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By commencing production of wood fibre insulation boards made from Swiss timber in Küssnacht am Rigi, Schilliger LIGNATHERM is filling a gap in the Swiss timber processing chain.
Six years ago, Schilliger Holz established the subsidiary Lignatherm AG in Haltikon near Küssnacht am Rigi, following the closure of the last Swiss production site for wood fibre insulation boards in Cham a year earlier. The aim was to close the resulting gap in the Swiss timber processing chain. Initially, production of Schilliger LIGNATHERM wood fibre insulation boards was planned for the Perlen site. Schilliger Holz eventually found a suitable location in the Fänn industrial estate near Küssnacht am Rigi, on a plot of land measuring around 20,000 m² owned by ATINOVA AG. “The proximity to the existing production site in Haltikon in particular creates useful synergies,” says Ernest Schilliger, Managing Director of Schilliger Holz. “This allows us to keep the transport distance short for the wood chips from Haltikon, which serve as the raw material for the production of Schilliger LIGNATHERM wood fibre insulation boards.”

Major investment at the Küssnacht am Rigi site
Shortly after the ground-breaking ceremony on 21 February 2024, the considerable scale of the production facilities, in which Schilliger Holz has invested over 100 million Swiss francs, became apparent. The forty-metre-high high-bay warehouse is clearly visible from the motorway. The heart of the plant, however, is the production and processing facility, which stands around twenty metres high and features a production line that runs partly across two levels. This includes a wood-fired power plant with a thermal output of approximately 20 megawatts, which supplies the production facility with heat and steam. The plant is completed by a fuel silo and three silos for storing wood chips. A photovoltaic system comprising over 2,000 panels and with an electrical output of 900 kWp has also been installed on a roof area of 4,000 m².

Phased commissioning and start-up phase
The systems have been commissioned in stages over the past few weeks. On Thursday, 21 May, the first Schilliger LIGNATHERM wood fibre insulation board was then produced. “It is no small feat that the commissioning of such a highly complex system was completed without any major problems,” says Tobias Osterwalder, Managing Director of Lignatherm AG. “Everyone involved deserves a huge thank you for this.” In the next phase, production will also be ramped up gradually. In the process, production processes and quality management will be finely tuned to work in harmony. “Only then will we begin delivering the first Schilliger LIGNATHERM wood fibre insulation boards,” says Tobias Osterwalder. For the international market, the certification processes must also be driven forward. The sales and marketing team has also been working for some time to establish the national and international market. The timing for this is favourable. “Timber construction is currently booming, particularly in the area of insulation-intensive renovations and extensions. Moreover, building with Swiss timber is very much in vogue,” says Tobias Osterwalder. It is fitting, then, that Schilliger LIGNATHERM wood fibre insulation boards are the only ones on the market to bear the Swiss Timber label.

Compact product range
For the time being, pressure-resistant wood fibre insulation boards with bulk densities of 110, 140 and 180 kg/m³ are being produced in Küssnacht am Rigi. The company also stocks Flex wood fibre insulation boards with a bulk density of 50 kg/m³ and blow-in insulation as commercial products. However, it is possible to expand the facilities at a later date so that these products can also be manufactured from Swiss timber in Küssnacht am Rigi.

Further information: www.schilliger.ch/lignatherm

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)