As a leading supplier of off-site manufactured timber based building systems, Saint-Gobain‘s Off-Site Solution (OSS) Division has come to value the high performance product range and responsive customer service levels offered by timber panel specialist, West Fraser: with products such as SterlingOSB Zero and CaberDek being used across multiple product ranges. In addition, the West Fraser panels are manufactured from responsibly sourced timber using renewable energy, thereby matching up to the client’s own ESG commitment to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Saint-Gobain’s Roofing and Flooring Marketing Manager, Lokesh Patel commented: “Our fabricated components are manufactured from the highest quality materials using state-of-the-art production equipment to rigorous quality control standards; ensuring long-term reliability and service life. All production processes are fully compliant with ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environmental) and OHSAS 18001 (Health & Safety).
“As just one example, the roof cassettes we use in our I-Roof system are recognised as an innovation in custom-made, large format roof elements that deliver enhanced performance over in line with the latest building regulations. They are designed by our in-house designers and fabricated in our factories ready for installation on site. The top of the cassette is finished in OSB, with a surface membrane to provide weather protection during installation. The I-Roof system provides a room-in-roof solution for 2.5 storey homes, where we supply fully manufactured walls and roofs complete with insulation and plasterboard. The system allows for a quick and easy on-site install, all managed from start to finish by our knowledgeable team.”
OSS actually operates production sites across the UK, from Inverness in the north of Scotland to Bodmin in Cornwall; with West Fraser products not only being used at the majority of them, but the specialist supplier also being closely involved in development work and day to day logistics management.
Senior Technical Manager, Donald Matheson, explained: “The West Fraser product range gets used right across the OSS Division, including for roof and floor cassettes and in closed panel wall systems for housebuilders. The OSB for example offers various benefits in terms of its quality: it is good visually, there are no failures, and we receive no calls from customers relating to it. We use different thicknesses of SterlingOSB Zero and CaberDek as well as ancillary products like D4 adhesive.
“In addition, West Fraser always does its best to advise us if lead times are going to change so that we can plan accordingly. Our account manager at West Fraser is very proactive and always responds in a timely manner to protect our volumes when things get busy, protecting our stocks. We also get good technical support from West Fraser whenever we require it, such as recently when Alan Kirkpatrick, Technical Sales Manager, supported us by providing special interface details relating to all the CaberFloor products when we were updating the complete set of our drawings we supply to specifiers so that they could be uploaded as BIM files.”
With its well-established product portfolio and its own production plants similarly spread from Scotland to the South-west, West Fraser has proved itself well equipped to fill the role of supportive supply chain partner and is currently engaged with OSS in the extended testing programme being carried out at Salford University on an innovative new timber frame building system.
All West Fraser panel products produced in the UK are net carbon negative and manufactured in mills that have obtained the coveted environmental ISO 14001 accreditation. Responsibly sourced, the panels are FSC® (C012533) certified and created from locally grown timber, cutting embodied carbon from transportation.
For further information, call 01786 812 921 or visit Uk.westfraser.com
