FDM April 2012

pelleting Waste To perfection

Saving Cost At Every Step

The Origins Of Design

In The Eye Of Fire

Furniture Design And Manufacturing Asia Established Since 1986

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Furniture Design And Manufacturing Asia Established Since 1986

Contents april 2012 • VOL. 24 NO. 3

Market Report

14 Insights From Italy

Ahead of the major Italian woodworking trade shows Technodomus and Xylexpo, representatives from the industry shared their insights on the country’s woodworking sector.

Focus

16 Pelleting Waste To Perfection

Wood waste can be recycled by pelleting them for further applications. However, the lack of adhesion power and antifriction properties create a challenge to the efficiency of the system. By Olaf Naehring, Amandus Kahl

20 Deciphering Moisture Content Measurements

Although a lot of research have been done on wood moisture content measurement, the existence of hysteresis and absolute fault can cause variation to readings. By Pieter Rozema, Brookhuis Micro-Electronics

24 The Making Of A Good Alternative

Medium density fibreboards (MDF)

are fast becoming a popular alternative to natural wood, offering better physical properties, easier processing and incentives for the environment. By Shiv Kumar Shet, Woodtech Consultants

40

28 Saving Cost At Every Step Producing the right quality medium density fibreboard (MDF) at the lowest possible cost starts early on in the wood yard (or even earlier) and moves through the whole production. By Inge Larsson, IPL Consulting

32 A Sustainable Future for Waste MDF

Until recently, previous attempts to recycle fibre materials from medium density fibreboards (MDF) have not yielded desirable results. By Craig Bartlett, MDF Recovery

Technology

36 In The Eye Of Fire

Automatic video image detection systems can be applied to large open spaces where smoke may not dissipate far enough to trigger traditional detection system. By Liu Zhigang General Fire Technologies, George

Hadjisophocleous Carleton University, Ding Guofeng and Lim Choon Siong InnoSys Industries

40 Developed Perfectly

In order to keep his manufacturing process going, Franz Hubert has decided to focus on horizontal panel saws for the future. The high-performance cutting systems not only provide room for increase production capacity, but most importantly, they ensure consistent quality. By Christian Härtel for VDMA

43 Designed As Core Component

For those establishments with space constraints, machines in combination present an interesting option. New system lines offer an alternative for carpentry workshops to replace individual and separate machines of panel dividing saw, rip saw and sliding table saw.

44 Harmonised Approach To Fire Safety

16 2 FDM Asia

april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Environmental concerns have increased the demand for wood as a construction material for building and furniture. The lack of a harmonised fire safety standard present a major challenge to the use of the resource. By Birgit AL Östman, SP Wood Technology

ENQUIRY NO. 343

Contents april 2012 • VOL. 24 NO. 3 of the contributors to culture, which ultimately forms the basis of a designer’s motivation. By Sherlyne Yong

57 A Fitting Function

Contrary to popular notion, hardware and fittings provide more than just practical benefits by contributing towards a design. By Sherlyne Yong

50 Panels

48 Winning A Clean Fight

As industry guidelines become increasingly restrictive, producers are more open than ever to the possibilities that alternative resins have to offer.

FDM Asia speaks with Berliana Harnadewi, marketing manager for Asia at Huntsman, about the current issues the panel industry is facing and how methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) can provide the ideal solution.

Surfaces & Flooring 50 The Versatile New King Of Flooring Laminate flooring has evolved from a niche product into a multi-billion dollar business.

There are a number of reasons for it ascension in the world of wood-based floorings. By Kalin Datchev, Chinafloors

Furniture Design, Hardware & Fittings 54 The Origins Of Design History, experience and geological factors are some

Established in 1986, FDM Asia, formerly Asia Pacific Forest/Timber Industries, is a business magazine on sawmilling, woodworking, woodbased panels and furniture manufacturing. The Publisher reserves the right to accept or reject all editorial or advertising material and assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited artwork or manuscripts. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the magazine, in whole or in part, is prohibited without the prior written consent, not unreasonably withheld, of the publisher. Reprints of articles appearing in previous issues of the magazine are available on request, subject to a minimum quantity.

The views expressed in this journal are not necessarily those of the Publisher and while every attempt will be made to ensure the accuracy

etm

Eastern

58 Responsible Management The Remedy To Forest Resources

The future of our forests as the major terrestrial ecosystem will depend to a great extent on how responsible we manage this key resource in order to maintain its multiple services for our well-being. By Florian Kraxner, research scholar and deputy leader of Ecosystems Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

62 Q & A On American Hardwood Lumber Grading (No. 2 & No. 3 Grades)

The grading rules for North American hardwood lumber were established more than 110 years ago by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA). A basic understanding of these rules is essential in successfully buying and/or using hardwoods from North America.

and authenticity of information appearing in the magazine, the Publisher accepts no liability for damages caused by misinterpretation of information, expressed or implied, within the pages of the magazine.

All correspondence regarding editorial, editorial contributions or editorial content should be directed to the Editor.

The magazine is available on subscription in Singapore at S$126.00 (GST applicable) per annum by surface mail. Subscription by airmail to readers in Asia Pacific costs S$160 per annum; Europe and the Americas, S$230 per annum. For further details, refer to the subscription card found within the pages of each issue. For more subscription information, please fax to: (65) 6379 2806 or email: brendatan@epl.com.sg.

FDM Asia is published eight times a year (printed 2nd week of issue month) by

06 Editorial 08 Industry News 70 Calendar Of Events 71 Product Highlights 72a Enquiry Form 72b Subscription Form

72 Page

advertisers’ enquiry numbers.

Events & Exhibitions Exhibition Review: 64 Homag Asia Inhouse Show 66 IFFS Exhibition Preview: 68 Xylexpo

66 68

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The Academy TheChinese Chinese Academy of of Forestry Forestry

MICA (P) NO. 041/11/2011 • PPS 1204/06/2012 (022758) • ISSN 0219-2284

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Editorial

G ing

Published by:

Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd

Green T

(a fully owned subsidiary of Eastern Holdings Ltd) Registration No: 199908196C

managing director

Through

Use & Reuse

Kenneth Tan

kentan@epl.com.sg

editor

Tjut Rostina

tjutrostina@epl.com.sg

assistant editor

Wong Tsz Hin

wongtszhin@epl.com.sg

writer

he closing of the first quarter of calendar year 2012 marks the end of the hectic March period, which is traditionally packed with an abundance of woodworking and furniture shows, especially in Asia. The ‘Southeast Asian circuit’, as some may call it, features exhibitions in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam, back to back and overlapping each other. Fairs in China in the later half of the month completes this frantic period.

In many ways, this arrangement has afforded much convenience to overseas buyers who are not only able to limit their long distance travelling, but also access a rich variety of options from which they can plan for the rest of the year with. As one of the organisers has noted, this helps accelerate the decision making process for purchase as buyers would have gone through the selections they can choose from.

Design has been a main component for furniture shows in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, with each holding their own annual competition. Once again, a lot of innovative creations were showcased and although they had a common theme, their differences in material use and concept are perhaps a good reflection of the unique cultural heritage of each designer (page 54).

As the world continues to focus on green technology, the philosophy behind material selection for the construction of consumer products has placed a greater emphasis on sustainability. In a similar fashion, the woodworking industry is also looking at ways to reduce the environmental impact of production and products, as well as to recycle waste generated during manufacturing processes.

One way is to turn wood waste into biofuel to power the production, or in pelletised form for biomass energy applications (page 16). A team in the UK has also discovered a way to produce medium density fibreboards (MDF) using recovered wood fibres (page 32).

In late April and early May, the major Italian woodworking trade shows Technodumus and Xylexpo will take place. Despite being one of the countries that has been greatly affected by the Euro zone crisis, participation in these shows remain high with exhibitors intending to take a more focused approach.

So far, the economy seems to be getting back on its recovery course after suffering a slight bump towards the end of last year. With encouraging signs from the US housing sector and emerging markets in Asia, there is plenty of momentum to sustain the growth ahead.

Wong Tsz Hin

6 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Sherlyne Yong

sherlyneyong@epl.com.sg

editorial assistant

Lena Chin

lenachin@epl.com.sg

senior graphic designer

Agness Ng

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advertising sales manager

Sim Eric

simeric@epl.com.sg

business manager (China)

Ding Yongmei

ding@epl.com.sg

assistant business manager (China)

Yumi Gui

sales.fdmc@epl.com.sg

senior circulation executive

Brenda Tan

brendatan@epl.com.sg

contributors

Christian Härtel Craig Bartlett Florian Kraxner Inge Larsson Kalin Datchev Olaf Naehring Pieter Rozema Shiv Kumar Shet

Executive Board chairman

Stephen Tay

group executive director

Kenneth Tan

financial controller

Robbin Lim

etm

Eastern

Trade Media Pte Ltd an Eastern Holdings Ltd company

Head Office & Mailing Address: Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road, EPL Building #02-05, Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Representative Office Shanghai, China Office: Shanghai New Eastern Media Co. Ltd 15D Block B, Victoria Plaza, No. 1068, Xikang Road, Shanghai, P.R, China 200060 Tel: (86 21) 6276 8394 Fax: (86 21) 6276 4170

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I N D U S T R Y

Industry News

News

APRIL 2012

SFIC & SGBC Signed MOU On Green Development Singapore: The Singapore

The activities aim to build

Furniture Industries Council

capability and industrial

(SFIC) and Singapore Green

professionalism to support

Building Council (SGBC)

the wider adoption of green

signed a Memorandum of

building development and

Understanding (MOU) to

practices in Singapore.

seal their commitment to

Under the agreement,

work together to develop and

the councils will work in

support initiatives towards

partnership to promote best

greening Singapore’s built

industry practices including

environment.

relevant certification schemes,

The MOU outlines collaborative efforts between both parties in research and development activities on

sustainable manufacturing processes and furniture-related green building technologies, materials and designs.

several platforms. The two councils will work together to

Both parties will work in tandem to develop and promote

promote green furniture production, designs, practices and

the Singapore Green Product (SGBP) certification to Singapore

technologies, as well as integrate green building initiatives

furniture companies, contractors and suppliers to encourage

into procurement, construction, production, and operation

the industry to adopt green furniture products, materials

of building materials.

and processes.

Jakarta, Indonesia: According to Tempo Interactive, Indonesian Furniture Businessmen Association chairman, Ambar Tjahyono, has confirmed that four Chinese furniture companies plan to invest in Indonesia by year-end.

Le Petit Poulailler, Illinois, US

Indonesia Set For US$400 Billion Investment From China will be investing in Indonesia for the first time. Previously, they have invested in Malaysia. “They saw the potential market in Indonesia with the growing middle class here,” he said.

The companies are currently studying

Shenzhen Airland Furniture

the investment regulations and ideal

director, William Chan, said he was

locations in the country.

interested in investing in Java. “We

“They will be investing a lot. Each

need adequate infrastructure and

company will spend up to US$100

locations that are close to raw material

billion,” said Mr Tjahyono. These

centers,” he said.

companies are Shenzhen Airland

Beijing National Furniture

Furniture, De Rucci Beddings, A-Zenith

Association deputy, Zhang Bingbing,

and China Aqsiq.

said the industry in China was in need

The four companies that produce classic furniture, sofas and mattresses

8 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

of rattan because furniture malls in China are growing.

Industry News

UBM Acquires MIFF Hong Kong: UBM has announced its acquisition of the Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF) from its private owners on behalf of UBM Asia.

