SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – Roseburg Forest Products will indefinitely lay off 30 more employees at its Dillard plywood plant in Oregon.

 

The layoffs are due to continued unfavorable conditions in the North American plywood market said the company in a release. Roseburg says nearly all affected employees have received job offers at the company's other plants in Dillard and Riddle, Oregon. Others were invited to interview for roles at other Roseburg facilities.

 

In August, the company laid off 90 employees at the same plant for the same reasons. It said nearly every one of those employees has been placed at a different Roseburg facility.

 

“After waiting for months for markets to improve, we have reached the point where a layoff is necessary to better match supply with weakened demand,” said senior vice president of operations Jake Elston. “Slow housing starts, imported plywood, and increased competition from OSB manufacturers are all driving the imbalance in the market. This is an unfortunate but necessary step toward preserving the long-term viability of our plywood business.”

 

Operations at other Roseburg facilities, including plywood plants in Riddle and Coquille, Ore., will continue as usual. 

 

On the other side of the country, the company recently opened a $200 million engineered wood plant, which company officials say features the highest-capacity LVL press in the world. The South Carolina plant will primarily manufacture LVL structural beams for residential and commercial construction.

 

Founded in 1936, Roseburg Forest Products is a privately owned company and one of North America’s leading producers of particleboard, medium density fiberboard and thermally fused laminates. Roseburg also manufactures softwood and hardwood plywood, lumber, LVL and I-joists. The company owns and sustainably manages more than 600,000 acres of timberland in Oregon, North Carolina and Virginia, as well as an export wood chip terminal facility in Coos Bay, Ore. Roseburg products are shipped throughout North America and the Pacific Rim.