Arcwood launched its CLT production in 2014. At first, the Estonian company manufactured the elements using a vacuum press, whose capacity was limited, though. “We saw the potential to increase our sales and wanted to expand our production capacity accordingly,” Peeter Peedomaa, company founder and CEO, recalls. In the search for a suitable partner, Arcwood came across German machinery and plant manufacturer Minda Industrieanlagen, Minden/DE. In 2020, Minda installed a new production line. “At the time, Arcwood contacted us with the aim of taking the next growth step in growth without having to invest enormous sums. Together, we developed a customized solution. Peeter Peedomaa’s many years of experience and technical expertise made the collaboration extremely constructive,” Andreas Rudolf, Minda sales manager, tells us.
Hall expanded to accommodate the CLT line
A vacuum gantry is used to form the layers before the adhesive is applied © Arcwood by Peetri Puit
“To create space for the new CLT line, we first had to expand our production area. After we had already built a new hall for CLT production in 2016, a further expansion of 6,000 m² followed,” Peedomaa says. The required glulam beams were produced by the company itself.
High degree of automation
Since the start of this year, Arcwood has been operating a new finger jointing line that is located directly upstream of the CLT production line. The lamella infeed is now done via a roller conveyor directly from the finger jointing line. Previously, the lamellas were produced offline on an existing line and fed in in stacks. Minda also handled the singulation and cutting.
After finger jointing, the lamellas are separated into longitudinal and crosswise layers and prepared for assembly. Generous buffer areas are available in front of the laying and gluing stations. The layers are formed using a vacuum gantry. Next, the polyurethane adhesive, to be precise, a TLP 15 adhesive from Türmerleim, is applied. Arcwood does not edge-glue the CLT elements.
Arcwood opted for a Timberpress X336 press, which can produce elements that are up to 15.1 m long, 3.6 m wide, and 340 mm thick © Arcwood by Peetri Puit
Then, the press cake is fed to the Timberpress X 336 via a conveyor belt. Once the press cake has left the press, a panel turner enables quality control on both sides. Two joinery machines are available for further processing. The line can be used to produce elements that are up to 15.1 m long, 3.6 m wide, and 340 mm thick. The production capacity is 40,000 m³ a year in two-shift operation.
Since Arcwood primarily produces CLT for specific projects and has its own structural engineering and planning department, the line was designed for batch size 1 production. The overarching Minda manufacturing execution system, which is directly integrated into Arcwood’s production planning, handles production control.
