commentCasework Producers Abandon Agrifiber Panels
Back in 2003, two of the nation’s largest manufacturers of cabinets and shelving for schools, hospitals, and labs switched over to agrifiber panels as their standard core material, citing both environmental and performance benefits. Now, with the supply of panels made from wheatstraw and other agricultural fibers severely limited, both Case Systems and LSI Corporation of America are back to using standard wood particleboard. “We’ve gone away from biofiber board completely because it’s not available. It simply isn’t there,” says Keith Wrobel, senior vice president at LSI.
LSI relied primarily on panels from PrimeBoard, now owned by Masonite International Corporation, which consumes most of its output. Case Systems used WoodStalk panels from Dow BioProducts, which closed its doors at the end of 2005. Prior to the closing, Case Systems was struggling with its reliance on WoodStalk because Dow BioProducts had announced a significant price increase, according to sales manager Marv Garrett.
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Both companies can still supply casework with agrifiber core material as a specialty item. And both can also provide particleboard cores with no added urea-formaldehyde (supporting a credit in the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Rating System), although there is a significant upcharge for that. LSI typically uses Roseburg Forest Products’ SkyBlend panels to meet the non-urea-formaldehyde requirements, but according to Wrobel that causes “the cost of our product to the end user goes up by 15 to 20 percent.”
In terms of panel performance, both companies indicated there is little difference between agrifiber and standard particleboard except that agrifiber provides better moisture resistance. For applications where that is a factor, the company can supply a moisture-resistant particleboard, according to Katie Dana of Case Systems. Wrobel expressed skepticism about the return of agrifiber panels as a standard core material: “If and when wheatboard ever comes around again, it’s all but guaranteed that it’s going to come around at a high cost,” he says.
For more information:
LSI Corporation of America, Inc.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
763-559-4664
www.lsi-casework.comCase Systems, Inc.
Midland, Michigan
989-496-0560
www.casesystems.com
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