After a 12-day shutdown, the new thermal oil furnace and revamped dryer system at the Cowie plant of Norbord was installed, tested and back on line, on schedule and with no accidents. This is no mean feat when you consider that the £7m project involved more than 100 contractors on-site dismantling and removing the old plant and installing new equipment.

The project took the equivalent of 15,000 man hours to complete and involved up to 20 trades working across the site to meet the tight deadline.

In addition to installing the new burner and dryer system, Norbord also installed a dust-cleaning system so that waste wood dust generated at the site could be used as the primary fuel source.