The Archidply group was established in 1976 in the name and style of Assam Timber Products Limited, under the leadership of its Chairman, Deendayal Daga.

Assam Timber reached its peak capacity of 150 truckloads of production per month, generating employment for over 2,000 people in the North-Eastern part of India.

The chairman also promoted a tea estate and tea manufacturing unit in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, manufacturing 15 lakh kgs of tea per annum. In recognition of these industrious efforts, Mr Daga was awarded the Udyog Patra Award, given to a self-made industrialist, by the Vice President of India.
The Archidply group continued its expansion and set its sight on South India by setting up a port-based unit in Vishakhapatnam in 1988 and taking over The Mysore Chipboards Limited in 1995.

The Mysore Chipboards Limited is now the group’s flagship company with an investment of Rs 25 crore in modernisation and upgradation and is manufacturing a range of products like decorative veneers, plywood and pre-laminated particle boards with production touching 200 trucks per month.

The group is now setting up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Uttaranchal with an investment of Rs 40 crore, for manufacturing plywood and particle boards. The first phase of production is expected to go on stream in February 2006. With this project fully commissioned, the company will have a total manufacturing capacity of 500 trucks per month in its various facilities, employing 3,000 people, with an estimated turnover of over Rs 200 crore.

All products manufactured by the Archidply group are eco-friendly.Timbers like Silver Oak, Eucalyptus and Poplar, which are used in Mysore and is proposed to be used in the group’s Uttaranchal factory are renewable plantation timber grown on scientific short-rotation basis by coffee growers in Coorg and farmers in Uttaranchal.

As such, the company is not responsible for the destruction of forest cover within India or internationally. However, trees like the Gurjan, Keruing etc, which have a life cycle of 25-30 years, are grown in Reserve Forest areas of various countries, particularly in South-East Asia. This is in keeping with the company’s policy not to encourage deforestation of the country’s scarce forest cover.

The company recently found out that the total plywood production in Europe is met out with Poplar wood which is light weight, recognizeable by its white colour, in sharp contrast to the typical mindset of the Indian consumer who is used to plywood which is heavy and red in colour.

What should be of concern to the consumers is that:

Powder should start falling from the furniture.

Warping or bending should be visible.

Surface should be smooth and thickness be uniform.