Huber Engineered Woods (HEW) has held a ground-breaking ceremony for its new facility in Noxubee County, Mississippi, US.

The new mill is set to be HEW’s sixth-oriented strand board facility. It is also expected to be the largest investment by HEW’s parent company, J M Huber.

Spread across 550 acres, the factory will include a dedicated rail line material reception and shipping of finished goods to its nearby railway.

The Shuqualak Mill of HEW is set to supply millions of square feet of engineered wood panel products to address the nation’s expanding need for structural construction materials.

The project is expected to cater to the demands of the broad network of building materials wholesalers and lumberyards nationwide.

The mill is situated next to an existing railway and will therefore have access to environmentally friendly product shipping and material deliveries, with efficient and sustainable transportation options.

J.M. Huber president and CEO Gretchen McLain said: “We take pride in the products that we make that will allow people to live better and be able to prosper.

“When we come to a rural area like this, we’re in it for the long term. We’ve got many of our facilities in rural areas, and we have seen that work to our success.

“We see excellence in our people, which has resulted in excellence in our business, which ultimately allows us to make profit and give back to our communities.”

The mill is projected to become fully operational in 2026.