Honicel Opens Plant In India

The fair is Malaysia’s largest exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur

Singapore: The ambassador of The Netherlands to India, Bob

and the largest furniture exhibition in Southeast Asia. Established

Hiensch, officially opened Honicel Worldwide’s honeycomb

in 1995, this annual event is an export-oriented furniture trade

manufacturing plant in Chennai, India on March 7, 2012.

show. The 2011 Fair attracted over 450 exhibitors and 20,000

The plant will focus on manufacturing honeycomb cores

visitors and is 30,000 sq m in net size. The event generated

used for the construction sector, such as doors, walls

revenues of approximately RM20 million (US$6.6 million).

and partitions. The plant will be highly automated, and

The acquisition of the show will extend the company’s position

is capable of producing large order volumes.

in the furniture sector in the ASEAN. Founder Dato Tan Chin Huat

The company believes that the growing economy of

will remain with the business. Karen Goi, GM of the organising

India will lead to a high demand for wood-based materials.

office, will be incorporated into UBM Malaysia, reporting to M

Currently, there is a lack of sustainable and affordable raw

Gandhi, MD of UBM Asia (ASEAN Business).

materials in the country. As such, it aims to fulfil that gap

Jime Essink, president and CEO of UBM Asia said: “Together

by providing alternatives to solid wood materials.

with our offices in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines

The company will be taking a two-pronged approach

and Vietnam, UBM Asia provides a unique and extensive network

in India. Apart from the construction sector, it will also

across the ASEAN which will greatly facilitate our customers in

work with local partners to develop packaging solutions

exploring the ASEAN markets which will become one big market

such as honeycomb paper packaging as substitutes for

in 2015. This will bring MIFF to a new level and will certainly

cardboard, foam and wood. Besides India, the company

benefit the exhibitors and visitors of this prestigious event.”

will also consider expanding into Indonesia due to the opportunities in its furniture market.

Vietnam To Grow Wood Industry Sustainably Hanoi, Vietnam: As reported by the Viet Nam News, Vietnam has drawn up plans to sustainably grow its wood product processing industry by 2020, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The industry is to give priority to investing in and utilising domestic forests while reducing raw wood exports and better managing supply.

Minister Cao Duc Phat said the modernised and market related processing and trade of wood products would be key to economic development.

PEFC: YOUR SOURCE FOR CERTIFIED TIMBER

By 2015, small- and medium-sized factories would be to large-scale establishments, he added.

Nguyen Ton Quyen, general secretary of the Vietnam Wood Product Processing Association, said that quality and growth in the industry had been low and unsustainable.

Vietnam needs an annual average 3-3.5 million cubic metres of raw wood materials while domestic supply is currently only capable of meeting 20 percent and foreign

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imports 80 percent. By 2020, the nation is expected to import 4-4.5 million cubic metres yearly, he said.

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9

20/12/2011 21:55

Industry News

APFEA Urges Government To Stop Illegal Export Karachi, Pakistan: According to the Daily Times, the All

plantation and ban illegal export in the garb of material for

Pakistan Furniture Exporters Association (APFEA) has stated

boats to Middle East countries.

that efforts should be made by the government in order to

The industry has planned Export Strategy 2013 under

save the precious value-added wood product’s unlawful

the directives of the government, and Technical Upgradation Kashif Mardani, Karachi, Pakistan

export.

A senior member of APFEA said the industry was facing sheesham wood depletion due to low plantation and illegal cutting of trees. He said the export of furniture during July-March 2012

and Skill Development Company (TUSDEC) would provide technical and training assistance to the sector. This sector can reach the US$750 million export target by 2013 if training centres for skill workmanship, women development

declined by US$3.90 million to

schemes and high tech machinery

US$71 million as compared to

are provided.

The industry also need foreign

US$81 million in the same period

experts in order to upgrade

last year.

Exports have declined due

manufacturing facilities to the

to threefold increase in the cost

international level. He said the

of timber used for furniture export and tough competition

Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) should

with international exporters like China, India, Vietnam and

support exporters of furniture at the international furniture

Malaysia. Export to UAE is indicative of regional trade

exhibitions. Exports to Italy stands at around 15 percent of

possibilities and there is a need to explore new avenues

total exports, Canada 10 percent, Germany nine percent and

in this regard.

UAE 18 percent. The US’s share of world imports stands at

He said the constitution of a federal timber board,

40 percent at US$27 billion (73 percent in wooden furniture).

comprising private and public sector members on the board,

Pakistan’s furniture export to US is around US$17 million

was necessary in order to restructure the sheesham wood

while the world trade in furniture is about US$38 billion.

La-Z-Boy To Open Hundreds Of Stores In China Jack Kennard, Atlanta, US

Michigan, US: La-Z-Boy has announced plans to open several hundred branded retail stores in mainland China through a partnership with Kuka Home,

Kuka has more than 1,600 stores in China. Its factories also produce leather upholstery and casual dining furniture that are sold to retail stores in the US

one of China’s biggest upholstery

and several other countries.

manufacturers and retailers.

The aim of the cooperation

The stores — the first of

between the two companies

which will open later this year

is to introduce high-quality

— will carry a broad assortment

motion furniture to Chinese

of the company’s recliners

consumers and help them

and motion furniture as well

live life comfortably.

La-Z-Boy officials declined

as case goods and decorative

to disclose the exact number

accessories.

The company said the

of retail stores that will be

products will be produced

opened in China this year, but

primarily at Kuka Home factories in China, but some will come

said ‘several hundred’ stores are expected to be opened over

from La-Z-Boy facilities in Thailand and the US.

the next few years.

10 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Industry News

Report Validates Use Of Timber As Structural Building Material Martin Pettitt, Bury, UK

Vancouver, Canada: The Case for Tall Wood Buildings report released in March validates the use of mass timber products as a viable structural building material option in tall-building construction.

traditional light wood frame techniques, including stronger fire, acoustic and structural performance. It also offers scale, material stability and construction efficiency.

Commissioned by the Canadian Wood

North American building codes

Council, the report highlights wood products’

coupled with advances in wood science

ability to offer flexible tower construction,

and building technology have expanded

meet building codes and be price competitive

options for wood construction in mid-

with other building material options. These

high rise building construction. Wood

attributes, combined with the responsible and

can be locally sourced and is usually

sustainable harvesting of natural resources,

less expensive than alternative building

make wood a cost-effective, practical and

materials. In addition, wood offers design

responsible material for structural use in

flexibility, making it suitable for a wide

mid-rise and tall buildings.

range of building types and applications, both structural and aesthetic.

Finding the Forest Through the Trees

Using certified and sustainably

(FFTT), a new open design methodology

grown and harvested wood can result

for designing and constructing buildings is introduced in the study. FFTT uses mass

FFTT also promotes the use of

in less environmental impact than other

timber panels as a primary structural material

sustainably harvested wood, which helps

construction materials. Unlike other products

to achieve building heights of up to 30

address climate change issues currently

that deplete the earth’s resources, wood

stories, and open plans that accommodate

facing the construction industry. Mass

is the only major building material that

diverse architectural forms.

timber used in FFTT provides benefits over

grows naturally and is renewable.

Softwood Trade Continues To Grow Lee Wright, Massachusetts, US

Seattle, US: Weakening lumber markets in Asia and Europe reduced demand for sawlogs in many countries late last year. As a result, log prices in a number of the major lumber-producing countries in the world fell during the

prices will continue to go down in early 2012.

Despite the worldwide slowdown in log demand towards the end of last year, global trade of softwood logs in 2011 was still the highest it had

second half of 2011, according to the

been in four years. Total trade was

Wood Resource Quarterly.

estimated to be close to 95 million

Sawlog prices in fourth quarter 2011

cubic metres, which was nine million

were down both in US dollar terms and

cubic metres higher than the previous

in local currencies in most regions of

year, and as much as 24 million cubic

the world compared to the previous

high price levels, and are higher than they

metres more than the bottom-year of

quarter. The biggest declines occurred

were in fourth quarter 2010.

2009. New Zealand, the US, the Czech

in Western Canada, Finland, Sweden,

In the fall, lumber demand weakened

Republic, Canada and Australia have

Russia and New Zealand, which are all

in the US, China and throughout Europe,

seen the biggest increases in softwood

countries that have an export-oriented

which resulted in less demand for sawlogs.

log exports over the past few years.

sawmilling sector.

Typically, there is a lag-time in price

Russia is still the largest exporting

Despite the recent price declines,

adjustments for logs when lumber prices

country, but its share of total exports

many markets still have close to record

change, so it can be expected that log

has diminished.

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA  april 2012

11

Industry News

Hastens To Make Donation For Every Bed Sold USFS Region 5

Koping, Sweden: Swedish bed manufacturer Hastens has launched an initiative for Spring in which the company will make a donation to the National Forest Foundation (NFF) for each and every bed sold in the United States during the company’s ‘Support Your Sleep and Our Natural Resources’ campaign. The foundation will plant at least one native tree for each dollar donated by the company.

The launch of the campaign coincides with the company’s ‘Natural’ Cornerstone – a cornerstone dedicated to communicating the benefits of natural materials and what they do for your sleep and the environment.

The foundation will work with its planting partner, the US Forest Service, to determine where the ecological need is greatest for the trees.

BWF Asks British Government For Support London, UK: The British Woodworking Federation (BWF) is

• Better promote the Green Deal to consumers and

calling on the British government to take action to support

introduce a standard five percent VAT rate for products

growth in the UK woodworking and joinery industry.

and measures that boost energy efficiency

In a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer George

• Support the whole manufacturing sector, rather than

Osborne, BWF chief executive Iain McIlwee has outlined

select parts such as aerospace and car manufacture,

recommendations to energise the industry and the construction sector on which it relies. These include proposals that the government should:

to help attract new entrants to the joinery industry • Reduce employers’ National Insurance for one or two years, a temporary freeze in the development rate of

• Intensify pressure on the banks to increase lending to

the minimum wage, and other incentives to increase

creditworthy businesses, especially small and medium

the employment of young people and apprentices in

enterprises • Simplify communication and increase awareness of initiatives such as the Business Finance Partnership

the industry • Structured support for SME management and leadership training, and reductions in red tape

• Scrap this year’s planned reduction in the Annual

• Reinstate support for ProSkills, giving it the resources

Investment Allowance and defer the scheduled fuel

it needs to develop current and future skills for the

price rise

manufacturing sector • Boost mortgage lending and revive the Stamp Duty relief for first-time buyers which has just been stopped • Progress with the reforms in the National Planning Policy Framework and maintain its presumptions in favour of sustainable development According to Mr McIlwee, “the joinery industry has always been and remains a fundamental part of the UK manufacturing sector. It represents an estimated £5 billion (US$7.905 billion) spread across 5,500 firms in the UK and employing 100,000. The government’s plans must take into account the challenges that we face to ensure British manufacturing can thrive in the future and be in a strong shape to support and benefit from the UK’s economic recovery.”

12 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

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Market Report

Insights From Italy Ahead of the major Italian woodworking trade shows Technodomus and Xylexpo, representatives from the industry shared their insights on the country’s woodworking sector.

difficult for small and medium businesses to work in those countries, as they are often not adequately equipped to achieve the success they would deserve from a technical and technological standpoint; they pay the price of dimensions that do not support their effective penetration into those markets.

Paolo Zanibon MD Acimall

How do you think the current economic uncertainty in Europe will affect Italy and the rest of the world?

The financial crisis that started in the US and turned into a real economic crisis has been affecting many markets for several years, especially Europe and most important of all, Italy.

The woodworking technology industry has been suffering hard, just like all instrumental goods industries, which are not at the top of investment plans right now. Italian users have frozen their technology investments, and also European demand has strongly decreased; this is a huge problem for Italian manufacturers, who, as we know, export more than 70 percent of their production.

