SADC Executive Director
As everyone in the area knows, LP in New Limerick broke ground on a major $120,000,000 expansion in September 2006. It has been a massive undertaking with as many as 400 construction workers on site at a time. This project is one of the largest undertaken in Maine in several years.
The product that the new line is soon to produce now has a market name. It is SolidStart LSL (Laminated Strand Lumber).
“When will SolidStart LSL be produced?” is, according to Jon McLaughlin, Executive Director of the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation, the question that everyone is asking and is excited about. After speaking with plant manager, Skip Cleary, McLaughlin came away with an important update.
Construction is going well despite the 120-day shutdown, which was a bit longer than originally planned. Oriented Strand Board (OSB) has been the stable work horse of products for LP since its inception and LP is an expert in the product and subsequent design and construction of new plants. LSL, on the other hand is a completely new product line for LP and the New Limerick facility’s expansion is the first plant that they have ever constructed. Much of the equipment was custom designed for the LP project and the various components had to match perfectly and various computers interfaced so that they could communicate with each other. This makes for a terrific learning curve for LP and equipment contractors alike.
The OSB section of the plant has undergone extensive upgrades itself and it started up again on Jan. 19.
Some of the contractors have finished their portion of construction and are off site, leaving behind some equipment contractors/vendors continuing construction on the LSL line, which is scheduled for de-bugging start up by the end of February or first of March.
McLaughlin stated, “Look for more updates as the project progresses towards its completion.
