Former Ampine Equipment finds a Revival at Medford Particleboard
Remnant pieces of equipment from the former Timber Products Ampine Division are currently in the process of being shipped to Medford to be reutilized in our Particleboard Division mill.
On July 25th, 2022, the Timber Products Ampine facility suffered a fire which ceased all company operations in Sutter Creek, California. Fortunately, no one was hurt and despite the facility going out of commission, many pieces of equipment surprisingly remained intact after the fire and were considered salvageable. Our CEO, Mark Avery, made the decision to bring the salvageable pieces of equipment up to Southern Oregon with the intention of repurposing them at our Particleboard Division in Medford.
“Not everything was destroyed in the fire so we are putting some of the assets to work at this facility,” said Nick Brown, Mill Manager of Medford Particleboard. Progress has steadily been made ever since the incident occurred. General Mill Manager of Ampine, Terry Velasco, has been continuously working towards the project of shipping and installing such equipment in Medford.
Among the salvaged equipment are two silos previously used in Ampine. According to Velasco, these silos have the potential to store up to eight hours of processed face and core wood material that could be fed directly into the production line. Currently, the production line at Particleboard depends on direct and continuous supply from the Milling and Drying process to operate. “If just one of several 100 pieces of process equipment fails, the production line has to shut down” Velasco elaborated. Once the silos are installed and put to work, Medford Particleboard could have an eight-hour buffer of material storage in case of any issues on the front end or upstream of the production process.
Not only will the silos help our mill to maintain a constant operating production line, but their feeding conveyors will also allow for the return of a signature premium product Ampine was well known for: Apex. This line of particleboard products came in two types: Apex MR10 and Apex MR50, offering high fire resistance and moisture ratings, as well as having superior strength and smoothness specifications. It will only be a matter of time before this line of products are back on the market as the mill will be able to run Apex on demand with no issues.
Two new weight scales are also being installed in order to accommodate and measure the larger quantities of incoming wood material once the silos are installed. A new Thayer and a Siemens scale will allow for a more precise chemical mixing for an improved and consistent quality in our products.
“Plant uptime and productivity will also improve as well based on having this steady flow of wood available right at the forming machine,” Velasco stated.
Over the next few weeks, significant progress will be made in the installation of the silos at Medford Particleboard. The company estimates the new system will become operational full time by late July.