Tradition and innovation
Stöckl Parkett strikes us as the perfect embodiment of how tradition and innovation can go hand in hand. On the one hand, they supply traditional wood floors, while on the other, there is the recent development of wood floors based on woodpowder technology (B:hard). We talk to Managing Director Georg Stöckl not only about his company, but also about doing business from Austria.

"My parents founded the company in 1977, bringing with them their experience as wood floor installers," we learn. "They started with a sawmill and two years later they started producing parquet and wood floors. A few years later they bought a plywood production company and from 1997 the production of two-ply flooring followed. In the process, they marketed only small sizes under the name Actus, always in the herringbone, which was very important for the Austrian market. Epico followed a few years later, in three different sizes and always two-layer. The biggest innovation followed in 2016 with our B:hard woodtech floor coverings. These are three-layer wood floor coverings with a very hard, very thin top layer."

Rising importance international market
In the general mission statement, we read that the intention is to act in harmony with nature. The tradition of craftsmanship and longevity of wood products should shape this philosophy, with a guarantee that the basis for all products is wood species sourced from sustainable forestry and with production in the company's own factory in Lower Austria.
"That description describes extremely precisely what we do," Mr Stöckl continues. "I should add that we only work with professionals and keep ourselves very far from the DIY trade. This also has to do with our previous history, my parents only stopped installing in 1985 and a logical corollary of that is that they also liked to offer special custom-made floors. A great example is the Austrian Museum of Art History, for which they made a special customised floor in herringbone, with a 6 mm top layer."

"The difference with the past is that the importance of the home market decreased over the years. Austria now still accounts for about 10 to 15 per cent of sales, the rest is purely international, with Germany, Switzerland, Benelux and Scandinavia as the main markets."
When visiting the company, you can't look overlook the company’s own sawmill, in which up to 70 per cent of the raw materials for its own parquet are processed. Oak is mainly sawn here, going full circle from log to finished product.

"In this context, I must also mention my brother, who is in charge of plywood production. He also cuts the B:hard, so it literally remains 'all in the family'," laughs Georg Stöckl. "I note that this family business fits in very well with the Benelux, where we also note an evolution towards a need for thin products with very high quality. The thinner, the more difficult, but we at Stöckl do specialise in 9, 10 and 11 mm, and that resonates very well with you!"

Emphasis remains on family
One question, of course, is what the future holds. Stöckl Parkett has always been a family business, will it remain so in the future?
"We don't want to create a mastodon where people pass by anonymously," concludes Georg Stöckl. "Our aim is to be close to our customers and always offer the possibility of special interventions. Don't forget that we also have a modest overall capacity, although you can't really call an annual processing of 1 million m² small now either."
"At the same time, we obviously want to continue developing and that's exactly where our woodpowder production comes in. With this, we offer wooden floorboards with a top layer that is not only much thinner and very hard, but also illustrate far-reaching environmental awareness, with not only ten times less raw material for the same end result, but with a very energy-efficient production. We need 30 to 40 per cent less energy than in traditional production, which means we both work cheaper and emit less CO2!"