Dieffenbacher takes smart approach

16 January 2023


Leading wood-based panel plant supplier Dieffenbacher enjoyed a “huge” year for orders in 2022 and is looking forward to the next Ligna exhibition where its digitalisation platforms will be front of house. Stephen Powney interviewed Stefan Zipf, general manager of Business Unit Wood and Dirk Eisenmann, head of marketing

There are some big highlights for wood-based panels plant supplier Dieffenbacher at the moment. 2022 was a very successful year for new project orders (including an up-tick in the important Chinese market); its innovation in the digitalisation arena is yielding tangible results with customers; and 2023 represents its 150th anniversary – a major milestone.

And that’s not to mention the important Ligna exhibition in Hanover this year, the first for four years.

Stefan Zipf, general manager of Business Unit Wood at Dieffenbacher, outlined for WBPI the company’s recent progress in world markets, saying the company had “participated in the post-Covid boom these last two years”

 “We were cautious at the beginning, saying this could not remain the case for the next coming years, that it would go back to the normal level at some point,” he added.

Overall, Mr Zipf believes markets will now experience a calming down, with some bright spots in different world regions.

“Looking at 2022, our order intake was huge, which was extraordinary. But we would not expect the same for 2023, but still a good order intake.”

In late 2022, Dieffenbacher had already recorded 14 new project orders, with several others expected around the turn of the year. This equates to a 30-50% increase over recent years.

“We still see good projects out there,” Mr Zipf added. “The numbers speak for themselves. Usually in the years (before Covid) we would get 8-12 orders maximum per year.”

“We also see that we are able to get bigger packages from customers, so not just our core package. It has been our strategic approach to increase our scope, widening our ability to offer more in one line.”

This widening includes the supply of energy plants, dryers, emission control systems, robot handling and CEBRO as an overall smart plant concept.

In addition to the 14 Dieffenbacher projects, the company’s Chinese subsidiary SWPM has recorded eight orders in China in 2022.

“We have a solid base of orders, with a positive outlook for the future even if there are fewer projects. We see the markets are shifting a little bit. In Europe we see the climate going down slightly. In North America and South America we see new projects coming.

“To our surprise we had six orders [for Dieffenbacher, Germany] coming out of China, which is again a very strong market,” said Mr Zipf.

This includes an MDF press line and five Fine OSB projects. This compares with two to three orders from China in the last few years.

Fine OSB is trending in China as a replacement for plywood, partly because of raw material availability in the region.

A project order announcement in South America is imminent, while another for an OSB line in North America is also expected. And in North Africa, Dieffenbacher’s success with palm fronds (DesertBoard OSB in UAE) expects to be repeated, this time in Egypt with an MDF line.

RECYCLING ACTIVITIES

The Business Unit Recycling at Dieffenbacher has been a hub for R&D – not just for wood recycling and alternative natural materials (date palm/wheat straw), but also going into a wider range of raw material streams.

It is doing development work on PB recycling to make the process better and more efficient, while also researching the use of MDF waste to make new MDF boards.

The latter is through its participation in the EcoReFibre project, which aims to substitute up to 25% of virgin fibres currently used in the European fibreboard market. Twenty project partners, including panel producers Homanit and Sonae Arauco, are seeking to solve the MDF waste conundrum.

“We have spent a lot of time here on this issue and we are just at the start of a four year project,” said Mr Zipf. “We are talking about small capacities and lab trials, so in Ligna 2023 we will give the first insights what will come in the next years!”

Dirk Eisenmann, head of marketing at Dieffenbacher, said recycling wood was a big global market, though dependent on the appropriate waste wood collection systems being in place in countries. “The sales and efficiency potential are tremendous.”

Mr Zipf added that the aim was to use wood multiple times and not just burn it.

“The easy way we do it today is taking the MDF waste out of the recycling chain and just burning it. This should not be the solution for the future. We also think the amount of MDF coming back from the consumers will increase in the coming years due to more MDF furniture being bought in recent years.

Mr Eisenmann also sees more growth potential with alternative materials, particularly as the circular economy theme is such a big driver.

