by Web Editor | May 31, 2017 | News
Against a backdrop of Industry 4.0, “LIGNA 2017 will go down as a milestone in the digitalization of the wood industry,” said Dr. Andreas Gruchow, managing board member of Deutsche Messe, organizer of the woodworking industry’s largest trade show in the world.
Held May 22-26 in Hannover, Germany, the biennial show drew 93,000 visitors, including an estimated 42,000 attendees from outside the host country, according to show figures. More than 1,500 exhibitors, including 900 from abroad, showcased a range of innovative machinery, tools and solutions, with displays spanning across almost 1.4 million square feet of net space at the fairgrounds.
LIGNA 2017 featured a revamped, thematic layout, including two new display categories: Surface Technology and Machine Components and Automation Technology, which highlighted the theme of Industry 4.0: the networking of machines and automation to improve efficiency in high-production as well as small-scale environments.
“Digitalization and integrated production are the new keys to success for our customers,” added Wolfgang Pöschl, chairman of the Woodworking Machinery division of Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA), a show sponsor, and also chairman of the management board of Michael Weinig AG. “There is huge demand across the board, resulting in full order books. The challenge now is to shorten delivery lead times as much as possible.”
Catering to the wide range and skill levels of the attendees, exhibits ranged from high-tech, sophisticated machinery to entry-level systems for use by those in the furniture, cabinet, architectural woodworking, casegoods and closets industries. Solutions shown included: service apps for machine monitoring, to the first professional table saw using SawStop technology, dual glue technology on a contour edgebander, sanding and finishing innovations, a moulder that produces lineal shapes and designs in a single step, robots, a “three-click” process for producing a complete item of furniture, and of course, Batch 1 systems incorporating CNC technology.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/events-contests/event-coverage/woodworking-innovations-highlight-ligna-2017?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_news
by Web Editor | Feb 22, 2017 | News
A sneak peek at some of the new woodworking technology and innovations on display at LIGNA 2017 was given to more than 70 journalists from 28 countries at a special event hosted by show organizer Deutsche Messe. The world’s largest woodworking event, LIGNA will be held May 22-26 in Hannover, Germany.
This year’s LIGNA fair will play host to more than 1,500 exhibitors from 45 nations, with displays spread across more than 1.313 million square feet of display space. The number of visitors to the show is projected to reach 93,000, said Dr. Andreas Gruchow, member of Deutsche Messe’s Management Board.
“LIGNA 2017 is where key solutions and applications will be showcased. It’s where business relationships and networks will be built that will benefit the entire wood industry for years to come,” Gruchow added.
The themes for this year’s event include: Integrated Manufacturing – on the Way to Industry 4.0; Processing of Plastics and Composites; and “Access to Resources and Technology” at the Wood Industry Summit. “This year, the exhibitors are presenting a wide array of innovations for intelligent networked manufacturing systems, not to mention new ideas and strategies for the many value-creation networks at play in the wood processing and woodworking industries,” he said.
The LIGNA 2017 Preview, held Feb. 14 at the show fairgrounds, also included a presentation from Wolfgang Poschl, chairman of the VDMA Woodworking Machinery division and chairman of the management board of Michael Weinig AG. The VDMA is also an organizer of the LIGNA fair.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/events-contests/event-coverage/sneak-peek-woodworking-innovations-ligna-2017-preview?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news,canadian_new
by Web Editor | Oct 24, 2016 | News
Wood has a largely favorable environmental effect. A study of the National Research Programme “Resource Wood” recommends using wood more widely as a source of energy and as a building material.
The study examined the overall environmental impact of wood in Switzerland, analyzing the value chain from cutting trees to recycling wood or burning it, including the manufacture of semi-finished products such as paper, boards and pellets for heating purposes. Wood manufacturing is a high profile industry in Switzerland, home to suppliers familiar in the U.S. such as IGP power coating, Michael Weinig machinery, Jowat adhesives, Swiss Chrono laminate panel, and Lamello.
The study indicates that the sustainable use of wood can contribute to meeting our needs in terms of energy and raw materials with a smaller footprint than other resources.
The study estimates that the use of wood in Switzerland leads to a reduction in CO2 emissions of between 2.0 and 3.1 million tons per year – in comparison, Switzerland emitted a total of 52.6 million tons in 2013. Replacing gas or oil with wood accounts for two thirds of the estimated reduction. The last third is linked to construction and furniture production where wood replaces materials with a high carbon footprint such as cement, steel, aluminum and plastics.
Conducted in the context of the National Research Programme “Resource Wood” (NRP 66), the study based its analysis on the one hand on comprehensive statistics of material flows (origin, use and disposal of wood) that were compiled by the federal offices in particular. On the other hand, it referred to several databases evaluating the life cycle of products. “We considered different environmental impacts, in particular in relation to climate change, energy consumption, air pollution and loss of biodiversity”, explains Florian Suter, first author of the study and doctoral student at the Chair of Ecological Systems Design at ETH Zurich.
From Woodworking Network: https://www.woodworkingnetwork.com/wood/panel-supply/using-wood-more-widely-building-and-energy-helps-environment-swiss-researchers?ss=news,news,woodworking_industry_news,news,almanac_market_data,news
