In El Tarf, Algeria, assembly is underway on the first continuous wood-based panel plant in North Africa. Bigstar subsidiary Panneaux d’Algérie commissioned Dieffenbacher to supply the complete MDF plant. The first board will be produced in August 2020.

The complete plant project includes all subsections, ranging from the wood yard through the CPS+ continuous press to the short-cycle laminating line for coating finished boards.

Designed for smaller capacities, the plant concept will take advantage of the flexibility of the CPS+ system. This Dieffenbacher press can be an entry-level system for newcomers to the wood-based panel market and an economical alternative for replacing older single- or multi-opening presses in existing small-capacity plants.

Dieffenbacher is also working with Ghamoud, another Algerian company, and Egypt-based Egypt Kuwait Holding subsidiary Nile Wood.

Ghamoud ordered a complete particleboard plant from Dieffenbacher in October 2019. As with Bigstar/Panneaux d’Algérie’s plant, the project is being executed together with Dieffenbacher’s Chinese subsidiary Shanghai Wood-based Panel Machinery (SWPM). The order from Nile Wood dates from 2018, and the complete MDF plant will be supplied by Dieffenbacher’s headquarters in Eppingen. Seventy percent of the raw material that Nile Wood will use for the new line will come from locally grown forestry plantations. See http://dieffenbacher.com