60 | Feature: Elka
ELKA IN THE UK
Elka currently supplies solid timber to the UK market (and its timber also arrives here in the form of prefabricated housing from German suppliers). It is mostly fresh sawn for general, and agricultural, construction. It is most commonly sawn to 75 x 225mm in 6.096m lengths. Elka works with 20m-long logs and can cut to whatever the client requires. It has a band saw for those larger dimensions. “Our UK clients often require special lengths and thicknesses,” said Ms Kuntz. The company also offers ‘green’ impregnated timbers,
added Ms Kuntz. An additional advantage claimed by the company is
its ability to supply mixed truck-loads of timber and/or panel products from its single-site operation. Thus, the company can supply its esb and its three-layer vita CLT panels in one delivery, saving on transport costs and the consequent environmental impacts. Sawn timber capacity is circa 150,000m3 drying capacity is circa 70,000m3 mill capacity is circa 15,000m3
per year: kiln per year; and planing per year. Products produced include squared timber, planks and
battens (30 x 50mm dried/S10); structural timber up to 5m long; boards (sorted or narrow goods); eaves boards/ wedge boards; particleboard/esb circa 120,000m3 year, increasing soon to 250,000m3
per
three-layer solid wood boards circa 12,000m3 All Elka’s logs are sourced from within a 150km
per year; and Vita per year.
radius and only spruce and Douglas fir are used in the manufacture of all the company’s products, whether solid timber or particleboard. Elka is not currently a big player in the UK market, though it would like to increase its presence here. Graeme Holburn and Co acts as the company’s UK agent, and potential customers are also welcome to contact managing director Larissa Kuntz direct. Sawn timber and vita panels are viable exports to the
UK, but Ms Kuntz is realistic about the prospects for the company’s particleboard in a market supplied by the major international manufacturers, two of which have factories in the UK, of course. However, Elka says esb may have a future in the UK and
if traders were seeking a particleboard made solely from fresh spruce, without the abrasive and other pollutants found in particleboard made from recycled wood, and having a light-coloured finish, then Elka may well be worth approaching. ■
◄ Production capacity for vita board is approximately 12,000m3
a year.
“Sustainability is extremely important to us as a company,” said Ms Kuntz. “We won the German sustainability prize for 2025 and that is a prize which is difficult to get. We have cascaded production, which means there is no waste at all; all the chips from our sawmill go to our particleboard production.” The most important factor in the location of Elka’s factories is the availability of fresh wood raw material from local forests. “We guarantee that our fresh wood – spruce and
Douglas fir – comes from within a 150km radius of the factory in Morbach,” said Ms Kuntz.
Elka first entered the particleboard market in 1959. Up until then, it had enjoyed a lucrative business in pit timbers but that dried up and the company needed a new source of revenue, so particleboard was chosen and today utilises 100% spruce wood. In 1990, a single-daylight press from Dieffenbacher was installed at Morbach and this is still in use, although the maximum width of 2.1m is not ideal, admitted Ms Kuntz.
“We are very happy with the Dieffenbacher press, but we really need a 2.6m width for our construction panel market and we would like to replace it with a continuous one. At the moment we supply TG4 panels which can be joined to make larger panels. “We have thus initiated an investment programme to upgrade our particleboard production in several phases over the coming years. The first phase is a new €15m screening and gluing line and that is already installed and nearing start-up.” IMAL was chosen as the supplier of the
Above left: The aerial photo shows the foundation work of the new screening and gluing system, first expansion stage of the new chip production Above right: The Elka management and the planning team at the groundbreaking ceremony for the modernisation of chipboard production From left: Gerd Michael Lersch (managing director), Karl-Robert Kuntz (managing partner), Larissa Kuntz (managing partner), Tobias Schmucker (managing director), Bernd Schneider (planning engineer), Dagmar Hilden-Kuntz (head of sustainability), Achim Röper (production manager wood materials), Walter Kiefer (head of maintenance) and Hans Werner Jost (planning engineer)
TTJ | March/April 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com
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