Introducing the HS Timber Group
3.1. Sustainability, passion, partnership
HS Timber Group is a long-established wood processing company of Austrian origin, with very strong roots in Central and Eastern Europe, especially Romania. With around 3,200 employees in Austria, Germany and Romania, we produce high-quality wood products and supply – via wholesalers – primarily industrial customers all over the world.
We develop individualised, tailor-made solutions for our customers, from customised laminated products for Japanese housing, construction, light wooden panels for American caravans and mobile homes, to timber products sold in DIY stores all over Europe.
HS Timber Group relies on a global presence with a strong regional foothold. We take our responsibility to society seriously and support sustainable forestry. Our goal is to continue to grow in a sustainable manner and expand with the best employees in the industry. We are continually investing in particular in the expansion of our core competences – sawmilling and industrial timber processing – and in the diversification of our business.
3.2. History of HS Timber Group
HS Timber Group has its origins in a traditional Austrian company. We have more than 400 years of experience in wood processing. The foundations for the company’s current size were laid in the 20th century. The company was then already striking out in new directions and setting standards in the wood processing industry. Today, HS Timber Group, with its head office in Vienna, is a strong company with five production sites in Romania and one in Germany.
3.3. Corporate structure and production sites
1 The area reported on solely comprises the wood processing arm of HS Timber Group.
2 Economic impact of the wood industry in Romania, PwC, 2016
Location-based value chain
The state-of-the-art combined heat and power plants (CHP) at the sawmills in Reci, Rădăuți and Sebeș generate renewable energy (capacity of electricity production: 41 MW) from biomass and bark.
While all of the heat generated is used for the plants’ own production processes (especially kiln drying), the excess green power is fed into the national power grid.
Forest
Even though we do not harvest any trees ourselves, we support conservation of natural forests and the fight against illegal logging. With our action plan for a sustainable wood supply chain, we have drawn up a range of measures that by far surpass all legal requirements, such as raising awareness of our suppliers on low impact forestry.
Logs
A strict Due Diligence system ensures that the purchased wood material exclusively originates from sustainably managed forests and that the origin of the wood can be traced back to the forest.
In 2019, a total of 3.2 million m3 of logs were processed in the sawmills in Reci, Rădăuţi, Sebeș and Kodersdorf. The plant in Comanesti is the world‘s biggest blockboard plant at a single location. At the Siret panels factory sawn timber is processed into edge-glued panels. Pellets and briquettes are also produced at the plants in Romania.
Overview of HS Timber Group’s products and by-products
- Sawn timber Planed timber
- Glued timber
- Profiled timber
- Pellets, briquettes
- Blockboards
- Big size shuttering panels
- Edge-glued panels
- Renewable energy (power and heat)
- Wood chips, shavings and sawdust
- Bark
3.4. Products and value chain
100% of our raw material is utilised. All by-products are processed, sold to other industries or used to generate renewable energy. In addition to high-quality sawn timber, we manufacture high value-added products at our processing facilities, such as our glued wood products that are exported to Japan for use in housing construction. Our light-weight, yet sturdy, blockboards are used for high-end furniture. We produce shuttering panels for prefabricated concrete construction. Do-It-Yourself enthusiasts will find our tongue and groove boards and edgeglued panels in home improvement stores. Pellets and briquettes made from our sawdust and shavings are a high-quality, eco-friendly source of energy for heating family homes.
We select our raw materials according to the strictest environmental criteria, develop solutions for the most demanding customers and manufacture our products with the greatest precision. Our wood products can be found all over the world, directly or indirectly. Perfection in the production chain starts with selecting logs from sustainable forestry, continues in a strictly controlled supply chain and culminates in high-tech manufacturing and processing. Highly automated, innovative production facilities ensure extremely precise manufacturing. Each year, over 60 million boards are produced, sorted and individually assessed at each of our sawmills, allowing us to cater minutely to the needs of our customers. Continuous checks during the process safeguard the highest levels of quality. In 2019 the turnover of HS Timber Group amounted to 620 million Euro. From 2010 to 2019 we provided sponsorship in Romania to the tune of approximately 6.82 million Euro, for social, educational and environmental charities.
3.5. Customers
From large construction companies, to mid-sized furniture factories and Do-It-Yourself enthusiasts – our goal is clear: to fulfil customer requirements down to the last detail. We consider this the task of the entire team. HS Timber Group supplies customers around the globe and sells its products to around 70 countries. The majority of our customers, over 70 %, are based in Europe. However, the distribution by volumes sold is different (see chart). Japan in particular is a key export market for our company.
Our main customers are distributors and Do-It-Yourself stores. Industrial companies, from the construction and furniture industries represents 37% of HS portfolio. We are particularly proud of the fact that many of our customers have remained loyal to HS Timber Group for many years. We have a long-standing partnership with around half of our customers. This, too, is proof of our professionalism and tailor-made approach to our customers in order to meet their demands in product quality, be it the product as such or the assurance of its sustainable and legal origin.
We have exercised great care in collecting the data and other information contained in this report. However, the possibility of errors cannot be ruled out completely. Statements about future developments are based on information and forecasts available to us at the time this report was published. The latter have also been meticulously recorded. Nevertheless, multiple factors and developments may result in variations. We therefore apologise for the fact that we can give no guarantee that the data or other information contained in this report is correct. This report is based on the publisher’s current business policy, which is subject to change. No claims or other rights of any kind against companies of the publisher or their board members or employees may be derived from or in connection with this report. Any liability of these companies, board members and employees arising from or in connection with this report shall be excluded.
