New Gear Equipment Sawmilling
Valutec delivers kilns to Austrian wood plant

April 25, 2016 - Austrian Hasslacher has invested in two progressive kilns from Swedish Valutec for its laminated wood plant in Sachsenburg, Kärnten, Austria.

“We need to increase the drying capacity and drying quality in terms of precision in the moisture content and reduced cracking. Valutec offered the best complete solution,” says Michael Fercher, technical manager for Hasslacher. 

Hasslacher is a family-owned sawmill group with seven plants in three countries. In connection with this investment, they are increasing their capacity in Sachsenburg, one of Europe's most modern laminated wood plants, from about 320,000 m3 to more than 400,000 m3 per year. 

“Hasslacher focuses extensively on quality and our consistent quality thinking in everything from building material to drying control was one of the main reasons that they chose us,” says Robert Larsson, CEO of Valutec.

The kilns from Valutec will be solely used to dry center cut timber down to a 12 per cent final moisture content.

“Our new generation of progressive kilns is well suited to Hasslacher's needs as they combine high capacity with perfect quality and are best suited to the drying of the dimensions and package sizes that Hasslacher has,” says Larsson.

The progressive kilns, which are made of stainless steel, will be equipped with pressure frames for minimal deformation of the top timber layer, as well as Valutec's system for heat recovery. The delivery also includes the Valmatic control system. The kilns will be delivered and assembled in the spring and summer and commissioned in the middle of September 2016.

The progressive kiln technology is still relatively unknown in Central Europe, but in recent years, Valutec has made a number of successful deliveries of progressive kilns to these countries.

“The higher demand for our progressive kilns is based on a combination of a deliberate effort for our part at the same time that sawmills in Central Europe have begun to become more and more aware of quality and set more stringent requirements on their suppliers,” says Larsson.

Leading up to the choice of supplier, Hasslacher visited several plants to evaluate both Valutec and the other suppliers of timber kilns.

“All of the Valutec plants were characterized by production running smoothly at the same time that the users were very positive. This is why Valutec feels like a safe choice as our supplier,” concluded Fercher.

April 25, 2016  By Valutec