LP Chooses ENTEK

The Leader in Wood-Plastic Composite Decking Uses ENTEK for Higher Productivity - MUCH Higher Productivity

Wood-plastic composite decking continues to show exponential growth in the marketplace as an alternative to traditional cedar, treated pine and other woods for deck construction. Consumer demands for low maintenance, durability, quality and affordability combined with the continued strong movement toward outdoor living spaces is fueling this growth.

Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP), headquartered in Nashville, TN, is one of the leading manufacturers of premium building products in North America, with 2004 sales in excess of $2.8 billion. The companys line of LP WeatherBest Decking products is an industry leader in selection and quality.

To meet their growth goals and manufacturing needs, LP uses ENTEK, and not just because of the company's twin-screw extruders, which are providing the highest output in the industry. "With ENTEK, it's not just about selling us their machinery," said John Sooker, General Manager-Outdoor Living for LP. "They stand side by side with us to help us achieve our goals, and are a good partner."

Manufacturing Challenges

LP first approached ENTEK at the NPE show in 2003, eager to find a twin-screw extruder supplier that could help them meet their manufacturing challenges. After the first meeting between the companies, LP saw a "better platform for growth that others could not offer," according to Sooker. "High output is critical when manufacturing our decking products and the output from the ENTEK extruders is significantly better than any other machinery we had worked with," he said. "ENTEK also understands manufacturing and plant operations."

Manufacturing wood-plastic composite decking is a challenging process. The finished deck boards need to look like real wood, and resist warping, splitting, termite and mold damage. This requires the best formulation of wood flour, plastic, and additives, extruded under high pressure and heat. "We have worked with LP to run extensive lab trials to perfect the process," said Dr. Kirk Hanawalt, Vice President-Worldwide Sales for ENTEK. "It's an ongoing process, as the formulations to produce the best quality deck boards change and the technology continues to evolve."

LP is processing their decking using several ENTEK 103mm extruders at plants throughout the U.S., and has more machines on order. The extruders are used to produce a variety of LP WeatherBest decking products, including the company's new, popular line of Premium Grain Decking.

Cost Savings

"The process has improved our ability to impact conversion costs," said Sooker. "ENTEK does not require any kind of fees or licenses, and their co-rotating twin screw design is providing us with much higher output than conical screw models that others use."

Business is good at LP, so good that the company is planning an expansion of its Outdoor Living group's operations. This includes increasing the capacity at its LP WeatherBest Decking Products manufacturing locations. "With the expansions, we expect to work with ENTEK to further improve our technology base as well," said Sooker. "We have learned from experience. Other extruder suppliers were always telling us 'we'll be doing it' when we asked about increasing output - ENTEK did it!"