There is just one month to go before the Ligna world fair for the forest and wood industries, and the sense of expectation is building.
This biennial show in Hannover is massive. With 14 halls, seven smaller pavilions and giant open-air display and demonstration areas, Ligna is more like a town than an exhibition.
Whether it’s woodworking machinery and equipment, timber products, doors and windows, wood building systems or even an elaborate carving or wooden toy, Ligna promises something for everybody.
The show’s aim is to highlight the myriad applications of wood and to present a full range of technologies for the processing of timber into wood products of every kind.
The mood is positive in the organisers’ camp. Deutsche Messe and co-organiser the German Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers’ Association within the German Engineering Federation exceeded their target two months ago by signing up 132,000m2 of net display space. This a 3,000m2 improvement on 2005 and the figure may be even higher by the time the show opens. The solid wood and wood-based panel processing sections were fully booked months ago.
Deutsche Messe predicts 100,000 visitors, compared to 96,675 two years ago, and 1,800 exhibitors (similar to 2005).
Buoyant market
It is confident the show will be a success and there are good underlying reasons for this. Most importantly, the woodworking machinery market has picked up and “everybody is getting increased business”, according to Dr Andreas Gruchow, senior vice-president of Deutsche Messe.
He said some German companies exhibiting at the show had reported a 15% growth in orders during 2006.
This optimism is reflected by UK woodworking companies. “The market is excellent going into the show, better than last time, and attendance from the UK will be greater,” said Weinig UK managing director Chris Osborne.
“I think the main reason UK woodworking companies should attend Ligna is that it is the iconic show in Europe now. It’s where you can see the latest new developments in technology that will benefit their business. “It’s all in one place. There are the other halls which will also show developments in doors and windows.”
At the show, Weinig will group machinery according to specific applications, rather than in the group brands, with the company’s display space totalling more than 3,000m2.
SCM is also upbeat about the event and will display more than 120 machines, including a new range of CNC hardware inserting machines. “After the success of SCM’s Solid Wood In-House in Rimini in January, where it was emphasised that timber joinery, windows, stairs and doors are making a tremendous comeback in Europe, especially in the UK, at the expense of PVCu, the emphasis on the SCM stands will continue this theme, with several CNC and conventional machines demonstrating the production of joinery components and frames,” said SCM UK sales director Mike King.
Steve Bulmer, commercial director at Biesse UK, said: “It’s the world’s premier show for woodworking and it tends to be the exhibition where companies launch new products.”
Mr Bulmer said UK woodworking com-panies could see the full range of Biesse’s machines, as the company’s 3,000m2 of display space was about four times bigger than its usual space reserved at Working with Wood (formerly Woodmex).
Each company in the Biesse group is launching at least one product at Ligna. “We are having more and more emphasis on the solid timber sector.” said Mr Bulmer. “I think the show will be well attended. Business has really picked up since October and we have enjoyed a really good six months.”
Hot topics
Hot topics at Ligna 2007 are energy, timber construction and surface treatment technologies. A section devoted to wood as an energy source can be found under the giant iconic timber canopy, while the ITTO Bioenergy Conference (requiring separate registration) will be held on May 17-18.
Areas to look out for include solid woodworking (Halls 12 & 13) and sawmilling technologies/wood-based materials (Hall 27). The woodcrafts section is being expanded and covers Halls 11-17.
Wonders in Wood, a new feature, will show unique creations by woodworking artists, while ProHolzfenster (German timber window organisation) will put on a 300m2 presentation in Hall 17.
Several conferences will also be held, five of which will cover wood energy, while spectacles for visitors to enjoy include the Lower Saxony Crane Driving Championships and the Stihl Timbersports Series, in which sawing and chopping skills will be put to the test on the open-air site.
For more information on Ligna and registration information visit www.ligna.de
