High-quality and sustainable house construction

2019/06/11   |   Chile

E2E was founded in May 2018 in Santiago, Chile under the umbrella of two global companies and leading manufacturers of building materials - ARAUCO and ETEX Group. The goal of E2E is to raise the standards in the construction industry and bring home building to a high level of quality.

On 4500 m² E2E will produce 600 houses per year in the future. E2E produces standard housing and 4-story buildings for homes. The customers are constructors and developers, who produce projects of more than 50 standard houses, mainly for low-income housing. To fulfil these requirements E2E needs a productionline that offers high-performance and accuracy. Felipe Montes, general manager, tells more about the development of E2E and the timber framing market in Chile.

Why have you decided to enter the field of house construction?

Felipe: Off-site construction is fundamental to improve the productivity in the construction industry. At E2E, we are strived to improve people's livability. With state of-the-art technology, we design constructive and environmentally friendly solutions with high precision. Our endeavor is to increase the quality and ecology of house constructions in South America.

You produce the houses with a high degree of prefabrication. What are the advantages and which technologies do you use?

Felipe: A high degree of prefabrication is essential for a fast assembly on-site with reduced assembly times and greater certainty in costs. We produce panels with electrical and sanitary connections, windows and wooden claddings. The panels are closed which ensures high quality to our customers. When we were looking for suppliers for our production line, we discovered that WEINMANN was the leader in the industry and could give us the support that we needed to start with our first facility. There fore, we decided to do the project with WEINMANN. Together we designed the production line that we needed for our product and market. The production line includes a multifunction bridge WALLTEQ M-380 and three assembly tables. All the workings for the production of the elements, such as fastening, sawing and routing can be done with one production system.

How important is ecology for E2E and how do you consider this in production?

Felipe: Producing and supplying environmentally friendly products that help reduce CO2 emissions is our concern. This is evident in the selection of our materials and in the manufacturing process. Our raw material is selected according to strict criteria. The wood comes from certified renewable forests and we use cellulose insulation from recycled paper. In addition, our manufacturing process meets international standards. And here too, prefabrication offers a great advantage because waste and transports are reduced.

What is the biggest challenge you faced when you entered the fieldof house construction?

Felipe: Currently timber construction is not popular in Chile and South America, the people prefer concrete or brick. We must change that paradigm and demonstrate that a good timber construction creates a house of very good quality, with many attributes, such as insulation and eco-friendliness and also earthquake- and fireresistance. For sure, we would make the decision to produce prefabricated houses again. The prefabrication provides greater accuracy and efficiency, as well as reduced construction time and waste on site.

Please give us a short overview about the market in South America/ Chile:

Felipe: Prefabricated houses are the future in Chile as well as in South America, because they help to decrease the great demand for houses. Also wood is a renewable material. Timber houses reduce the greenhouse gas emission and the lumber is renewable. The world needs more timber construction and more efficiency in the construction industry, that's why this kind of construction is the future.

Timber houses have not been very popular in Chile and South America, but we believe that with good raw materials and technology, this will be increased, especially due to environmental and thermal advantages.

Felipe, thank you for talking to us.