This is causing great difficulties to our companies, who see some opportunities in extra-European countries, mainly the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, China and India).

However, we cannot forget that it is more

14 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

What are the challenges faced by Italian manufacturers and what measures are they taking to overcome them?

There has been a strong downsizing of our companies, in terms of both revenues and employees. Companies have seen their production shrunk: market demand for technology has decreased and our companies have responded accordingly, adapting to the current demand volumes.

In this respect, we must say that the small dimensions of Italian companies allow greater flexibility and versatility when they have to respond to a crisis: if you do not have industrial large-scale production, you can supply tailor-made, highly specialised solutions, although these are often not enough to boost the growth of a company.

Being able to supply excellent technology with a favourable price/quality ratio helps you hold on until the trend of economy changes for the better.

What are the advantages of Italian machinery and tools?

The market calls for improvements in processes, machines or lines that can deliver more and more different products quickly, at lower costs and with less labour. This is the request that comes from all over the world, even those regions

where labour cost is more ‘affordable’ than others.

The price/quality ratio mentioned earlier enables us to be competitive with products at lower prices, but with a quality that fears no comparison. This is a very attractive proposal in Europe and other mature markets, where high-quality machines and tools are key assets for the activity of any company.

How important is Asia to Italian manufacturers?

Asia currently takes up 13 percent of Italian woodworking technology exports.

This is a significant share and we expect it to go back to pre-crisis levels. Some countries are giving positive signals, arousing the attention of our manufacturers and their satisfaction.

Just to give an example, in 2011 we exported a value of €50.2 million (US$66.39 million) to China, and €19.1 million to India. Also in 2011, we had good satisfactions in Saudi Arabia, where our export amounted to approximately €10 million; the powerful growth of Iran (€8 million) confirmed the positive trend of 2010.

Results were less satisfactory in the Asean countries, but we are expecting recovery signals from that region.

The year 2012 will most probably repeat the same results as 2011 (plus 5.8 percent), meaning an expansion of our industry by few percent points. Recovery has started, but it is still a light breeze.

We hope it will turn into a strong wind in the next few months!

FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3001

Market Report How do you think the current economic uncertainty in Europe will affect Italy and the rest of the world?

Italian manufacturers have been facing the effects of globalisation for a few years.

This is the new rule of all markets, even more so for electronics and numerical controls.

If we can succeed in this competition, then globalisation is not a negative situation, but can represent an opportunity for growth. Even in years like 2011, the market still suffered from the uncertainty and fragility of demand. For example, Italian export of machine tools increased, mainly towards emerging countries like China, Brazil and Turkey.

China is deemed to be the biggest market for the ‘made in Italy’ in the machine tools business. The same trend is expected to continue in 2012, with a slowdown of the growth but still good performances of the export.

What are the challenges faced by Italian manufacturers and what measures are they taking to overcome them?

In static periods like the one we have been experiencing since 2008, price is for sure the main challenge for the high tech market. We were already used to expect more value at a lower price in the electronic market, but the slowdown of the economy stressed this phenomenon even more at a global level, where emerging countries like the ones in the Far East have a clear advantage of lower labour costs.

Innovation and investments are top priorities. To compete, we need to run faster and make better products, building our success on the experience and skills we can put at the service of our customers. The Far East is also an excellent opportunity to gain market share, with its growing market and double digits growth in years which have been very close to recession for the Western world. But it requires an open mentality, patience and local resources

Federico De Sario Executive VP Prima Electro

to be able to speak the same language of our customers.

Speaking the same language does not translate only into a problem of words, but mainly of mentality: being able to correctly set each others’ expectations is fundamental to delivering the right value proposition to customers who want ‘value for money’.

What are the advantages of Italian machinery and tools?

Italy has historically been playing a leading role in certain numerical control markets and among the leaders in special market segments, such as wood, stone and glass working machinery.

In these markets, Italian OEM’s have been widely adopting OSAI CNCs, which were designed to answer the specific needs of such applications: flexibility, scalability and excellent price/ performance ratio.

How important is the Asia market to Italian manufacturers?

Asian countries have been growing in the last years much more than the traditional Western economy. Export can be a strong driver toward the recovery while the domestic market is still struggling

with difficult economic situation. This is also the right time to become a leader or to decline.

We have started approaching the Asian market in the woodworking industry, since this represents a good part of the machine tool industry in China. The Asian opportunity with its hunger for technology and strong price/performance needs can represent excellent market to pursue this business.

Expansion to new markets means to look for other emerging countries beyond China. We have plans to expand our business in other Asian markets, such as India, where we had a small presence so far, but we have developed good relationships with local partners. Other markets we will invest time and efforts in are Turkey, Russia and Brazil. The focus on internationalisation is one of our main priorities, together with innovations in building new products.

The machine tools industry has been slowing down, but it keeps improving technology, materials and supplies. This is the only way to face the competition and build our success. FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3002

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

15

Focus

M

achines play an integral role in the pelleting process, as they make up for the undesirable qualities of saw dust and shavings, to create a quality end product. Most pelleting technology and its relevant processes focus on a robust construction and economic efficiency to create a smooth running performance.

Proper processes would complement what the raw

materials lack, by addressing areas such as adhesion, moisture content, friction, and space requirements.

Pellets, Briquettes Or Granulates?

Different processes are used for compaction — pressing powdery, pasty or lumpy products into uniform bodies.

Depending on the process applied and the shape, the

Pelleting Waste To

Perfection

16 FDM Asia  april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Wood waste can be recycled by pelleting them for further applications. However, the lack of adhesion power and antifriction properties create a challenge to the efficiency of the system. By Olaf Naehring, senior area manager Asia-Pacific, Amandus Kahl

Andrew Michaels

Focus final product is called granulate, pellet or briquette. A clear definition of terms is not available, but the following can be used as a guide:

Granulate

Pellet

Briquette

Size:

0.5 - 3 mm

2 - 30 mm

30 - 60 mm

Shape:

undefined, but not powdery

cylindrical

geometrically defined

In general, one of the following two methods is applied for compacting:

1. Agglomeration By Agitation In this case, the adhesion of the particles is not reached by mechanical pressure acting from the outside, but by moving the product while adding moisture and subsequent drying.

This process is not appropriate for the compaction of saw dust and wood shavings.

2. Agglomeration By Compression A process, the adhesion of the particles is promoted by forces acting from the outside. By means of suitable pelleting elements, the product is compacted to such an extent that agglomerates of sufficient solidity are produced.

Within the processes of agglomeration by compression, ‘pelleting’ always proves to be the best, if larger product quantities have to be processed under economic aspects.

This applies particularly to products, which do not have strong natural adhesive powers and do not allow the addition of binders.

Wood pellets can be used for biomass energy.

Pelleting Process & Elements The pan grinder rollers and the dies are the most important elements in the pelleting process.

Compaction takes place in the open effective bores of the die. The product is fed to the press vertically from above and is uniformly distributed into the pelleting chamber. A product layer is formed on the surface of the die. The rollers run over this layer and compact it.

The pressure is continuously increasing whilst the product is being rolled towards the effective bores, thereby pushing the product plug in the bores slightly forward. To achieve this, the frictional force within the effective bores must not exceed the effective pressure created by the rollers.

On the other hand, the frictional force must be high enough to cause a sufficient compaction of the product to a solid agglomerate.

Schematics of a wood pellet plant.

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17

A small layer of product is forced into the effective bores which is united to a pellet by means of the pressure and the adhesive powers of the product. The individual layers of product form endless strands in the bores which are cut at the lower side of the die to the desired pellet length by means of rotating knives.

As for the pan grinder rollers, a large outer diameter and a solid bearing are required. The profile of the running surface can be varied, but this does not have such an influence as the execution of the die. The profiles of the running surfaces are available in grooved, perforated, and corrugated design.

The pan grinder head rotates with a speed of approximately 60 rpm. For this reason the running speed and thus the noise level of the flat die press are very low.

Nevertheless the number of rollers ensure a high roll-over frequency of the product which is necessary for achieving a high throughput.

The respective design of the die is very important. The ratio between the diameter of the bores and the length of the effective bores is called ‘pelleting ratio’.

Together with the product properties, it determines the frictional force produced. So the pelleting ratio must be

Alternative Heat

Focus

exactly adapted to the product, in order to reach optimum results concerning pellet quality and throughput of the machine. It must be taken into account that the ratio of pellet surface to volume changes with decreasing pellet diameter.

For this reason, dies which are manufactured for pelleting compound feed, dried beet pulp, or other products, cannot be used for compacting wood.

Another important parameter of the dies is the number of holes and thus the ‘open perforated surface’ available which has a direct effect on the throughput of the press together with the drive power.

Hydraulic System Of The Press Today a hydraulic system for the exact adjustment of the rollers during operation of the press is ‘state of the technique’.

By means of the product layer on the die, a gap is produced between rollers and die, which has an important influence on compaction. For this reason, it is desirable to be able to modify this gap also during production and to check the operating state of the press by means of the product pressure against the pan grinder rollers.

Product Feeding & Shearing The product to be compacted is fed into the press by a suitable feeding screw. Due to the large press interior there is sufficient space for voluminous products, too. Forced feeding, which might cause blockages, is not required.

In case of products with a high content of crude fibres (such as wood) the flat die press is equipped with cylindrical rollers causing a shearing effect when running on the circular path of the die. This desired effect produces a twisting and primary crushing of the product on the die, so that it can be pelleted with more ease.

The flat die system.

Specifications For Wood Pelleting Prerequisites for optimum operation are continuous product feeding into the press and a homogeneous, sufficiently pre-

18 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Focus crushed product. The moisture should be kept very constant at a range of 12-15 percent.

Due to the large volume reduction when compacting wood and wood shavings, particularly sawdust from about 100 to 600 kg/cubic metres, the capacity of the machine, the press interior, must be as large as possible.

Further requirements by the wood industry are a robust machine construction and a high availability of the plant in order to meet the required operational safety.

A sufficiently high throughput with the lowest possible specific energy consumption and a good pellet quality are also necessary, along with the aim to reach a long service life of the wear parts.

In comparison with other products, wood does not have strong adhesive powers like starch-containing feed, for example. The antifriction properties are not very distinct, either. As a result, a high frictional force is quickly produced in the effective bores, which is necessary for compacting this product with its low own binding forces.

It is noteworthy that there are strong differences concerning the processing of different kinds of wood, which partly depend

to a large extent on the resin content. Hardwood, such as beech or oak, requires higher pressure forces than softwood and conifers. The pressure forces lead to the ‘specific energy consumption’, which is between 40 and 60 kWh/t in case of wood processing.

Due to the high frictional resistance and the low adhesive powers of some kinds of wood, preconditioning, pretreatment of the product before the actual pelleting process, is very important.

The product moisture, temperature, and crushing degree play an important part. In order to increase the moisture content of the product, water should be added partly in form of steam and the moistened wood should be given sufficient retention time for letting the moisture penetrate into the product.

For this reason, an ideal plant is provided with a crushing system, for example, a suitable hammer mill, a continuous mixer for the addition of steam and water, and a long-term conditioner for the retention time before pelleting. FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3101

firefly EXIMIO

ENQUIRY NO. 345

Setting new StandardS in Spark detection

www.fIrEfly.sE

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

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Focus

Deciphering

Moisture Content Measurements Although a lot of research have been done on wood moisture content measurement, the existence of hysteresis and absolute fault can cause variation to readings. User must understand the shortcoming of each system to decide which is more suitable for their applications. By Pieter Rozema, technical & commercial director, Brookhuis Micro-Electronics

A

s a manufacturer of moisture meters for wood and construction materials, as well as wood strength measurement systems, we are often confronted with several questions from the industry relating to wood moisture content.

