History


TTS was established in 1998, as a forest products development and testing company under the name Tekle Technical Services Inc. TTS quickly acquired an international reputation for technical and innovative excellence in the forest products industry, offering the world’s leading forest products companies and equipment manufacturers a range of consulting services, including:

  • Process improvement programs;
  • Developing and implementing quality control programs;
  • Product improvement and development research and development programs; and
  • Training plant managers and operators how to optimally run forest product production lines.

TTS clients include Canfor, Dieffenbacher, Domtar, International Paper, Modern Laminated Timber, Nelson Pine Industries, Schweitzer-Mauduit, and West Fraser Timber.

In 2000, TTS made a strategic decision to expand its focus to include agricultural fibre as well as wood fibre. The company developed a suite of green building products, drawing upon unutilized waste streams, including agricultural residuals (hemp hurds, flax shives, cereal straws), forestry processing residuals (bark, harvesting slash, sawdust) and municipal and construction fibre waste.

By 2006, TTS had developed five families of products – SIPs, engineered fibre mats, fibre-cement block and biocomposite panels. TTS is currently in the process of commercializing these products through strategic partnerships. In 2009, TTS led the development of a $15-million engineered fibre mat plant in Drayton Valley, Alberta.

emailTTS (22 of 30)

Vision


Vision

To develop economies and build communities as a leading global provider of environmentally and socially sustainable natural fibre products.

Mission

To bring the most advanced natural fibre products to market, through environmentally and socially sustainable manufacturing practices.

Core Values

RESPECTFUL: We respect individuals, communities and the environment, and strive to create an atmosphere of mutual respect with all employees and stakeholders.

RESOURCEFUL: We are resourceful and strive to deliver the highest value to our customers, employees, partners, and stakeholders.

Philosophy


 

Community & Economic Development

At TTS, we are committed to a sustainable future. We focus on developing products that will have the lowest impact on the environment, the highest return on investment, and the greatest benefit to the communities where our plants are located.

Shared Value

We believe in shared value or value creation value creation for business that simultaneously yields more profit and greater social impact, resulting in powerful transformations and opportunities for growth and innovation in both business and society. Shared value focuses on the connections between societal and economic progress, and has the potential to unleash the next wave of global growth and competitive advantage. Learn more about shared value: http://sharedvalue.org

Affordability

TTS was founded on a vision of making affordable and environmentally sustainable housing available around the world. To advance this goal, TTS has adopted an innovative approach of combining agricultural and wood fibre waste streams into high-quality green building products that are designed to address local and global affordable housing needs.

Smart Manufacturing

Ideal plants are relatively small-scale, located in rural communities, and make use of natural fibre that is currently waste material. This approach offers economic development opportunities to rural communities, provides a solution to the problem of costly waste products for companies, and de-risks the cost and availability of natural fibre inputs for plants.

Global Vision

TTS’s ultimate goal is to become active in international economic development and disaster relief efforts by helping to create local manufacturing industries that produce, environmentally friendly and affordable housing and temporary shelters.

Environmental and Social Sustainability

  • Waste materials. Material inputs for all of TTS’ products are sourced from waste and residual natural fibre streams that are currently burned or consigned to landfills. This reduces greenhouse gases (GHGs), air pollution and the accumulation of landfill waste.
  • Small-scale plants. TTS’ plants are built at a smaller scale than conventional plants, and are located in rural communities near sources of agricultural and forest fibre. This reduces the distance that material inputs must be transported to plants, and because of the smaller scale, plants ship products to end product manufacturers over a shorter distance, reducing GHG emissions and air pollution from transportation.
  • Zero-waste: all material residuals are recycled and reincorporated into other products.
  • High-tech: TTS’ unique application of microwave technology to many of its manufacturing processes greatly reduces the energy requirements of production, making them extremely energy efficient and reducing GHGs emissions associated with energy production.
  • Excellent end-of-life characteristics. All products are 100% biodegradable and can be recycled into other products.
  • Eco-friendly resin: TTS uses resins that meet Europe’s EU’s E1 Emissions standard for off-gassing of formaldehyde, the most stringent rating system in the world for furniture products. In place of traditional polyurethane foam, TTS is moving to the use of natural oil polyol based foams, which are derived from grain or soybeans. TTS has also developed composite panel products that utilize no additional synthetic resin, greatly reducing GHG emissions

Strategy


 

TTS is ideally suited to capture the opportunity to bring industrial bio-materials products to market. Its experience in product development and process improvement and its strong network within the natural fibre industry make it a key partner; its technological assets and production capacity fill a critical resource gap for the industry; and its global reputation and understanding of opportunities emerging in the natural fibre space make it a leader in this industry.

TTS is currently focused on small-scale commercial production of its products to bridge the gap between basic lab-scale research and development and commercialization of products and technologies in the industrial bio-products industry.

TTS Sustainable Biocomposite Technologies

Bio-Industry


 

The bio-industry broadly makes use of biotechnology and other advanced life science methodologies in the creation or alteration of life forms or processes.

The bio-industrial sector transforms natural fibres into bio-products – chemicals, energy, and materials.

The bio-economy can basically be described as an economy based on the sustainable manufacture of products, in whole or in part, from renewable resources. It includes all processes, from feedstock production through the processing stage(s) to the manufacture of end products, in addition to research, development and commercialization processes.

Bio-products – These include bio-energy, bio-materials, and bio-chemicals. For example:

Bio-energy

  • liquid fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel
  • solid biomass for combustion to generate heat and power
  • gaseous fuel such as biogas and syngas, which can be used to generate heat and power

Bio-materials

  • bioplastics from plant oils and sugars
  • biofoams and biorubber from plant oils and latex
  • biocomposites manufactured from agricultural (e.g., hemp, flax, kenaf) and forestry biofibres, used, for example, in the production of automobile door panels and parts

Bio-chemicals

  • industrial – basic and specialty chemicals and resins, including paints, lubricants and solvents
  • pharmaceuticals – antibodies and vaccines produced by genetically modified plant “factories” and natural source medicinal compounds
  • biocosmetics – soaps, body creams and lotions

TTS specializes in bio-materials – bio-composites, bio-fibres, and bio-plastics.

Bio-fibres are renewable, biodegradable fibres produced from wood, agricultural crop residues and purpose-grown crops such as hemp, flax, and kenaf. Bio-fibres are used in the production of structural components (e.g., stairs, decking, doors and shelves), and for the construction and furniture industries and can be used in the manufacture of high-quality paper and textiles.

Biofibres can be blended with petroleum-based polymers and resins to produce stronger, more durable bio-composite materials, which have a range of applications in the automotive (e.g., door panels), aerospace and other manufacturing sectors.