 “We think this is a very interesting growth opportunity for us. The standard business is slowing down for a variety for reasons. But we see more business coming up for nonwood related applications,” he said.

INNOVATION AND DIGITALISATION

The main innovation roads Dieffenbacher is following comes under the headline of CEBRO – the company’s smart plant concept – which is designed to make the wood-based panels plant smarter and more efficient.

At the Ligna exhibition this May, the Dieffenbacher stand will feature CEBRO as an overarching theme for all its updates and innovations.

The EVORIS platform will be presented, with improved and new functionalities, while new and updated machines will offer better sustainability solutions and less energy consumption – such as the belt dryer – plus new support and consulting services.

EVORIS itself, as featured previously in WBPI, is a digital platform collecting all plant data and processing it at a central point, with apps presenting the information to give deep insights into the production processes.

One of the successes with EVORIS has been with Swiss Krono.

It has been running for more than one year at Swiss Krono’s Menznau particleboard plant. In the autumn, Swiss Krono had a conference for its technical personnel and gave a presentation on the success of the trial, including savings and benefits.

Swiss Krono described the results as “stunning”, illustrating the power of AI to learn fast and make important improvements: Within nine months of training, the system was able to reliably predict board quality.

“Within a year, the results of this qualitative improvement were outstanding: the systematic detection of disturbances, increased production as a result, substantial savings on glue usage and avoided downtime meant saving and increasing efficiency on all fronts,” Swiss Krono CEO Martin Brettenthaler said in a LinkedIn post.

“It was our expectation to hear about the good results,” explained Mr Zipf.

He said for a company like Swiss Krono, which already had good knowledge and operates well-run plants, to see good improvements means that the benefits and savings for plants in some countries where efficiencies are lower will likely see even greater results.

Swiss Krono has now placed an order to convert another existing plant to EVORIS, this time an existing MDF facility.

The basic level of EVORIS is being installed with every new Dieffenbacher plant.

“With EVORIS the benefit the customer receives from a digitalisation platform increases with the amount of data that goes into the digitalisation platform,” added Mr Eisenmann.

“This is easier to achieve if this all comes with a data structure that has been delivered by us or developed together with the customer. The more data that we prepare and put into a structure in engineering then the better will be the benefit for the customer over the lifetime of the plant.”

Software upgrades, much like with mobile phone operating system updates, are key for the future.

“In the future, it will probably be more of a software game than a hardware game.”

Mr Eisenmann admitted that some customers were more open than others to embracing the digital competitive edge, with some still needing to understand the benefits.

“That will change as soon as we are able to show other customers what we have achieved with companies like Swiss Krono. It will grow – and that is Industry 4.0 [being realised]. We will not see that word too much in the future because it will be something that you just have to have in the plant.”

Of course, self-optimising plants of the future are a buzzword – where the plant effectively can run itself much like the capability built into several new cars.

But Dieffenbacher still sees the human interface is key to successful operation. “We are developing the human interface so people are still in the driver’s seat if they want and most people do want that currently,” added Mr Eisenmann.

“We still have good ideas how we can improve people’s jobs, make their lives in the plant easier, save costs on material, avoid plant shutdowns and avoid mistakes. There are so many possibilities.”

MANAGING LOGISTICS

The fact that the risk of Covid-19 and its impact on business is diminishing is a welcome sign but of course it has been replaced by the Ukraine conflict, which is exacerbating supply chain challenges.

Like most machine builders, Dieffenbacher has worked hard to be flexible and invested in its partnerships to ensure supply of parts and components during the current international supply chain challenges, which particularly impacts electrical components and raw materials.

Last but not least, 2023 will be a landmark 150-year anniversary for Dieffenbacher. Events will be held around the globe for customers, employees and the media. The company promises a big party at Ligna to celebrate the anniversary. So watch this space.

The Evoris platform has apps to present production data that users can understand
Swiss Krono piloted the Dieffenbacher Evoris platform at its Menznau plant
Dieffenbacher belt dryer – the drying technology is able to consume less energy than traditional dryers
The Swiss Krono Menznau plant