Questions may sound easy, but their solutions can be complex. Although problems are generally related to (kiln dried) wood, we have noticed that they are also about the type of moisture meter used, the drying quality, resulting in reject wood, or the change in size of the wood. It is not always clear which settings should be used for a certain wood species. Sometimes the industry finds difficulties in applying solutions based on scientific study and research.

First we have to ask ourselves why do we need to know about moisture content, at what level should the moisture content be, and what is the spreading of moisture content.

Subsequently, we should ask ourselves how the moisture content can be determined, how do we know that the moisture content detected is accurate, what are the tolerances of the moisture measurement, how the different types of moisture measurement methods compared to each other, and what influences do the drying process and wood species have on moisture measurement.

Equilibrium Moisture Content Wood is a hygroscopic material which yields moisture to its surroundings or absorbs moisture from its surroundings.

20 FDM Asia  april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Focus If it yields moisture then the wood shrinks; if it absorbs moisture, it will swell.

It is a fact that wood will try to achieve an equilibrium with its surroundings. Wood will display different wood equilibrium moisture contents in desorption and absorption for the same relative humidity. This difference is called hysteresis.

The complexity of this can be illustrated when the equilibrium moisture content from different areas taken over the course of one year are being compared with each other.

Species Pine Fir Oak Meranti

■ Resistance Type Moisture Meter

Electrical resistance is the property of a material to allow more or less electrical current to go through them. From fibre saturation point to oven dried wood, the resistance changes form 100 K Ohm to 100 G Ohm, which is a range of over six orders of magnitude!

Above the fibre saturation point, the electrical properties are hardly influenced by the wood moisture content. The temperature, as well as the chemicals of the wood, have their influences on the electrical resistance.

Emc Of Wood Species At Different Rh An accurate moisture meter, therefore, needs a setting for the wood species and 40% RH 60% RH 85% RH 90% RH 100% RH wood temperature. The actual moisture measurement is performed by electrodes 9 – 10% 12 – 13% 15 – 18% 17 – 19% 30% which are placed in or on the wood. The 8 – 9% 11 – 13% 17 – 20% 20 – 22% 30% so-called insulated pins measurements can take place at a certain depth.

9 – 10%

12 – 13% 17 – 20% 19 – 22%

32%

8 – 9%

11 – 13% 17 – 20% 18 – 22%

29%

EN 13183 Moisture Content In Europe, the determination of the moisture content of sawn timber is recorded in the following standards.

EN 13183-1 Moisture content of a piece of sawn timber – Part 1: Determination by oven dry method EN 13183-2 Moisture content of a piece of sawn timber – Part 2: Estimation by electrical resistance method EN 13183-3 Moisture content of a piece of sawn timber – Part 3: Estimation by capacitance method In praxis, the moisture content is measured with different types of moisture meters and users would assume that the ones they are using is the best.

Problems with regard to moisture measurements can come up when the buyer measures the wood with a moisture meter different from that of the supplier, or when the moisture meter reading is compared with the values obtained in the oven dryer.

Before the user doubts the device, method or result, it is important to check if the measurement has been performed in a correct manner and if it is possible at all to measure the wood species electronically.

Electrical Moisture Meters The most commonly used handheld moisture meters are:

■ Capacitance Moisture Meters Capacitance moisture meters measure the moisture content in wood by detecting changes in the electrical field generated by the instrument itself.

The so-called dielectric constant of wood is different from that of water and the relation between the two is an indication for the moisture content. The dielectric constant value of wood is different for each wood species and is largely determined by the density of the wood.

With capacitance moisture meters, it is in fact not possible to determine a moisture gradient. Furthermore the field is larger near the instrument than further away, as a result of which measurements in depth are not possible. For most capacitance moisture meters, the measurement surface must make a good contact with the surface of the wood. www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

21

Focus Air gaps between the measurement surface and the wood are not allowed.

Accuracy The accuracy of a moisture meter is determined by the electrical stability of the instrument, the wood species to be measured and the circumstances in which the measurement takes place.

■ Resistance method The resistance method is known to produce reliable electrical moisture measurements, but there are still some slight concerns.

Research has proven that each wood species can be subdivided in accuracy classes so that their error rates can be estimated before measurement.

The following tables are examples of wood species, the qualification of electrical measurement and the number of measurements necessary to achieve a certain accuracy.

The qualification is determined by the so-called S-value.

The S-value is a statistical value with a certainty of 95 percent based on the comparison between moisture measurements obtained from an electrical resistance meter and the oven dry test.

■ Capacitance method For the capacitance measurement method, the density of the wood is an important factor affecting accuracy. As a rule, it can be established that for each 50 kg/cubic metres difference in specific weight, the measurement deviates by about one percent.

On the basis of the variations of the specific weight at a certain moisture content, a table can be made for this moisture measurement showing the expected accuracy.

■ Other errors

Most errors associated with resistance moisture measurements are a result of the measurement depth (1/5 to 1/3 of the wood thickness), insulated or non-insulated measurement Qualification Measuring Accuracy pins, temperature of the wood, moisture spreading Qualification Accuracy in the wood, warming up by the sun shining on the wood.

Well measurable 2S < 1.6% Most errors associated with the capacitance Measurable 1.6% < 2S < 2.5% moisture measurements are a result of measurements on wood with a rough surface, measurements on Poorly measurable 2.5% < 2S < 3.5% wood with a non-homogeneous moisture spreading Not measurable 3.5% < 2S and measurements near knots or fissures.

Class 1 2 3 4

Qualification Wood Species Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Oak

Beech

Abachi

Afzelia

Spruce

Maple

Alder

Poplar

Cherry wood

Merbau

Sapeli

Pine

Meranti

Teak

Accuracy In Relation To Number Of Readings And Classification Class

1

2

3

2S < 1.6%

1.6% < 2S < 2.5%

2.5% < 2S < 3.5%

Number Of Measurements 3

Accuracy +/- 0.92%

6

+/- 1.02%

9 18

+/- 1.1% +/- 0.51%

25 35 22 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

+/- 0.5% +/- 0.59%

Inline Moisture Measurement Inline moisture measurement is contact free moisture measurements in production lines. The biggest advantage of an inline moisture measurement is the certainty that every board is measured over the entire board length (L-type) or at more places (X-type). As a result, the reliability is better with a factor 1.4 (=√2) compared to a single point measurement.

With inline moisture meters, the final target moisture content of the drying process scan be determined and, dependent of the accuracy of the applied inline moisture meter, the spreading of the moisture content in the drying process.

Focus

Over Dry Method The oven dry method is the reference method for the determination of moisture content. Both handheld, as well as inline moisture meters, must aim to achieve figures as close to readings of oven dry method as possible.

Apart from the aforementioned problems with the measurement instruments and methods, is still another issue — the comparison of the different measurement methods.

For example, • The oven dryer has an accuracy of +/- 0.2 percent.

• For the measurement of certain wood species, the resistance moisture meter has a deviation of +/- 1.2 percent.

• For the measurement of the same wood species, the capacitance moisture meter also has a deviation of +/- 1.2 percent.

Now in order to enable comparison of the accuracy between the two measurement devices, the absolute faults must be added up.

This will then result in the following maximum fault tolerances: • Oven dryer +/- 0.2 percent & resistance moisture meters +/- 1.2 percent  +/- 1.4 percent • Oven dryer +/- 0.2 percent & capacitance moisture meters +/- 1.2 percent  +/- 1.4 percent • Capacitance moisture meter +/- 1.2 percent & resistance moisture meter +/- 1.2 percent  +/- 2.4 percent Wood moisture measurement is not a difficult process if the rules are well applied. Professional instruments generally yield better accuracies.

In the determination and application of the different moisture measurement instruments and methods, one has to understand the limitations of each of them. There are other factors in play that have to be considered as well, such as the phenomenon of hysteresis and the absolute fault of the evaluation system. FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3102

ENQUIRY NO. 341

Another application is sorting, so that only wood with the correct moisture content is allowed further into the production process. Sorting can be resolved by type of product or by land of application.

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Pieter Schepens, Gent, Belgium

Focus

The Making Of A

Good Alternative Medium density fibreboards (MDF) are fast becoming a popular alternative to natural wood, offering better physical properties, easier processing and incentives for the environment. By Shiv Kumar Shet, assistant general manager, Woodtech Consultants

M

DF panels are probably the most widely used panels in the wood furniture industry around the world. Europe is the largest consumer of the boards and China follows as second MDF has changed the way products can be made. The strength and durability of these boards when laminated with melamine or veneer give much added value and satisfaction to both the furniture manufacturer and the customer.

They are also considered engineered wood, which are manufactured by using any kind of hard or soft wood waste, or residual wood obtained during the processing of natural wood. These wastes are normally broken down into wood fibres before they undergo a series of processes to convert them into MDF boards.

Natural woods have abnormalities like rings, knots, cracks or other natural defects and cannot be completely utilised. Recent concerns over global warming have made the availability of natural wood more complicated and costly.

24 FDM Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

It is only natural to think of alternatives to natural wood panels and MDF is a good consideration.

The demand for MDF has been increasing and many MDF plants have been built. MDF panels have provided a good replacement to solid wood in modern furniture such as kitchen shutters, cabinets, office furniture and even cots and other load bearing furniture.

MDF panels are available at the standard of five mm to 40 mm. Higher thickness can be made to order depending on the capacity of the manufacturers and the quantity required.

The problems with natural wood are absent in MDF, making it an affordable substitute.

Focus MDF is manufactured through well-defined processes: debarking, chipping, pulping, blow line, pressing, sizing and lastly stacking or packing.

Debarking As the name suggests, debarking is the process of removing the bark from the wooden log. Since barks can cause damage to the tools, reduce quality in finish of final product, prevents the drainage of water during mat formation, as well as other negative implications, they are removed by simple machineries like a ring barker, which is preferred to drum or rosser head types.

A cambio ring debarker can operate on feeds of up to a tonne per minute. The logs can be at of lengths of approximately 2-2.5 m. These machines operate with pneumatically or spring held knives which rip the logs without damaging them.

Some MDF manufacturers do not use such machinery and produce using the chips and waste obtained from other wood products.

LEADER IN ADHESIVE MAUNFACTURING IN CHINA

Chipping

Brandon Baunach, San Francisco, US

This process enables the plant to generate chips using special machinery into which logs are fed. A set of approximately 14 to 16 blades normally known as the disc chipper faces the spinning plate while the log is perpendicularly fed into the arrangement.

• Quality woodworking adhesives Hotmelt adhesive for edge banding Hotmelt adhesive for profile wrapping EPI (Emulsion Polymer Isocyanate) adhesive for glued timber Finger-jointing adhesive Assembly adhesive Membrane press adhesive Lamination adhesive • Enhance your productivity & reduce cost • Clients including over 5000 furniture manufacturers and paper products manufacturers • Leader in manufacturing quality woodworking adhesives in China • All of our products meet SGS standard

d: nte a W nts Age

Shanghai Rocky Adhesives Co.,Ltd.

Address: NO.566 Huaxu R.D., Xujing Economic Development Zone, Qingpu District, Shanghai China.

Phone: +86-21-59761668 Fax: +86-21-59761668 ext:204 Web: http://www.shrocky.com E-mail: info@shrocky.com

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ENQUIRY NO. 334

The distance between the blades and the log is preset to achieve the chip size. Output is later screened to separate the larger sizes to be fed into the chipper again. Sometimes, the chips of other species or sources are mixed to attain certain properties.

The output is finally cleaned or washed and unwanted particles are later separated by screening over scanners or with the use of magnets.

