Timber Business Booming as Bois Brever SA Celebrates 75th Anniversary

Chronicle.lu recently got the opportunity to speak with Corinne Brever, who is in charge of operational management and human resources at Bois Brever SA, about this Luxembourgish family business on the occasion of its 75th anniversary.

Located in northern Luxembourg, the sawmill Bois Brever SA specialises in the production and processing of construction timber and planed goods. 

Chronicle.lu: Could you please tell us a bit about the origins and development of Bois Brever SA over the years? How many generations in your family have been involved in the family business?

Corinne Brever: The family business has grown steadily since it was founded by my grandfather in 1947. It is now being run by the third generation. In the beginning, it was a small traditional sawmill, offering contract cutting and traditional construction timber. Over the years, my father has invested in other wood finishing processes and modernised the machinery.

Our last project was inaugurated in 2017, the KVH production, which is the first and so far the only plant in the country.

In a smaller family company like ours, it is necessary to constantly modernise and find new ways to keep up with the big competition. We are specialised in producing all products to measure and now have a wide range of products, ranging from traditional construction timber, to planned lumber and a modern construction timber such as KVH.

Chronicle.lu: What types of wood do you supply?

Corinne Brever: We only process spruce wood. Our products are construction timber, planed timber, KVH and by-products such as wood chips, sawdust, planing chips, etc.

Chronicle.lu: Have COVID-19 or recent supply chain issues had an impact on your annual turnover?

Corinne Brever: The timber market has been booming since early 2021, COVID-19 only played a minor role here I think.

At the end of last year, it became a bit quieter, but at the moment the inflow if orders is extremely high again, to the extent, that our capacities are actually not sufficient. Since 2021, we have made more sales and the timber prices for sawn timber but also for logs have increased.

Chronicle.lu: How many people are working at Bois Brever SA?

Corinne Brever: We currently employ just under 40 people.

Chronicle.lu: Please tell us about your customer base, both in terms of geographical location and sector(s).

Corinne Brever: Our customer base consists of mainly carpenters and building materials merchants. However, we also supply private individuals.

Most of our customers are in Luxembourg and Belgium, but we also have a few customers in Germany and France.

Chronicle.lu: Finally, what are your plans for the future? Do you have anything "special" planned this year to mark the company's 75th anniversary?

Corinne Brever: Our company consists of different departments and investments are always necessary to stay competitive.

After the large investment in a new product (KVH), which involved the construction of a new hall, we have now reached our limits in terms of space.

We are now proceeding step by step to modernise individual machines or replace them with newer ones.

At the moment we are in the process of digitalising the whole work process, which is an important but quite complex step.

In any case, there is still a lot to do, hopefully it should be enough until the 100th birthday!

We hope that the situation on the timber market will return to normal, however, that people will appreciate the value of wood and take note of its advantages in construction.

Because of the whole COVID-19 situation and the uncertainty of what would be feasible and what would not, we have kept the celebrations relatively small and are just organising a nice party with all our employees.