed board. This is used for commercial vehicle doors, but it is also big in the sign industry. It’s the speed. You don’t have to prime it and you also save on the drying time, the first coat just goes straight on.’
There is also a white board, Metsä White, for the same sector, which seems to appeal particularly for small trailers.
ATP supplies a rubber-faced board used for acoustic insulation, often for coach floors around the engine.
Also in the added value range are aluminium-faced board for doors in the construction and vehicle sector and a laminated hardwood flooring range for trucks. The latter so impressed one end user, he laid it as a dance floor in his house.
