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Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34022, 11 December 1975, Page 2

The first sheets of fibreboard from the Ashlev factory of Canterbury Timber Products, Lid, should be produced by early February. The manager (Mr B. M. Stanton) said yesterday that all the machinery was in the final stages of'being commissioned. Four technical experts from overseas are working with various sections of the

machinery from their own factories, supervising the testing. The first group of staff —eight men—is being trained in running sections of machinery. “It is hoped that by Christmas the main production run will be fully installed, and that the commissioning of all equipment will be completed by the end of January. “It is hoped that early in

February the plant will move into final testing of all equipment and the production of the first fibres board.” Mr Stanton said. About 20 men will at that stage be employed on a single shift, forming the nucleus of the first shift when the factory moves on to continuous production, when the staff will be about 90. After the first production it is expected that

there will be a period when all minor equipment faults will be rectified before the plant builds up to the single eight-hour shift The area around the new office building and the boundaries will be landscaped, and the internal roads sealed. The head office will probably be moved from Rangiora to the new building on the site in late January.