At Hyne they believe that every centimetre of every log has potential and so they respect every tree since each has spent 30-40 years in the plantation growing straight, strong and tall. They call this a “whole of log‑philosophy”. Source: Timberbiz
A tour of Laminex’s Toolara Queensland plant shows just what you can do with a small piece of wood.
Laminex has two plants at Gympie; A‑particle board plant at Monkland, in the outer suburbs, and an MDF plant 30kms out of town in the pine forest at Toolara.
Toolara MDF plant with Laminex Manufacturing Operations Manager, Scott Beckett is a passionate manufacturing professional with global‑experience.
Laminex Toolara consumes around 250,000 tonnes per year of Hyne woodchips. Sent by B-double trucks from the Tuan Mill, this represents approximately 50% of Laminex’s total wood supply which also includes whole logs from the surrounding pine forests.
In very simple terms, the MDF production starts with‑mixing finely-pulped wood with resin and wax. This mix is then extruded in to a 250 mm high “mattress”. The mattress then travels through a series of heated rollers that progressively compact, then dry, the sheets into thicknesses of between 3-32 mm.
Protective, cosmetic finishes are then “ironed on”, like a t-shirt transfer. You’ll see Laminex Toolara’s product in kitchens, bathrooms and on desktops nationally, in Asia and the USA.
Very little is wasted at the Toolara site. Water catchment and treatment means rainfall is captured and re-used over and over.
The business is now running a concept and feasibility study for a large cogeneration plant for Toolara. The plant will potentially be fuelled by 100,000 tonnes of bio mass branches and material currently left behind after harvest‑on the forest floor.
