Shijiazhuang may be almost unpronounceable to a westerner, but it is the capital city of Hebei province and is located three hours’ drive south west of Beijing.
Hebei Yingyang Man-Made Board Co Ltd started life in the panel industry in 1993 with a particleboard line made by Chinese company Sichuan Donghue Machine Co. It has a 12-daylight, 4ft x 8ft multi-opening press.
This line originally had a tiny capacity of 15,000m3 a year but has since been upgraded to 50,000m3.
The company’s second line, for the production of MDF, came from the same supplier, and had the same size press. It produced its first board in 1994. The capacity of this line was also subsequently increased, this time to 40,000m3 a year.
Donghue Machine Co closed down soon after Hebei Yingyang bought this line.
The company’s third line, built in 1998, was also for MDF and was this time supplied by  Shanghai Wood Based Panel Machinery Co Ltd (SWBPMC, now known as SWPM). It had the first 15-daylight press in China, with dimensions of 4ft x 16ft. The original capacity was 50,000m3 a year but this has since been increased to 100,000m3.
“During 1994, many factories were producing MDF in China and there was felt to be enough capacity,” said general manager Fan Hua Zhi. “But after I bought this first 15-daylight press, SWBPM gained a good market for this larger capacity press and sold many more.”
Next came the decision to buy a continuous line. “We bought this line because China was getting stronger and the people’s standard of life was improving and there was demand for a good quality board, so we decided to buy an imported line,” explained Mr Fan.
The whole production line was supplied by Dieffenbacher and it produced its first board in December last year.
A new building was erected on the 450mu (30ha) site in Zhengding, near Shijiazhuang, to accommodate the new line as there was plenty of space available on the site. The property also houses Mr Fan’s wife’s business. This involves making woven plastic sacks, using a mixture of recycled plastic and plastic pellets from an outside supplier which is all melted down in the factory. That business alone employs 600 workers in addition to the 1,300 employed on the panel lines, 70 of whom work on the continuous MDF line.
Construction of the new MDF building commenced in October 2003 and the first board came off the line in September 2004 – another rapid project completion which is common in China, it seems.
Raw material for the MDF production is a mixture of bought-in chips, shavings and sawdust from furniture and woodworking companies, and logs. It also includes  highquality shavings which come from the production of round, pointed wooden poles by another local company and which are delivered by a fleet of three-wheeled trucks.
The logs are a mixture of 50% softwood and 50% mixed hardwood, mainly poplar.
The Dieffenbacher CPS continuous press is 23.2m x 8ft and has a design capacity of 130,000m3.
“At present we can produce up to 150,000m3 since we started five months ago, and I hope to reach 200,000m3 by this May,” said Mr Fan in early April.
The CPS line is used to make 1.3mm to 3mm thickness MDF, while the older  multidaylight line is used to produce thicker boards, although 5mm and 6mm boards are sometimes made on the continuous line.
Main markets for the thin board are for furniture, wall panelling, doorskins and similar end-uses, explained the general manager, who is also the owner of the company and was formerly a farmer.
Although Dieffenbacher was responsible for the supply of the complete plant, Mr Fan said that his staff put the line together themselves, under the German supplier company’s supervision and equipped with its drawings.
“Dieffenbacher was responsible for supervision, but we built the line ourselves and made some non-standard parts ourselves. Most factories invite specialist contractors in but we did it ourselves.We saved a lot of money that way and this was also a first for China,” said Mr Fan proudly.
For example, said Mr Fan, air grading, forming and pressing and all electrical controls were Dieffenbacher responsibilities, while panel handling was built by a local company known to Hebei Yingyang, again to Dieffenbacher’s drawings. The extraction system and silos were made by Mr Fang’s staff.
The chipper was a “special one” from a Chinese manufacturer, but the refiner was supplied by German company Pallmann and is a 54in unit. Because he uses small diameter roundwood, Mr Fang said he does not employ a debarker.
Glue preparation is from Dieffenbacher. Italian company Imal supplied thickness and blow detection equipment, while board finishing employs a six-head sander from another Italian manufacturer, Imeas.
Yingyang has two Chinese-made shortcycle lines on site, but these are only used to produce panels to customers’ order. Mr Fan explained that the local market for low-pressure melamine faced panels is not very good.
Mr Fan’s next project/dream is to build a continuous particleboard line which he said he would like to buy from Dieffenbacher again.
Funding for this project is, however, not easy and is to come, in part at least, from the closure, dismantling and sale of the SWBPMC multi-opening MDF line to a company in Henan province. The line was already dismantled and awaiting shipment in April this year.
Mr Fan is also seeking a partner to help him with establishing this continuous  particleboard line as funding it alone so soon after the MDF line continues to be a problem for him at this time.
“Our aim is to use recycled wood collected from farmers in the region, mainly from the demolition of old houses, to supply the raw material for the particleboard line,” said Mr Fan. “We are already using such material for our existing line.”
I asked Mr Fan why he was so keen to build a continuous particleboard line and he said that the local market needs a good quality particleboard and has suitable waste to use as raw material, thus enabling him to produce the panels more cheaply than with fresh wood.