Record time: Grenzebach builds one of the world's largest production lines for flexible wood fiber insulation boards for ZIEGLER GROUP

21.06.2023 - Grenzebach plans and supplies an innovative production line for flexible wood fiber insulation boards to ZIEGLER GROUP in record time.

HÜTTEN/Germany. The plant boasts the highest production capacity on the market, sets standards in quality, efficiency, and sustainability, and was completed in a record time of twelve months despite COVID-19 restrictions. The innovative, new production line for flexible wood fiber insulation boards from Grenzebach provided ZIEGLER GROUP's naturheld GmbH, a company explicitly launched for producing these boards, with an on-target market entry in 2022.

Wood fiber insulation boards - another step towards sustainable wooden houses

On its path towards a 100 % ecological wooden house, ZIEGLER GROUP aims to cover the entire value chain “from the tree to the house”. To achieve this goal, in 2021 the ZIEGLER GROUP decided to start producing wood fiber insulation boards sold under the naturheld brand name. Grenzebach was awarded the contract for planning and supplying a complete production line for flexible wood fiber insulation boards in Hütten, Germany, and handed over a state-of-the-art plant to the customer in only twelve months.

1.5 million cubic meters per year – no one produces more

With a current output of 6 t/h, the Grenzebach production line has one of the highest production capacities on the market. Grenzebach also included provisions for future expansion during the design and engineering phase so the output can be increased up to 10 t/h when necessary. Naturheld can now produce up to 1.5 million cubic meters of flexible insulation boards per year, thus enabling a leading market position.

Top performance in quality and efficiency

For maximum productivity and efficiency of the new line, Grenzebach optimized available technologies and developed a new fiber blending system that provides higher capacities and better blending results than existing lines. The curing oven is also a completely new design, developed specifically for processing wood fiber material. The production line exclusively uses wood by-products from the ZIEGLER GROUP's own wood processing operations, generating additional synergies.

Sustainability comes naturally to ZIEGLER GROUP

Sustainability is all-important to ZIEGLER GROUP, so Grenzebach designed the complete line for the lowest possible energy consumption. In addition, the energy it requires is generated on-site by climate-neutral combustion of the owner's wood waste. The plant complex meets the latest sustainability requirements regarding raw materials, energy usage, and environmental protection.

Completion on schedule - despite change of location and COVID-19 pandemic

The greatest challenge the Grenzebach specialists faced in this project was the time factor. Not only did the trade press express their doubts, writing that completing the planning and construction within the twelve-month budget time would be near impossible in the first place. What also happened was that the entire planning had to be wholly revised again just before construction started because ZIEGLER GROUP changed the plant location at short notice. And during the construction phase, the pandemic repeatedly caused shortages of materials and workforce that delayed construction. But despite all difficulties, Grenzebach managed to meet the schedule and handed the new production line over on time.

"Building the wood fiber insulation board plant within such an extremely short period was possible only thanks to the close cooperation with a renowned automation partner of international standing like Grenzebach," explains Stefan Ziegler, Managing Director of ZIEGLER GROUP. "As a solution provider, Grenzebach supplied both the necessary product and technical know-how and expertise and was able to make the required capacities available at all times."

To success story: Success Story | Grenzebach