Flakeboard’s Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, MDF plant is one of only two producers of particleboard/MDF still operating in Ontario as a result of the recession and the collapse of the US housing market, reports Sault News.
Manufacturing manager Mike Rosso said: “Ten years ago, there were seven particleboard and MDF producers in Ontario. Today, there are only two left.”
The plant employs 120 full-time workers, who have largely all remained continuously employed during the economic downturn, according to Mr Rosso.
He said that, of Flakeboard’s eight facilities, the Sault one “is the most productive in our family. It has run the most consistently”.
Flakeboard – with head offices in Markham, Ontario, and Charlotte, North Carolina – has become North America’s largest manufacturer of particleboard and MDF products in North America since acquiring Weyerhaeuser’s North American composite panels business in 2006, said Mr Rosso.
Some 60% of the Sault mill’s MDF products are shipped to customers in the US. The remaining 40% is sold domestically.
