CANADA - Canadian wood-based panel producer Uniboard starts third phase of its modernization project in Val-d’Or, Quebec.

An extensive modernization project at Uniboard Canada Inc.’s particleboard plant in Val-d’Or is the latest commitment to deploy Dieffenbachers’s Cebro smart plant concept introduced in 2021. Cebro combines digitalization and advanced plant engineering with operational excellence and sustainability solutions.

“Cebro is exactly what we expect from a state-of-the-art production facility,” said Uniboard CEO and President James Hogg.

At the conclusion of Uniboard’s three-phase Renaissance project in 2025, capacity at the modernized plant will increase by almost 50 per cent versus the multi-opening particleboard line whose main components were supplied by Dieffenbacher in 1988.

The Uniboard contract with Dieffenbacher includes a 10-foot-wide and 35-meter-long CPS+ continuous press, two EVOjet P glue-saving systems, the new Forming Station PB and new Wireless STS storage system.

Uniboard will also use the MyDieffenbacher digital service platform and Dieffenbacher’s smart digitalization solution EVORIS to better understand and control their new plant. The included intelligent air management system will create cleaner air and improve the working environment. Dieffenbacher will also deliver technology for dust and material preparation, glue preparation and dosing, the press exhaust system and raw board handling system.

“This investment continues a trusting and successful partnership of more than 30 years between our two companies,” said Hogg.

“The Dieffenbacher technology and expertise will broaden our product offering and availability. It will significantly improve board quality and expand our range of board formats and thicknesses, allowing us to enter the market for thin panels, a biocomposite in high demand in North America.”

Employing more than 800 people at its sites in Sayabec, Val-d’Or and Mont-Laurier, Uniboard Canada Inc. is a leading North American manufacturer of engineered wood products, including raw particleboard, high- and medium-density fiberboard (HDF/MDF), thermally fused laminates (TFL) and high-pressure laminates (HPL).