Markham, Canada - Flakeboard announces the completion of significant upgrades to the Malvern, Arkansas MDF facility for improved product quality and consistency and ability to supply into more demanding applications.

Over the past 18 months, the Malvern MDF facility has completed 6 capital projects as part of an overall plan to improve consistency and quality of panels. These upgrades include;

* Complete refurbishment of all platens for the two multi-opening presses, allowing for better thickness tolerance, reduced sand-off, and improved density profile.

* The addition of larger capacity board coolers at out-feed of both presses for improved board conditioning prior to sanding.

* Upgrades to panel handling equipment to allow for more frequent quality checks, improved reliability, and more controlled handling of panels.

* Increased pneumatic dust collection capacity at the Sander for improved surface quality.

* Installation of a Cross-Belt Sander for enhanced surface

* Installation of an additional in-line thickness gauge for tighter quality control

These capital investments to improve our surface finish and thickness tolerance have made measureable improvements to Malvern MDF's overall consistency and quality.

Plant Manager, Tom Quesenberry comments - "This is an exciting time for the Malvern MDF team. We appreciate the confidence from Flakeboard's management in our people and community with these investments. The facility looks forward to supplying quality panels to our customers and into a wide range of demanding end use applications such as molding, decorative finishing, painting, and UV filling".

Flakeboard, a privately-held company, is the largest manufacturer of particleboard and medium density fiberboard panels in North America. Since its incorporation in 1960, Flakeboard has been focused on growth within the composite panel industry, and on the formation of a highly integrated business model through constant reinvestment and optimization.

SOURCE: Flakeboard