In current continuing demanding market conditions, Vendenesse-lès-Charolles-based hardwood producer Ducerf is forecasting 2024 sales on a par with 2023.
At the same time, said chief executive Edouard Ducerf, the company is pressing ahead with long-planned “major industrial developments” to boost efficiency and make still greater use of the French hardwood resource.
“We’re also planning to go further in product processing to add more value to our production chain,” he said (see pp23-26). “That’s at the heart of our thinking.”
The latest development has been commissioning of a new high frequence press to increase output and add to Ducerf’s range of engineered wood products.
“This press line has been installed at our Le Bois Profilés site and will be [focused on] three products, glulam panels and solid panels, which we’ll supply in new dimensions, and glulam scantlings and door frames,” said Mr Ducerf. “The technology will also give us the possibility of glue laminating for structural applications. This will enable us to adapt to the changing needs of the market. Our production facilities must be flexible and offer more possibilities to customers.”
A major new project is also in the offing at Ducerf’s sawmill site. Investment is under way in the log yard and debarking facilities are also being overhauled.
“We plan to install more modern machines and reorganise flows between the yard and the production facilities,” said Mr Ducerf. “The project will get under way at the end of July, with the new technology scheduled to come on stream in December.”
2024 will also see the launch by Ducerf and its partners in the Bois Croisés de Bourgogne ‘collective’ of another entirely new product, an oak cross-laminated timber (CLT) panel for construction.
“The panels will be used for walls or floors, with the advantage that they have a finished look and can therefore be left exposed,” said Mr Ducerf. “France’s RE2020 environmental regulations [which are pushing decarbonisation of the construction sector] offer us great prospects in this market and production should start in the second half of 2024.”
A key added attraction of producing CLT, says Ducerf, is that it will allow them to use lesser grades to produce a high-performance oak product, making still more sustainable use of what the forest provides.
The company’s sales and marketing teams, he added, are stepping up communications about latest developments. While its design office is available “to propose solutions [using latest products] that are relevant from a technical, regulatory and economic point of view”.
“We need to be more aggressive in the face of competitive pressure,” acknowledged Mr Ducerf.
There is a strong environmental motivation behind the company’s development strategy too, he added.
“Environmental and social considerations are central to our plans,” he said. “We believe in reasoned growth, not doing more but doing better, in particular by controlling our production processes and offering more processed products. The overhaul of our debarking facilities and upcoming projects to make better use of the secondary qualities of oak are concrete examples of our commitment. We have also incorporated the production of green energy into our vision, with a structuring cogeneration project aimed at making better use of our by-products.”
Looking ahead, he added, the company faced challenges, but was committed to continuing development.
“Despite economic, geopolitical, energy and climate uncertainties, we continue to move forward with our ambitions,” he said. “One thing is certain, responsiveness and adaptability to market requirements must be our watchwords We will also have to position ourselves to meet the energy challenges ahead, with such initiatives as our cogeneration project currently under development. Reducing our energy consumption will also involve setting up working groups at each of our production sites to involve all our employees in the process.”
