Pfeifer Group is directing investment towards automation, predictive maintenance and real-time production control rather than simply adding sawmill capacity, as European producers face high raw-material costs and a market that leaves little room for inefficient production. The Austrian timber group says decades of reinvesting earnings have allowed it to modernise during stronger cycles and enter weaker markets with a more competitive industrial base.
For Pfeifer, the next gains in sawmilling are increasingly expected to come from extracting more output from existing assets.
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