Provence Sciage

€4M in revenue, 9 employees, is located in Cléon d’Andran, in the Drôme, and processes 6,000 m³ of softwood. Customers: 40% professionals and 60% individuals. Sawing based on lists – carpentry sizes and panel cutting.

Its manager, Laurent Vial, explains that the company’s goal is to “offer a complete range around wood, from processing to implementation. It is also about strengthening the positioning of ‘custom local wood’ and developing secondary processing and digital sizing while renewing equipment to benefit from the latest technologies.” He adds: “We want to create a direct link with carpenters and timber builders and modernize communication as well as commercial management.”

STAB Ets Ribeyre

€2.6M in revenue, 15 employees, is located in Linxe, in the Landes, and processes 10,000 m³ of maritime pine. Customers: 30% individuals and 70% professionals and industrials. Products are intended for construction, exterior and interior fittings, insulation, wood energy, and surface and pressure-treated wood.

For its manager, Nathalie Lasserre, “our company’s activity ranges from forest exploitation to finished products, including trading. Our priority: develop value-added products and cut-to-list processing. In our profession, innovation is not a contradiction but a necessity. Our mission for the future must include several commitments: quality, responsiveness, availability, and respect for the environment. Priority is given to short supply chains.”

La scierie des Combrailles

€12M in revenue, 30 employees, is located in Montel-de-Gelat, in the heart of the Combrailles, Puy-de-Dôme. The sawmill processes 35,000 m³ of softwood logs. It serves timber builders, carpenters, craftsmen, distributors, as well as private customers.

According to manager Benjamin Saby, “the goal is to develop local trade and support a circular economy. Founding values – service, proximity, local, custom – guide every decision and project. Market evolution pushes us to innovate and continuously adapt our offering to meet customer expectations, particularly the growing demand for ready-to-use products. The main challenge we face concerns human resources. We do everything to make our profession attractive.”

La scierie Agnelet

€2.1M in revenue, 12 employees, is located in La Clusaz, Haute-Savoie. This mountain sawmill processes over 8,000 m³ of larch and spruce and specializes in cut-to-list and custom products for construction as well as the production of shingles.

For manager Daniel Agnellet, “we operate in an artisanal environment where passion and know-how come together. We offer a tailored service, avoiding standards to favor an individualized approach, listening to each client, whether it involves burning, brushing, or oiling to enhance blue wood, or manufacturing 100% French larch shingles. The future is generally favorable, but only if we specialize in value-added products: for example, larch shingles.”

La scierie Vadot

€970K in revenue, 6 employees, is located in Branges, Saône-et-Loire. The sawmill processes nearly 3,000 m³ of Jura fir and Haut-Beaujolais Douglas, with a customer base of 43% individuals, farmers, and local authorities, and 57% carpenters, roofers, and masons.

For managers Jérôme and Florian Vadot, “our human-scale company adapts to each client to best meet their needs. We must be reactive and, if necessary, call on fellow sawyers to complete an order. Above all, our job is to advise the client and help them make the right decision and choice… Direct sales are increasing, which requires greater commercial presence and responsiveness, while also increasing production to reduce lead times and maintain sales prices.”

Le groupe Delta Bois

The Delta Bois group brings together 5 distributors across Corsica, with 60 employees. Its specialty is the installation of a sawmill in 2024 for €5M (Mebor sawing line and building) to meet sawing demand for professionals (70%) and individuals (30%). Its manager, Nicolas Isoni, explains that the sawmill was created “to fill a gap in Corsica in sawing production, and to benefit from proximity to maritime pine and laricio pine resources.” He adds: “We operate our own forestry and subcontract transport. Our sawn timber partly supplies our five distributors. These are products for new and renovation carpentry, cladding, and decking.”

JOULIN deploys handling solutions to optimize machining center performance

A specialist in wood handling for over sixty years, JOULIN supports the wood industry in optimizing production lines.

The latest example: the implementation of a complete solution for semi-automated feeding and evacuation of boards or beams up to 1,000 kg around Guillet Production’s machining center.

A turnkey installation that now significantly increases output, secures handling operations, and streamlines the overall production flow.

“JOULIN provided us with a comprehensive solution perfectly suited to our needs. The turnkey installation allowed us to take a step forward in terms of productivity and organization. Today, feeding and evacuation are smooth, secure, and we fully exploit the capabilities of the machining center. It’s a real plus for our workshop’s performance,” testifies Élie Gouédard from Guillet Production.

Handling, a key link in machining center performance

Next-generation wood machining centers offer very high performance. However, without proper upstream and downstream handling, their potential remains underutilized. Aware of this challenge, JOULIN designs comprehensive solutions capable of transforming handling into a true competitiveness lever. The project at Guillet Production is a perfect illustration.

A custom JOULIN solution

After studying the workshop layout and specific production needs, JOULIN designed and installed a solution perfectly suited to the requirements. The JOULIN machine provides:

Semi-automated and continuous feeding via remote control or touchscreen from the machining center, depiling parts from a bundle to feed the CNC;
Smooth evacuation and stacking of machined parts;
Safe and reliable handling of large beams and wood elements;
Instant adaptation to variations in sections and lengths thanks to self-sealing clamp grippers. Thanks to vacuum gripping technology, handling becomes fast, precise, and effortless for operators.

Optimizing output without compromising safety

The JOULIN solution allows operations to be performed in hidden time: while the center machines, the next feeding or evacuation can be carried out.

Result: increased utilization of the machining center, reduced downtime, better production continuity, elimination of tedious manual handling.

Operator safety is enhanced while improving comfort and daily efficiency.

JOULIN expertise at the service of the wood industry

As with all its installations, JOULIN ensured full project management, from study to commissioning, including manufacturing and on-site integration. Designed and made in France, the stackers/depilers are based on the fundamentals that have made JOULIN’s reputation for over sixty years:

Robustness.
Reliability.
Adaptation to each client’s specific needs.

Through the project carried out at Guillet Production, JOULIN once again demonstrates its ability to provide solutions ranging from a simple gripper to a complete high-value machine, transforming handling into an industrial performance tool.

Expert testimony from Bernard Foucke, Commercial Director JOULIN France:

“The machining centers reach their full potential only when integrated into a coherent and automated production flow. At JOULIN, our role is to provide turnkey solutions, adapted to each client, to secure handling, improve productivity, and ensure production continuity. The project carried out at Guillet Production perfectly illustrates our ability to transform handling into a true lever of industrial performance.”

With over 5,000 wood handling installations in operation worldwide, JOULIN has established itself as a reference partner for wood handling.

Photo credits: Joulin

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