Scierie Zahnd

What Scierie Zahnd does

Scierie Zahnd SA is a fourth-generation, family-owned sawmill headquartered in Rueyres (canton of Vaud), Switzerland, operating since 1904 and currently led by brothers Thierry, Claude, and Laurent Zahnd. The company is the largest sawmill in French-speaking Switzerland (Romandie) and the second largest in the country, processing locally-sourced fir and spruce from Romandie forests into sawn timber products under PEFC, COBS/Swiss Wood Label, CE, and DOP certifications.

Operations run on a 9-hectare site comprising two sawing lines, two sorting and stacking lines, four dryers, two treatment tanks, a latheline, and two dry-storage halls, supporting annual log throughput of 170,000–195,000 m³ with a permanent 7,000 m³ sawn-lumber inventory. The core product portfolio covers structural timber (bois de charpente), glulam stock (bois pour lamellé-collé / BLC), formwork and packaging timber, boards (voliges), and laths/strips (lattes, liteaux). Value-added services — Class 2 (yellow and clear) wood treatment, NIMP15/ISPM15 phytosanitary treatment for export, and technical drying — are offered alongside primary product sales, with the drying powered by residual heat from the adjacent Enerbois biomass facility.

The business model combines a B2B sales-led motion targeting construction, packaging, formwork, and glulam customers in Switzerland, France, Italy, and Spain — with 65% of annual production exported — and a direct-pickup option at the sawmill site. Pricing is quotation-based and order-specific, denominated in CHF or EUR with fuel-indexed freight. The 2007 Enerbois joint venture with Romande Energie processes approximately 254,000 m³ of by-products per year into electricity (serving 8,000+ households) and wood pellets (5,000 households), creating a closed-loop industrial-ecology structure that reduces waste-disposal costs and supplies low-cost drying heat. The company has 54 employees (growing from 28 in the mid-2000s) and has publicly targeted 200,000 m³ of annual output by 2025.

Name

Scierie Zahnd

Legal name

SCIERIE ZAHND SA

Website

https://scierie-zahnd.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1904

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Scierie Zahnd SA is a fourth-generation, family-owned Swiss sawmill in Rueyres (Vaud) that processes locally-sourced fir and spruce into certified structural timber, glulam stock, formwork, packaging timber, and strips for B2B construction and packaging customers in Switzerland, France, Italy, and Spain.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sawmill / Sawn Timber Manufacturing

NAICS

Sawmills (321113), Sawmills and Wood Preservation (32111), Cut Stock, Resawing Lumber, and Planing (321912), Wood Preservation (321114)

SIC

Sawmills & Planting Mills, General (2421), Lumber & Wood Products (No Furniture) (2400), Millwood, Veneer, Plywood, & Structural Wood Members (2430)

akta.pro primary industry

Sawmilling & Lumber Production (IMADADAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Softwood Lumber Sawmills (IMAMABAA), Wood Remanufacturing (Mouldings, Millwork Blanks, Cut Stock) (IMAMABAI), Planing Mills & Lumber Surfacing (IMAMABAE), Treated Wood & Preserved Timber Products (IMADADAE)

Keywords

• Sawn timber production
• Structural timber supply
• Glulam stock manufacturing
• Wood treatment services
• Forest-based building materials

Headquarters

HQ city

Rueyres

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Sawn Timber Product Sales: Primary revenue stream from the sale of sawn timber products including structural timber, glulam stock, formwork timber, packaging timber, strips, and laths. Products are sold to B2B customers in Switzerland and exported to France, Italy, and Spain.
2. Processing and Treatment Services: Secondary revenue from wood treatment services including Class 2 yellow (and clear) treatment and NIMP15 phytosanitary treatment for export compliance. Technical drying services are also offered, with waste heat sourced from the adjacent Enerbois biomass plant.
3. By-Product Valorisation (Enerbois): Sub-products of sawing (bark, sawdust, chips) are valorised through the Enerbois joint venture, generating indirect revenue by converting waste into electricity, pellets, and recovered heat for drying operations, reducing operational costs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Scierie Zahnd SA operates a Swiss industrial sawmill that processes locally sourced fir and spruce timber into sawn wood products — structural timber (charpente), glulam stock (BLC), formwork and packaging timber, laths, liteaux, and voliges — for B2B customers in construction, packaging, and engineered wood manufacturing. The company complements these products with on-site wood treatment (Class 2 yellow, NIMP15/ISPM15) and technical drying services using residual heat from its Enerbois biomass plant. 65% of production is exported to France, Italy, and Spain.

