Economic Feasibility Analyses 3547 



The proposed plant (fig. 28-28) would employ a 30-opening 4- by 8-foot hot 

 press and operate three shifts/day, 7 days/week, 50 weeks/year to produce the 

 150 million square feet of 1/6-inch-thick flakeboard. Cost of hardwood deliv- 

 ered to the plant is estimated at $33/cord and selling price of the 1/6-inch-thick 

 flakeboard is estimated at $100/thousand square feet surface measure fob plant, 

 net after all selling costs, discounts, and commissions. 



Key statistics for the enterprise are as follows: 



Capital investment $14,000,000 



Operating cost, annual $6, 150,000 



Sales, annual $15,000,000 



Net profit, annual (before income tax) $ 8,850,000 



Return on sales 59 percent 



Return on investment 63 percent 



Employees 71 



Energy requirements 



Electricity 3,500 connected horsepower 



Wood residue (all produced in the plant), annual 227 x 10^ Btu 



28-24 $15.0 MILLION— MANUFACTURE OF THIN 



PLATEN-PRESSED PARTICLEBOARD TO 

 COMPETE WITH IMPORTED LAUAN PLYWOOD" 



Most imported lauan plywood is thin and in grades suitable for printing and 

 overlaying. In 1978 the average price (landed in the U.S.) was about $92/ 

 thousand square feet surface measured, Vs-inch basis; through the first 8 months 

 of 1979 the price averaged $121 — an increase of about 32 percent, and there is 

 concern about future supplies. 



The enterprise proposed (fig. 28-29) is designed to manufacture in the United 

 States a thin platen-pressed particleboard to be a substrate for printing and 

 overlaying, and eventual marketing as decorative wall surfaces. Thickness is 

 typically Vs-inch thick, but can be as thick as y4-inch. Panels usually measure 4 

 by 8 feet, but it is proposed that they be manufactured in a single-opening press 

 measuring 8 by 48 feet and cut to size before shipment. 



Shavings and sawdust (in a ratio of 2:1) of low-density hardwoods are pro- 

 posed as raw material, with cost — delivered to mill — of $19.00/ton, ovendry- 

 weight basis. With urea resin cost of $0.182/pound and wax cost of $0,393/ 

 pound, the cost of wood, resin binder, and wax per 1 ,000 square feet of '/s-inch- 

 thick panel should total about $11.19. 



^^ Abstracted from Springate and Roubicek (1981a). 



