When describing the production site of VMG Lignum Construction, a company which was founded only three years ago, the superlatives really come thick and fast. Cumulatively, the investment group, which now includes 25 companies from the timber, energy and technology industries, has invested nearly €350 million in the construction of a particleboard plant, a highly automated furniture production facility and an LVL plant which was officially opened recently. In Akmene, the VMG Group thus made the largest private greenfield investment in Lithuania's modern history.
We believe in the power of synergies in timber construction. With LVL, structural particle boards and wooden I-joist beams, we offer everything that modern timber frame construction needs.
A new complete supplier for the timber construction sector
The Baltic countries have always been strongly anchored in furniture production. This is also true for the VMG Group, which launched its latest greenfield project three years ago with a particleboard and adjacent furniture production site. In the highly automated production hall, more than 500,000 m3 of particleboards for furniture are produced and prepared for international shipping each year. The big players in the global furniture industry, including some Scandinavian furniture giants, have been VMG’s customers for years.
However, this was not enough for the investors and the management of VMG. The group also wanted to gradually venture into building construction sector. The result is impressive. The above-mentioned particleboard plant has an additional annual production capacity of around 200,000 m³ of boards of the classes P4 to P7 which are suitable for use in constructions. In addition, up to 120,000 m³ of laminated veneer lumber will be produced each year in the recently opened plant. VMG Lignum Construction also combines both products to manufacture more than 15 million m of wooden I-joists a year. "This enables us to cover the entire spectrum of modern timber and modular construction. In the future, we will be able to act as a complete supplier for construction projects of any size – from individual housing units to entire blocks of houses,” Paulius Milcius, Business Development Manager at VMG Group, explains. Paulius Sereikis, Director at VMG Lignum Construction, adds: "With our state-of-the-art production site, we will be able to meet all the requirements of modern timber construction. We are currently in the start-up phase of the LVL plant and want to reach full capacity by the end of 2024."
The company wants to complete all certification processes for its products by the end of this autumn. Then, nothing should stand in the way of making resource-saving timber constructions, produced and packaged in Lithuania, a reality. "Efficient and material-saving timber construction products like LVL are the only solution to making the future of construction sustainable. With our products, we want to further boost timber construction worldwide and in Europe in particular," Milcius says about the plans of the company, which is still something of a newcomer in the construction industry.
LVL at the forefront of modern timber construction materials
Posts and beams made of LVL enable slender and efficient constructions without having to compromise on structural properties.
During the opening ceremony in Akmene, three posts with the same load-bearing properties were lined up next to each other for a direct comparison. The concrete post, which is four times heavier than wood, and the LVL post both had the same cross-section of 300 by 300 mm. The cross-section of the post made of glulam was 500 by 500 mm and therefore almost 180 % larger.
"LVL stands for the highest efficiency in material yield and, in contrast to conventional materials, meets all the requirements for sustainable building materials," Milcius is convinced and adds: "This does not mean, though, that glulam and cross-laminated timber are no longer needed. Both are excellent construction products, and not every log is suitable for veneer production. To be able to tackle the huge global challenge of climate change, it will take the full spectrum of timber construction products, and that includes not only CLT and glulam, but above all material-efficient alternatives such as LVL and structural particleboards."
The future lies in modular construction
"The timber construction sector will continue to advance and constantly evolve and change. In the future, how many cubic meters of product can be yielded from one cubic meter of log wood will no longer be the only question. It will be also be important to ask how many square meters of housing space can be obtained from one cubic meter of product. "With LVL, we are at the forefront of these developments," Milcius says, highlighting the material-efficient properties of laminated veneer lumber, and points out that serial production in the factory will also continue to gain in importance: "At VMG, we are convinced that modular construction will become increasingly important. LVL, structural particleboards and wooden I-joists are the ideal products for this segment. The serial and prefabricated renovation segment will also gain in relevance in the future, since the market for it is almost endless and demand will continue to grow."
The VMG Group is already considering further expansion and investments in deeper vertical integration in timber construction. With a plant for the production of GLVL (block-glued LVL with large cross-sections of up to 350 by 350 mm for now), the next expansion project is already in the starting blocks.
"First, we want to successfully start our new production facility here in Akmene and establish ourselves on the market with our products. However, the future definitely belongs to timber constructions, and we want to make our contribution to this development. At the moment, we are still a product supplier – but in the long term, we want to be able to offer our customers turnkey solutions," the LVL expert says, giving an outlook.
