Two hundred and sixty delegates from over 40 countries gathered in Hannover for the 9th European Wood Based Panel Symposium late last year organised by the European Panels Federation (EPF) and research organisation Fraunhofer WKI.
EPF president Ladislaus Döry opened proceedings by outlining the current situation of the European wood-based panel industries.
"Our industry has managed to survive these times and I am sure will continue to do so," said Mr Döry. "But the economic indicators are we are going backwards, so there is a little bit of fear about the future."
He said signs of market stabilisation were still lacking, except in OSB.
The 28 EU member states had a combined €206bn woodworking industry turnover in 2012, comprising 44% in the furniture sector, 16% in sawmilling and the other 40% being the manufacture of wood products including the panels industry.
EU28 particleboard production capacity in 2013 was 40.3 million m3 with a forecast of +1% in 2014, while actual production was 28.4 million m3 and the 2014 prediction +1.5%.
But Mr Döry warned the industry was not on track to meet these forecasts yet, with many companies not producing to their capacities.
Meanwhile, particleboard industry costs spiralled upwards in 2013, with recycled wood prices up 7%, virgin wood up 5% and roundwood up by 4%.
EU28 MDF production capacity was 14.5 million m3 in 2013 (-2% forecasted for 2014), while production was 11.2 million m3 (+2.1% predicted for 2014). Wood costs for MDF production were up 5%, resins dipped 2% and recycled wood was up 3%.
OSB production capacity is expected to grow 2% this year, while the sector’s wood costs rose 2% and energy costs rose 1% in 2013.
"This is an untenable situation," said Mr Döry. "We cannot continue in our industry with energy costs always going upwards."
EU28 + EFTA hardboard industry installed capacity was 874,000m3 in 2013, with production down 5%, while softboard production capacity was 3.7 million m3 (rigid) and 2 million m3 (flexible) with production output up 8%.
Important issues for the future, he added, were wood availability at an affordable cost, competition with bioenergy, certification/ sustainability, recognition of carbon storage in wood products, formaldehyde/VOC emissions, standardisation and the need for promotional work.
Mr Döry said current forecasts show that by 2020 wood use in the woodworking sector will be surpassed by wood use in the energy sector (University of Hamburg research). "In 2016-17 we will start to be in trouble because of this."
Developments in US regulations governing formaldehyde emissions were a hot talking point from several speakers.
Gary Heroux, vice-president of product acceptance at the Composite Panel Association (CPA), said amendments to the California Air Resources Board’s standards on formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products should be completed in 2016.
Mr Heroux said future prospects of a federal harmonisation of the CARB approach across the US was a good idea and a deterrent to other US states imposing regulations, providing certainty for panel producers and customers and more likelihood of compliance. Implementation rules should be published around the turn of the year.
However, the Green Chemistry initiative – originally relating to chemicals in every day items such as children’s toys – is becoming broader, with 22 states now putting forward legislation on formaldehyde.
The California Safer Products Regulation (2013), which stems from Green Chemistry, is about imposing new rules regarding chemicals deemed hazardous "even though there is the CARB rule in California", said Mr Heroux.
"This opens the doors for further possible regulations."
In September, the State of California released a three-year plan draft to identify a priority list of products in the regulations.
Formaldehyde and wood-based products were on that list, something the CPA plans to respond to.
David Harmon, technical manager of Momentive Specialty Chemicals, said it was not a question of "if" but "when" there would be further emissions regulations on wood-based products, including finished products.
Mr Harmon cited 980 panel mill/product combinations listed under CARB globally, with 141 in the US, 170 in Europe, and 618 in Asia-Pacific/the rest of the world. Over 90% of wood panels in North America meet the CARB Phase 2 emission limits.
Mr Harmon said CARB lab results would be the ultimate test which all standards will be measured to.
"It’s slowly being recognised that further regulations in formaldehyde will serve no additional practical health benefit."
This was due to the low levels now being achieved by industry.
Adalbert Westermann, Pfleiderer marketing manager, tackled a keynote presentation "Megatrends – Tailwind for the wood-based panel industries".
He was also glad to report that Pfleiderer’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation had doubled in the first half of 2014 to €36m compared to a year ago, with turnover up by 6% to €315m. And the company’s recent share offering was oversubscribed.
"That indicates that confidence is back in the financial markets. We are quite optimistic about the future."
The company’s annual production includes 3.1 million m3 of particleboard, 700,000m3 of MDF, 110 million m2 of MFC, 30 million m2 of HPL and 340,000 tonnes of glue.
Mr Westermann said urbanisation was a "megatrend", with more people living in cities in the future. The challenge, he said, was to convince architects and planners to recognise and use wood products as a superior material for multi-family homes, not just single-family homes.
But he warned that other materials were often more prominent in the minds of architects and planners.
And he issued a warning on the megatrend of "neo-ecology".
"The wood industry has not yet succeeded in being included in this positive aura of sustainability. We have to communicate wood’s benefits all the way to the end-user."
Individualisation was another highlighted megatrend. "Our industry is stuck between mass markets, DIY culture and niche markets. Complexity is driven by more varieties and shorter lifecycles (decors/ structures). Programme extensions in niches like lightweight constructions are opposing megasite production and economies of scale."
Raw materials in the South American wood based panels industry was covered by Dr Alex Berg, of the University of Concepción in Chile.
Brazil and Chile account for 80% of South America’s total panel production capacity, with Brazil the largest at 12.57 million m3 and Chile second with 3.57 million m3.
Brazil’s particleboard output is 4.6 million m3, its MDF production is 5.3 million m3 while for plywood it is 2.1 million m3.
Brazilian plantation pine stocks are growing at 40.1m3/per ha per year, while eucalyptus is growing at 40.7 m3/ha/ per year.
The industry, Dr Berg said, was developing integrated forest industry facilities, including biorefineries, which he conceded had good and bad aspects.
"But, in my opinion, I think we have big opportunities in introducing new products into the industry portfolio."
This includes bark polyphenols (tannins) – currently underutilized – as wood adhesive for plywood, particleboard and OSB manufacture, as well as for rigid and elastic foams and bioplastics.
Meanwhile, Siemens treated delegates to a fascinating insight into manufacturing operations in the future.
Wolfgang Schroeder, head of TIA marketing at Siemens, said the next stage of industrial manufacturing was a fourth industrial revolution and represented a "paradigm shift" towards smart factories and – "Industry 4.0".
This involves the introduction of cyber physical systems, the use of miniature processors, storage units, sensors and transmitters embedded in machines, plus smart tools and new software for structuring data flows. "The factories of the future will optimise and control their manufacturing processes largely by themselves," he said. Use of such technology has been used for the first time with Dieffenbacher machinery at the new Pfleiderer particleboard mill in Neumarkt.
Furniture retailing giant IKEA gave delegates an idea of its panel manufacturing operations and production philosophy.
It has six panel mills in six countries – France, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Slovakia and Sweden with a special focus on lightweight board and HDF (down to 1.2mm thickness).
The 520,000m3 capacity Novgorod facility in Russia is due to add a further processing line in 2015.
IKEA’s Paolo Romano said the company was in the early stages of looking for a second production site in the US.
Despite having many lightweight board solutions, including Bo-Board (alternating density particleboard), Board on Frame (expanded corrugated paper cores for panel thicknesses over 30mm) and Board on Stiles(corrugated paper cores with fibre-board and particleboard), IKEA is open to ideas from the industry and challenged delegates to contact the company with its lightweight technology and emissions reduction.
