WEIG plasterboard sets standards

The need for affordable housing is growing worldwide and with it the demand for gypsum board as a cost-effective building material. WEIG produces almost half a million tonnes of plasterboard annually for the global market at its sites in Germany and Paraguay.

Plasterboard: A success story

Plasterboard was patented in 1894 by the US entrepreneur and inventor Augustine Sackett. Thanks to its low weight, it is particularly easy to work with and an ideal building material for non-load-bearing interior walls, sloping roof cladding and screeds. The cardboard envelops the plaster on both sides and is essential for the bending and breaking stiffness of the board. After gypsum board gained popularity in Germany and Europe during the construction boom of the 1960s, it is now a practical and cost-effective alternative to solid construction, especially in Asia as well as North and South America.

Decades of expertise

WEIG has more than 90 years of experience in board production and for more than 60 years has also been manufacturing plasterboard for international customers of all sizes – from multinational groups to local individual plants. WEIG currently serves just under 10 % of global demand for plasterboard.

Our UNIPLAC plasterboard is made from 99 % recovered paper, which we source from our own recycling companies, thus ensuring a high level of supply security. Thanks to our many years of experience, we have been able to continuously reduce the grammage while maintaining the same strength and stability. To achieve this, we not only rely on product and process innovations, but also on plants that are specially designed for the production of plasterboard. In Germany, we even produce with one of the largest special machines in the world.

Today, we manufacture plasterboard in Germany and Paraguay in the range of 140 to 200 g/m². UNIPLAC is available in the standard types yellow and grey board for front and back of the gypsum board as well as special types for various areas of application such as damp rooms, fire protection, sound insulation, or flooring.

WEIG as an industrial service provider

Our aim is always to meet the individual requirements of our customers. That’s why we provide all customers with products specifically tailored to their raw materials – with the same standard for product consistency and security of supply. To achieve this, we work closely with on-site experts to understand their exact requirements and tailor the recipe of our plasterboard accordingly. In this way, we enable high runability and production speed at low basis weights for all types of gypsum board machines.

Our paper technologists are constantly in touch with the engineers of the plasterboard plants and the external specialists of the machine suppliers. This gives us the necessary insights to further develop our products and services according to customer needs and market requirements.

Thanks to our regular on-site support and close cooperation with our customers, we are also able to contribute to the optimisation of their production and products. As an industrial service provider, we therefore also offer product development and technological support as well as our own laboratories for monitoring products and production processes. Due to its high quality, our plasterboard is often recommended by machine manufacturers as a reference board for the commissioning of new plasterboard machines in order to be able to produce saleable boards right from the start.

By the way: Did you know that WEIG has the world’s largest fully automated high-bay warehouse for plasterboard? Directly on the Autobahn 48, just five kilometres from our plant in Mayen, up to 35,000 tonnes of plasterboard are stored and commissioned fully automatically for delivery – whether for truck transport within Europe (which is often combined with piggyback transport by rail) or for international container shipping via the inland shipping port in Andernach.

Would you like to find out more about our plasterboard products and services? Our expert Wilhelm Kloss will be happy to help you. Make an appointment directly: https://www.weig-insights.com/experts/