Giant Doors for a Stable Climate

It is among the most cutting-edge in the world: the new company site for cross-laminated timber (CLT) in Ždírec, Czech Republic, was inaugurated in October last year. The new production line makes an essential contribution to STORA ENSO’s growth strategy in the timber construction solutions sector. The annual production capacity is around 120,000 m³. This modern complex, costing 80 million euros, now includes 22 EFAFLEX high-speed doors. Doors from the premium manufacturer EFAFLEX are also in use in Planá in Western Bohemia and Ostrava, two other sites in the Czech Republic associated with the brand.

“Our company is dedicated to products based on timber and biomass. It is therefore important to us that our customers and suppliers are also looking for environmentally friendly solutions. EFAFLEX doors fit perfectly into this spectrum thanks to their speed, reliability and long service life. The benefit of these doors is that they meet all the specified requirements, even for over-size products,” explains Tomáš Adamec, technical manager at STORA ENSO.

High-speed doors from EFAFLEX are designed for industrial use. They meet the high requirements demanded by modern operations, are reliable, and can save a significant amount of energy thanks to their high opening and closing speed. “Another factor that is just as important is that fast-closing doors contribute to a stable climate at the workstation. That creates more pleasant working conditions for the employees in the halls,” Tomáš Adamec describes further benefits of the doors.

High-speed doors for the lorry entrance

EFAFLEX has installed very high and wide doors at the Ždírec factory in order to allow large lorries to enter. That’s why three EFA-SST®-XL Premium with respectable dimensions of almost 9 metres in width and 5.5 metres in height were chosen. The fact that the doors are designed as external doors for halls and have good insulation is crucial, because the savings depend not only on the opening and closing speed, but also on the size of the doors to be opened. The larger the opening for the airflow, the more important it is to close it again quickly so that the area around the door does not cool unnecessarily.

High-speed doors on the upper floor

But high-speed doors with large dimensions are not the only interesting applications at the STORA ENSO factory in Ždírec. Three further high-speed doors on the upper floor level, EFA-SST®-L ECO, are used by forklifts to bring the material to the upper floor. The doors each have dimensions of 3 x 3 metres, there are insulated, and they have an opening speed of up to 1.5 m/s. They can handle up to 200,000 load cycles per year. 21 of the doors in Ždírec are external doors with an insulated design. An interior door, the EFA-STR®-S, is used to separate interior areas.

For safety and easy operation

In addition to the industrial doors, EFAFLEX offers a comprehensive range of safety accessories and thus guarantees that logistics go smoothly. These include the EFA-TLG® infrared light curtain, which is integrated directly into the door closing line, for example. Intersecting infrared rays create a flat light grid which can detect even the smallest obstacles without contact. If something is in the way, the closing movement stops immediately or is not initiated in the first place. This protects people, doors and transport equipment.

STORA ENSO – a sustainable manufacturer with products made from renewable raw material

Ždírec is the fourth STORA ENSO CLT factory after Bad St. Leonhard and Ybbs in Austria and Gruvön in Sweden. As a leading provider of renewable products in the packaging, biomaterials and timber construction sector, the company is also one of the largest private forest owners in the world. The STORA ENSO Wood Products division is the largest sawn timber producer in Europe and one of the leading providers of sustainable timber-based solutions for the global construction industry. Sustainability is an integral part of the STORA ENSO business strategy.

The growing Building Solutions division offers building concepts and a comprehensive range of products to support low-carbon construction. The employees develop services and digital tools to simplify the planning and construction of buildings with timber. The company has around 21,000 employees and its turnover in 2022 was 11.7 billion euros.