Focus Blowline

Perhaps the most important procress. Basically, MDF achieves much of its characteristics by using wood cells instead of particles. Tracheids, fibres, fibre tracheids and vessels are some basic wood cells.

This process encompasses many steps including the usage of the masonite gun, as well as atmospheric or pressurised disk refining methods. The latter is most widely used in the making of MDF. Here, the chips are made into small plugs with a compactor and are heated at a certain temperature for approximately 50-120 seconds which softens the wood.

The defibrillator later squeezes these plugs with two counter clockwise rotating plates with radial grooves which converge towards one end.

The blowline consists of a pipe not more than 40 mm in diameter and carries the pulp at a very high velocity. The moisture resistances are improved by the addition of wax or wax based constituents.

The fibres are still wet when the resin is added. The wetness of the pulp is maintained since dry fibres form into bundles and this may result in a loss of certain required properties. The pulp will then flow through a bigger diameter pipe of 1500 mm where the fibres are heated electrically by coils at about 287.8 deg C. The exit temperature at this stage is approximately 82.2 deg C. The moisture content (MC) is kept at around 12 percent. The wood can then be considered as dry and is adequate to make good MDF boards. The principal characteristics in the MDF panel boards are the result of the mixing process in the blowline and the usage of dry fibres.

The formation of mats which needs to be consistent has certain problems. The air velocities which suspend the fibres need to be maintained at a fixed level. Since the fibres and the air mixture do not flow laterally on a horizontal support, they tend to form lumps.

This can be overcome with the use of a pendistor. In this equipment, the air works on the fibres in impulses, allowing them to fall into a vacuum box, the first unit on the conveyor belt. The air impulses make an oscillating action on the fibres as they fall into the box. The thickness of the fibres here ranges from 200 to 600mm.

The mat can be later cut to size by using lateral saws or can be cut horizontally by using a synchronised cut off system. However, the density profile of the mat needs to be maintained as it is the most critical factor in achieving allowable strength and others properties like load bearing ability.

These factors are applicable on both the top and bottom sides of the MDF. The result of a perfect MDF panel hinges on the pressing action which is imparted onto the panel by impact initially, and then by the calculated and slow pressing action.

A typical pressing action to make an 18 mm panel is as follows: Press closed for 20 seconds to bring mat to 28mm.

• 28 Seconds at 26mm • 23 Seconds at 25mm • 125 seconds at 18.3mm.

Brandon Baunach, San Francisco, US

Pulping

MDF is a popular material for furniture making.

The plugs are broken down and the temperature from the start to the exit is maintained at 150 deg C and high pressure. This high temperature lowers the capacity required to defibrillate the wood due to the softening of the lignin which enable fibres to separate from the lamella in the centre.

The pulp is then freed from the steam. The entire process takes slightly more than a minute. The pulp achieved from this stage may be fed into another refiner to make sure that the fibres are freed and the desired results achieved.

Finally, fluffy, fine and pale-coloured pulps are obtained.

26 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

The pressure reaches up to 4000 MPa at a temperature of 200 deg C. Thicker panels may need only 750 MPa with extra stream to heat. A typical MDF plant which manufactures

Focus a reasonable number of boards to cater to the industry will need a hot press of at least seven day lights. These industrial hot presses are tailor-made and can be in sizes of two metres wide and 20 mm in length.

The final process of finishing includes the cooling of the boards in a dryer before they are finally sized to required dimensions and sanded. Sanding is executed to calibrate the boards to equal thicknesses and is often planed on wide belt sanders of high capacities.

These boards must be stored for a least a few days in order to allow the resins to cure and impart all the properties and characters to the board.

Packing Packing is done depending on batch sizes, quantities and the distance the boards needs to be shipped. The freight option to use is at the sole discretion of manufacturers.

MDF boards have their shares of negatives when they are cut or processed. The boards emit fine dust during cutting and this can be hazardous to the operator. The use of various resins and chemicals, which are toxic, can mix

with the fine dust particles cause illness to the staff handling the boards.

The presence of the chemical urea formaldehyde makes wearing of masks necessary. Masks must be able to filter very fine dust of less than 20 microns to safeguard operators’ health. The usage of high capacity dust collectors fitted to the machines can reduce such risks effectively.

Despite these, there are benefits of using MDF as well.

When compared to natural wood, MDF panels are easier to work with as they do not contain rings, knots or other defects such as cracks. This uniform formation provides less resistance when being cut or processed. Moreover, the material is always available which may no be true in the case of natural wood. MDF is not only cheaper, but can be durable and strong. With the application of veneers, MDF boards can be given a natural wood like appearance.

Most importantly, MDF boards also contribute to the global environment by using recycled and waste wood for its production. FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3103

Specialized in Producing Hydraulic Presses

LAMINATING PRODUCTION LINE

SHANGHAI QIULIN MACHINERY CO.,LTD.

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ENQUIRY NO. 340

WOOD DOOR PRODUCTION LINE

LAMINATING HOT PRESS

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27

Focus

Saving Cost At Every Step

Producing the right quality medium density fibreboard (MDF) at the lowest possible cost starts early on in the wood yard (or even earlier) and moves through the whole production line all the way to storage. Achieving a specifically desired quality involves keeping product properties consistent over time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; just right for the target product. By Inge Larsson, founder, IPL Consulting

F

or optimum use of raw material, different wood species should to be kept separate as far as possible and metered together to a consistent mix, which can vary depending on the desired end quality of the MDF. Under all circumstances, raw material variations should be kept as low as possible to facilitate the control of the fibre quality later in the process.

The wood and the chips, should as far as possible, be stored for an optimal and constant time before using.

This time varies according to wood species. Hardwood is especially sensitive to long-time storage in a warm climate where the wood can dry out and become significantly hardened, causing high energy consumption and lots of shives during refining.

28 FDM Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Debarking the logs is definitely a must for producing high quality medium density fibreboard (MDF), especially if it is to be painted. A drum debarker is the best way to get the job done effectively without damaging the logs.

Chipping the logs with a disc chipper is the preferred method for enabling the best chip quality and for avoiding sticks, thick chips and pin chips, which degrade fibre quality and can disrupt proper feeding into the refiner. Good screening with an oscillating screen removes overs and fines before or after chip storage.

Using some type of cleaning device is almost always recommended. A wet chip washer gives by far the best cleaning result and minimises the wear and tear on both production equipment and the tools used for working the finished MDF. A chip washer is also a cost-effective means of transporting chips from the wood yard to the refiner.

Furthermore, it allows for very good chip moisture and temperature equalisation. An added benefit of a chip washer is that it allows recycling of hot screw feeder squeeze-out water to the chip washer, which provides significant energy savings in the pre-steaming.

Good seals can save significant amount of water from having to be evaporated in the dryer.

Focus Pre-steaming Proper pre-steaming of the chips in the surge bin equalises both chips moisture content and temperature. The heat released from the condensing steam in pre-steaming also softens the wood, significantly improving the dewatering performance of the screw feeder.

With a well-designed screw feeder, for softwood chips, it is possible to reach 85 percent moisture content on a dry basis or even lower with high-compression screws.

Under such conditions a reduction in the dryer load of at least 15 percent is to be expected as the chips enter the pre-heater both dryer and warmer, thus causing less steam condensation in the pre-heater, and therefore, less water to evaporate in the dryer.

lost in the process can be fully recovered by pre-steaming the chips. Proper removal of inert gases can reduce energy consumption in the refiner by 10 to 15 percent.

The energy consumption, however, has to be balanced against the generation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through thermal degradation of the chips. The darkening of the fibres as well as pitch build-up resulting from too long retention time and/or too high pressure also has to be considered.

In order to obtain stable preheating, the use of a retention time controller is recommended. This ensures that the chips are kept in the pre-heater for the pre-set time regardless of production rate.

The pre-heater and its extraction device must also discharge the chips at a constant rate without interference of steam in either direction between the pre-heater and the refiner. A steam-tight plug in the discharge screw is a well-proven method offering this condition.

Part of the steam that is generated between the refiner discs flows backwards towards the pre-heater. A ribbon feeder is an elegant solution for handling this steam, which significantly reduces the need for fresh steam in the pre-heater.

A well-designed screw feeder can achieve 85 percent moisture content or lower.

The most efficient design of the screw feeder seems to be with a conical screw pipe and a compression-optimised screw made in a long-lasting material and with a volumetric perfection including an extended smooth cylindrical tap at the end.

For maximum water squeeze-out, it is also important that the holes or slots in the feeder extend all the way to the screw tip, where maximum compression of the chips occurs.

Pre-heating Chips are heated to the final temperature before refining in the pre-heater. It is of utmost importance that the chips are heated throughout (easiest with thin chips) to soften the lignin in the middle lamella to minimise the energy required in the refiner.

The screw feeder traps air inside the chip plug and the preheating generates gases. Air and other gases are considered inert in this context and make steam condensation more difficult. It is therefore important to remove the inert gases to maximise the contact between chips and steam.

The inert gases are led to the surge bin, where steam

The trend for many years has been to use a single large refiner rather than smaller ones.

This allows the steam to flow in the centre of the screw and back to the pre-heater top through a separate steam pipe, thus completely bypassing the discharge screw. Another feature of the ribbon feeder is that it, with its normally high speed, flings the chips to the periphery.

With the right screw geometry, this feeder delivers the chips in form of a uniform hollow cylinder at the outer area of the centre plate of the refiner rotor disc. This ensures very good distribution of chips into the eye of the refiner.

Refiner Refiners are becoming larger and larger. The very first fibreboard refiners from the 1930s were 32 inches with a capacity of two or three tonnes per hour. www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIAâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; april 2012

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Focus In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the first MDF refiners were often 42-inch models with a capacity of four to seven tonnes per hour. Currently, largest refiners are 70 inches and 74 inches with capacities in the range of 60 to 80 tonnes per hour.

The trend for many years has been to use single large machines rather than several smaller ones. The reason for this is partly the significantly lower investment, operational, maintenance and personnel cost with single machines, but also the realisation, that even with multiple machines, it is difficult to maintain a proper production when one machine is down due to planning restrictions.

Compared to older models, a modern refiner is a finetuned low-energy instrument making the most of the raw material in form of optimal fibres. The chips are evenly dispersed over the segment area by the ribbon feeder and the centre plate ensuring a smooth flow of material as the fibres are developed during the brief passage over the segment path.

Modern control systems no longer use old-fashioned local control panels with lots of physical buttons and meters.

Instead, computerised controls are used to allow simple and reliable operation.

Automatic sequences make starting and stopping the refiner system simple and time-efficient. By allowing a specific energy controller to automatically control the disc gap, the fineness of the fibres is kept constant even under changing raw material conditions.

Differential pressure further controls fibre quality. This controls the pressure in the housing versus the pre-heater to regulate the retention time of the chips or fibres in the grinding zone. By increasing differential pressure, a larger portion of the steam generated in the refiner is channelled back to the pre-heater, thus reducing the need for external steam input.

Higher differential pressure also increases the retention time in the housing allowing for a larger disc gap. Then more of the grinding can be made by fibre to fibre contact, which improves fibre quality and reduces segment wear.

The use of automatic systems gives operators a better overview of the process and more time to check the machines hands-on to spot possible problems and foresee maintenance needs early on. This also allows operators to cover a larger process area.

The most advanced installations use model-based algorithms for stabilising and further automating the process resulting in a considerable reduction in glue consumption. With such optimising systems, the operators are left to oversee the process and make policy-decisions about fibre and product quality rather than constantly controlling the individual parameters in the control system one by one.

Uni-directional segments require low energy and the helical housing of the state-of-the-art refiner quickly allows the fibres to pass out of the housing without unnecessary delay or even stagnation. The savings in both electricity and steam consumption with a helical housing are well proven today.

