JOUBERT : the great name of the plywood industry

JOUBERT
Panneaux de contreplaqué

Les Eliots - Rue des Epinées - 16170 Auge - St Médard France
Tel : 05 45 21 62 23 - Fax : 05 45 21 63 49
e-mail :
Site web : http://www.joubert-group.com

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Mercredi 22 Septembre 2004

As a recognized actor in the international market of the plywood industry, the Joubert Group has become the second European okoume plywood manufacturer. The company is the result of an exemplary family adventure. The group, with a payroll of 370 employees (including 270 in France) gained its strength from its expertise and its roots, but also from its rigor and from the implementation of a voluntarist policy of constant quality which was unanimously praised by its partners and colleagues. With two manufacturing mills in France (Joubert in Charente; and Sopegar in Charente-Maritime) and one in Port-Gentil, Gabon, the Group produces a total of 70.000 m3 a year, 70% of which are intended for export. The exceptional certified quality and the high diversity of its products, has made Joubert renowned all over the world, from the United States to New-Zealand! As a great name in the plywood industry, JOUBERT has developped plywoods that are now references in the market; such as the Joubert Paint panel (covered with a white melamine film, a quality to be painted) or the Joubert Primed panel (covered with a coat of acrylic paint), stressing the group's reactivity and its capacity of innovation to satisfy the requirements of the markets.

A family story

Starting in the 30's with a little sawmill in order to repair the roofs of his farm, André Joubert, 101 years old this year, set the bases of a real industrial family adventure. Located in Rouillac (charente, France), the young farmer became the local supplier of the villagers. The increasing demand rapidly needed the creation, on the land adjoining the farm, of a forestry factory, specialised in sawing and peeling poplar logs... soon solicited by the local carpenters and craftsman.

In 1966, Guy JOUBERT decided to succeed his father and to enlarge the activity to log peeling, playing a more and more active role in the local economic life, with the creation of jobs and the increasing demand for the poplar logs of the region.

The production expanded rapidly to exotic logs. The proximity of La Rochelle's port (La Pallice), the most important European timber port, enabled them to be supplied easily in order to widen the activity to the production of plywood panels as soon as 1972. The whole experience developped by the Joubert family could then be applied to the exceptional transformation and longevity qualities of okoume, a tropical species from Gabon. The success encountered by these new productions gave birth to the Holding company Etablissements Guy JOUBERT SA with the acquisition, in 1990, of a new production unit, SOPEGAR, established in Saint-Jean-d'Angely, Charente-Maritime and managed by Thierry JOUBERT, André Joubert's grandson. Guy JOUBERT now heads up the Holding company whose offices were set up in the former renovated farm of André Joubert. He manages JOUBERT SAS and SOPEGAR SAS, helped by his son Thierry Joubert and Jean-Pierre Villéger, the Sales and Marketing Manager.

Wood, the basis of the plywood production process

Established on 200.000 m2 of land, including 40.000 m2 of production surface, the two French manufacturing mills belonging to the Joubert group are not only supplied locally with poplar logs (from Poitou-Charentes plantations exploited to last) but they also import okoume and other tropical woods. The concern for supply control, such as attention and rigour given to the selection of logs, urged the group to create in 2000 la Compagnie des Placages en Bois du Gabon (CPBG), a peeling and drying plant in Gabon, with the partnership of CBG (Compagnie des Bois du Gabon). All this therefore has enabled them to control each step of the production process in order to manufacture high quality plywoods.

Today, CPBG peels 40% of the okoume logs manufactured in the Joubert plants. "it enables us to get closer to the forest, to select our raw materials and to take part in the preservation of the natural resources, explains Jean-Pierre VILLEGER. We directly work with the gabonese foresters who care about long-term forest exploitation."

Either dealing with okoume peeled by CPBG or logs mainly imported from la Société Nationale des Bois du Gabon (SNBG), almost all the raw material used by the Joubert Group comes from long lasting exploited forests. "It is a way of taking part in the development of this country", explains Jean-Pierre Villéger. In Gabon, the forest industry is indeed the first sector for employment, accounting for 5.000 direct jobs and 10.000 indirect jobs, for a production of 2 million m3 per year.

