Johannes Kroiß of Holzindustrie Pauls (on the right) with Springer’s Gert Fischinger in front of the E-Loader which will soon be installed at Pauls in Belgium © Springer
The world’s leading trade fair Ligna, which took place from May 15 to 19 in Hanover, is the world’s largest meeting point for the wood processing industry. For Springer, it has been an important event for many years and a platform to present newly developed solutions.
Springer’s presence at the 2023 edition of the Ligna fair was marked by the 70th anniversary of the machine factory, which the company wanted to celebrate properly. At the same time, Springer was able to present some of its latest developments, including innovative cutting and log wood solutions, to an international audience.
Here is what the stand had to offer
Much positive response for Springer’s newly developed V-Belt and V-Sorter © Springer
The E-Loader is an innovative solution for lumber sorting. It is used to separate lumber and offers a number of technical advantages: Its variable and individually controllable allocating device makes it possible to handle a very wide range of dimensions. As a result, the E-Loader can process boards with thicknesses ranging from 12 to 120 mm without restrictions when it comes to board width. It is also characterized by its high availability and performance.
The V-Belt is the efficient solution for log transport. It makes it possible to take over and transport logs in a longitudinal direction. The conveyor belt consists of two separate halves which can be raised and lowered using hydraulic cylinders, thereby making maintenance and access to the maintenance points easier.
The V-Sorter is used to transport and sort logs into sorting boxes in the log yard. It offers numerous advantages, such as the elimination of total-loss lubrication over the entire length of log transporting unit and significantly lower energy consumption thanks to a reduction in friction.
Very positive outcome
Very happy about how the Ligna in Hanover went down: Timo and Gero Springer with Springer’s trade fair team © Springer
For Gero and Timo Springer, the 2023 edition of the Ligna was a success: “We are very satisfied with our activities at the Ligna. Visitors of our stand were enthusiastic about it, and we were able to have many exciting discussions about the challenges of our industry. The E-Loader was certainly a highlight. Also, we are particularly proud that so many guests came to celebrate our Springer 70+ anniversary with us. Such an important trade fair offers a big number of events which all take place at the same time. We are honored that we were the first choice for so many customers, friends and partners that evening. This positive feedback encourages us to develop new products and solutions for the industry.”
Big celebration at the Ligna
Together with around 300 customers, friends and employees, Springer Maschinenfabrik celebrated its 70th anniversary at the Ligna 2023. In the whale-shaped event location Expowal in Hanover, three generations of the family business looked back on the successful history of the Carinthian specialist for sawmill and further processing technology.
The Expowal event location near the fairgrounds was lit in the typical Springer green. The two-story wooden building, which is located on a small lake, was the ideal place to celebrate together not only according to Springer. Many guests from all over the world, including representatives of well-known and established sawmills and the wood processing industry, thought so, too.
The two brothers, Timo and Gero Springer, which have been the company’s managing directors since 2012, gave an entertaining look back on the family history. The company was founded by their grandfather, Hans Springer, in 1952 to support Carinthian sawmills by providing machine technology. Springer then expanded into the rest of Austria, Germany and various Eastern European countries. Today, Springer is a global company with production sites as far afield as the US. After taking over the family business in 1966, the brothers’ father, Dr. Hansjörg Springer, began supplying Carinthian machine technology to sawmills in what was then Czechoslovakia. “During the Cold War, that was a challenge,” as Timo Springer emphasized.
Ongoing expansion
In 1986, Springer acquired shares in South Tyrolean scanner technology specialist Microtec of Bressanone. In 2016, Swedish company Woodeye was bought and in 2018, the Carinthians acquired a stake in Finnish technology company Finscan. For the past two years, Springer has also had a subsidiary in the US, i.e. Springer USA in Greer, South Carolina. Today, the family company Springer has more than 500 employees and over 1,000 customers and sees itself as one of the leading global manufacturers of machine and system solutions for the timber industry.
