New CLT plant is ramping up production

Holzwerke van Roje plans to produce around 75,000 m³ of cross-laminated timber a year in the future. Gerhard Hauschulte, who is one of the company’s Managing Directors together with Oliver Mühmel, explains this step towards further expansion: “We are committed to an efficient use of wood, with ecological aspects playing a major role. In order to process the raw material in the best possible way in our own factory, we decided to produce cross-laminated timber.”

Added value increased

Holzwerke van Roje operates its own sawmill with an annual cutting capacity of 450,000 m³ of log wood. In order to create more added value, the company wants to supply its new CLT plant using only lumber from its own production. “The production of cross-laminated timber is now the company’s third mainstay alongside the lumber segment and the manufacture of premium-quality wood pellets. It completes our range of products while adding value, and helps to optimize in-house synergies,” Mühmel tells us.

Van Roje produces the spruce laminations for its “Cross-Works” CLT in its own planing mill. Other types of wood, such as pine, larch or Douglas fir, can be processed as well, for example for decorative purposes for the top layers.

When planning and designing the new production site, particular importance was attached to resource efficiency and the possibility to process a variety of raw wood. To achieve this, the company took numerous measures, such as building a recycling plant for residual cut-outs, which aim at exploiting the considerable potential for reducing the site’s environmental impact. The project obtained €6 million in funding from the German Federal Ministry for the Environment as part of its environmental investment program.

Up to 16 m in length and 3.5 m in width

The Cross-Works elements can be used in various ways – as reinforcement or as load-bearing and non-load-bearing wall, ceiling and roof elements – and can also be easily combined with other materials. Based on their usability certificates issued by the building authorities, Van Roje’s CLT construction elements are categorized as class B2 building material according to the DIN 4102-1 standard or as material of the fire behavior class D-s2, d0 according to the EN 13501-1 standard. By using appropriate surface coatings or top layers, construction elements with flame-resistant surfaces can be produced as well.

Holzwerke van Roje manufactures Cross-Works elements with lengths of up to 16 meters, widths of up to 3.5 meters and a maximum thickness of 350 mm. Depending on the structural requirements and what they will be used for, the elements have three, five, seven or nine layers, and are glued with a formaldehyde- and solvent-free PUR adhesive which meets the strict criteria of the Materials Testing Institute of the University of Stuttgart.

Following close collaboration with van Roje, machine manufacturer Minda delivered the master computer, production control, mechanization and the presses and was also responsible for the overall plant design. The finger-jointing machine was supplied by Weinig Grecon and the lamination planer by Rex. Scheuch delivered the extraction system and Hundegger the joinery machines. For the planning and construction of the projects, van Roje relies on hsbcad.

All-round service for customers

For the new product, Holzwerke van Roje put together a separate team, which is responsible for sales, planning, technical drawings as well as nesting and logistics. For the time being, the company wants to focus on the domestic German market. “Our regular customers on the export markets, too, are also showing great interest in our Cross-Works elements,” Hauschulte says, who is satisfied with the successful start. The sales team contacts planners and technical planners as well as general contractors at an early stage. “In the future, Cross-Works elements will be used to build different types of buildings, from privately used residential buildings to complex, public projects, such as kindergartens, schools or sports halls – all of them with a high degree of digitalization, individuality and precision,” Cross-Works Sales Manager Rüdiger Koch explains. Holzwerke van Roje is particularly pleased with the successful inauguration at the beginning of September, where many visitors expressed great interest in the product and the new production site.