Metro signs contract for its fourth particleboard plant

Metro Ply Group and Siempelkamp have signed a contract for the supply of a new particleboard plant with Generation 9 ContiRoll in the 8ft x 40.4m format to the Metro site in Surat Thani.

Spowney June 7, 2021

With the deal, both partners realise the fourth joint project in total and the third specifically in the particleboard production segment.

Metro is one of the largest wood-based material producers in Southeast Asia and the largest particleboard producer in the region.

The scope of supply includes the forming and press line including a ContiRoll, board handling and interim storage. Siempelkamp subsidiary Büttner contributes the energy plant and the dryer, while group company Pallmann will supply the complete portfolio of size reduction machines for particleboard production – chipper, flaker, and double stream mill.

The current order is the second that Metro placed with Siempelkamp within 18 months. At the end of October 2019, the Thai company had placed an order for a new forming and press line for an MDF plant at the Kanchanburi location.

This MDF plant went into operation on time in April 2021 despite the pandemic.

The start of assembly of the newly ordered particleboard plant is planned for the beginning of 2022. Siempelkamp will thus contribute the third of a total of four particleboard production plants operated by Metro.

Raw material for the plant will come from rubberwood plantations in the region.

Metro now operates a total of five locations: Nonthaburi, Prachinburi, Surat Thani, Kanchanaburi, in Thailand, and Wangaratta in Australia.