Polmeier, Europe’s largest hardwood producer, is moving into selling graded beech sawnwood that is “cut to size” to meet customer-specific components.
“One of our biggest customers, a mass producer of furniture, put up the idea, and it made a lot of sense,” according to Ralf Pollmeier, who spoke about the move in a corporate video. “There are many reasons that make it very difficult for many customers to cut hardwoods efficiently.”
“Latest technology makes it much easier. The first step is scanning technology, which has greatly improved over the last five years. Also, robots are performing much better, improving in efficiency and prices. The combination of scanning and use of robots allows us to significantly reduce production costs.”
“But at the same time, this technology is quite expensive, and it takes a lot of volume to justify those big investments. “
“Let’s say one single cutting line with scanners and robots can easily cut up 100,000 cubic metres of lumber a year. Ok, but seriously, there isn’t one customer anywhere in the world who uses 100,000 cubic metres of lumber in 12 months.”
Another point Pollmeier makes is that wood substitutes are replacing hardwoods, mainly because of cost pressures and because sustainability in the past was not so important.
“But there is an expanding consumer demand for sustainable and affordable products … so this means hardwoods will play a bigger role in furniture production in the future. But they need to be affordable.”
“Two factors enable us to produce at low cost,” Ralf Pollmeier said. “The first factor is, let’s say, using modern technology like scanners and robots to reduce production costs – using less labour.”
“The other reason is due to our wide customer base, so with the really wide variety of sizes we produce, there is a minimum of waste.”
The components process at Pollmeier skips the traditional lumber grading and stacking process, which means re-edging, grading, manual stacking, and packaging have a lower cost factor to produce 1 cubic metre of components than to produce 1 cubic metre of lumber.
“We can pass those cost savings directly to our customers because we want to be their first choice.”
Pollmeier components are cut up after kiln drying and surfacing, which means they are precise in thickness, width, and length.
“You can just use them as they are,” Mr Pollmeier said.
“At the same time, the components offer the same quality features as our sawn lumber. This gives a surface that’s kiln-dried and has a moisture range from 7-9% and shows a very attractive growth ring structure.”
“Pollmeier components are also more sustainable because we use fewer resources. Usually, customers have a waste factor of 40%, which means we must ship 40% more material to the customer.”
“Freight and transportation use a lot of fuel, and shipping fewer products not only reduces transportation costs but also reduces the use of resources such as oil and gas for transport.”
“And customers expect shorter lead times. To guarantee this, we are building a high-storage warehouse with capacity for 20,000 pallets.”
Pollmeier employs more than 580 people and has a sawing capacity of 325,000 solid cubic metres. Its wet storage area extends over 900×100 metres and holds a further 160,000 cubic metres of beech lumber.
Editor’s note: Germany’s forests cover 11.4 million hectares, growing about 90 billion trees with a total wood stock of 3.7 billion cubic metres. Pollmeier draws 100% of its lumber from Germany’s sustainable PEFC and FSC-certified forests, which are 57% beech.
Federal German laws enacted centuries ago, such as the Forestry Act and similar legislation passed by various German states, ensure the amount of wood used never exceeds the amount of wood growing to take its place.
Active regeneration of the forest stock is a significant part of these efforts, as demonstrated by the German forest industry’s voluntary certification of sustainable management practices.
European beech wood is a famous choice for hardwood flooring and furniture because of its hardness rating. It falls under the Janka hardness scale at 1300 but is not as yard as some other hardwoods, such as hickory or Brazilian walnut, that rate in the 2000s on the Janka scale.
