SAGOLA — LP Building Solutions is converting its Sagola mill from the manufacture of oriented strand board to production of its flagship product — an engineered wood trim and siding called LP SmartSide.

Siding production at LP Sagola is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023, the company announced in May.

The Sagola facility offers good proximity to rail and utility infrastructure, a stable supply of wood resources, and a strong workforce, according to industry officials.

For more than 20 years, LP SmartSide trim and siding has provided customers with an innovative approach to home siding that combines the beauty of traditional wood and the durability of engineered wood.

In that time, SmartSide siding products have experienced tremendous success and become one of the fastest-growing siding brands in the U.S., the company said.

To meet growing customer demand, in early 2021 LP announced a phased, multi-year plan to expand siding production capacity. That plan started with the conversion of its New Limerick, Maine, facility, commonly known as LP Houlton, from the manufacture of OSB and laminated strand lumber to SmartSide siding.

In June 2021, the company broke ground on a $150 million project at LP Houlton.

In less than a year, it successfully completed the initial phase of Houlton’s conversion to a siding mill, culminating in the pressing of the mill’s first siding board in late March.

After confirmation testing by APA — The Engineered Wood Association, an organization accredited by the American National Standards Institute to develop national consensus standards for engineered wood products — LP Houlton is now producing APA-certified and trademarked siding.

“Customer demand for LP SmartSide Trim and Siding is at an all-time high,” said Jason Ringblom, LP executive vice president and general manager of siding. “We will always take care of our customers, which is why siding capacity expansion projects, like our conversion of LP Houlton, are incredibly strategic and important to LP.”

The Sagola project will be the second phase of LP’s plans to expand siding production. Earlier this year, LP was engaged in talks with Michigan Strategic Fund officials on incentives, but no action has yet been taken by the MSF Board.

Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., LP has 4,800 employees worldwide, including about 150 at Sagola, where it opened its OSB mill in 1988.

LP, founded in 1972, operates 25 plants across the U.S., Canada, Chile and Brazil.