Plans for first American wood fibre insulation board plant progressing

25 May 2021

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Plans to establish the first wood fibre insulation board plant in the US are moving apace, with equipment already transferred from Europe.

The main plant equipment for GO Lab Inc’s venture in Maine was sourced from Homatherm’s Berga site in Germany – originally installed by Dieffenbacher at the latter in 2009.

More than 80 regular and oversized shipping containers arrived in Maine in February, while a boiler was sourced from a recently closed paper plant in Canada.

GO Lab Inc’s aim is to have its production site in Madison up and running in 2022, making it the first company to produce wood fibre insulation in North America.

Dieffenbacher supported the company in financing the relocation and planning of its re-installation. Dieffenbacher will also modernize the plant and install new equipment, including a gluing system and dryer.

“Our Madison facility is going to have three production lines,” said Dr Joshua Henry, who founded GO Lab together with Matthew O’Malia in 2017.

“The Dieffenbacher line is the largest and most complex, beginning with the refining of the wood chips and continuing all the way to the production and packaging of the final product.

“We’ve received great support from DIEFFENBACHER throughout the whole process—beginning with de-commissioning the facility in Germany, purchasing, financing and shipping the equipment and planning for the engineering required for the line’s revival in the US.”