Lithuania’s first LVL plant opens

Eastern European mega wood industries enterprise VMG Group has added to its considerable wood assets by officially opening an LVL and I-joist factory in Lithuania.

It becomes the first LVL facility in Lithuania.

The operation - VMG Lignum Construction - has yearly capacities to produce 120,000m3 of LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) and 15 million metres of I-joists. A particleboard line already on site produces 200,000m3 of particleboard.

VMG Lignum as a part of VMG Group, one of the largest wood processing and furniture production groups in Central and Eastern Europe, joined together with real estate development leaders in Lithuania “Hanner“ and “Baltic Industrial Fund II” managed by BRAITIN to invest in the €100m structural engineered timber materials factory in the Akmene free economic zone.

“This product range is a world-wide unique combination of engineered timber materials for construction,” said the sole VMG group shareholder and investor Sigitas Paulauskas.

“It will ensure the highest standards of sustainability and enable faster growth green ConTech (construction technology) industry.”

The plan is for the factory to supply both local and global markets to enable faster development of sustainable construction, with engineered timber products and building solutions delivered to both new construction and renovation projects.

The first target production markets for export are Scandinavian and other European countries, North America and Australia.

In the subsequent phase of development, the solutions’ range will be expanded to include other segments of sustainable building structures, such as prefabricated wall and ceiling panels, LVL columns and decorative wall chipboard.

This next phase involves production of MMC elements and GLVL (glued laminated veneer lumber – or LVL, glued to bigger dimensions for beams and columns).

Other products are being considered in the future.

It is expected that, based on the consistent development of capacities and installation of automated production lines, the entire range of products required for high-rise sustainable construction and renovation will be produced in Naujoji Akmene by 2025.

VMG Lignum cites several timber construction drivers, including the New European Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus initiative.

The latter is supported by the European Commission and member countries, envisaging timber structures being more widely applied for new construction and renovation projects. Focusing on new regulations to minimize carbon emissions, the wider building industry is facing challenges in how it delivers on these topics.

Using engineered wood, VMG Lignum believes, will help create new opportunities, save energy consumption and increase efficiency.

It cited Global Wood Markets Info (GWMI) research, which says the European market for mass timber-based multi-storey buildings is growing at some 8% per year.

Investment in LVL production capacity within Europe has been a big trend in recent years, with VMG Lignum being the latest. Metsä Group has announced a €300m new LVL mill in Äänekoski to come on line in 2026, with beam and panel products to be produced under its Kerto brand. Annual capacity is projects at 160,000m3. The company already had two LVL factories in Lohja and Punkaharju in Finland.

Major advantages of LVL include its dimension, shape, high strength properties and low cost. The size of LVL is not limited by log size, due to its manufacturing method and LVL is one of the strongest wood-based construction materials relative to its density.

RAUTE TECHNOLOGY

Finland-based Raute supplied a comprehensive solution to VMG Lignum for the LVL production technology.

The solution features the most advanced Raute R7 Series technology.

Mindaugas Kozinecas, the CEO of VMG Lignum, said the complete mill delivery from Raute included all lines and machines for veneer and LVL manufacturing, intelligent data collection system, MillSIGHTS, and machine vision analyzers for production optimization.

The latest veneer drying technology as well as veneer peeling technology were part of the delivery. Ensuring optimized material flow and high productivity, Raute provided consultation and factory lay-out plans from the early stages of the project.

The plan is to run the factory 24/7, with preventive maintenance playing a significant role and a thus original spare part package ensuring maximized uptime.

“We at VMG Group have a long history with Raute,” Mr Kozinecas said.

“In addition, Raute has an undeniable experience and reference base in LVL technology. One big influence was also the fact that they can deliver the complete mill.”

He said that wood building was booming in Europe and VMG Lignum wants to be on top of this sustainable future direction. “LVL is dimensionally accurate, stable, and stiff load-bearing component which allows quick installation time, less disturbance, and less waste to dispose of on construction sites.”

VMG Lignum I-joist product will comprise an LVL flange and a web from P5 particleboard, though the factory will have an option to use OSB for the web as well.

PARTICLEBOARD INVESTMENT

Of course, prior to this latest investment at Naujoji Akmene, WBPI has reported on the large-scale investment in a particleboard facility at the site. A particleboard mill started production in 2020 after a €150 investment greenfield investment and is one of the largest particleboard factories in Europe, creating 146 new jobs.

The VMG Group division operating the facility is VMG Wood Solutions. This factory is one of the largest companies of VMG Group in Lithuania.

It had originally been engaged in the production of plywood but a decision had been made to stop this activity and focus instead on particleboard and cabinet furniture from finished particleboard.

At the time of its commissioning, the particleboard plant was billed as one of the most modern particleboard plants in Europe.

Siempelkamp was the main technology partner on this investment, which has a production capacity of 2,000m3 per day, producing board thicknesses of 4-40 mm.

The operation is designed to support the expanding living room/bed room furniture and kitchen cabinets’ production of the Group, which among other things, produces for major homefurnishings retailers.

At the centre of the plant is a Generation 9 ContiRoll in a 8ft x 45.4m format. The gluing technology is geared towards lowformaldehyde or formaldehyde-free glues, while Siempelkamp subsidiaries Pallmann and CMC supplied shredding and front-end technology. Büttner delivered the drum dryer.

The plant is also suitable for the production of 3mm panels – a major challenge as well as a possibility in the particleboard segment.

P5-P7 production (cutting & T&G processing) was added in 2021. Thus, VMG Lignum has particleboard products which are an alternative to OSB3 and OSB4.

Elsewhere at the Akmene facility, VMG officially opened a new furniture factory in August this year – an investment exceeding €80m and the Group‘s third industrial project in Akmene FEZ.

Investment in rooftop solar power and wind power plants are part of the investment.

VMG GROUP

The VMG Group was established in 2002, though several of the group companies are much older. In total, the Group unites 20 companies with more than 3,000 employees and exports to more than 40 countries around the world.

The Group invests in wood processing and manufacture of sustainable wood products, renewable energy, innovation and technology industry development, engineered wood structures for construction and infrastructure and industrial real estate management in the Baltic States, Poland and other European Union countries.

Its consolidated sales in the furniture sector alone last year grew by more than a third and reached €323m.

Group companies include UAB Sakuona, founded in Plikiai in 1994, which produces the plywood parts of beds. It is the largest layer glued plywood producer in Lithuania and one of the largest producers in Europe. Although the company started its activities with production of plywood parts of beds, it eventually grew into a major supplier of diverse modifications of bed slats, bed frames and fully assembled beds and chairs.

UAB VMG Akmenes baldai was established in 2020 to manufacture cabinet furniture.

As well as the VMG Lignum Construction business already outlined, there is the UAB VMG Lignum Systems division which providing a wide range of design services.

This includes designing all types of buildings and civil engineering structures in engineered timber, reinforced concrete and steel.

It also carries out research activities and develops new products and engineering solutions for future VMG products. The company’s projects in Lithuania and abroad include some stores, a SPA centre, a dental centre, kindergartens and schools, commercial buildings, warehouses of a logistics centre, administrative premises and a petrol station building. The latter is based on sustainable, engineered timber structures.

VMG Konstantynow became a part of the VMG Group in 2019, specializing in wood processing and furniture production. Its production uniqueness is fully assembled chairs, while recently installed technology allows it to ensure high production capacity and offer up to 1.6 million chairs per year.