The first new UltraPine particleboard has been produced at Weyerhaeuser's Louisiana Particleboard (LPB) operation at Simsboro, Louisiana, marking the completion of an $80-million modernization project.

Ultrapine is Weyerhaeuser's newest engineered panels product, a particleboard which is more uniform, attractive, smooth and versatile, with panel size flexibility for quick, custom orders to meet customers' needs, said mill manager Darrell Keeling. The new continuous particleboard press is only the second in the U.S. It produces particleboard up to 10 feet wide and 24 feet long. The first such press is at Weyerhaeuser's Carolina Particleboard Plant in Bennettsville, S.C., the only other manufacturer of the superior UltraPine product.

Particleboard is used in all types of furniture, including tables, desks, bookshelves and entertainment centers, plus kitchen and bath cabinets and store fixtures.

The modernization more than doubles product size options, production capability and manufacturing space at the operation. Employment is expected to stay at LPB's current 125 employees.

"Our goal is to retool our particleboard operations to offer customers a higher quality, more versatile particleboard," Keeling said. The start-up at LPB brings Weyerhaeuser's UltraPine production to 460 million square feet annually.

The first board of LPB UltraPine was produced August 9, as the 16-month modernization project neared completion. Now well into start-up mode, LPB personnel continue to work on converting all operations to the new production line.

A new continuous press by Dieffenbacher of Germany is the centerpiece of the modernization. It replaces a 1971 multi-opening press that was limited in product size. Now, customers can order larger, custom-sized particleboard panels for quick delivery Also key to the new process is extensive, high energy core refining which results more machineable panels, said Keeling. Superior finishing - by eight heads of sanding, plus cross-belt sanding - adds to the quality of the smooth, flat particleboard.

The modernization began at the Simsboro operation under Willamette Industries. Weyerhaeuser Company took the project over and has continued it since acquiring Willamette in early 2002. The project more than doubles the manufacturing space at the mill, from 230,000 square feet to 510,000 square feet. In addition, the new mill has twice the production capacity of the older one - more than 240 million square feet of particleboard per year, up from 120 million square feet per year.

The operation at Simsboro began in 1971; the modernization is its first major rebuilding.

Environmentally, the project allows the Louisiana Particleboard operation to limit air emissions to well below state and federal standards despite doubling production output. The emissions control equipment installed exceeds Environmental Protection Agency standards for Best Available Control Technology (BACT), as well as proposed new standards for the wood products industry.

Willamette Industries was acquired by Weyerhaeuser Company in February of 2002 for $6.2 billion plus $1.7 billion in debt. With the acquisition, Weyerhaeuser is now North America's second-largest distributor of wood products and second-largest producer of structural panels, which includes plywood and oriented strandboard (OSB), as well as particleboard and similar products.

With the addition of the former Willamette operations in Louisiana, Weyerhaeuser now has more than 3,000 employees at 12 locations and manages more than one million acres of timberlands in the state. Weyerhaeuser's Louisiana operations include the Red River containerboard mill at Campti, plywood and lumber operations at Dodson, plywood and lumber operations at Zwolle, a sawmill at Taylor, an oriented strandboard operation at Arcadia, engineered wood products operations at Simsboro, a Trus Joist operation at Natchitoches, particleboard mills at Simsboro and Lillie, a packaging operation at Shreveport, a lumber mill at Holden and a Tree Improvement Center at Isabel.

Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest integrated forest products companies, was incorporated in 1900. In 2001, sales were $14.5 billion. It has offices or operations in 18 countries, with customers worldwide. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities. Additional information about Weyerhaeuser's businesses, products and practices is available at www.weyerhaeuser.com.

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