The Ligna timber technology exhibition in Hannover is daunting. Nearly 2,000 stands stretch over thousands of square metres, hordes of visitors wear out whole herds of shoe leather trudging the corridors and the volume of schnitzel devoured during the show doesn’t bear thinking about.
To be honest, at the start of the biennial event, the finishing line five days later looks way off. But, while the experience was tiring this year, it proved far from tiresome. The mood at the show bordered on bullish. Visitors topped a record 107,000 and, said the exhibitors, they were there to spend.
Higher timber prices were cited as one factor behind the willingness to invest. Another was the need to make better use of increasingly sought-after raw material. Speed and efficiency were stronger selling points for new kit than ever, and technology such as finger-jointing machines and equipment for making and processing laminated products was attracting particular interest.
But most encouraging were comments that the international timber industry is investing because it’s confident about the future, and that’s thanks to wood’s rising environmental appeal and growing appreciation of its performance potential, which, in turn, is being enhanced by latest technology.
If Ligna is anything to go by, timber window manufacturing is especially upbeat. Automated window lines, or CNC machining centres adapted for the sector, formed some of the highest profile displays.
Timber building was another focus. The industry is evolving fast, with laminated beams used in increasingly demanding structures and panel construction systems being prefabricated to an ever greater degree. And manufacturing equipment for the sector is developing in tandem and helping push back the technical boundaries.
The show also reflected a wood industry willing to invest to boost efficiency and performance in other respects. In particular, by-product-fired heat and power systems, which enable users to cut fuel costs, reduce their environmental footprint and even generate energy for sale, drew the crowds.
One exhibitor concluded that the climate for selling wood machinery is the best it’s been in 20 years. That has to be good news for the timber industry as a whole.
