One of the most modern sawmills for small diameter logs, Gelo Timber in Wunsiedel, Germany, starts its operation after only 11 months of erection time. In future 350,000 solid m3 logs are cut per year at the 100,000 m2 area. 35 new jobs are created with this investment of about Euro 40 million.
Building a sawmill based on most modern points was the aim from the beginning. This included also the reduction of material handling to a minimum. Thus, it was decided not to invest in a petrol operated log handling machine, but using an electrically driven gantry crane type Sennebogen instead. The concept that was developed together with Holtec focusses on savings in fuel and CO2 as well as optimal land use and efficiency.
Holtec supplied the complete log yard mechanization as well as the sawmill infeed for the new Gelo site. In both systems the innovative chainless technology is implemented, feeding up to 40 logs/min.
