Product Spotlight – West Fraser

December 6, 2022

Panel specialist, West Fraser, trading as Norbord, has produced a 90-second video demonstrating the CaberMDF manufacturing process at the company’s Cowie plant in Scotland. The video can be watched on West Fraser’s YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am_BCnWAqBQ

The clip outlines the entirety of the production process, starting with the sawmill chips arriving and being piled high in the wood yard, where the raw material stretches out for acres.  The viewer is then taken inside to see the extensive and highly automated production lines which help ensure a dimensionally accurate, top-quality panel.

The woodchips are screened and transported to the vast washing station, and the array of pipework and filtration equipment which cleanses the greywater before being discharged offsite is also featured.

The next part of the process involves refining the chips into fibre, which goes through the drying and forming process to be pressed by automated machinery to make the final MDF panels – these are then sanded and cut to create stock sizes, or to meet customers’ bespoke dimensions.

With only a handful of people seen onsite, the huge computer-controlled machines are operated from a high-tech control room, with closed circuit TV and failsafe detection systems helping the staff monitor multiple data feeds.

Finally, the packs of panels are shown moving from the production line to the warehouse before being dispatched to West Fraser’s distributors and other customers.  Overall, the video clip of the Cowie site captures the speed and efficiency with which woodchips are processed into the CaberWood MDF used for everything from furniture making to shop fitting.

To find out more about West Fraser’s products for housebuilders, get in touch with Dan Clarke – email Daniel.Clarke@westfraser.com or download product brochures from the housebuilder page of the West Fraser website https://uk.westfraser.com/housebuilders/

For further information, call 01786 812 921 or visit https://uk.westfraser.com/

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