About us

Vision

At Placabois, we know our business. We are unapologetically ambitious, and we pull out all the stops for your product or project.

We aim to deliver premium real wood veneer panels with a punctual service, with an emphasis on quality, flexibility and a personal approach. We also ensure that materials, machines and products are always up-to-date.

A recurring theme in our story is the personal touch that we apply to both the finished product and our relationship with our customers. That’s what sets Placabois apart.

We strive for sustainability in everything we do. We want to be environmentally friendly, given that we are working with natural materials, and we cherish our relationship with every supplier, every employee and especially with you, our customer.

Made of the right stuff, rooted in years of experience.

Our roots

Placabois is a family business with a deep-rooted history and experience dating back to the 1950s.

In 1953, Maurice Goeminne and his brother Noël travel to the Congo, a former colony of Belgium. After inspecting the woods and obtaining the necessary information on available land and woods from the Crédit au Colonat, they acquire a grindery in 1954 and transform it into a sawmill with adjoining grindery named Forkwilu (meaning ‘forest’). The sawmill is strategically located by the Congo River, so the raw materials, the logs, can easily be transported by boat.

Soon enough, the company has 260 employees who manufacture beer crates for the two most important breweries as well as solid wood used for the construction of mission stations.

Barely one year later the brothers establish a second sawmill, this time closer to the capital of Leopoldville (modern-day Kinshasa), in the district of Limete. However, as the country’s independence draws nearer and civil unrest increases, they are forced to return to Belgium shortly afterwards.

Maurice is determined to continue his wood business in Belgium, so he decides to buy logs from importers and turn them into rotary cut veneers. His business quickly expands to include the production of plywood and multiplex, leading to the establishment of PVBA Placabois (derived from the French words placage en bois) in 1957, and in 1960 a brand new factory is built at the current site in Waregem.

In 1965, Jean-Marie Goeminne joins his father’s business. Both father and son are involved in the day-to-day production, while Maurice’s wife Marie-José takes care of the commercial side of the business. Throughout the 1980s, the family business keeps expanding to a surface of 4,500 m² and is transformed from a private limited liability company to a public limited company.

Around the turn of the century, a third generation of Goeminnes joins the company: Véronique in 1992, David in 1995 and Julie in 2001. This ensures the company’s future, as it continues on the path of quality, flexibility and a personal approach. Thanks to new investments, including a new press line in 2015, Placabois stays on top of the latest market trends.

Building on experience and expertise from the past, yet firmly focused on the future, Placabois commits 100% to its customers, products and projects, day after day.