yesterday at 11:29
,Austria
Around 1,000 guests from business, politics, trades, industry as well as customer and partner companies gathered for the official opening of the new JAF site in St. Florian – an event that marks far more than a company celebration. With the new wood competence center, J. u. A. Frischeis GmbH is sending a clear signal for the Upper Austria business location and for the future of the material wood.
On around 48,000 square meters, the new site combines storage, logistics, processing, showroom and modern working environments under one roof. St. Florian thus assumes a central supply role for the wood-processing trade in Austria and replaces the previous branches in Wels and Linz. The technological centerpiece is a fully automated multi-level warehouse for panel materials, which will serve as the Austrian central warehouse for trades, industry and commerce in the future.
For JAF, the new location is more than just logistical infrastructure – it is seen as a clear commitment to wood, to Austria and to customer proximity.
„We are creating an infrastructure that will support our customers for decades to come and set new standards."
The project was realized in two stages and consumed a total of around 32 million euros – one of the largest individual investments in the history of the JAF Group. In the first construction phase, around 17 million euros were invested in the expansion of the site and the relocation of the Wels branch. The second construction phase, with a further 15 million euros, enabled the completion of the wood competence center and the merger of the Linz and Wels locations under one roof.
The farewell from the traditional Linz location was not without symbolism: the company describes it as the starting point of the largest site development in the history of JAF Upper Austria. With around 150 jobs, St. Florian is now the largest wood trading location in Austria after Stockerau. The management deliberately places the new site in the tradition of the family business founded in Stockerau in 1948 and emphasizes customer proximity and the connection to the trades as key success factors. Numerous regional companies were involved in the planning and implementation, which additionally contributed to local value creation.
The new building is regarded by both politics and business as a long-term signal for the Upper Austria business location. Governor Thomas Stelzer emphasized the combination of innovative strength, sustainability and economic success:
„The investment strengthens our economic and employment location, creates modern jobs and underlines the great importance of the material wood for the future of Upper Austria."
— Governor Thomas Stelzer
Representatives from St. Florian and the Powerregion Enns-Steyr also see JAF as a strong partner for high-quality jobs and regional development.
Ecological ambitions shape the project just as much as economic ones: The site is designed as a plus-energy building and is intended to generate more energy than it consumes over its entire service life. This is achieved through the use of 100 percent Austrian green electricity, photovoltaics, heat pump technology and intelligent energy management. At the same time, the new building meets key requirements of the EU Taxonomy and combines economic performance with responsible resource use and circular economy.
The JAF Group is an internationally active wood wholesaler with nearly 3,000 employees at 75 locations in 15 countries on two continents. With St. Florian, the company underscores its claim to be not only globally present but also regionally rooted.
