The original engineered lumber that's being marketed right now as Timberstrand is a laminated strand lumber. It was developed by Trus Joist, an American company that was on the leading edge of engineered wood and was one of the leaders in the world. They were actually the developer of the I-joist that you see in most flooring systems in houses today.
They and the original MacMillan Bloedel developed the technology for laminated strand lumber, which uses a process similar to oriented strand board. We take poplar logs, strand them into strands that are six inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide and very thin, then glue them back together in a panel. This uses that same process for structural beams and structural products. It actually aligns all the strands in the same direction.
The German technology I was referring to was really developed in conjunction with Trus Joist and with a German company called Siempelkamp, which developed the steam injection press, which is the real key to making structural beams like this--the very thick products--that you need to cure.