PDF, 1.2 MB - Pfleiderer AG

30 being focused: being better
The quantity of raw wood involved
in particleboard production represents
a major logistics challenge. Just
one week’s demand for one particleboard
plant and its biomass generator
equals a four-meter high stack spread
over an area the size of the playing
field at the Munich Olympic Stadium
– or daily delivery by around 200
trucks.
Procurement
Ensuring procurement for operations while tying up as little cash as possible is a central principle
of the Pfleiderer Group’s purchasing strategy. Our intra-Group supply chain management
system ensures that required quantities and qualities of raw materials are available on a justin-time
basis. This applies to both suppliers and customers. As a result, costs and inventories
are substantially reduced, to the benefit of both Pfleiderer and its customers. Alternative
suppliers are available for each site and type of material involved. Medium-term framework
agreements with strategic suppliers enable volumes and purchase prices to be planed on a
stable basis.
Building on strategic alliances with selected suppliers, Pfleiderer was able to keep
prices for purchased raw materials stable in various areas in 2002, despite the rising cost of
pre-products. Supplies of chemical raw materials are secure in view of the oligopoly within
the chemicals sector. While cost increases on world markets for chemical pre-products such
as methanol were completely offset, the negative effects of these price increases on earnings
were minimized through medium-term agreements with strategic associates. Prices of other
raw materials such as urea, phenol, resins and paraffin remained stable in 2002. The price situation
for décor materials and white paper is also stable.
Interwood GmbH
The German Renewable Energies Act (EEG) and the Technical Directive on Urban Waste (TASI)
have created an important legal framework, resulting in significantly greater recycling of used
wood. Interwood GmbH was formed at the beginning of 2002 to safeguard the procurement of
fresh and used wood for particleboard production and the co-generation plants. Interwood
also trades in lumber, sawmill waste and used wood from around 2,000 suppliers. Apart from
supplying Pfleiderer’s own needs, Interwood sells to other companies, bundling the whole
demand side. Wood is used for thermal conversion as a fuel in biomass power plants, and also
as the basic raw material used in the production of particleboard. The annual quantity traded
came to around 10 million metric tons in 2002.
Apart from Pfleiderer’s plants, Interwood GmbH also supplies six power generation
utilities run by major energy providers such as E.On and RWE. Long-term supply contracts,
together with agreements with forestry companies and timber traders, guarantee that our
business is on a firm footing.