UMaine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center is a research and innovation center dedicated to creating more sustainable energy solutions while bolstering Maine’s economy and beyond.
With forest products being one of Maine’s largest natural resources, the ASCC is researching, testing, manufacturing, and innovating on new and sustainable industry products and processes. In January, nine members from Hancock Lumber’s leadership and Board of Directors teams toured the ASCC. The Executive Director, Dr. Habib Dagher, led the tour and spoke to Team Hancock about all the ways in which they are innovating, with a focus on how to add value to Maine’s sustainable resources – primarily related to wood products and the ocean.
During one stop of the tour, Team Hancock discussed the ASCC’s partnership with a company Hancock Lumber has invested in– GO Lab’s Timber HP. According to their site, “GO Lab, Inc. is a privately held, Maine-based building products corporation, founded in 2017, to develop and manufacture wood fiber insulation for the residential and light commercial construction markets.” Members of Team Hancock got to see first-hand their wood fiber based insulation products that will be launching in 2023, including wood fiber boards, batt, and blown-in high-performance insulation. Our sawmills provide eastern white pine wood chips– a by-product produced in our white pine manufacturing operations– to Timber HP where they are used to help make the insulation products. Innovation in Maine’s wood products industry takes patience, collaboration, and key partnerships and our team is proud to be an investor and supplier in this exciting company producing sustainable building materials here in Maine!
Another fascinating part of the UMaine tour was learning about the center’s 3D printer that uses bio-resin pellets to create myriad of products. Last November the University produced their first-ever 3D printed home– a single-family home made entirely from bio-based materials including wood residuals, making it 100% renewable and recyclable and the first of its kind!
Hancock Lumber is grateful for the partnerships, collaboration, and innovation going on statewide to bring sustainable solutions to critical issues our forest products industry faces today. Thank you to the University of Maine’s ASCC team for their time in touring us around the facility– and, for their global leadership in research and innovation.
It was a pleasure to welcome representatives from Hancock Lumber to visit and tour the Advanced Structures and Composites Center and to discuss our shared interest in innovative forest products and Maine’s forest-based economy. Partnerships with local lumber companies like Hancock Lumber are essential to our wood composites research and to the successful revitalization of Maine’s forest products industry.”
–Dr. Habib Dagher
