U.S.- Egger’s wood purchasing department began establishing relationships with the North Carolina wood supplier community at a recent event organized by the North Carolina Forest Service.

Karl Grasser, project manager of finance and administration for Egger in Lexington, presented alongside Tom Coates, wood purchase mentor for EGGER Lexington, and Christian Witte, head of corporate wood purchase logistics & projects, the company’s wood purchasing strategy and opportunities available to local wood suppliers.

The event gathered 65 forestry professionals including procurement managers, forest consultants and sawmill managers. While Egger is still in the early development phases of its North Carolina manufacturing facility, the company understands the importance of local wood suppliers to ensure its success in North America.

In July 2017 Egger announced plans to build a wood-based materials plant in Lexington, North Carolina. The project implementation is scheduled to take place in several stages, the first being the construction of a chipboard plant with coating capacities.

The first phase involves an investment volume of approximately €260 million and will create 400 direct jobs over the next six years. Assuming all agreed framework conditions are fulfilled and the relevant permits are obtained, construction should start by the end of 2018 and panel production is expected to begin in 2020.