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17.01.2023

Record-breaking cut and new plant management at Pfeifer Lauterbach

The wood processing company started the new year with a record performance in the sawmill and personnel reinforcement. In 2023, Pfeifer is investing in the digitalization of the log yard, in the workplace quality and infrastructure of the site.

Gernot Hormeß

Managing Director Lauterbach

 "Thanks to the strong cooperation of all parties involved, we were able to achieve our ambitious goals at the location again this year"

On Tuesday, December 13, the corks popped symbolically at Pfeifer Lauterbach: the sawing capacity of 1,000,000 fixed meters of logs had just been exceeded. For the third time in a row, the annual planned volume was also exceeded with this record level. "Thanks to the strong cooperation of all parties involved, we were able to achieve our ambitious goals at the location again this year," says Managing Director Gernot Hormeß, describing the high proportion of employees and partners in the success.

Plant Manager Thomas Wille contributes decades of experience at Pfeifer to the further development of the Lauterbach site.

The new plant manager of Pfeifer Lauterbach GmbH, Thomas Wille, is also pleased with the performance. Wille has been working for the Pfeifer Group since 2001. After various positions in Imst (Austria) and Trhanov (Czech Republic), he took over the plant management in Lauterbach on an interim basis in July 2022. From December, Wille was permanently confirmed as plant manager/authorized signatory. An exciting task for the specialist in the field of further processing:

"I am proud to be part of the team and am looking forward to the further development of the site.“

Optimizations take effect

At the site itself, there have been improvements on several levels over the past year. The biggest milestone was the commissioning of the factory's own railway siding in April. The approximately 1.5 km long route between Wallenrod Station and the Pfeifer location has been well frequented since then. "In the first year, dozens of block trains with logs rolled into our plant. We are striving to continuously increase the transport volume of round timber and wood products by rail,“ reports Wille. This is accompanied by a reduction in truck traffic and reduced CO2-Emissions in the region.

In the administration building, the second floor has been converted into modern office space. In total, Pfeifer Lauterbach currently employs 230 people in the areas of production, maintenance and administration.

The already high degree of digitization in roundwood sorting is to be further optimized in 2023.

Investments 2023

Pfeifer currently has the next projects at the start. The "digital roundwood square" is to move into the factory premises later this year. By means of sorting optimization software, the log area can be optimally used and controlled. For example, the software automatically sorts logs according to geometry, quality, type and customer-specific criteria. The to-do list also includes a separate workshop and training rooms for the apprentices in the fields of industrial mechanics, electronics and woodworking mechanics. A workshop extension is also planned to be built in order to be able to repair heavy vehicles such as excavators and forklifts on site.

Since April 2022, dozens of block trains have already been rolling to and from Lauterbach. Each block train replaces about fifty trucks.

The Pfeifer Group

The Pfeifer Group is one of the most traditional and competitive companies in the European wood industry with around 2,600 employees at 13 locations in Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Finland. The company headquarters of the family-run group is located in Imst (Tyrol/Austria). Around 5,4 million solid metres of wood are cut annually in the Group's fully integrated sawmills and processed along the entire value chain into sawn timber and planed goods, concrete formwork panels, formwork girders, cross laminated timber (CLT), glued laminated timber, glued solid wood panels as well as pallet blocks, briquettes, pellets and bio electricity.