ST. JOHANN in TIROL, Austria — The Egger Group announced multi-stage investment steps to upgrade its 22nd plant in Markt Bibart, Germany. Egger finalized purchase of the particleboard operation from the Rauch Group in November 2023.

In total, Egger said it will invest more than €200m (U.S. $214 million) in the plant. Egger said the projects will focus on adding equipment to process recycled wood into high-quality new products in line with its circular economy objectives. In addition, the plant will also produce particleboard laminated with decorative surfaces in the future.

The first phase of the project involves the construction of the recycled wood processing facility, which started at the end of September and is scheduled to go into operation in summer 2025. Sources of recycled wood include old furniture, packaging materials or board cut-outs.

Egger said it has secured a long-term supply of recycled wood for the new plant anchored by a new Timberpak recycling collection site. Timberpak will be located on a vacant site directly adjacent to the plant premises and will provide direct access to the large potential for recycled wood in the Würzburg/Nuremberg metropolitan region.

“We are convinced of the great potential of the Markt Bibart plant,” said Michael Egger Jr., CSO of Egger Group. “It is in line with our strategy to continuously develop our plants and keep them at the cutting edge of technology.”

As the project progresses, Egger plans to upgrade the plant’s capacity. The plant currently has facilities for the production of raw chipboard with an annual capacity of up to 600,000m3.

The investment plan at the Markt Bibart plant will be implemented in several stages over a planned period until autumn 2026. In addition to the sub-projects of recycled wood processing, creating lamination capacities and automated storage areas, the agenda also includes optimizing existing facilities.

In September 2020, Egger began producing particleboard at its first North American plant located in Lexington, N.C.