The use of low-friction zero-play bearings minimises friction losses in the bearing assembly permitting refiner energy to be used for refining chips to fibres. Hydraulic control of the disc gap rather than simple mechanical means allows for lightning-fast reactions to changing refining conditions in the grinding housing.

During idling, a big difference in power consumption between a refiner with low-friction axial thrust bearings and a refiner with hydrodynamic bearings can be clearly seen.

A combination of several factors described above offers very stable operation from modern state-of-the-art refiners (and refiner systems). This can be seen clearly by studying the main motor-power display in the high-tension room of the refiner.

The most important factors are: • Good pre-steaming in the surge bin • Efficient and consistent squeeze-out of water in the screw feeder • Uniform discharge from the pre-heater • Steam-tight plug in the chip flow from the pre-heater to the refiner to prevent steam disturbances • Efficient disintegration of the discharge screw chip plug by the ribbon feeder • No uncontrolled drop chute between the pre-heater and the refiner.

Stable Operation

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Focus

Stable production also means that the glue addition can be set at a lower level, as no extra glue has to be added to cope with the production peaks otherwise encountered. As glue normally comprises approximately one-third of the direct operating costs, this represents a significant saving.

Water Consumption

The use of mechanical seal first in the refiners and later in the discharge screw, the ribbon feeder as well as in the pre-

heater agitator, has reduced the amount of water entering the process dramatically. A new, well-packed, traditional stuffing box may introduce five litres per minute into the process while a badly worn stuffing box permits 20 or even 30 litres per minute.

Modern single-sided mechanical seals only introduce two to three litres per minute into the process while water consumption in the more advanced mechanical seals of the refiner is negligible (<0.1 l/min). This saves significant amounts of water from having to be evaporated in the dryer.

Fast Start-Up The time for starting up a modern refiner system is extremely brief when using standardised and modularised refiner systems. Once the system is completely checked out, it takes only a few days to tune the control system. More or less full refiner capacity can be reached almost immediately if the surrounding systems allow it. FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3104

ENQUIRY NO. 338

• Optimised ribbon feeder design to work together with the centre plate • Optimised centre plate design • Zero axial play bearing design of the refiner • Optimised intermediary (C or centre) segment design for larger refiners • Hydraulic disc gap control for fastest reaction to changes in the feed • Well-controlled small disc gap • Efficient discharge of the fibres from the housing with a helical housing.

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

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Focus

A Sustainable Future For

Waste MDF

Until recently, previous attempts to recycle fibre materials from medium density fibreboards (MDF) have not yielded desirable results. A new solution can help manufacturers recover fibres in a cost efficient manner and create additional annual profits. By Craig Bartlett, director, MDF Recovery

M

edium density fibreboard (MDF) is a success story. Barring the odd regional dip during the recent economic crisis, the production of MDF has increased every year for three decades. Its versatility as a material for furniture, shop fitting and construction applications has seen demand for the product mirror the growth in economic development globally. Production in China now outstrips that of the entire European Union.

MDF has, however, seen its fair share of criticism from environmentalists.

High levels of formaldehyde within resins were typical when MDF was in

its infancy. PVC was often applied to boards via edgebands or surface finishes, particularly for furniture applications.

MDF production itself was seen as power hungry and polluting. A great deal of investment has been made in advanced manufacturing techniques to mitigate many of these concerns.

Initiatives in the field of bio-resins will ensure that environmental efficacy continues to improve.

The one key aspect to this material that still sets it apart from other wood based material streams is its perceived lack of recyclability. MDF was conceived in an era that had minimal regard for

recycling. Functionality and in-service performance were the critical design parameters of the day. With a global production capacity now exceeding 80 million cubic metres, it is apparent that a solution for the effective recycling of MDF must be adopted.

MDF can of course be burnt and in many countries it is blended with other wood wastes to form biomass fuels from which energy can be recovered.

The demand for this type of power station is on the increase because wood is classed as a renewable fuel. Sovereign states seem intent on ignoring waste management hierarchies in their somewhat desperate attempts to meet their obligations defined under international treaties such as Kyoto.

In some territories, regulatory control exists to prevent MDF from being burnt in all but the most sophisticated of incineration facilities. Unfortunately, in other regions the material is often burnt without energy recovery and is used for factory space heating which is a seasonal requirement at best. Worse still is the continued landfilling of this material, still prevalent in the UK.

MDF Recovery MDF recovery is able to not only enhance the sustainability of the lifecycle of MDF, but also add value to the MDF manufacturing process and those industries that might wish to utilise a recycled cellulose fibre source.

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Focus The current market conditions allow the re-working of waste generated internally to be highly cost-effective, even when considering the energy savings associated with burning the waste on-site.

Through a collaboration with a European producer, a basic waste evaluation tool was constructed that suggests additional annual profits of £2.6 million (US$4.09 million) could be made by re-working waste and ‘B’ grade boards instead of burning

Recycling Technology Previous attempts to recycle MDF have been made. A batch process utilising an autoclave was designed in Germany in the mid 1990s, with a continuous microwave based approach being proposed in the UK as recently as 2007.

Neither were perfect, batch processing is not suitable for re-integrating fibres into the MDF manufacturing process with plants running at 30-40 tonnes per hour and microwaving is an inefficient method of heating.

The recycling is achieved by soaking the pre-shredded MDF chips within a liquid medium and then heating to around 90 deg. At this temperature the bonding resin is hydrolysed, freeing the wood fibres for effective recovery and re-use.

Once the MDF chips are wet, an electric current can flow though them, causing them to heat much more rapidly than would occur through simple heat conduction. In addition, the temperature within the particulates can rise above 100 deg, causing the MDF to split and expand, allowing more rapid ingress of water and the rate of hydrolysis to increase. This leads to a high processing rate with minimal water usage and at high efficiency.

Market Applications

Fibre/polymer mix can be pelletised before extrusion.

them or selling them at reduced cost.

Payback on investment of less than 18 months would be possible for those MDF manufacturers that chose to adopt the technology.

The technology also allows for waste MDF from commercial and industrial sources (including customers) to be brought on-site and recycled back into high quality fibres that are suitable for re-integration into the MDF manufacturing process. The value to be gained from such a practice will only increase as manufacturers are subjected to ever increasing price pressure on virgin timber raw materials.

The solution has to be robust, simple and efficient. ‘Transferred' from the food processing industry, the process utilises a technology known as ohmic (J) heating to degrade and break apart the resin bonds that glued the wood fibres together.

The technology involves passing an electric current directly through the material, causing its whole bulk to be heated due to its own natural electrical resistance. This enables rapid and uniform heating of both liquids and particulates without the use of hot heat transfer surfaces and avoids the creation of damaging ‘hot spots’ in the slurry.

There are many compelling reasons for recycling MDF at the end of its first user life. The principal barrier to doing so has until now been technological. The most apparent market for the recovery process is within MDF production itself.

There are over three hundred production plants operating worldwide, all of which are competing for virgin timber feed stocks with the biomass fuel and other wood using industries. Sixty million tonnes of timber is required each year for MDF production alone.

The technology can be retro-fitted to existing plants or designed into new lines. The re-processing of internal waste generated during MDF manufacture could reduce the annual dependence on virgin timber by 1.8-3.6 million tonnes (three to six percent of throughput). It makes for a very elegant closed loop recycling solution for the MDF industry.

The technology works just as well for particleboard although recycled feedstocks are already common for this product.

MDF Production This offers the largest potential market for recycled fibres. The specification www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

33

Focus they offer a ‘no added formaldehyde’ option when combined with the addition of bio-resins.

Thermal Insulation Products

Electrode arrangement of the trial ohmic heating set-up.

Mineral wool is by far and away the dominant material used for thermal insulation. It is however, dogged by concerns over its environmental impact (high embedded energy) and lack of ‘user-friendliness’ during installation — in some forms it can prove unpleasant to work with.

The use of cellulosic material for insulation is increasing but commands less than five percent of the overall market at present. Cellulosic materials already in use include overprint newspaper and wood fibres. The recycled newspaper is particularly suitable for loose blown applications whereas wood fibres are used as flexible mats or semi-solid batts. Recovered MDF fibres have been trialled in loose blown products and have been shown to improve the in-service performance of the product when used in substitution rates of between 25-50 percent.

Further development is under way to incorporate recycled MDF fibres into flexible mats that will offer classleading performance in combination with excellent handling characteristics and competitive pricing.

it is entirely feasible to inject them before for incoming fibres is quite exacting the blowline at a controlled moisture as manufacturers seek to maintain a content. The recovered fibres will then consistency of quality output from their be resinated alongside the virgin fibres production lines. With this in mind, the already contained within the system. quality of the recovered fibres was A virgin fibre substitution rate of 20 validated externally through rigorous percent is considered most appropriate quality assessment at the BioComposites and practicable but niche products Centre at the University of Wales. containing 100 percent recovered fibre The recovered fibres were analysed are seen as commercially attractive as under a scanning electron microscope to confirm that they retained their structural WORLD INSULATION DEMAND integrity and that they (In million sq m of R-1 value) remained undamaged by the recycling operation. % Annual Growth The results showed 2004 2009 2014 2004-2009 2009-2014 that the fibres are of a suitable quality for this Insulation Demand 16390 17930 22850 1.8 5 application.

North America 5647 4285 5970 -5.4 6.9 Although no obvious points of entry exist Western Europe 4345 4300 4795 -0.2 2.2 for the introduction of Asia/Pacific 4485 6856 9020 8.9 5.6 these recovered fibres into the continuous Other Regions 1913 2489 3065 5.4 4.3 manufacturing process,

34 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Focus Wood Plastic Composites (WPCs)

Other Industrial Applications

The major markets for these products are North America and Continental Europe although production is growing in other parts of the world. Garden decking, street furniture and increasingly construction profiles are the most common product types produced.

WPCs are usually made with a mix of virgin or natural polymer together with fine wood particles (wood flour). The mixture is typically extruded into the desired profile although pre-pelletising the mix before further extrusion has been shown to offer some manufacturing advantages.

There are numerous applications to which recycled MDF fibres can be applied. These include spill sorbents, horticultural growth media (hydroseeding, grow bags and hydroponic substrates), industrial fillers and bitumen additives (flow aids).

The current wood content used in WPCs has a particle size of less than 500 microns. Recovered fibres are typically in the range of 0.5-3 mm.

A successful introduction of recycled MDF fibres into WPCs will allow for light weighting of products to take place whilst retaining strength. Trials are currently being undertaken in the UK which involve pelletising the fibre/ polymer mix before extrusion. This development work will be completed before summer.

UK patent protection for this MDF recovery process has been secured which will protect the technology in other territories around the world during 2012. Although the process has been proven by an independent contract research company, the first plant has yet to be constructed.

Long-term contracts for the supply of MDF waste and purchase of fibres are being signed, with three plants planned for construction by the end of 2014. The first of these, a small-scale facility, will be located in North Wales and will be used as a demonstrator to show to stakeholders how reliable and effective the process is.

The demonstrator is needed to mitigate the risk involved in investing in such a novel process. The economic and environmental benefits that this technology offers to the MDF industry are clear. When high quality fibres begin to reach the market, it is hoped that manufacturing groups will take the plunge and that the recovery technology will be found at every MDF manufacturing site around the world. FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 317

A bench scale ohmic heating unit.