An international recognition

With a capacity of production reaching 70.000 m3 (against 5.800 m3 in 1981!) for a turnover of ? 47 million, the Joubert Group is now positioned as one of the main actors in the international market, and exports more than 70% of its total sales. Mainly sold in the European countries such as the Netherlands, Italy, Spain or Germany, Joubert plywoods enjoy a certain notoriety even further a field, including in New Zealand or in the US, a country setting very high standards regarding the quality of its imports.

This international recognition is, among other things, the fruit of a very reactive Research and Development Department, the real creative strength of the firm. They knew how to meet the expectations of the targeted markets, satisfying precisely their needs, such as Okoume Selection plywood for Veneto shutters or the pre-painted plywoods for the Dutch market. Let's finally notice that each year, the Joubert Group invests more than ? 3 million in order to maintain a high technological level, to provide training and to continuously improve its mills' environment.

In the international market, Joubert plywoods are delivered in the major importers. Those distributors turn out to be very attached to the Joubert trademark because of the privileged relationships they have built up together over the long term. The legitimate recognition of the group is followed up with a strong will of breaking into new markets, not only in France but also worldwide, by communicating more efficiently, especially through a new logo, the development of a dynamic marketing strategy and the improvement of its website.

Joubert Plywoods: the guarantee of quality as a leitmotiv

A creed which contributed on a large scale to its notoriety: the Joubert Group can point out that they are capable of guaranteeing the constant quality of plywoods manufactured in their plants and of being positioned as one of the leaders in the worldwide market in terms of quality... The total control of the complex production line, which starts with logs purchase in the heart of equatorial forests and finishes with delivery to the numerous European distributors, is carried out with the group's experience and expertise. For each step, from log peeling to bonding or sanding, permanent controls are carried out to produce still more outstanding products.

These continuous verifications enable them to meet the highest certification criteria. Benefiting from CE S marking certified by the Centre Technique du Bois et de l'Ameublement (CTBA) (French organism of control), the Joubert and Sopegar products also meet the EN 13986 Standard dealing with the plywood intended for a structural use. For outdoor use, Joubert and Sopegar plywood also meet the French standards NF Extérieur CTB-X 44 and 48, which are more demanding than the European Standards in force. In addition, Joubert plywoods also comply with the KOMO Productcertificaat n°32621/95 and n°32622/95 standards controled by the SKH Laboratories (Stichting Keuringsbureau Hout) in the Netherlands and the British specification BS 1088, the standard used by Lloyd's Register, for panels intended for nautical construction.

A varied and innovative offer

As a plywood manufacturer of great renown, the Joubert group propose 5 ranges of products. Their origin and manufacturing process are rigorously controled, and certified. Joubert offer varied and high quality products, to satisfy the high diversity of applications for plywood.

Joubert Classic
Very multipurpose products, whose quality is well-proven, adapting themselves to all the requirements of fittings, decoration and joinery.

Joubert First
A Range of plywood made of selected logs, high quality products, allying stability, resistance and the research for performances in outdoor applications.

Joubert Expression
Inventive products, combining ingeniously the care taken in the beauty of the product with the research for reliability. Plywood painted or covered with a film, making easier the application of adhesive, paints, glosses and silk-screen ink.

Joubert Marine
The top range of the group: High quality products, thanks to the use of the most noble wood species. Joubert Marine is a range offering panels with exceptional mechanical resistance, able to meet the most demanding requirements in nautical construction.

Joubert Force
Products made from species selected for their qualities and performances, these products adapt themselves to the most demanding industrial applications (coachbuilding, aerospace science, rail industry, acoustics...).This proves that the Joubert group innovates highly and constantly

Manufacturing 70.000 m3 of high quality plywood panels per year, the Joubert Group is composed of three manufacturing mills, one located in Port-Gentil (Gabon), employing 100 people and two production lines in France: SOPEGAR in Saint-Jean-d'Angély (Charente-Maritime) and JOUBERT, the first historic unit of the group, based in Rouillac (Charente) employing 270 people. In 2003, the Joubert Group had a turnover of ? 47 million, of which 70% was dedicated to export.

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