The first generation creates it, the second maintains it, under the third it falls apart. Hannes and Stefan Theurl have impressively refuted this German saying. Over the past 25 years, they expanded the family business from a classic sawmill to one of the most modern suppliers of the timber construction sector with more than 300 employees. For many years, the two mainly focused on the sawmill as well as on glulam and the in-house joining service. Now, with the start of the CLT plant in Steinfeld, Theurl continues to follow the path as a supplier of timber construction solutions, relying for the first time on the young fourth generation. With Theresa, Daniel, Roland and Gerald Theurl, four “children” were and are actively involved in the realization of this project. Nico Theurl is also gaining initial experience in the company’s log department. Lisa Theurl is currently still in training and wants to bring in the knowledge she gained later on.
Young generation sets the direction
The third and fourth generation of the family Theurl: Stefan, Daniel, Theresa, Roland, Nico, Lisa, Gerald und Hannes (from left) © Theurl
Ultimately, it was a bit of a surprise for Gerald Theurl when he was tasked with the project management of the construction of the CLT plant in Steinfeld in February 2018. The then 22-year-old took advantage of this unique opportunity. Since then, he has been using the skills and knowledge he acquired in the course of studies “Company management” for the family business. “Such a huge investment creates considerable impetus, which shapes the entire company and its future for a long time to come. To be able to play a decisive role in this and to see how the joint work is now bearing fruit is the greatest reward and compensation for all the time that was invested during the project phase,” emphasizes Gerald Theurl, who is proud that the responsibility for such an important project was placed on him. Despite the difficult search for a location, the coronavirus pandemic and extreme weather, the project was only a few days behind schedule which shows that Hannes and Stefan Theurl made the right decision. “I am even more pleased with the extremely positive feedback from our first customers. It shows that we keep our promise as a premium partner despite the difficult circumstances during the start-up of a plant,” says Gerald Theurl.
Unique chance
With her choice to study civil engineering, Theresa Theurl was predestined for the task of planning and constructing the office building in Steinfeld. “I couldn’t miss out on this chance. After my very theory-heavy studies, I’m grateful for the practical experience I was able to gain on the construction site over the past year. Most of all, I’m happy to personally experience the numerous advantages of building in wood,” emphasizes Theresa Theurl and names the fast, precise and sustainable way of building, the high degree of prefabrication and the warm and cozy atmosphere created by this material as just a few of the many advantages. In order to be able to use Theurl’s own joined glulam in addition to cross-laminated timber produced in-house, the company waited for the first panels to be produced before construction of the office building started. The result is impressive: “During planning, it was important to me to have as much visible CLTPLUS as possible. This way, we can offer our employees and customers the cozy and warm atmosphere of wood. I think we succeeded in that.”
Daniel Theurl makes sure that Theresa Theurl can continue to carry out numerous CLT projects in the future. During his internship at the company, he was involved in entering new markets and generating potential timber construction projects. “I’m proud of our company and I see it as a great privilege to work in an industry that has so much potential for the future. With our product CLTPLUS, we have taken an important step towards the future and it allows us to be present on the market as a complete supplier for the timber construction sector for the first time,” emphasizes Daniel Theurl.
Future-proof process
Roland Theurl is the fourth member of the fourth generation of the Theurl family. The management and IT expert gained his first industrial experience after completing his studies, and joined the family company in early 2019. Since then, he has been in charge of the IT aspects of the “CLTPLUS” project. “My task was basically to use a rough schedule for defining a future-proof process which would fit into the already defined plant concept and which was based on tried and tested concepts from our existing plants. Also, this process had to fit in well with the working methods of key users from the areas of sales, project management, logistics, CAD technology and work preparation, up to production and individual plant operators,” says Roland Theurl about his core task.
Thinking ahead
Just like the glulam plant, CLT production is also designed exclusively for order picking and batch size 1. The solid wood panels have sizes of up to 3.5 x 16 m and thicknesses of up to 320 mm and are available in the qualities “industrial”, “enhanced industrial” and “visible”. In addition to complete joining, Theurl also offers longitudinal or transverse sanding of surfaces. In front of the main press, the single-layer panels are glued on the narrow sides, which means that all joints of the finished panel are closed completely. For gluing, the company uses emission-free PUR adhesives. For the time being, Theurl only offers spruce surfaces, but other types of wood will soon be available. With the start-up of the new plant, the company reached a milestone of which the directors are particularly proud – not least because they were able to reach it together with the next generation and thus set the course for the future.
