Dr. Herwig Kohla, Ziegler Group, Hermsdorf/DE © private
How does the new cross-laminated timber plant fit into your company’s corporate concept? What makes your production and products stand out?
Herwig Kohla: The CLT plant fits perfectly into the vertical integration of the Ziegler Group. The step towards in-house further processing was therefore a logical one. The plant is designed in a way that we can process orders from our own module production as well as external orders. We focus on non-visible quality CLT and do without expensive surface treatments. Our products are highly standardized and production is highly efficient.
What role does the optimized use of materials play in your new production facility?
Herwig Kohla: We have little storage space in Hermsdorf. Similar to the automotive industry, we therefore have to work with other logistics concepts – for example with the just-in-time concept. The raw material is cheap at the moment, but we know that it will be even more scarce in the future. That’s why we try to constantly optimize our production and keep waste to a minimum. The standardization of construction elements and optimized joining lead to an optimized use of materials.
How do you position yourself on the market and which markets will you focus on specifically?
Herwig Kohla: We are in the fortunate situation that we have a lot of in-house orders, but we are a profit center after all and have to work more efficiently than external suppliers. We see CLT as a mass-produced product that will be used more in residential construction once the economy picks up again. Our market position builds on efficient production. The market situation in Central Europe is challenging at the moment, but we are looking for new applications for CLT and will launch them on the market as soon as possible.
I think that there will be a strong market consolidation next year and that we will see a different competitive situation at the end of this crisis.
How do you assess the current situation on the cross-laminated timber market, how will it develop and how will you deal with it?
Herwig Kohla: The market environment is difficult. In the golden years of the sawmill industry, it was primarily the machine suppliers who persuaded sawmill owners to further integrate their production and to start producing CLT and glulam. Now, we are in a situation where CLT production capacities in Central Europe will nearly double by the end of 2024 – and that in the middle of a crisis in the construction sector. I think that there will be a strong market consolidation next year and that we will see a different competitive situation at the end of this crisis. Not all CLT manufacturers will survive the crisis. Our factory is only designed for 20,000 m³ a year. We are small, agile and can adapt efficiently to various orders – flexibility is key at the moment.
Where will cross-laminated timber and the timber construction sector be heading in the coming years?
Herwig Kohla: I think that technology is far from done yet. We will use new types of wood, not just for the middle layers, and the machine manufacturers and glue suppliers will continue to optimize their products. CLT is the building material of the future. It stores CO2, has a high degree of prefabrication and, if we achieve the industrialization of the timber construction sector, which I expect we will, CLT will be an unrivaled, low-cost and climate-positive building material which we will use to create the housing space of the future.
