Flakeboard’s Eugene MDF mill is cresting the wave of production improvement with a new resin process created in the firm’s St Stephens mill in Brunswick, Ontario, Canada.
Dieffenbacher’s Sunds MDF Technologies, Sundsvall, Sweden, produces the equipment.   
It is known as EVOjet and is a dry blending system that introduces resin after the dryer. It not only saves expensive resin (some 30% at Eugene), but also provides better distribution, according to Sean Coffey, Flakeboard’s Eugene plant manager.
The mill was originally a Bohemia Lumber Co particleboard operation which Willamette Industries bought and converted to recycled wood based MDF before Weyerhaeuser Company bought Willamette and converted the mill to fresh sawdust and shavings as the wood supply.
Later, Flakeboard bought it, among five Weyerhaeuser mills, making Flakeboard North America’s largest MDF producer.
The present wood supply, 200 to 220 tons per day, is sawdust and shavings, all from within a 100-mile radius of Eugene – mostly closer. It’s all green and primarily Douglas fir, although a very small amount of hardwood goes into the mix. “The plant has been good at adapting to what comes our way,” said Mr Coffey.
“At times we have run 90% sawdust,” he said. “You have to know how to move with the market. As an example, during a recent holiday period, sawmills were down and we swung to chips.”
The mill has one truck dump, which accommodates 51ft trucks.
A front-end loader mixes on the floor of the furnish area and feeds three silos which meter out to pre-steam bins. An ‘Andritz Sprout-Bauer 150’ 60-in refiner is coupled to an 8,000hp synchronous motor. Retention time in the digesters is 21⁄2 to 3 minutes.
A short blowline goes to a Westec primary flash tube dryer, heated with a Coen Energy system which can burn natural gas, dust, or a combination of the two. The system uses 95% dust and switches automatically to gas if there is a dust supply problem.
A flash tube dryer goes to two primary cyclones. The moisture content target is 17%. Dryer exhaust gas goes through an electrostatic precipitator (ESP). Paraffin wax is the only additive ahead of the dryer.
Conveyors can act as a fire dump or convey forward to a Sunds weigh belt which weighs the material to automatically determine resin addition in the EVOjet, the star of the system. Fibre is in the bin for not more than 10 minutes.
“Two high-speed rotating spike rolls are the heart of process,” Mr Coffey explained. “The material comes in on the main infeed fan and a flow splitter just above the resinator. This divides it into two equal streams. A gate assures that the torque on the two spike rolls is even, to disintegrate the material. This produces a nice, fluffed-up fibre.”
“Two high-speed rotating spike rolls are the heart of process,” Mr Coffey explained. “The material comes in on the main infeed fan and a flow splitter just above the resinator. This divides it into two equal streams. A gate assures that the torque on the two spike rolls is even, to disintegrate the material. This produces a nice, fluffed-up fibre.” where the streams join.
The nozzles are installed on moveable bars so they can be automatically cleaned while operating.
Pre-resinated fibre recirculates back around the system. This protection fibre sandwiches the resinated fibre and protection fibre to keep fresh resin off the walls to prevent sticking. It’s all air driven.
Warm air is forced around the nozzles to maintain a 50º to 60ºC temperature.
The fibre then goes up through a tower around into the main cyclone where warm air is recycled into the system. Western Pneumatics installed that system as well as much of the other new machinery.
A main feeder serves an 8x50x8ft retention bin, where the amount of retention fibre is determined.
Fibre proceeding to the line is relayed to a bin feeding two Washington Iron Works vacuum formers. This is a 4ft homogeneous line, but could be converted to 5ft width.
The mat goes through a 125 to 200psi roller pre-press and is cross-cut to panel size ahead of the loader to the Washington Iron Works 4x16ft, 13-opening press; two platens were pulled out of an existing 15-opening press to provide room for the MDF. The press is totally enclosed for air protection.
The line can use higher moisture content raw material because the resin does not cause blisters. It can run at 19 tons per hour, using both MDI and UF resins.
The line produces thicknesses from 1⁄4in up to 11⁄4in and a density as low as 34lb/cu ft, North America’s lowest-density MDF. The Premier product is 45lb/cu ft, but the line can make up to 60lb/cu ft density.
“We engineer products to what our customers want. We do all we can to serve those customers,” Mr Coffey declared.
Pressed panels go through two board coolers, then a standard star cooler.
The Globe saws are in-line. A Kimwood sander installation has a two-head sizing head into a six-head unit, followed by a cross-belt going into one of two grade bins. A CTC feeder system is installed.
The mill is compliant with all air standard regulations and has a biofilter installation.
Mill capacity is 85 million ft2 running four shifts, but with the present poor market situation it is running three shifts for 10 days and then goes down for five days. There are 50 hourly-paid employees.
Flakeboard is quite safety and employee oriented. The mill is unusually clean and Mr Coffey believes this is one of the factors for good employee morale. “We have a very good workforce, very empowered,” he said, “We have an outstanding resin system, combined with an outstanding workforce.
California is the primary market, but Oregon and Washington are important too. Most of the output is trucked, but there is space for five rail cars on the railroad spur.
Flakeboard broke ground on the resin project in July and the system was ready to run on December 31, with 8 days of commissioning before they were ready to run around the clock.
Flakeboard, with its eight mills in US and Canada, makes a variety of particleboard, MDF and thin, high density MDF.
The company’s 2006 purchase of three MDF and three particleboard plants from Weyerhaeuser added 1.1 billion ft2 of capacity.
