APA - The Engineered Wood Association is a nonprofit trade association of the United States and Canadian engineered wood

Engineered wood

Engineered wood, also called composite wood, man-made wood, or manufactured board; includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding the strands, particles, fibers, or veneers of wood, together with adhesives, to form composite materials...

 products industry. They represent engineered wood manufacturers and mandate things such as quality testing, product research, and market development.

History

The APA was originally founded in 1933 as the Douglas Fir Plywood Association to advance the interests of the Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir

Douglas-fir is one of the English common names for evergreen coniferous trees of the genus Pseudotsuga in the family Pinaceae. Other common names include Douglas tree, and Oregon pine. There are five species, two in western North America, one in Mexico, and two in eastern Asia...

 plywood

Plywood

Plywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...

 manufacturers in the Pacific Northwest

Pacific Northwest

The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...

. As the association and engineered wood technology grew to incorporate more types of wood, the organization's name was changed in 1964 to the American Plywood Association. The APA continued to grow, not only to support other forms engineered wood but also to include Canadian manufacturers, and in 1994 changed its name to the current name. It was decided to retain the acronym "APA" because it had become so widely known and recognized.