GERMANY - Chinese wood-based panel producer A Beautiful Family Plate Making Co. Ltd. (BFP) has contracted with German machine and plant manufacturer Dieffenbacher  for a complete Fine OSB plant in Guangxi, China.

Installation of BFP’s new plant is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023. The first board is to be produced in fall 2023.

Dieffenbacher will supply everything from chip flaking to raw board handling. The contract includes the dryer, screens, particle preparation and material recovery, glue preparation and dosing, gluing system, forming station and forming line, CPS+ continuous press system and electrics and plant automation. The plant will be able to produce 500,000 m³ of Fine OSB per year.

“Fine OSB is increasingly popular in China,” said Matthias Rübsam, Area Sales Director at Dieffenbacher. “The lower cost of the raw material makes OSB an economical alternative to plywood for almost every application. Fine OSB, however, overcomes traditional OSB’s poor laminating capability, caused by its uneven board surface.” In Fine OSB, the OSB core layer is covered top and bottom by layers of particleboard to give a better structure to the top surface. This enables further processing, including laminating or coating on both sides with melamine or phenolic paper in a short-cycle press.

“Fine OSB combines the excellent mechanical properties of OSB, including moisture resistance, robustness, stable size and strong screw-holding force, but with the surface quality of particleboard,” added Rübsam. “That makes it the perfect product for applications in home furnishings and decor, flooring, custom furniture making and many other areas. The Chinese authorities believe in the product so much that they’ve established a national standard for Fine OSB,” he concluded.