In a much-anticipated announcement, Roseburg Forest Products revealed last week its plan to invest $700 million during the next four years to upgrade and expand its manufacturing operations in southern Oregon, including the construction of a MDF facility in Dillard, current site of multiple operations and where the company was founded nearly 90 years ago.

The total investment package includes the creation of two new manufacturing plants, and technological improvements and upgrades at existing plants in rural Douglas and Coos counties.

The total project represents the largest known investment in manufacturing in rural Oregon, and one of the largest private capital investments of any kind in the state’s history, according to Roseburg.

“Across the business, Roseburg is embracing advanced manufacturing and leveraging new technology and methods to make our current products and develop new ones, with the goal of ensuring we remain competitive in the global market,” Roseburg President and CEO Grady Mulbery said. “I want to thank our partners at the Governor’s office and Douglas and Coos counties for helping make this historic investment possible.”

Roseburg will build a MDF facility at its Dillard, Ore. complex.

Nearly 200 people gathered at the Douglas County Fairgrounds for the announcement. In attendance were Allyn Ford, Roseburg owner and board chairman, and representatives of the state and county agencies who worked with Roseburg on the project.

The investment includes two new highly technical manufacturing plants at the company’s Dillard Complex, located just south of Roseburg, Ore. Dillard MDF will use wood residuals from Roseburg’s local mills and other regional mill suppliers to manufacture standard medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels, as well as thin high-density fiberboard (HDF), often used in cabinetry, doors and other applications. The plant will produce panels with a thickness range from 2 mm to 28 mm.

“HDF is a new product for Roseburg that meets growing customer demand for domestically manufactured panels of increasing thinness and strength,” Mulbery said. “Dillard MDF will be one of the most technologically advanced plants of its kind in the world, and it alone represents $450 million of our $700 million investment.”

Dillard Components will convert specialty MDF panels manufactured at Roseburg’s MDF plant in Medford, Ore. into Armorite Trim, a finished exterior trim product for residential and shed use. This is an innovative, new product currently unavailable within the industry or market. Roseburg will invest roughly $50 million in this plant.

The two plants together will be capable of producing the following:

• MDF panels: 175MMSF per year on a ¾ in. basis, or 310,000 m3 per year
• Primed Armorite exterior trim: 70MMSF per year on a ¾ in. basis, or 124,000 m3 per year
• Interior molding: 90 million feet per year

Roseburg currently owns and operates three MDF plants in North America.

The company anticipates that both new plants will begin operations in 2025, and will employ approximately 120 once completed.

The remaining $200 million of the investment will go toward improvements at existing Roseburg plants in Oregon over the next four years, including significant upgrades at its plywood plant in Riddle, Ore., including two new lathe lines and a new hardwood plywood line; and a new dryer at its plywood plant in Coquille, Ore.

“These operations are all key parts of our integrated platform in Oregon, starting with our timberlands, and including our primary processing plants making lumber and plywood, as well as our secondary plants that use wood residuals like sawdust and chips to make value-added products such as MDF, ensuring the full utilization of our precious timber resource,” Roseburg Director of Government Affairs Eric Geyer said.

In June 2022, Roseburg revealed that it was exploring the feasibility of locating an additional MDF plant or other residual-based operation within its Western operating footprint. That study, combined with a years-long strategic assessment of company operations across the state, resulted in the decision to make this investment in southern Oregon.

“Not only are we proud of our long history in this region, but our focus on advanced manufacturing and innovative technology makes us an excellent fit for the future of Oregon’s manufacturing sector as well,” Mulbery said. “Our use of robotics, computer programming, and other advanced manufacturing tools aligns Roseburg with the high-tech evolution of manufacturing in this state.”

Founded in 1936, Roseburg Forest Products is a privately-owned company and one of North America’s leading producers of particleboard, medium density fiberboard and thermally fused laminates. Roseburg also manufactures softwood and hardwood plywood, lumber, LVL and I-joists. The company owns and sustainably manages more than 600,000 acres of timberland in Oregon, North Carolina and Virginia, as well as an export wood chip terminal facility in Coos Bay, Ore.