Summary
• Ligna will feature about 1,800 exhibitors.
• Making more efficient use of wood is a 2009 Ligna theme.
• JJ Smith has taken one of the biggest stands for a UK exhibitor.
• UK imports of woodworking machinery were worth €228.2m in 2007.

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.

Andreas Zuge, director of Ligna organiser Deutsche Messe, had a spring in his step during his recent visit to London to promote the show.

Against a background of worldwide economic turmoil, Mr Zuge presented Ligna as “the lighthouse in heavy waters”, using an image of a lighthouse rebuffing fierce waves to illustrate Ligna’s good sales performance even in uncertain economic times.

His message was that even though Ligna was not impervious to recession, it was as sure a thing as you could get in the current climate.

The evidence? With just a few weeks to go before the event in Hannover, bookings are running ahead of the last event in 2007, with final exhibitor numbers expected to reach around 1,800, and visitors once again pushing 107,000.

UK exhibitor numbers are down but Deutsche Messe is hopeful customers will travel over. UK imports of woodworking machinery were worth €228.2m in 2007, with Germany responsible for 37% of those imports.

Stable

“Ligna is quite stable and doing fairly OK,” said Mr Zuge. “Companies are cancelling their representation at smaller regional shows and are concentrating on Ligna,” he said. “Even if they are not intending to build two-storey stands or bring all the machinery they used to, they say Ligna is a ‘must-go’.”

He said many companies, including the big German sawmills, feel they must exhibit, such is Ligna’s brand power, otherwise the market may interpret their non-attendance as indicating serious problems at the companies.

Mr Zuge said timber prices had fallen but emphasised the importance of investing in technology for the future upturn. “I am sure within a couple of years timber prices will rise again. Chinese demand will grow and timber is getting scarcer.”

Hence Ligna 2009’s theme – “Making more out of wood – technology for resource efficiency”, a common focus running through the technology at Ligna 2009.

Stretched over a blister-inducing 14 halls plus outdoor areas, visitors can expect to see machinery in the forestry, sawmilling, solid wood woodworking, wood-based materials and veneer production, furniture and joinery industries.

“Handwerk, Holz & Mehr” is a show within a show aimed at joiners, profiling machinery, tools and materials for the woodworking trades – more than 50,000 visitors to Ligna in 2007 came specifically to attend this event.

Other features include “Wonders in Wood” (“extraordinary” items made of wood) and the fourth “Energy from Wood” showcase – under Hannover Messe’s famous timber Expo canopy – featuring demonstrations of products and services for developing wood as a renewable energy source.

A national competition for joiners and cabinet makers, presentation of the German Timber Construction prize, and even the Belt Sander Racing Championship are also taking place.

Regular UK attendee

One UK machinery company which has been attending Ligna for decades is Liverpool-based JJ Smith Woodworking Machinery.

Director Martin Smith said the company was increasing its investment in Ligna “significantly” this year, with a 100m² stand demonstrating part of a timber frame assembly line, including new stapling and nailing equipment aimed at Continental European manufacturers.

“We must be one of the biggest UK stands at Ligna and we’re aiming for a broader market,” said Mr Smith.

JJ Smith representatives will also be on the stands of classical and joinery machinery manufacturer principals.

“The advantage of UK people going to Ligna is they can see the whole range of equipment. It’s much bigger than the W8/W10 show and they can get a perspective on how people make products in other countries. Different construction methods for doors and windows can give them ideas.

“It’s a way of meeting people from all over the world, including end-user customers from Germany and surrounding countries to machinery dealerships from Spain and Paraguay.”

World premiere

Weinig, the machinery manufacturer for the solid wood woodworking sector, will give a world premiere to its new Powermat moulder with new EasyCom control system, which Weinig claims is as easy to use as a pocket calculator. For window production, Weinig is presenting its second Conturex generation.

Four of the company’s subsidiaries are focusing on resource efficiency, including cross-cut saw and gluing equipment specialist Dimter, which will showcase a “novelty” in the form of the ProfiPress C 2200 HF combining continuous loading and high-frequency gluing technology. Dimter says it can produce 3m2 of glue laminated solid wood panel per minute.

SCM UK said exhibitions were important and pointed to better than expected enquiries and orders at the recent Italian Technodomus show. It will be taking a few UK and Irish customers over to Hannover.

“SCM’s view is there will be an upturn in the market at some point, and now, while it is currently quieter, it is time to look, prepare and invest for when the upturn comes,” said UK managing director Gabriele De Col.

“This is so manufacturers will be ready to gain on their competitors who do not invest in the latest technology.”

Fast set-ups

SCM is focusing on fast set-ups, even for batches of one product, with new CNC machining centres, moulders, window lines and panel processing equipment on display. The Accord 40 is suitable for high volume/flexible production of doors and staircase components, while the Windor 1 door and window frame CNC centre is targeted at small/medium producers.

Fellow German manufacturer Homag is promising to help give customers a sharper competitive edge through more economical production and efficient use of resources. Fast set-up times, special-purpose tools with internal suction, the latest control systems, intelligent standby circuits and modern extraction concepts will be a strong focus in “Homag City”.

Homag’s equipment in the furniture, structural elements and timber frame house construction sectors will be showcased in Hall 26, while woodworking technology will be in Hall 11.

For more show details visit www.ligna.de.