Project Details

Client:
Crestwood Manufacturing
Location:
Salina, Kansas
Product:
Columbia Forest Products Purebond® Plywood.

A nature-inspired solution has achieved a major milestone. U.S. soybean growers gathered alongside Salina, Kansas cabinetry workers at Crestwood Manufacturing to celebrate the use of U.S. soy inside 100 million panels of Columbia Forest Products’ Purebond® Plywood.

The EPA-honored innovation has benefitted thousands of customers, woodworking employees and U.S. farmers.  Through the soybean checkoff, the United Soybean Board has supported soy research on the technology as well as partnered with the Columbia Forest Products to educate architects and other customers about its value.

“U.S. soybean growers appreciate the demand for soy that Columbia Forest Products and its customers have created for our crop that is grown by approximately 515,000 farmers across the nation,” said United Soybean Board Director Lance Rezac, who grows soybeans at Onaga, Kan. “We are also proud that U.S. soy’s sustainability has contributed to the wellbeing of manufacturing workers, families in their homes, employees at offices and even movie sets where this product is used to avoid exposure to added formaldehyde.”

The PureBond story starts with the science of biomimicry, which studies nature and then imitates its designs. Oregon State researcher, Kaichang Li, looked to the Pacific Ocean for insight on how to develop a practical, scalable and cost-effective way to convert totally away from formaldehyde-based resin systems in the hardwood plywood industry.  Inspiration came from observing that mussels secret proteins to defy the pounding of waves. The research path led to protein-rich soy flour, which is the essential ingredient to make plywood without any added formaldehyde from standard veneer-core and composite hardwood plywood core panels. The soy flour product delivered adhesion as well as water resistance. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored the researchers who developed this soy-based panel assembly approach with the 2007 Presidential Green Chemistry Award. According to the EPA, the technology represented the “first cost-competitive, environmentally friendly adhesive that replaced the toxic urea–formaldehyde (UF) resin.”

The North Carolina-headquartered company first offered the product to customers in 2005.  Importantly, PureBond provides performance benefits yet is cost-competitive with traditional panels made using UF construction.  “Columbia’s environmental commitment remains strong. “Our market position is about being honest and transparent with the materials we use,” said Director of Marketing Todd Vogelsinger. “Our customers want to know what they’re buying, how it was made, and what it was made with so we are proud to say we shrank our environmental footprint with U.S. soy.”

“The soy benefit means that, in addition to appreciating the visual and performance qualities of their furniture for decades into the future, our customers can also appreciate the special qualities of the material.  The story of what you can’t see is as exciting as the story that the furniture tells on its own.”

CFP’s plywood products are available through a network of wholesale distributors, select Home Depot stores and fabricators like Crestwood that make custom cabinetry, furniture and even caskets. Crestwood’s 300,000-square-feet manufacturing plant in Salina is one of the nation’s most modern woodworking facilities. The multi-generation-family business was an early adopter of CFP’s decorative plywood that offers environmental benefits thanks to being made with CFP’s U.S. soy flour-based resin system.

“We are always looking for ways to better our products to meet customer needs,” Crestwood President Mike Junk. “PureBond is a cost-neutral product that also gives air quality benefits to our customers as well as employees.  We are excited that each piece of furniture we make also uses soybeans like the ones grown here in our state.”