Product overview

Scierie Zahnd is a Swiss sawmill offering a focused portfolio of processed timber products and related services. Core products include structural timber (Bois de charpente), glulam timber for engineered wood (Bois pour lamellé-collé), formwork and packaging timber (Bois de coffrage et d'emballage), and finishing products (Lattes, liteaux, voliges). The company processes regional fir and spruce wood into finished products, with 65% exported to France, Italy, and Spain. Services include wood treatment (Classe 2 and NIMP15) and technical drying, all supported by the Enerbois biomass partnership which provides residual heat for drying operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bois de charpente (Structural Timber)

Quantifiable outcome

• Production capacity grew from 20,000 m³ (1993/1994) to 195,000 m³ (2021), a nearly 10× increase over ~27 years.
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Romande EnergieflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007Romande Energie SA is a Swiss energy company that partnered with Scierie Zahnd SA to build and operate the Enerbois dry biomass plant at Rueyres, operational since 2007. The plant processes Scierie Zahnd's wood by-products (bark, sawdust, chips, ~254,000 m³/year) into electricity (supplying 8,000+ households) and wood pellets (5,000 households). Residual heat is used to dry a portion of Scierie Zahnd's sawn timber, creating a circular economy loop. The partnership was initiated by Scierie Zahnd's current management.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Binderholz: Austrian family-owned sawmill producing sawn timber, glulam (Binderholz BBS), and pellets, with integrated biomass energy — operates the same sawmill-to-bioenergy value chain as Scierie Zahnd's Enerbois partnership.
• Bergs Timber: Swedish sawmill group producing sawn softwood timber for European construction customers — comparable in export-oriented softwood sawmilling and B2B sales motion, though operating at a different geographic and regulatory regime.
• Egoin Wood Group: Spanish manufacturer of glulam beams and structural timber products, including CLT — comparable as a downstream European customer/competitor for engineered wood construction, and a potential Spanish-market peer for Scierie Zahnd's export volumes.
• Pfeifer Holz: One of Europe's largest softwood sawmills based in Austria, producing construction timber, glulam, and formwork products for the European market — closely comparable in product mix and export-oriented B2B sales motion.
• BSW Timber: UK/German sawmill group producing sawn softwood timber and treated products for European construction markets — directly comparable in product mix, treatment services, and European B2B sales model.
• Mayr-Melnhof Holz: Austrian sawmill operator producing sawn timber, profiled wood, and glulam for European construction markets — directly comparable on softwood sawmilling and European B2B distribution.
• Hasslacher Holding: Austrian sawmill group producing sawn timber, glulam, and structural wood products with integrated biomass energy from wood by-products — directly comparable to Scierie Zahnd on the sawmill + circular bioenergy model.
• Klenk Holz: German softwood sawmill producing construction timber, formwork, packaging timber, and pellets for European B2B customers — similar mid-cap regional sawmill profile with comparable product portfolio and export orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Stora Enso: Nordic-listed forest products major with large sawmill operations across the Baltics and Europe producing sawn timber and engineered wood — much larger and more diversified, but the most relevant public-market incumbent in European sawn softwood.

Regional players

• Josef Schwitter AG: Swiss sawmill operating in eastern Switzerland producing sawn timber, formwork, and packaging wood — a domestic Swiss competitor serving overlapping construction and packaging end markets from a different Swiss region.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

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Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Scierie Zahnd