Comment | 3
WBPI – the voice of the global panel industry T
he recent BAU show in Munich saw numerous
wood-based panels companies displaying their products. One to catch the eye
and covered in this issue of WBPI is RockPly, a patented plywood product combining hardwood veneers and rock fibres. The headline claim is
that RockPly has approximately twice the bending strength of comparable conventional birch plywood. Paged Plywood, which has developed the product,
says it took five years to develop RockPly and it believes the transportation and construction sectors are likely to big applications. In this issue of we have another plywood feature,
covering Vancouver-based Richmond Plywood Corporation, which has invested significantly in its factory and has new market engagement plans. Its most recent technical investments involved a new back-up boiler, a panel repair system, a lay-up line and a core veneer composer. Future investment will include a new dryer. For our Focus on Germany Part 2 we spoke
to one of the smallest particleboard players in Germany – Elka Holzwerke – which plans to increase particleboard production capacity to 250,000m3
a
year – doubling the current output of the mill. The fourth generation of the Kuntz family now runs the business, which is unique in having three different factories on the one site, in Morbach. It has come a long way in the last 119 years – through innovation and investment in its lumber and speciality panels operations. The trending subject of MDF recycling features
❯ FOCUS ON OSB Analysis of North American and global OSB markets
❯ FOCUS ON RESINS We talk to global resin/binder manufacturers
❯ LIGNA PREVIEW We look at what the machinery manufacturers will be revealing at Ligna in Hannover in May
❯ PLUS REGULARS Including all the news relevant to our industry, which will be covered in depth and will also appear, as it happens, on our website:
www.wbpionline.com
again in our pages this month. We speak to Dieffenbacher about further details of its partnership with Unilin Technologies to roll out the latter’s patented fibreboard recycling process Osiris. The next step is an agreement to introduce and further commercialise Osiris, with Dieffenbacher to supply Unilin with an industrial-scale fibreboard recycling plant called “Osiris 2.0” at Bazeilles. Also, on MDF recycling, researcher Dr Mark Irle shares an update on research into waste fibreboard and its potential as a raw material stream. The research is part of the EcoReFibre project and funded by Horizon Europe. We also take a look at the wood fibre insulation
industry again. This sector has seen difficulties like other areas of the wood products industries – with reduced production output and leaner times. But there are still several new plants due to come on line in 2025 – such as at Sonae Arauco’s Meppen facility and Schilliger Holz’s Lignatherm plant. Of course, there has also been interesting news with the new strategic partnership agreement between Sonae Arauco’s Agepan brand and Gutex, while Ziegler’s Naturheld wood fibre insulation plant has been acquired by JRS Group.
The next issue will be a bumper one, featuring a preview of the Ligna Exhibition, with WBPI attending the official preview in Hannover on February 20.
Stephen Powney
www.wbpionline.com
GROUP EDITOR
www.wbpionline.com | February/March 2025 | WBPI
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