The Weyerhaeuser Company is poised to make greater inroads into Europe, building on its recent acquisition of Willamette Industries.

A corporate advertising campaign introducing the newly-named Weyerhaeuser Europe Ltd will appear in European trade publications throughout June.

The company encompasses the Medite MDF plant at Clonmel, Ireland, and in France the Mediland MDF plant at Morcenx and Darbo particleboard plant at Linxe, plus UK and Netherlands sales and marketing offices.

The campaign will focus on the well-established European brands – Medite MDF, Mediland and Darbo – and on the Weyerhaeuser name.

‘We have such famous brands, each of them extremely strong in their respective markets,’ said Weyerhaeuser Europe marketing and sales director Geoff Rhodes. ‘Now we will be maintaining and building on that strength under the Weyerhaeuser umbrella.’

The Irish and French plants have benefited from recent investment and a new US$39m continuous press line is due to come on stream at Clonmel this summer.

&#8220We have such famous brands, each of them extremely strong in their respective markets. Now we will be maintaining and building on that strength under the Weyerhaeuser umbrella.”

Weyerhaeuser Europe marketing and sales director Geoff Rhodes

At Mediland MDF press and ancillary systems have been overhauled, while at Darbo a US$23m investment has doubled capacity, with annual output now including 150,000m3 of melamine-faced particleboard from a specialised new production line.

Rory Kirwan, vice-president of Weyerhaeuser Europe Composite Panel Business, said: ‘We are in very good shape and looking forward to developing the business. The acquisition by Weyerhaeuser represents a very positive advance.’

Weyerhaeuser Company has annual sales of US$19bn a year and employs 60,000 people in 18 countries. It is the world’s largest producer of forest products including softwood pulp, softwood timber and engineered timber products.