A new product is eLITE light-weight MDF from the Eugene mill. It is 30% lighter than standard MDF, resulting in freight savings, shorter lead time, labour benefits and extended tool life.
Looking at the past, Flakeboard was the first to continuous-press particleboard and apply melamine faces continuously, among many other firsts for this innovative company.

One of Oregon’s older plywood mills is emerging into another life under new owners, the Swanson Group of Glendale, Oregon. After buying the mill two year ago, they started converting it into a virtually new operation through refurbishments and some new equipment – and they haven’t shut down operations to accomplish the job.
Thorough detailed planning and job execution have been the secrets of Swanson’s success.
Mill manager Joe Andrews worked for the previous operators, McKenzie Forest Products, when Swanson took it over in July 2007 and improvement work started immediately.
The mill was on the century-old Booth-Kelly site which had gone through several ownerships when McKenzie picked it up. Their course of action was a common solution at the time – get away from commodity production and go with speciality niche products. McKenzie was 90% speciality, but that wasn’t 100% successful.
Swanson has taken a slightly different approach – roll with the market. The company is producing sheathing as something of a niche product when feasible, and also working with speciality products, including HDO and MDO in 8, 9, and 10ft lengths.
Ahead of the mill, Swanson replaced a Nicholson 22in debarker with a Nicholson 27in debarker and added controls, allowing one operator to control two log lines and sort for block diameters. In addition to a long-term agreement, they buy timber on the open market.
The mill had four dryers. Swanson pulled one out and Westmill Industries rebuilt two Coe dryers to make a 23-section, four-deck, jet tube unit and a 25-section, five-deck, longitudinal dryer. New insulated steel dryer floors were among the additions, including Sweed automatic feeders. The dryers offbear through a Ventek grade scanner, moisture meter, and Metriguard to a 12-bin Coe stacker rebuilt by ISN.
All this work has doubled the mill’s drying capacity with one less line.
Mr Andrews said the Sequoia moisture system from Ventek has been very good for the plant in optimising the dryers.
They started the lathe project even before the dryer work was completed. Swanson’s mill services group coordinated the project, which included log scanning and block laser pre-centring ahead of the Raute XY+ scanner. This is computer-controlled for the best recovery. A Raute pendulum charger feeds the lathe, which also has a new drive. Premier upgraded the lathe to ball screw drive. Central controls cue the system.
After the rebuild, the lathe can now peel six to 40in blocks so the mill can handle larger logs, which are less common these days, along with the more common small and medium sized blocks.
Veneer offbears through a Raute clipper and Ventek moisture meter to a Raute six-bin stacker.
Next, they tore out the lay-up line which Georgia-Pacific, owner at the time, installed in 1967. Swanson replaced it with a SparTek nine-station spray glue line. It includes hydraulic end-trim. The automatic line can handle double four-ply panels. An added station allows seven-ply panels. The control room is midway along the long line.
Mr Andrews commented, “Swanson laid out how they wanted the line to look and flow before they started. That is important when you’re putting brand new life in an old mill like this.”
Stackers and automatic feeders have minimised labour. The vision scanning increased accuracy.
The green-end work increased recovery, while employees in the dry end have been reduced from 40 to 13.
Meanwhile, the accident rate has been cut by more than 75%, mainly through less veneer handling.
Flow changes included product shipping. They took the rail spur out of the building and installed the lay-up line in its place. Two glue spreaders were retained for high-end products.
During all this, not a single production day was lost, nor did they mar their 290-day accident-free record.
Before stopping the lathe, Swanson had veneer stockpiled, augmented by veneer from Swanson’s original plywood plant in Glendale, Oregon, as well as veneer purchases. This supply kept them rolling while the lathe was revamped.
The mill has four vintage presses for the lay-up line and two for overlay, all of which have been rebuilt. These include three 24-opening Williams-White, Baldwin 30-opening, and Fjellman 12-opening presses. The latter pair handles the overlay side.
A roll-case line picks up panels from the lay-up line and glue spreaders and takes them to the pre-presses and on to the presses. With the existing 4x8ft and 5x10ft presses the plant can produce 4x8ft to 5x10ft panels after a 10-foot sander is installed.
Production is in panels from 1⁄4 to 1-1⁄2in thick, and up to 11 plies.
This is Douglas fir sanded, Douglas fir siding and speciality industrial plywood, as well as a full line of overlay plywood, MDO (medium density overlay) concrete form, HDO (high density overlay) concrete form and marine grade. Cut-to-size is available in 1⁄4in increments between 8 and 10ft.
The mill also produces some high-grade hardwood-faced panels for siding and industrial use.
Maximum production for the revamped mill could be 180 million ft2, 3⁄8in basis, annually. It is now 2.4 million ft2 per month, with 123 employees including production, maintenance and office staff.
“Even during tough times, it’s exciting for me to be part of the continuous improvement of this facility. I have to hand it to the company, how dedicated they are to the people and to this whole process,” Mr Andrews concluded,
Swanson is a family owned company with five Oregon mills—the original Glendale plywood plant, Eugene
plywood and three stud mills. It
produces plywood, dimension lumber and studs and also has a helicopter
company involved in logging and
forest firefighting.
The firm’s output is certified by SFI, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative,
which promotes and monitors sustainable management.
Steve Swanson is company president and ceo; Chuck Wert is chief operating officer; and John Stembridge is vice president for sales and distribution.