EGGER consolidates its position on the market and faces the future with innovative products and installations.

The EGGER Group has closed its 2014/15 business year and is satisfied with its progress. The stable development above all in the field of decorative products for furniture and interior design had a positive effect on the past year. EGGER has a good position on the market which demonstrates that the company is on the right track with its strategic investment and growth decisions. EGGER is confident for the new business year and continues to invest strongly in its existing plants.

The wood-based materials manufacturer EGGER looks back on a positive 2014/15 business year. "We were able to strengthen our market position. The field of decorative products for furniture and interior design experienced a particularly satisfactory development," says Ulrich Bühler, Head of Marketing and Sales EGGER Group. Only in Russia was the development negatively influenced by the devaluation of the rouble. In general, the market environment was difficult for Construction Products and Flooring. "Market overcapacity, both for laminate flooring and for OSB, as well as currency effects and a partially weak demand in key receiving countries have led to slight regress", explains Bühler. "However, the overall positive development shows that we are on the right path with both our strategic decisions regarding investments and growth and with our product developments."

Equipped with investments

EGGER has already paved the way to a continued stable development during the new business year 2015/2016 with the help of a comprehensive investment programme. During the previous year, the expansion of the headquarters in St. Johann in Tirol (AT) was completed with the new administrative building, the EGGER Stammhaus, a high-bay warehouse for rawboards. In addition, an innovative short- cycle facility for laminations with deep surface textures on chipboard, as well as the manufacturing of laminates and compact laminates.

A new X-ray technology has entered operation at the EGGER sawmill in Brilon (DE). New impregnation facilities were installed in several plants to serve the area of decorative products for furniture and interior design. In December 2014, a fourth impregnation channel for manufacturing melamine resin films went into operation in the Gifhorn (DE) lamination plant. At the same time, the Gagarin (RU) plant received its first impregnation facility. A new Vits system has been put into operation in Hexham (UK) in April, replacing an older system for the manufacturing of impregnated paper. The modernisation of the new glue factory in Hexham (UK) will be completed as scheduled by early summer. In addition, a highly efficient and fully automatic cutting saw entered operation in March at the Brilon (DE) plant.

The latest EGGER investment is a new high-gloss and matt lamination line for PerfectSense at the Brilon (DE) location. It was developed together with Hymmen to produce the PerfectSense surfaces, presented for the first time at Interzum 2015. The focus here is clearly on expanding the product portfolio.

The current set-up of a flooring production facility in Gagarin (RU) should also be considered as setting the standard. "In the medium-term, we consider the markets of Eastern Europe and Russia to be strong growth markets for laminate flooring. We want to manufacture the products required by regional demand directly on site", explains Ulrich Bühler.

Beacon of innovation, perfection and emotion

"The continued improvement of our products through innovation, investment and the latest technology is central for us. As is our goal to increase customer and consumer benefits through our products and services," explains Bühler. "On the sales side, we wish to be as close as possible to the customer. To this end, we are continuously working on clear retailer structures, a comprehensive warehouse programme, CRM, quality management systems and targeted marketing instruments."

Last but not least, human and emotional aspects play a role when it comes to developing long-term and common perspectives. With this in mind investments have also been made to develop the EGGER brand further, concludes Ulrich Bühler: "We want to make our products and services tangible and differentiate ourselves from the competition at our Point of Sale. The result of this approach is EGGER's presentation at Interzum 2015.”