UPM has bought an extruder from Cincinnati to make WPC

Finnish headquartered UPM, which claims to be the world’s largest paper producer, has bought Fiberex extruders from Cincinnati in order to make wood plastic composites (WPC). UPM announced in December that the initial investment needed for developing its WPC included “an extruder from Austria” that would be suited for product development as well as small-scale production. Cincinnati confirmed on Friday last week that it has supplied the extruder – the 100th Fiberex extruder supplied by the company for WPC production.

Installed at the UPM wood products division’s site in Lahti, Finland in January, the Fiberex extruder is used to make WPC developed by UPM’s new ventures department. It processes paper, plastic laminate edge trim, clean recycled plastic and wood raw materials from sawmilling operations and the plywood industry. Venture manager Markku Koivisto believes that UPM’s access to these raw materials gives the company a competitive edge and says “we want to position the new material somewhere between wood and PVC”.

Floor edge strips are to be the first WPC products to be offered by UPM, as an alternative to PVC. Germany and the UK are seen as particularly interesting markets.