On August 3rd, Germany’s DIEFFENBACHER announced that it had received an order from New Zealand’s Fletcher Building Limited to deliver a complete CEBRO plant for the production of Fine OSB. The new plant will be built at Fletcher Building’s Laminex site in Taupo, located in the center of the country’s North Island.

Amid Fletcher Building’s effort to support New Zealand’s goals of a low-carbon circular economy, the new plant will include DIEFFENBACHER’s new, highly sustainable belt dryer.

Fletcher Building’s new CEBRO plant will replace a particleboard production line that currently features an almost 50-year-old single-opening press supplied by DIEFFENBACHER in 1974. “It’s remarkable that our old press served us so well and for so long,” said Paul Thorn, Fletcher Wood Products, Capital Works Manager at Fletcher Building. “With the right maintenance, we believe our new DIEFFENBACHER plant will last at least as long.”

Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2024. Start-up is planned for late 2024Q4, with the plant reaching full-scale production by mid-2025.