German Prefab Experience Tour

From May 26 till May 31, 2017 we had the honour to guide 15 managers, directors, presidents and professors from China, the United States and Canada through Germany. Directly after the LIGNA trade fair we departed from Hanover to visit timber construction companies with manufacturing facilities as well as points of interest of German History and a master piece of timber construction designed and built in the 1750s. Thanks to the interest of our guests and the support of our partners we were able to show the state of the art of prefabrication in Germany.

Before summarizing our tour, we want to take the opportunity to thank the companies that opened their doors to us, assigned tour guides and hosted us very well! Thank you very much for that, we highly appreciate your effort and support!! Without your help, this tour would have been impossible!

Carpentry and Processing Center Petermeier

After our departure in the Friday morning from Hanover we went to the carpentry and wood processing cen-ter Petermeier in Rietberg. Guided by the owners we got a deep insight into the equipment, product range and organization of the company. Holzbau Petermeier was founded in the late 20s of the last century and developed into a hotspot for timber processing in the area. Processing structural timber on a Hundegger K2i and a Speed Cut 3 for more than 50 carpentries in the area, makes them an important factor in the local building industry.

Cultural Program during the Weekend

From our comfortable hotel in Bad Ems we had the chance to visit the city Koblenz, the junction of Mosel and Rhine at the "Deutsches Eck" and the Fortress Ehrenbreitstein. On this hill fortresses have been built since the 10th/9th century BC. At the time of our visit it was hosting a Middle Age event with food of the time, archery and firing of original cannons.

In the afternoon, we first had the chance to go down - into the world's deepest beer cellar, belonging to the Vulkanbrauerei in Mendig: 153 steps brought us 30 m below surface into caves formed by volcanic activity and people who dug out basalt and formed world-famous grindstones there. Even more enjoyable however was the afternoon break in the beer garden where we could taste the products of the Vulkanbrauerei!

Cruising the river Rhine for a 1-hour tour started the next day. Setting sail in Koblenz we enjoyed the scenic view as well as a light breeze.

A trip to the Burg Eltz in Wierschem gave us very interesting insights into the history of the building and the treasury unveiled some details about life at the time.

DFH - "Deutsche Fertighaus Holding"

On Monday morning we traveled to Simmern where we got an interesting factory tour at the company DFH. DFH is Germany's largest producer of prefabricated buildings. The annual output is roughly 2.900 residential homes and duplexes. DIY-houses, open wall and floor panels as well as closed walls are produced by DFH and sold under 3 different brand names: Massahaus, OKAL and allkauf. Additional to that they are also offering brick build prefabricated homes under the brand name EinSteinHaus. Their manufacturing process - although including a high percentage of manual work - is able to provide nearly 3000 houses per year in 3 shifts per day - this are 12 houses a day or 3 ½ per shift. Next to logistics, providing manufacturing information and data files for the machines in the factory is a challenge. DFH is SEMA-user since 2009.

Fertighaus Weiss

The second company we visited on this Monday was "Fertighaus Weiss" in Oberrot Scheuerhalden. Since over 135 years Fertighaus Weiss is building and manufacturing homes using innovative solutions in timber construction. After a friendly welcome by the owner Mr. Noller, we got a brief demonstration of the usage of SEMA at Fertighaus Weiss. Starting with the sales-model, they are detailing it more and more in SEMA until they reach a state where next to the structure of the building, the stair, the sheathing on the walls and the panelization of the floors and roofs, even mechanical, electrical and plumbing layouts are included.

The process description showed that Fertighaus Weiss employs tradesmen that are using SEMA's software to design their products in a virtual reality. The master data are set up in a way that they offer possibilities far beyond standard timber construction or framing requirements. 3D design of MEP allows a "walk through" that is more than a frame-check. Common problems such as structural beams notched or posts cut by subsequent trades are avoided this way. On top of that, cut outs, notches and drillings can be prepared at the correct locations by CNC-operated machines using the data file provided by SEMA.

