4 | Contents


Contents OCTOBER / NOVEMBER2025


NEWS 06 — West Fraser posts Q3 results 07 — Roseburg exits hardwood plywood business 08 — Steico reports solid earnings despite slower market recovery 09 — UK panel producers see profits fall 10 — UPM initiates strategic review of plywood business


FOCUS ON PARTICLEBOARD PART ONE 12 — An update on particleboard markets and capacities in Europe and North America


FOCUS ON NORTH AMERICA 24 — The Composite Panel Association summarises NA markets 26 — Dieffenbacher has been investing in its NA operation 27 — Uniboard is close to competing its class leading PB mill at Val d’Or 28 — TimberHP in Maine has started TimberBoard production 30 — Kadant Carmanagh Design talks to Mike Botting on its latest developments


FOCUS ON ITALY 33 — IMAL PAL Group talks to Stephen Powney on its latest news 35 — PAL outlines developments, including MDF recycling technologies


FOCUS ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) 37 — Andritz is driving process optimization with MDFEye and AI 38 — SMARTECH now fully focused on its AI/ML platform under Hexion Inc 40 — London-based AHX.ai explains how AI can benefit panel manufacturers


SURFACING 43 — Kastamonu Entegre has launched Soft Mat


PANEL PERSPECTIVES 44 — Review of the WMF Show in Shanghai


46  Eugene Gerden covers the India wood-based panels sector 48 — Fraunhofer has developed an innovative PB recycling innovation


Cover: Soft Mat surfaces from Kastamonu. pp43 44 In this issue:


Focus on Particleboard Part 1 Focus on North America Focus on AI


October/November 2025 38 35


30


Wood Based Panels International magazine


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WBPI | October/November 2025 | www.wbpionline.com


The WBPI Group


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