A mood of satisfaction and optimism pervaded the offices of ACIMALL (the Italian woodworking machinery and tools manufacturers association) as the gates opened for this year’s Xylexpo/Sasmil exhibition.

Acimall, which organises the show, was optimistic because of an upturn in the woodworking machinery industry following a tough 2005. The Italian industry saw a 36.4% growth in orders during the first quarter, compared to a year ago.

The satisfaction was due to selling the biggest net exhibition area in the show’s history – 73,066m2, up 12.5% on the 2004 event.

And now the visitor numbers have been counted, Acimall president Ambrogio Delachi will be feeling even better. Some 93,266 visitors were recorded – a new record for Xylexpo and 7.1% up on the 87,095 attendance in 2004. More than half (48,008, 51.5%) were international visitors, from 113 countries. Italian visitor numbers also grew by 4.6% to 45,258.

“Many considered the 2006 edition as the most successful and satisfactory in the whole history of the Milan exhibition,” Acimall said. This was despite a public transport strike on the show Friday.

A major new factor for 2006 was a new location – the freshly-built Rho fairgrounds, complete with dedicated metro station. The exhibition area of the steel and glass edifice was cited by exhibitors as one of the most widely appreciated elements of the show.

UK visitors

However, attendance from the UK seems to have been poor. “The UK visitor numbers did not really pick up,” said SCM UK managing director Ian Brown.

He put this down to two factors – the advent of cheap flights, which allows customers to make trips to European manufacturers whenever they want, rather than attend an annual exhibition, and the W6 show being held later this year in Birmingham.

However, Mr Brown said SCM as a group had an excellent show and described SCM’s stand as the best in the company’s exhibition history and he also reported interest from a “contingent” of Irish visitors towards the end of the show.

His experience was echoed by Weinig’s, according to UK managing director Chris Osborne. “There were very few visitors from the UK. The best attendance was from Ireland,” he said.

He added that traditionally UK customers preferred the Ligna show in Germany. But Weinig’s sales figures more than justified its attendance. It took orders worth €4.5m, a 30% growth on two years ago.

On the machinery front, Italian manufacturer Storti displayed its full range of technology, capable of processing anything from the log to the end product. Examples on show included the Flex 60 pallet maker, Chipper Canter and Ogam multi-rip saw.

Storti recently supplied its first automatic pallet line in the UK, through agent Woodtech Machinery Ltd. The installation at Tyne & Wear Pallets could be viewed through an internet link on the Storti stand.

Woodtech was also keen to promote its link up with Czech sawmilling machinery manufacturer Störi Mantel. The company’s cross-cut and rip saws provide a cost-effective option in Woodtech’s sawmilling stable, which already includes the high-end Paul brand. The first Störi Mantel machine was being transported to the UK during Xylexpo.

In Hall 7, JJ Smith Woodworking Machinery was promoting its brand and making new contacts. “The general consensus was that it was a quiet show. There did not seem to be many UK visitors there,” said sales director John Stanley.

Biesse’s launches at Xylexpo included a new loading/unloading table for its flagship Uniwin processing centre, billed as a “factory in a single machine” for the production of windows.

First appearances in Milan for Biesse included the Akron 855 edgebander and the Rover A series, an entry-level machining centre aimed at craftsmen and smaller businesses, plus the Regal 500 sander, which features a cross-belt pre-sanding unit to improve sanding quality, particularly for veneered and painted panels.

Dual strategy

Weinig was upbeat about first quarter results at Xylexpo following a disappointing 2005. The group recorded sales of €94.5m, compared to €78.9m in 2005.

Weinig chairman Rainer Hunsdörfer said 2006 had started better than expected and the business was “on track” to expand its industry position with a double strategy of innovation in the higher-end products and cost reduction in the lower-end.

He said growing use of laminated beams in the construction industry had helped demand for finger-jointing technology expand beyond expectations.

Taking pride of place on Weinig’s stand was the Conturex profiling centre, which was being shown with an interlinked line for the first time to demonstrate window and furniture production. A Conturex 3000 with feed and outfeed was linked with a Dimter OptiCut S90 cut-off saw and Powermat 500 moulder.

The Dimter cuts timber into fixed lengths and removes defects before the moulder pre-planes workpieces. The Conturex then makes the finished product.

SCM’s stand in Hall 3 was the largest at Xylexpo, covering 5,500m2. Highlights included new edgebanding units from Stefani, including the Solution for applying aluminium edging and the Evolution Flex, a squaring edgebander designed to allow serial processing of small batches with a short delivery time.

Another new SCM Group machine was the DMC Masterbrush – a brush sanding unit designed to increase production throughput of cabinet doors. Other new features on SCM’s stand included the Aries series of CNC machining centres for frame component processing and the Topset NT throughfeed moulder.

Meanwhile, Homag’s stand included an Innovations Centre, featuring the Homag PrintLine system for processing white edging materials with digital photo and ink-jet printing to achieve any edge pattern or colour.

Single-sided edgebanding specialist Brandt showed its new 200 series of entry-level machines, giving small businesses the opportunity of using technologies until now only featured in the larger ranges. Fellow Homag Group member Torwegge exhibited new technology to laminate surface panels to lightweight honeycomb and other composite panels.

On the kilning front, New Zealand-based Windsor demonstrated its DryTrack in-kiln monitoring system. The company has adapted its technology for European timber and says its kilns can dry UK Sitka spruce in 25% of current processing times. DryTrack is on trial at Scottish sawmiller Adam Wilson & Sons Ltd and will be launched in the UK soon.

“It’s about understanding what’s going on in the kiln and stopping anything from going wrong,” said Windsor international business manager Keith Robertson.

Italy-based Nardi, which is in a commercial partnership with Windsor, has developed a system to measure the physical pressures on hardwood during drying. The W-Safe technology, still undergoing testing, uses a micro pressure meter to assess stresses on wood. Nardi believes it could reduce hardwood drying times.

Sasmil

There was no escaping the fact that the adjoining Sasmil exhibition, which exhibits supplies and semi-finished products to the furniture industry was less than half the size (8,116m2) compared to 2004. But many interesting products were in evidence.

Arch Sayerlack Coatings launched two systems, Wood Stain Plus, a tintometric colour matching system for translucent stains, and the HD Coatings System. Ian Hobday, global managing director of Arch Coatings, said matching these stains was previously a difficult process and relied heavily on trained colour matchers. But Sayerlack’s new software, used in conjunction with Corob dispensers and a spectrophotometer, is designed to accurately and rapidly match colour samples on any type of substrate. Sayerlack says this removes human error and reduces the level of test samples and waste.

The company says the HD Coating System reaches 6H on the hardness scale and is designed to provide high levels of scratch resistance. “We are expecting huge demand in the flooring industry,” said Mr Hobday.

Xylexpo’s conference programme included “Wood for a Better World”: the contribution of forests to the goals of Kyoto and Montreal”, aimed at increasing public awareness of the environmental benefits of wood.