Roseburg Forest Products (RFP) announced on August 25, 2021 that it will shut down its particleboard plant in Dillard, Ore. The plant has been in operation since 1965, and will continue running as the plant prepares for shut down in the next 60 days.

The move to close was part of a restructuring within the company. It comes after an announcement by RFP of a multi-million dollar investment in new technology at its other Western manufacturing facilities.

“The decision to stop production at a facility is never easy, and these transitions have significant impact on the people involved,” Roseburg senior vice president of operations Jake Elston says. “We have already begun working with our current team members on this upcoming transition to identify other opportunities within the organization.”

According to news reports, RFP will offer the 179 employees opportunities at other Oregon facilities after the plant is shuttered—with the goal to offer uninterrupted local employment to as many team members as possible. The company moved its corporate headquarters from Dillard to Springfield, Ore. in 2016, but RFP still operates sawmill and plywood plants in Dillard, as well as a regional administrative office and a truck shop, plus a wood-to-energy plant. RFP also operates plywood and engineered wood plants in Riddle.

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In March 2021, businessman Mark Crandall from the United States and Matías Abergo, CEO of construction systems firm Enkel Group from Uruguay, established Arboreal upon the acquisition of Frutifor Lumber Co., a pine sawmill in Tacuarembó.

They announced an immediate investment in the sawmill’s drying capacity, doubling production to 250,000 m³, while also announcing the implementation of the largest and most advanced CLT plant in South America, with production capacity initially at 50,000 m³ per year. Installation is scheduled for the beginning of 2022.

Arboreal’s investment contributes to the generation of added value from Uruguay’s forest resources, boosting industrial activity in the northern part of the country and promoting the development of environmentally sustainable construction.

“Uruguay has very competitive forestry resources,” comments Abergo as Arboreal President. “When we envision the future, we see mass timber as a solution to reduce CO2 emission by 2030. The construction sector is responsible for almost 40% of the greenhouse gases; this plant is the first step to reduce and sequestrate CO2. We need to start thinking about our homes as big CO2 warehouses.”

Abergo adds: “When selecting the supplier for the CLT line, Arboreal needed to rely on a provider like Ledinek with many years of experience in the market and is capable of providing state-of-the-art machines. Choosing Ledinek as a supplier was a strategic decision; a project of this scale has never been done before in South America.”