It is oft said that “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. This could include moving mountains to realise what one has set out to achieve. And this could not be truer for Besgrade Sdn Bhd when in its endeavour to establish what would be Southeast Asia’s first Oriented Strand Board (OSB) plant, the company had to, literally, “remove” a mountain to build the factory at the company’s main site in Alor Setar, Kedah.

As its Executive Director, Pek Woei Shyong recalled: “Before the installation of the new technologically-advanced German-made OSB machinery could begin, we had to, in February 2014, remove a mountain, stone by stone, and selling the spoil to road construction companies. This was for the purpose of creating space for the new continuous OSB system.”

The new manufacturing facility, incorporated as Pioneer OSB, is part of Besgrade Sdn Bhd, which is one of the largest plywood producers in Malaysia. The company, founded in 1997, is already operating three plywood plants in Peninsular Malaysia. A single-opening system operates at its headquarters in Alor Setar, and this was soon complemented by the continuous OSB plant with an annual capacity of 150,000m3.

Besgrade is using its new OSB line to manufacture conventional OSB panels (OSB2 to 4) as well as OSB panels laminated with phenolic paper for use in concrete formwork. The company is also producing combination panels with OSB in the cores and top layers made from particleboard, Medium Density Fibreboard or veneer.

Said Pek on the production of its OSB: “The use of advanced technology means that our products are physically more stable, of good quality, flexible in size and possesses increased water resistant levels. The combination of experience and constant R&D further improves our manufacturing processes which results in better durability, usability and diversity in OSB products. This makes Pioneer OSB perfectly poised to spearhead the revolution of wood panel usage in not just South-East Asia but Asia as a whole.”

And for the company to lead the evolution of wood panel in the region, Pioneer OSB has invested more than USD65 million in acquiring the most advance and the best OSB production facilities within the Asian market. The heart of the Pioneer OSB’s manufacturing system is the CPS 280-30 press. This continuous press is 30m long and produces OSB panels with a maximum width of 8.5 feet, or 2.8m. It is designed for a daily capacity of 700m3. The two-stage OSB technology produces a little more fine material than when processing straight trunks with an OSB strander. These smaller strands are subsequently coated in a resin blender with modified internals and used for the middle layer of OSB panels.

The larger strands are coated as usual in OSB resin blenders and spread to form a cover layer. The facilities also include the wood feed, drum chipper, four strand flakers, three chip bunkers each with a volume of 300m3, a drum dryer of 5.6m x 30m in size, gluing and finishing line with measured cutting of finished boards, and a modern, three-head, forming station with longitudinal and transverse orientation of the strands. The scope of supply also includes all mechanical and pneumatic conveyors.

On its raw material supply, Pek elaborated: “Only the best raw material is used to produce OSB of international standard. As we are strategically located in the heart of Southeast Asia, we have access to abundant hardwood species certified under the Programme for Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes. This high density hardwood raw material is much stronger than softwood logs from European countries. This leads to more durable OSB.”

Pioneer OSB has the capability and capacity to produce high performance OSB, yet with competitive pricing. It is the result from the huge investment into latest cutting edge technology from Germany. Capitalising on such advancement, Pioneer OSB’s R&D team continues to develop and design OSB with wider application, higher usability and marketability without neglecting the importance to be environmentally-friendly. This also means less wastage and a sustainable ecosystem in the process. Pioneer OSB is a responsible corporate citizen who cares about environmental sustainability, said Pek.