Roseburg will permanently end operations at its Missoula, Mont., particleboard plant on May 22. The closure is the final step of the company’s strategic plan to exit the particleboard manufacturing business and focus resources on other product segments, including MDF, engineered wood, plywood, and lumber.
“The decision to permanently close a plant is always difficult. It is especially difficult with our Missoula operation as we complete our exit from the particleboard marketplace,” Roseburg’s president and CEO Stuart Gray said. “Unfortunately, Missoula’s older platform and technology is simply not competitive from a cost structure perspective in the marketplace with many new, modern particleboard facilities.”
Roseburg acquired the Missoula particleboard plant from Louisiana-Pacific in 2003. The company said the age of the plant—built in 1969—created challenges as it competed with more modern plants.
“We know this closure will have a significant impact on our team members there, and thus, our primary objective with this closure is to assist them through this transition as smoothly as possible,” Gray said.
Roseburg is “heavily invested” in the composites industry, having recently announced a $700 million investment in manufacturing in Oregon. The investment includes a new plant, Dillard MDF, which will make both medium- and high-density fiberboard, and Dillard Components, which will produce exterior trim.
In addition, Roseburg said construction of its Roanoke Valley Lumber mill in Weldon, N.C., is nearing completion, with sales of dimensional lumber underway.
