Joubert

A journey to the heart of plywood

The day begins early, after a good coffee and a journey through the French region of the Charante. We are here to visit Joubert Plywood, a company specialised in producing poplar and okoume plywood.

The group is a family owned concern, currently run by the third generation, with three production sites, one of which in Port-Gentil (Gabon), one in Saint-Jean-d’Angély and the third, which is the one we visited, in Eliots, north-east of Angoulême, where a Celaschi panel squaring line has been fully operational for a few years.

Before it reaches the Celaschi line, the wood is transformed in plywood.

“We retrieve the unfinished sections of poplar, which we cut lengthwise”, explains Laurent Marty, the Industrial Manager. “We then pass them through a short wood peeling lathe that can treat wood up to 2.7 metres in length [longer sections, up to 6 metres, are peeled at the Saint-Jean-d'Angély site, editor’s note]. They are then dried with a new system purchased in 2016, which is 30 metres long and 6.20 metres wide”. After the peeling, the poplar sheets are thoroughly checked. If any break, the strips are sent to the joining laboratory: “where they are processed to create intact sheets”, continues Laurent Marty. “In particular they are straightened and re-assembled with the application of a strip of glue”.

Joubert (France)