In the shop Mr. Noller gave us a detailed insight into the production flow and into the capacities and usage of the different machines. Finally, the specification and sample area needs to be mentioned. In a clean, light, tidy and inviting environment all types of specifications from roof tiles to flooring, from doors to windows and from heating system to bathroom equipment are presented. The customer can touch each single item, can put them together to choose colours and can so create his individual home.

WEINMANN and SEMA

After a warm welcome by Mr. Ott at Weinmann in St. Johann on Tuesday morning, we had the chance to see how their products are put together and how they work. Several machines in different stages offered a detailed insight into the manufacturing and quality assurance process at Weinmann. Weinmann offers the complete range of timber manufacturing machinery: Everything from beam processing to timber framing and from manual to complete automated solutions. Machines for framing, sheathing and cutting as well as big stations for CLT processing. 

Before we left, Mr. Ott shared some of his visions with us. Starting by taking us back to the beginnings of the company and the standards in the building industry of that time, he pointed out the innovations and changes that happened until today.

We hit the road again and went to Bavaria: In Ottobeuren we had the chance to marvel at the Basilika's Rococo interior and after that we got up high: Frater Tobias took us to an insight tour into the roof. The design and construction of the roof built with two frames supported by angular posts on top of each other ("liegender Stuhl") and a triangular bracing system ("Haengewerk") on top of that, forms the ideal construction for a roof this size and slope. Calculations with modern structural design software showed that there is no better way to create a roof like that based on the lumber and connections available at that time.

We loved to see that replacements done a couple of years ago are matching the original structure and design. SEMA offers solutions for restauration and renovation as well!

The group headed to Wildpoldsried, home of the SEMA headquarter. SEMA is the world leading software provider for timber construction, stair design and sheet metal work. A "Bavarian Brotzeit" with bread, sausage, cheese and beer was followed by a brief presentation of the company and the software.

In the evening, we visited the beer and cheese factory in Wald, where the production process was explained and the products could be tasted - followed by an amazing meal in their restaurant.

Regnauer Fertigbau

We left early on Wednesday morning and hit the road to go to Seebruck at the Chiemsee In Bavaria. After a warm welcome by Sebastian Sebald we were guided into the factory.

First, we had a look at the wall line, starting with a CNC router that precuts all the sheets necessary for walls. Every opening, cut out or hole is already processed at this station. A specialty of Regnauer's "Vitalwand" (vital wall) is the fact that it is built using nature materials only: The wood structure is covered with drywall on the inside as well as on the outside, wood fibre insulation provides sound and thermal insulation and no glued boards such as OSB or chipboard are used in this diffusion open wall. The next machine in the flow of production is a framing station followed by two tables with nailing bridges. Interior walls are ready after passing the last table of this line, they are picked up by the "Ferrari" and delivered into the wall magazine. Plumbing walls are built manually, the lumber is precut by the K2i including all cut outs for water lines or pipes, pre-manufactured plumbing blocks are inserted and the wall is covered with precut sheets processed by the CNC router. Exterior walls are delivered either into the semi-automatic stucco or into the manual fin-ishing line. After that windows are installed, and sealed from the inside and outside, the reveal is already painted in the final colour and the wall is moved into the wall magazine as well. There the walls get commis-sioned and loaded in a predefined order onto a swap body trailer.

The floor and roof line waited with a special construction: Regnauer's silent floor. A presentation of the company, the way SEMA is integrated in their software landscape and the benefits they get by using the SEMA 3D model and extract all kinds of data for production, purchasing, material management, production optimization and cost calculation finished our visit at Regnauer.

After a late lunch in Seebruck's harbour on the Chiemsee, the bus brought us to Munich, where we said good bye to our awesome group of interested visitors and whished them a safe trip home! Thank you very much once again for joining us and helping us to make this tour a success!