Future Of MDF Recycling

ENQUIRY NO. 3105

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIAâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; april 2012

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Technology

In The

EYE Of

FIRE Automatic video image detection systems can be applied to large open spaces where smoke may not dissipate far enough to trigger traditional detection system. A series of tests have been conducted to test the effectiveness and limitations of such technologies. By Liu Zhigang General Fire Technologies, George Hadjisophocleous, Carleton University, Ding Guofeng and Lim Choon Siong, InnoSys Industries

T

he progress on the automatic video image detection (VID) systems has been significant over the last decade with advance in computer technologies, understanding of fire physics, and increasing requirements for fire safety protection.

They are being used to replace the traditional technologies, and to provide the protection for large industrial applications, such as wood productions plants, power plants, petrochemical processing plants, tunnels, shopping malls, churches, hotels, aircraft hangars, atria and shipyards.

These applications are associated with large spaces and high ceilings. The VID systems are able to detect a fire at

36 FDM Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x201A;april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

a great distance and at its very early stage of fire growth by recognising either smoke or flame, while it is challenging for conventional fire detection systems to provide fire protection for the buildings with high ceilings. For example, the smoke detectors should not be used in spaces with ceiling higher than six m, because it is difficult for smoke to reach.

The VID systems also provide live video immediately, allowing monitoring personnel to view the protected area to determine the extent of the fire, and to identify its location for timely activation of emergency systems and quick organisation of evacuation and firefighting units. Large pre-recorded

video forensic evidences can be used for accident investigations and training.

The VID can be a system in which a group of cameras are connected to a control unit. They can also be an independent detector in which both the video image processing and alarm algorithm execution are completed at the detector.

The capabilities of the VID system for the protection of large industry applications were recently investigated in a large test facility of the Carleton University (CU) and a large burn hall of the National Research Council Canada (NRCC). A series of full-scale fire and environmental tests were conducted

Technology following the UL, ANSI/FM and other authorities test standards.

VID detectors with different field of the view were placed at five to 20 m from the ground, and approximately 17 to 45.5 m from the fire sources.

VID System & Test Setups The VID system used in the tests was the AlarmEye VID system. Its detector consisted of one regular colour camera, one infrared (IR) camera, one IR light source, image capture and pre-processing, and digital signal processor (DSP).

The IR camera is used to enhance the detectorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s capability in detecting the flaming fire and to minimize false alarms. Only the flaming fire, hot sources and surfaces are visible in the image provided by the IR camera. The IR light source enables the detector to work in the dark and to detect smoking fires.

The VID system has two types of alarm outputs (smoke and flame). The flame and smoke signals are identified and processed separately. Once the probabilities of either smoke and/or flame characteristics are higher than their preset thresholds, a fire alarm will be issued and sent out to the local fire safety system.

The dimensions of the test spaces are 18.9 m wide x 18.4 m long x 26.4 m high for the CU test facility, and 50 m long x 30.5 m wide x 12.5 m high for the NRCC burn hall. Three VID detectors were used in the test series.

They had different fields of view at 62 deg for Detector I, 42 deg for Detector II and 32 deg for Detector III. They were installed at heights of 5.5 m, 12 m and 20 m from the ground at the west wall of the CU test atrium. The distances of the three detectors to the fire source were approximately 17.3 m, 20.3 m and 25.9 m.

Three VID detectors together were placed respectively at two positions at 5.5 m and 11.5 m from the ground during the NRCC tests. The distance from the

detectors to the fire source was varied from 30 to 45.5 m.

Tests & Results The detection capability of the VID system to various fire types, sizes and locations were evaluated. The fires included small wood, paper and cloth fires (Class A), and small alcohol, n-heptanes, and JP-8 pool and spray fuel fires (Class B).

The fire was placed in the open space or obstructed with large plates, a table and racks. The test conditions also included the fires in the dark, under ventilated conditions and with contaminated camera lens.

The responses of the VID detectors to various nuisance sources and their influences were also evaluated. The

11 to 30 s. The VID performances were not affected by the changes in fuel type or fire size, but varied with position and the field of view of the detectors.

Both Detectors II and III quickly detected the small JP-8 pool fires with detection times ranging from 23 to 37 s, when the fire was placed 46.5 m from the VID detectors in the NRCC tests. Their performances were not affected by the changes in the detector height. Detector I was able to detect the fire at the position of 5.5 m from the ground.

An n-heptanes spray fire was produced under a discharge pressure of 8.2 bar (120 psi). It was located one m from the ground and 46.5 m from the detectors. All three detectors quickly detected the spray fire with detection

Large open spaces, like in a warehouse, present a challenge to conventional fire detection systems.

nuisance sources included various artificial lights, arc welding, flashing UV/IR and IR lights. They were placed in the field of view of the VID detectors or presented together with the fire as its background.

Unobstructed Fires The unobstructed pool fires included alcohol, n-heptanes and JP8 fuel fires in a 0.3 x 0.3 m pan. Three VID detectors quickly detected all the small pool fires in the CU test series, mainly based on the flame characteristics of the fires.

Their detection times were ranged from

times ranged from 26 to 39 s.

A wood crib fire with dimensions of 152 x 152 x 114 mm high was constructed.

It took a long time for the fire to grow, and produced the small amount of the dark smoke. Three detectors detected small wood crib fires, mainly based on smoke characteristics produced by the fire. Their detection times ranged from 65 to 108 s.

A paper fire was produced with shredded newspaper tamped into a receptacle with dimensions of 102 mm diameter and 0.3 m high. It produced small amount of white smoke. Both www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIAâ&#x20AC;&#x201A;april 2012

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Technology

By the time smoke has dispersed far enough to trigger high-lying sensors, the fire may already be out of hand.

detectors II and III detected the paper fire with the detection times of 46 s and 58 s. Detector I did not detect the paper fire, because of its location and large field of view.

Obstructed Fires Two large plates with dimensions of 2 m wide x 1 m high and 2 m wide x 2 m high were used as obstacles to the fires in the tests. The fire source, including a 0.3 x 0.3 m JP8 fire, 0.6 x 0.6 m JP8 fire, 0.9 x 0.9 m JP8 fire and a paper fire, was placed 0.8 m behind the plate.

The view of detectors to the fire was partially or fully obstructed by plates, depending on the detector position and the size of the plate. The smoke quickly spread over the plate, once the fire ignited. The fire also produced the reflections from the surroundings and a hot surface on the ground.

All three detectors detected the obstructed 0.3 x 0.3 m n-heptanes pan fire, mainly based on smoke characteristics produced. The detection times were ranged from six to 29 s, and decreased with increase in fire size.

Detectors II and III also detected the small obstructed paper fire, as the

38 FDM Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x201A;april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

white smoke spread over the plate. Their detection times were 40 s and 69 s.

Detector I, however, did not detect the obstructed paper fire.

Environmental Tests Two fire tests involving a 0.3 x 0.3 m n-heptanes fuel fire and a paper fire were conducted in the evening with complete dark conditions. The IR light source of the VID detector was automatically activated in the dark, and the fire conditions were clearly displayed on the computer monitor from three detectors.

Both Detectors II and III detected the small n-heptanes pan and paper fires with detection times of 16 s and 64 s. Detector I had no response to the fires.

A longitudinal airflow with air velocity of 2.5 m/s was produced in the CU tests. All detectors quickly detected both ventilated 0.3 m x 0.3 n-heptanes and JP8 fuel fires, mainly based on the flame characteristics of the fires. The detection times were shorter than those under non-airflow conditions.

The tests involving a halogen light, fluorescent lights and the incandescent light were conducted in the CU test facility.

These lights were still hot sources and different from those produced by a fire.

Three VID detectors had no response to these artificial lights. Three VID detectors were also able to detect a 0.3 x 0.3 m JP8 pan that was placed one m in front of the halogen lamp. Their detection times were not affected with the presence of the lamp light.

Both chopping IR and UV/IR light sources were placed five m from the east wall of CU atrium test facility and 25 m from the detectors in NRCC burn hall. The UV/IR light source produced strong flashing lights toward the detectors with a frequency of approximately 3.5 to 4 Hz. Their light shape and flashing frequencies were different from those produced from the fires.

None of the detectors had response to the chopping UV/IR source during tests. They were also able to detect a 0.3 x 0.3 m JP8 fuel fire that was placed 30 m behind the chopping UV/ IR source. Their detection times were longer than those without chopping UV/ IR light source.

One welding source was located 25 m from the detectors in the NRCC tests.

Bright flashing lights were produced during welding. However, its shape and flashing frequency were different from

Technology the flames produced by a fire. Three VID detectors had no responses to the welding, and were able to detect a 0.6 x 0.6 m JP8 fire that was 20 m behind the welding.

Two layers of metal mesh with estimated 25 percent light obstruction and one layer of cloth with estimated 75 percent light obstruction were used to cover the camera windows of Detectors II and III, respectively to simulate fouling of the detector window caused by dust, water and oil droplets.

The flame characteristics produced by the pool fire, such as the flame shape, and turbulent flashing, could still be identified through the contaminated cameras. Two contaminated detectors II and III detected the small 0.3 x 0.3 m n-heptanes and JP8 fires. Their detection times were almost the same as those

with non-contaminated detectors.

The test involving a paper fire showed that the contaminated camera had a substantial impact on the performance of VID detectors in detecting a smoking fire.

Contaminated Detector II was still able to detect the paper fire but its detection time increased. Detector III could not detect the paper fire, as smoke characteristics were hardly recognized through its highly contaminated camera.

The VID system has demonstrated its capability for the protection of large industrial applications in challenging fire and environmental tests. They quickly detected all fire types, including small unobstructed pool fires, smoke fires and spray fires at the great distance.

They detected obstructed fires by identifying smoke that spread over the obstruction and the hot surfaces on the

ground and from surroundings. They were also able to detect the ventilated fires and small flame and smoke fires in the dark with their IR light sources. The field of view and camera position had substantial impact on its performance.

The evaluated VID system was immune to nuisance sources presented in the work, including artificial lights, chopping UV/IR light source, chopping IR light source as well as arc welding. These nuisance sources produced light obstruction and generally delayed the detection of the VID system to the fires.

The contaminated camera windows had a limited effect on the detection of the VID system to the flaming fires but made the detectors more difficult to detect smoke fires. Regular maintenance for the cameras is recommended.

FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3201

ENQUIRY NO. 349

Specialists In The Manufacture Of Double End Tenoners In Taiwan

E-CHAIN MACHINERY CO., LTD. | No. 276-2, Kuan Chi Road, Shen Kang District, Taichung, 42948, Taiwan. | Tel: +886-4-25620988 | Fax: +886-4-25619826 | E-mail: sales@echainmachinery.com | www.echainmachinery.com

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Technology

Carcass Furniture Manufacturing This six-part article series by the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), illustrates modern manufacturing processes carried out at the workshop of German carpenter Franz Huber.

Part 1: CAD/CAM & Calculation Part 2: Sawing — Optimisation Part 3: Edge finish Part 4: Fittings — Boring & Milling Part 5: Tools for carcass furniture manufacturing Part 6: CNC processing centre

Developed

Perfectly T

he initial decision of whether to opt for a vertical or horizontal panel cutting system was quickly taken

by Franz Hubert since some of his peers, who had already replaced vertical systems with horizontal ones, have reported time savings of up to 60 percent thanks to the dividing system.

The new office furniture programme thus marked the beginning for a panel cutting system with automated feeding.

Before this switch, wood panels were cut on sliding table saws. However, such a system is no longer possible in the manufacturing of the furniture, ‘Gloria’.

The old system would often produce uneven and imprecise results, with the quality of finish largely dependent on the skills of the carpenter entrusted with the task. In order to

40 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

In order to keep his manufacturing process going, Franz Hubert has decided to focus on horizontal panel saws for the future. The high-performance cutting systems not only provide room for increase production capacity, but most importantly, they ensure consistent quality. By Christian Härtel for VDMA

compete with other industrial manufacturers, he has to secure a professional cutting process for his furniture programme that can accommodate the broad scope of orders he receives at his workshop.

