South African wood-based panel producer PG Bison has signed a contract with Siempelkamp for the purchase of its fourth Siempelkamp plant within 15 years. Together with the three other plants, PG Bison’s annual production output will exceed the 1 million m3 mark.
The order includes a press line with ContiRoll in the 6ft x 38.7m format for the production of medium-density fibreboard (MDF), lightweight MDF (L-MDF), and high-density fibreboard (HDF) in a thickness range from 3-35mm. Pallmann, the size reduction specialist within the Siempelkamp Group, will contribute a chipping line including a drum chipper and a refiner, while Siempelkamp subsidiary Büttner will supply a dryer and an energy plant.
The successful cooperation between Siempelkamp and PG Bison started with the first greenfield particleboard plant which PG Bison ordered for its Ugie, South Africa location in 2006. In 2012, the contract for an MDF plant in the city Boksburg was signed, and in 2015 for a second particleboard plant for the city Piet Retief. With the planned annual production capacity of the new MDF plant of more than 275,000m³ per year, this new project will push PG Bison’s total installed capacity of more than 1 million m³ per annum across its three production plants.
The additional new plant in Piet Retief will source its raw materials from local sustainable plantations in the surrounding areas. In the Eastern Cape, PG Bison is operating its own FSC-certified plantations, where the timber is used to supply its own board production plant in Ugie. The products produced by PG Bison are used mainly in the production of kitchen units, built-in cabinets, and office furnishings.
“My first project as a sales representative and the first order for Siempelkamp in 2006 was to realise the first plant for PG Bison with my colleague Erwin Scholz as a greenfield project in Ugie. In this respect, the new order is a special pleasure for me because it gives me the opportunity to work again with a special customer and his experienced team,” said Ulrich Kaiser, head of sales, Siempelkamp.
Immediately after signing the contract, Sicoplan, Siempelkamp’s planning team from Belgium, started the engineering processes with a 3D scan at the Piet Retief location. Siempelkamp subsidiaries Büttner and CMC TEXPAN are also already active on site. To increase the capacity of the existing particleboard plant from 2015, the first Büttner chipboard drum dryer and the first Büttner energy plant for PG Bison are in the final assembly steps. CMC TEXPAN, Siempelkamp front-end specialist from Italy, supplied new glue blenders and dosing bins. Commissioning of this equipment is planned for Q1 2022.
