In April, Metro Ply Group and Siempelkamp signed a contract for the supply of a new particleboard plant with a Generation 9 ContiRoll in the 8′ x 40.4m format to the Metro site in Surat Thani. Thus, both partners realise the fourth joint project in total and the third specifically in the particleboard production segment.
Metro, one of the largest wood-based material producers in South East Asia and the largest particleboard producer in the region, decided for a particleboard plant made by Siempelkamp for the third time. The scope of supply includes the forming and press line including a ContiRoll, board handling and interim storage. The Siempelkamp subsidiary Büttner contributes the energy plant and the dryer. Pallmann, the size reduction specialist within the Siempelkamp Group, supplies the complete portfolio of size-reduction machines for particleboard production – chipper, flaker and double stream mill.
The current order is the second that Metro placed with Siempelkamp within 18 months. At the end of October 2019, the Thai company had placed an order for a new forming and press line for a medium-density fibreboard MDF plant at the Kanchanburi location. This MDF plant went into operation on time in April 2021 despite the COVID-related challenging situation. The start of assembly of the newly ordered particleboard plant is planned for the beginning of 2022. Siempelkamp will thus contribute the third of a total of four particleboard production plants operated by Metro.
The particleboard plant will be built at a new Metro Ply Group site in the south of Thailand – in Surat Thani, approximately 800 km from Bangkok. This region has the highest proportion of rubberwood plantations in Thailand. Accordingly, the raw material for the plant being built there will be supplied exclusively from these wood resources. With the completely new developed site, Metro now operates a total of five locations: Nonthaburi, Prachinburi, Surat Thani, Kanchanaburi, in Thailand, and Wangaratta, in Australia.
“We are pleased to have supported Metro with our plant concepts for almost 20 years now, and to start a new phase of our cooperation with the current order,” said Henning Gloede, Managing Director of Siempelkamp Singapore.
