2904-00 Veneer: Commercial production

     Applies to establishments engaged in all types of commercial production of rough veneer. Veneer is a thin layer of material, usually made of wood or plastic, which is used to cover the surface of another material. In most instances, finished veneer will have a superior appearance or quality than the surface it covers. Rough veneer made of wood generally involves sawing logs, bolts (lengthwise strips), or blocks, softening them in vats of hot water or steam rooms to remove the bark and make the fiber pliable for cutting or turning. The pieces are further shaped by turning, slicing or sawing, cutting the single-ply veneer sheets to various sizes of length and thickness, then drying them in kilns. Rough veneer manufactured in this classification is generally sold to manufacturers of veneer products made by laminating rough veneer to plywood or particleboard. Machinery includes, but is not limited to, band saws, table saws, stationary knife machines, rotary lathes, conveyor systems, kilns, forklifts.

     This classification excludes sawmill operations which are to be reported separately in classification 1002; the manufacture of plywood which is to be reported separately in classification 2904-01; the manufacture of veneer products which is to be reported separately in classification 2903; and the manufacture of other products made from wood or plastic which are to be reported separately in the classification applicable to the work being performed. The production of veneer by employees of employers engaged in the manufacture of other products is to be included in the classification covering the manufacture of those products.


2904-01 Plywood: Manufacturing

     Applies to establishments engaged in the manufacture of plywood. Plywood is a structural material made of layers of wood (veneer) glued tightly together, usually with the grains of adjoining layers at right angles to each other. (In this application the word "ply" means one of the sheets of veneer.) The production of veneer is included in the scope of this classification when done by employees of employers engaged in the manufacture of plywood. To form plywood, it may be necessary to join less-than-full-size sheets of veneer into full-size sheets. In the joining process, veneer jointers, taping machines, tapeless splicers, or other methods of joining veneer, such as stringing and stitching are used. Next, a glue spreader coats the cross banding and core veneers (front and back) with liquid glue. Once glued, the veneer is conveyed to a hot press that bonds the veneers into plywood. The panels are removed from the presses, placed in a storage pile (referred to as a "hot stack") to cool and cure, then trimmed, sanded, and stacked for conditioning. Plywood may be impregnated with chemicals to develop wood-plastic combinations that are harder and denser than ordinary plywood. After they are inspected and graded according to thickness and quality, plywood panels are moved by forklift to the warehouse portion of the plant where they are stacked in tiers which are separated by a piece of lumber to prevent sagging or distortion. Pieces are bundled with metal straps, either manually or with automatic strapping equipment.

     This classification excludes sawmill operations which are to be reported separately in classification 1002; establishments that manufacture rough veneer as a product which are to be reported separately in classification 2904-00; and the manufacture of other products made from wood or plastic which are to be reported separately in the classification applicable to the work being performed.