A former Darbo panel plant is changing its address – to a new country.

In March 2017, the Turkish wood-based materials manufacturer Kastamonu Entegre purchased a particleboard plant from the insolvent estate of the French company Darbo. That plant will be relocated to the Kastamonu site in Gorno Sahrane, where it will replace a multi-daylight plant that is more than 30 years old.

Dieffenbacher will undertake the relocation of the plant, consisting of forming station, forming line, pre-press and a 125-foot-long CPS. The contract also includes a modernization and optimization package as well as a completely new plant control system.

The plant was commissioned in 1996 and received a press extension in 2000. Its production of about 1,750,000 square feet of particleboard per year will significantly expand Kastamonu’s production capacity in Bulgaria and strengthen its presence in the Eastern European market.

The plant in France has already been dismantled. Re-commissioning at the new site is scheduled for the beginning of 2019. With the plant in Gorno Sahrane, Kastamonu Entegre now operates a total of four plants with continuous presses from Dieffenbacher.