MONTANA (From news reports) -- Roseburg Forest Products will be shutting down its Missoula facility later this Spring. The company has announced it "will permanently end operations" at the particleboard plant on May 22.

According to a news release, "The closure is the final step in the company's strategic plan to exit the particleboard manufacturing business and focus resources on other product segments, including MDF, engineered wood, plywood, and lumber."

The decision to permanently close a plant is always difficult.

"It is especially difficult with our Missoula operation as we complete our exit from the particleboard marketplace," Roseburg's President and CEO Stuart Gray said. "Unfortunately, Missoula's older platform and technology is simply not competitive from a cost structure perspective in a marketplace with many new, modern particleboard facilities."

"We know this closure will have a significant impact on our team members there, and thus, our primary objective with this closure is to assist them through this transition as smoothly as possible," Gray said. The plant currently employs approximately 150 team members. Roseburg will work closely with local resources to assist affected team members as the closure date approaches."