Postcard from Germany: Sand, Check, React … And More

Kim Wahlgren Headshot
Marc Schulz, Jeff Fairbanks And Karl Lägler At Lägler Headquarters In Güglingen, Germany

Last week I had the opportunity to join a group of wood flooring contractors who won a spot on the annual Lägler Fly and Sand PST (Premium Sanding Training) trip to the Lägler headquarters in Güglingen, Germany. Our lucky group was able to spend four days together in Germany hosted by Karl Lägler and Palo Duro Hardwood's Jeff Fairbanks.

Marc Schulz, Jeff Fairbanks And Karl Lägler At Lägler Headquarters In Güglingen, GermanyLagler trainer Marc Schulz, Palo Duro's Jeff Fairbanks, and Karl Lägler outside the company's German headquarters.

For many who sand floors for a living, going to Lägler is akin to a once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca. For those who don't know, Karl's father, Eugen Lägler, invented the first big machine that was a belt sander instead of a drum. Belt sanding had been done before on a larger, more industrial scale, but never on a small job-site machine. From the company's beginning in 1956, Lägler has grown into worldwide leader in wood floor sanding, today with Karl at the helm.

Not surprisingly, dinner conversations at the Lägler home revolved around wood floor sanding, and Karl naturally grew up in the business, learning everything from sales to welding, since the company fabricates the vast majority of its parts in-house. To say the factory today is state of the art is an understatement. In addition to being spotless and bright, every work station is set up for optimal ergonomics:

An automated inventory system recognizes when a part is ordered, retrieves it from the warehouse and delivers it to the necessary work station.

For the visiting Americans, the factory seems very, well, German. Work flows are structured in the most efficient way possible, with multiple quality checks at every step along the line.

Likewise, Lägler has a structured sanding process that they teach on-site with a full team of trainers, most of whom speak multiple languages. Over the years I've been to dozens upon dozens of wood flooring training sessions, and Karl had some words of advice for our group that immediately resonated with me: "Sand, check, react." What does that mean? Yes, they may be teaching a certain process for the floor and a certain grit sequence, but every job site and every species and every pattern of wood flooring is different, so every time you sand a floor, you have to clean it and inspect it after every single step. If it isn't what you expect, take the time to make it right then instead of blindly going ahead only to find out once the floor is finished that it has to be resanded.

Marc And Trio

It's funny to see a group of guys who sand floors all day every day for a living get so excited about sanding a floor. But that is something I've always admired about the professionals in our industry: They have passion for their craft, and when given the chance to try something new, they are eager to get their hands on it. This trip was a rare opportunity to spend morning till night surrounded by other wood floor guys, and they took full advantage of it. (Conversation while riding a funicular train up a mountain in Heidelberg? Grit sequences. Conversation during dinner at a restaurant atop a mountain covered in grapevines? Dimensional change coefficients. I kid you not, but you aren't really surprised, are you?)

If you're a wood flooring contractor who is passionate about what you do, I encourage you to submit your application for next year's Fly and Sand PST trip (keep an eye on the HF E-News next spring-there will be a story announcing when applications are available). And on behalf of everyone on this year's trip, I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Karl, Jeff, Alex, Marc, Carina, Denise and all the Lägler staff for an experience we'll never forget.

Lagler Group At RestaurantA pre-dinner group shot in Güglingen.

To see more photos from this year's trip, check out our HF Facebook album here.

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