Klaipedos Mediena (VMG) has completed acceptance tests of Europe’s most modern particleboard plant – the third of its kind in Akmene, Lithuania – built with Siempelkamp as partner.
All acceptance tests for different board thicknesses between 4 and 30 mm have been completed successfully; the contractually fixed quality and capacity have been achieved. After the grand opening in summer 2020, VMG is now operating the new plant with a production capacity of 2,000 m³ per day. The Akmene plant supports the expanding furniture and kitchen production of the company, which among other things, produces exclusively for IKEA.
The Siempelkamp plant is considered to be one of the most innovative, economical, and sustainable particleboard plants worldwide; its core component is the Generation 9 ContiRoll® in a 8′ x 45.4 m format. The gluing technology is geared towards low-formaldehyde or formaldehyde-free glues, and the WESP filter technology meets the highest environmental standards. Siempelkamp subsidiaries Pallmann and CMC contributed the shredding and front-end technology, while Büttner delivered the drum dryer. The grinding and cut-to-size line processes all board formats commonly used in Western and Eastern Europe. For the transport of the knife rings between the knife ring flaker and the sharpening robot, a RoundTrack® system from Siempelkamp subsidiary Strothmann is used.
In addition to the abovementioned panel thickness range, the plant is suitable for the production of 3mm panels – a major challenge in the particleboard segment.
“We are pleased to support VMG after the successful acceptance to expand its production capacities with an environmentally friendly plant concept. The now third Siempelkamp plant for our customer was built in challenging times; so that this smoothly completed acceptance represents a special milestone,” said Jürgen Philipps, spokesman for the management board of Siempelkamp Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH.
