Roseburg to close Missoula particleboard plant

The company said the move to close the particleboard plant on May 22 is the final step in the company’s strategic plan to exit the particleboard manufacturing business and focus resources on other product segments, including MDF, engineered wood, plywood, and lumber.

Roseburg acquired the Missoula plant from Louisiana-Pacific in 2003 in an expansion of the company’s composite panel business. Built in 1969, the age of the manufacturing platform created challenges as the mill competed with more modern plants.

“The decision to permanently close a plant is always difficult,” said Roseburg’s president and CEO Stuart Gray.

“It is especially difficult with our Missoula operation as we complete our exit from the particleboard marketplace. Unfortunately, Missoula’s older platform and technology is simply not competitive from a cost structure perspective in a marketplace with many new, modern particleboard facilities.

The plant currently employs approximately 150 team members. Roseburg will work closely with local resources to assist affected team members as the closure date approaches.

Roseburg recently announced a US$700m investment in manufacturing in Oregon, including a new plant, Dillard MDF, which will make both medium- and high-density fibreboard, and Dillard Components, which will produce exterior trim. Construction of its Roanoke Valley Lumber mill in Weldon, North Carolina, is nearing completion, with sales of dimensional lumber underway.