KUCHING: Malaysia is still at an early stage of development and production of engineered wood.
Dean of Research and Innovation, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Shah Alam Professor Dr Zakiah Ahmad said the country is yet to export engineered wood to other countries and domestic usage is still minimal.
However, she said several companies in Malaysia have begun exporting products to countries such as Australia for specific demand.
“Promotional efforts and government plans, both in the Peninsula and through the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), have been implemented to increase production and usage of engineered wood products and focusing on glue-laminated timber (GLT).
“Currently, there is an industry in Malaysia which is capable of producing GLT but we hope to see more industries and companies involved in manufacturing GLT products to attract more developers and other companies to use GLT,” said Zakiah when met at the International
Conference on Engineered Wood held at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here, yesterday (May 16).
On its importance to both Malaysia and the state, she said as Malaysia is one of the major wood producers, solid timber is deemed unsuitable due to its sizes and difficulties in obtaining certain species while at the same time maintaining the necessary strength for structural purposes and therefore requires engineered wood.
“To make it suitable as a structural material, we need to enhance its capabilities by transforming it into engineered timber products.
“We are also aware of the strategic plans implemented by STIDC to develop more plantation areas which is one of the way to utlitise plantation wood as a structural material in the form of engineered timber products such as GLT and cross laminated timber (CLT), which is widely used in other countries.
“Forests that have been converted into plantations will no longer be subjected to logging but will be on plantation forests, which is one the strategies by STIDC,” she added.
According to Zakiah, studies have also shown that glulam made from the same species as solid timber has twice the strength of solid timber.
“This approach saves a significant amount of timber as no large-sized logs are needed. It utilizes timber with sufficient strength to produce glulam, resulting in substantial timber savings.”
In terms of helping Sarawak’s economy, she said it will create a new industry in the manufacture of engineered wood products and the construction sector will get a greener, sustainable building material.
“With the increase in manufacturing of engineered wood, there will be more industries involved both locally and for exports, which in turn provide greater economic benefits to Sarawak,” she said.
Zakiah specialises in timber engineering and plays an essential role in the Malaysian Standard Committee as chairman for timber structures group and member for several working groups.
