Blumer Lehmann’s timber industry division is expanding its product range to include semi-finished CLT and glulam products for the construction industry. The production line for glue-laminated timber is to go into operation in September 2025, as the company states. The first cross-laminated timber is expected to leave the press in Erlenhof, the company’s headquarters, in June 2026.
Urban Jung, managing director of Blumer Lehmann’s timber industry division, explains the reasons for the investment in the Erlenhof site: “With the new glued timber plant and the resulting CLT and glulam production, we are creating more added value in-house. At the same time, we can reduce our CO2 emissions because there is no longer any need for transport along the supply chain. The log wood is delivered to Erlenhof, and the lumber produced from it is processed into panels in the glued timber plant before being used directly in our modules. This is sustainable and saves a lot of energy.”
The advantages of automation and series production of solid CLT panels become particularly evident in the manufacture of floor and ceiling elements for the company’s timber construction modules, but also in their use in standard timber buildings. In the newly built production hall, the CLT enters an intermediate storage area via a vertical conveyor. Next, it is cut to size in the joinery center, from where it is transported directly to the adjacent production line for timber elements and modules. This way, no trucks or forklifts are needed to transport of the finished solid wood panels, which not only saves a great deal of logistical effort, but also significantly reduces CO2 emissions, as the company informs.
In addition, the new production lines will be used to produce semi-finished products made of CLT, a newly developed CLT variant and glulam, which will complement the existing wide range of wood products for the construction industry.
Already in 2018, the company, which was named “Timber Company of the Year 2024” by the Holzkurier, launched a large investment program with a clear commitment to its headquarters in Switzerland as well as to cutting log wood.
