When Poland gained full entry to the EU it lost a significant proportion of its workforce to other member countries. As a result, manufacturers starting up a new facility have to ensure they have sufficient labour in place – or opt for highly automated production.
Timber I-joists are a perfect example of a high-value engineered product being produced in a relatively non-labour intensive way and Steico AG, a large German timber fibre producer, has made a multi-million euro investment to provide the highest specification I-joists at its fibreboard plant in Czarnkow, near Poznan in Poland.
Steico began life as Steinmann & Co in Dusseldorf in 1959. When the Polish state wanted to divest itself of its industrial base, the opportunity arose for Steico to purchase the Czarnkow fibreboard plant, taking outright control in 2005. Steico now has a head office in Munich, together with two large commercial sites in Poland.
CEO Udo Schramek has brought about enormous changes by constant capital investment. “The original hardboard and softboard plants have now been added to by a variety of insulation board products, producing in excess of 275,000 tonnes of product per year,” he said.
Mr Schramek and his team have managed a reduction in the workforce at Czarnkow from more than 1,500 people, to approximately 500, by a mixture of production efficiencies and new product innovations, including hemp-based insulation panels. The remaining jobs are far more skilled and there is a sense of vibrancy and growth, against stagnation before.
Covering 37ha, the Czarnkow site is impressive in many ways and its ability to produce raw fibre in vast quantities gave Steico an ideal opportunity to produce
I-joists, using a fibreboard web with solid timber flanges.
“Hardboard is a mature product and, whilst it has many ongoing markets, there are always new products that can replace some of its product areas,” said sales director Heiko Seen. “With a decline in overall hardboard consumption, together with minimal price growth, we were looking for a product that we could produce efficiently and add value to a high density hardboard.
“I-joists were recognised by Steico as a product where a high density hardboard web material can demonstrate high shear values, superior weather resistance and long-term creep resistance,” he continued. “As we have a large resource here capable of producing high quality hardboard to the required specification, it made sense to study the I-joist market and develop a high performance product. It has taken a great deal of research and investment to finally reach this point, where Steicojoist and Steicowall are finally ready to launch into the market.”
The mill has the capacity to produce 50 million metres per year: to put this into perspective, the UK market (the largest European user of I-joists) probably uses around 14 million metres per year – and this is on a growth trend.
These levels of capacity clearly show a long-term commitment and Steico’s plans are to build up production on a gradual basis, but the company’s entry into the market has the potential to make a huge impact.
Ingo Spindler, who has overseen Steico’s plant development for many years, having joined the business in 1980, explained the system: “We need around 100 trucks of woodchips a day, to deliver 450,000m3 of material. The chips are fed into steam cookers and then refined into either wet or dry fibre, depending on the end product.
“We burn wood waste and coal for power generation, making this one of the largest power plants in the area,” said Mr Spindler. “Biomass is the way forward and we are investing in new biomass plant to ensure that our future increases in demand are met, whilst also substantially improving our environmental profile.”
The base raw material (either wet or dry fibre) is directed to each of the plants on site, including the hardboard production unit, which now becomes an integral part of the I-joist products, together with sawn whitewood flange material.
“For I-joist manufacture, we have constructed one large production hall, measuring 250x36m (almost 1ha) and this houses our entire I-joist processing unit,” said Mr Spindler. “We completed the hall in 2005 and commenced plant commissioning in December 2005.”
This massive building is impressive in every way, with Weinig/Grecon systems producing a range of finger-jointed flange sections, which are then joined onto the hardboard webs using Globe assembly machinery, to give a high quality product that is packaged before leaving the hall. The use of a Golden Eye scanner ensures that all flange material is of the highest quality and that it is used efficiently for stud or beam use.
Globe is a leading North American I-joist plant manufacturer with many long-standing facilities around the world. “We researched this very closely and knew that Globe was the best equipment to get,” said Mr Spindler. A full production laboratory is also on site, to test and monitor each aspect of material input, including production tolerances and final strength properties.
Nothing has been spared in the effort to ensure that Steico I-joists will be a long-term player in the sector and, to this end, the company has set up a Steico Ltd in the UK, which will market and distribute the product.
“With an investment of this size we’re obviously going to ensure that our sales and technical support team, together with marketing, supply and design software, all co-ordinate to give customers the highest levels of service,” said Steico Ltd’s managing director Mark Wilson. “The advantage of Steico is its ability to offer a wide range of complementary products, like flexible woodfibre and hemp-based insulation, render boards, sarking and racking boards. These combine to form a highly efficient building system which will meet the key objectives of environmental, thermal and acoustic performance.”
High levels of stock holding at Czarnkow, together with rapid delivery against call offs, will ensure that distributors and end users will be able to receive product against tight deadlines, while also minimising their own inventory costs.
“We now have a fantastic product, excellent design software and the best plant in Europe. This is a very exciting time for Steico and all of its partners and we expect to make a major impact in the UK and Irish markets,” said Mr Seen.
