APA - The Engineered Wood Association

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APA Quality Services

The trademarks of APA – The Engineered Wood Association and Engineered Wood Systems appear only on products manufactured by member mills and are the manufacturers' assurance that the products conform to the standard shown on the trademark. That standard may be a(n):

  • APA Performance Standard
  • Voluntary Product Standard PS 1-07 for Structural Plywood
  • Voluntary Product Standard PS 2-04 for Wood-Based Structural-Use Panels

Engineered wood products bearing the EWS mark are manufactured in accordance with an APA or a national standard such as ANSI Standard A190.1, American National Standard for Structural Glued Laminated Timber. APA Standards for EWS products include:

  • PRI-400 I-joists
  • PRR-401 Rim Board ®
  • PRL-501 LVL

Quality of all APA and EWS trademarked products is subject to verification through APA audit.

Quality Inspection and Testing

Quality auditing and laboratory testing is an integral part of APA's mission. APA maintains three quality-testing laboratories in key producing regions, and has a staff of 23 experienced auditors and 5 laboratory technicians. Additional work is carried out at APA's sophisticated research center in Tacoma, Washington. APA auditors make unannounced visits to member mills and work regularly with mill staff to solve production issues that affect product quality and efficient manufacturing.

APA Quality Management System

Traditional approaches to structural wood panel quality assurance have centered on testing and inspection of the finished product for such critical attributes as bending strength and stiffness, dimensional stability, bond durability, impact resistance, etc. Test results are compared with established minimum performance criteria as set forth in performance standards or product specifications.

Plywood and OSB mills today, however, are high-speed, high-volume marvels compared to those of just a few years ago. The manufacturing innovations going into existing and new mills, together with widening raw material variations and the diversity of manufacturing "recipes", are placing new demands on quality control methods.

The QMS Approach

Under a program called APA QMS (Quality Management System), APA and its OSB and plywood member mills have implemented an updated method of third-party certification in the structural panel industry. The APA QMS places emphasis on mill quality control programs rather than relying on testing and inspection of the finished product. This approach, which was developed in conjunction with APA members and is based on ISO 9000, has been applied with considerable success in other industries, including the automotive, steel and consumer electronics fields.

Benefits of QMS

There are compelling benefits associated with the QMS approach. It provides the mill greater flexibility in designing and conducting a quality assurance program tailored to that mill's specific needs, including opportunities for incorporating its own proprietary quality initiatives. It offers the potential to lower the cost of the quality function itself while also reducing claims and the loss of income caused by fall-down or below-grade production. Most importantly, it provides a more effective means to assure that the product in the marketplace performs to customer expectations.