Consistent Results A horizontal panel dividing saw can guarantee consistent results in terms of dimensional accuracy and angular conformity.

This is an important aspect that he has considered before making his choice.

Previously, he has been working with an old edgebanding machine with no cutters attached. Panels had to be cut very precisely using the beam saw to avoid reject due to poor edge finish.

Technology An additional advantage of the system is its ease of operation. Even apprentices or semi-professional workers are about to familiarise themselves with the system quickly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Panel saw can now be operated through intuitive touch screen control,â&#x20AC;? Stefan Benkart, product manager at HolzHer, explains. A logical guidance system based on graphical display will aid the operator throughout the process. The three-dimensional representation on the screen will assist the user in executing cutting operation accurately and rapidly to achieve directional finish effects.

Small Machines With Great Output

ENQUIRY NO. 320

Mr Hubert has to process a large variety of panel materials with different finishing effects not only for interior fittings, but also for his new office furniture programme. Sometimes, he only requires a small quantity of panel material.

His old panel saw has to be manually fed using suction pads and a forklift is required to handle the piles of panels. He created a priority list to determine which horizontal pressure beam saw is the most appropriate for his company. He almost disregarded the possibility of increasing the cutting size of the panel package, and did not give significance to an automated and dynamic feeding system.

Therefore, he focused on smaller and less expensive models that can still achieve cutting and feeding speeds of 100 m/min.

Forward speeds of 60 m/min and more can be achieved in the positioning of materials to be cut. These speeds provide a high throughput, even with smaller panel saws.

In addition, he also considered a future prospect: if production volume in the office furniture programme increases in future, the height allowance afforded by saws, such as the Holzma HPP 250 and Holz-Her Cut 6120, will be sufficient to cut a package of three 19 mm panels.

Apart from machine performance data, he placed great importance on easy handling, connection to the data processing system, including off-cut management and label printer, as well as long service life of the machines.

He values a solidly built machine with a rack and pinion drive mechanism that is low on wear. The support tables equipped with air cushion should be movable so that all formats and all work pieces seat sturdily on the table. The air cushion protects the surface against scratches, so that even panels with delicate surfaces will not be damaged by the machine.

A modern panel dividing saw should be equipped with a device to limit the cutting length. This device will enable the saw unit to recognise the end of the work piece. As soon as the end of the work piece is reached, the saw is retracted and returns to its starting position. This will shorten cutting cycles considerably. www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIAâ&#x20AC;&#x201A;april 2012

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Technology are directly transferred from the CAD-program to the panel saw via an interface. By clicking on the ‘optimise’ button on the display of the panel saw, the computer immediately defines the cutting pattern.

It is also possible to handle several orders simultaneously.

The result obtained is even better since more parts provide for more optimisation possibilities. Each piece is then labelled with a barcode, which can be imported both from the CNCmachining centre and from the edge-banding machine.

Height allowance of the saws can accommodate a package of three 19 mm panels.

• How To Use Material Cut-Off Cut-off material is stored by the optimisation software. As soon as a new cutting pattern is established, the cut-off material is automatically integrated in the pattern.

With easily adjustable cutting and feeding speeds, he is able to cut most different materials with the correct speed, and without any tearing because convenient cutting height adjustment will secure an optimum saw blade projection.

In addition, he cannot go without a post-forming saw since this equipment can cut finished edges and post-forming materials without any tearing.

Optimisation Of The Cutting Process • How To Save Material And Time Even for those carpentry workshops that regularly cut panel materials, the use of a software system that helps to optimise the cutting process is highly recommended.

Cutting process optimisation and a data processing connection to an area storage, including integrated cut-off management, are becoming increasingly important. The amount of materials processed increases constantly, and companies have to be able to efficiently secure the economic handling of these resources.

Mr Benkart learned this through personal experience, “only five years ago, when presenting a new machine, I spent two hours to explain the mechanical engineering part and only thirty minutes to talk about the data processing connection.

Today it’s just the opposite.”

• How To Ensure Process Optimisation The parts list data, mostly established in CSV or TXT formats,

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Cutting results from sliding table saws depend largely on the skills of the carpenter.

This process helps to considerably reduce the number of cuts and the machine operator merely has to follow the program’s instructions. In the client-specifically adapted, virtual off-cut storage, the labelled off-cuts are stored in boxes, which comply with operational conditions and requirements, and facilitate the location of the material.

FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3202

Technology

Designed As

Core Component For those establishments with space constraints, machines in combination present an interesting option. New system lines offer an alternative for carpentry workshops to replace individual and separate machines of panel dividing saw, rip saw and sliding table saw.

A

t first sight, the new machine concept, promoted

by Altendorf, does not have much in common with a sliding table saw. However, the ‘Altendorf 2’ is equipped with a sawing carriage and several linear stops.

With its saw blade, inclinable in both directions, the machine can carry out more tasks than a conventional sliding table saw. Wilfried Altendorf calls the machine an all-in-one-saw, since it combines the strengths of a panel dividing saw with the features of a rip saw and a sliding table saw.

He assures that those who work with a single machine instead of three individual space-consuming machines, will be able to carry out all cutting works at one workstation.

The working position can be adjusted according to the preference of the operator.

The five m long machine base is equipped with a five KW strong saw unit, which moves the saw over a length of three m. The number of revolutions can be freely and easily adjusted between 1500 and 5000 rev/min. With the help of sensors, the beginning and the end of the cutting material is recognised by the machine’s control system, limiting the sawing process to only those areas where material is available.

It’s A Panel Saw One machine operator alone will be able to cut large panels with the help of the machine. The machine operator places the cutting material on the machine and controls the cutting process via the display and touch panel by means of the integrated panel dividing software.

The CNC-controlled rip fence positions the panel, the safety bridge is lowered and the cutting process is

automatically carried out. The lamella curtain is lowered so that the sawing process does not cause any danger to the operator as with the case of conventional horizontal pressure beam saw.

It’s A Rip Saw With the powerful motor and a new driving mechanism concept, the machine is able to divide massive wood pieces at the rip fence. The lamella protection curtain positioned above the saw blade provides for the suction of the wood particles even from the top. The operator will therefore be less exposed to whirled-up sawdust.

It’s A Sliding Table Saw The saw unit can be firmly positioned at any point by merely pushing a button. The machine can then be used as sliding table saw. The crosscut-, mitre- duplex- and rip fence as well as the supporting tables can be positioned at any location and on both sides of the saw blade. The fences are simply hooked-in and can slide freely due to a non-stop guidance system, so that working position can be adjusted.

As soon as material is cut to lengths, the crosscut fence can be pushed forward and backwards against the fixed saw blade just as in a normal sliding table saw. Even the use of the duplex fence for angle cuts is a familiar process because it is executed just as with a normal sliding table saw. The saw is manually adjusted by means of scales FDM with magnifying glasses.

ENQUIRY NO. 3203

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

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Technology

Harmonised Approach To

Robin Zebrowski

Fire Safety

Environmental concerns have increased the demand for wood as a construction material for building and furniture. The lack of a harmonised fire safety standard present a major challenge to the use of the resource. By Birgit AL Östman, research leader, SP Wood Technology

T

imber has been a favoured construction material from the beginning of civilisation because of its abundance, high stiffness and strength-to-weight ratios, as well as the relative simplicity with which it can be adapted to use. Recently, timber products have experienced a renaissance as their environmental credentials and an industry striving for continuously lower energy and less pollution appeal to consumers in a variety of sectors, from furniture to construction.

The highest forest management standards ensure that there is potential for a continuous and sustainable supply and use of timber as a building material in future. It is therefore not surprising that timber structures are becoming an important element in a sustainable and economic development, and have attracted worldwide attention in recent years.

New construction methods and new design tools have made timber framed houses an efficient construction method, offering good quality at affordable prices.

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Construction sites mainly employing timber products are recognised for their quiet and dry conditions, and the completed buildings offer user-friendly, healthy, natural living environments.

Sustainability Increased use of timber in construction is one mean of using renewable raw materials and energy from forests that constitutes a key aspect to the climate strategy. Wood and paper are climatefriendly alternatives, provided that forestry activities are sustainable. More than 80 percent of Europe’s forests are managed sustainably, adhering to established and well-policed management schemes and guidelines.

Globally, forests are an immense resource, accounting for about 30 percent of the Earth’s total land base. Europe has more than 1,000 million ha of forest

spread over 44 countries, equivalent to 1.42 ha (more than two football pitches) per person. Recognising the importance of wood, a naturally renewable building material is vital for meeting the challenges of climate change and ensuring a sustainable future.

Forests play a key role in mitigating climate change as they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store the carbon in trees and in the ground.

Research shows that cultivating forests and utilising their resources benefits the environment.

Fire Safety The combustibility of timber is one of the main reasons that many building regulations and standards strongly restrict the use of timber as a building material.

Fire safety is an important contribution to feeling safe, and an important criterion for the choice of materials for buildings.

The main precondition for increased use of timber for buildings is adequate fire safety.

Technology • the spread of fire to neighbouring structures is limited • occupants can leave the building or be rescued by other means • the safety of rescue teams is taken into consideration.

National Responsibility Fire regulations form the main obstacle to the use of wood in buildings in many countries. The national limitations for the use of wood products and timber structures have been reviewed. The results from more than 20 European countries and some other countries (Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Canada and the US) are included.

Several countries have no specific regulations, or do not limit the number of storeys in timber buildings. However, eight storeys are often used as a practical and economic limit for the use of timber structures. This limit may be higher for facades, linings and floorings, since these applications may also be used in, for example, concrete structures.

Further possibilities for the increased use of wood by installation of sprinkler systems are included.

Two Stages In Building Fires There are two different stages of a fire scenario to be considered in the fire Pete Birkinshaw, Manchester, UK

Worldwide, several research projects on the fire behaviour of timber structures have been conducted over the past two decades, aimed at providing basic data and information on the safe use of timber.

Novel fire design concepts and models have been developed, based on extensive testing. The current improved knowledge in the area of fire design of timber structures, combined with technical measures, especially sprinkler and smoke detection systems, and wellequipped fire services, allow safe use of timber in a wide field of application. As a result, many countries have started to revise fire regulations, thus permitting greater use of timber.

Fire test and classification methods have recently been harmonised in Europe, but regulatory requirements applicable to building types and end users remain on national bases.

Although these standards exist on the technical level, fire safety is governed by national legislation, and is thus on the political level. National fire regulations will therefore remain, but the new European harmonisation of standards will hopefully speed up the reform of national regulations.

Essential Requirements Building regulations are generally being altered towards functional or performance criteria, rather than being prescriptive.

This development was accelerated in Europe by the Construction Products Directive (CPD), which was adopted in 1988.

It contains six essential requirements, one of which is safety in the event of fire. The requirements on fire safety are that structures must be designed and built such that, in the case of fire: • load-bearing capacity can be assumed to be maintained for a specific period of time • the generation and spread of fire and smoke is limited

Building regulations are veered towards functional or performance criteria and accelerated by the CDP.

They are presented as number of storeys permitted for the use of wood in load-bearing structures, wooden facade claddings and visible wood surfaces on walls, ceilings and floors in flats and escape routes. Major differences between European countries have been identified, both in terms of the number of storeys permitted in timber structures, and of the types and/or amounts of visible wood surfaces in interior and exterior applications.

safety design of buildings, in relation to building materials and structures. These are the initial and the fully developed fire.

In the initial fire, the building content and furnishing, for example furniture, is of major importance both for the initiation of the fire and its development, but these are not subject to building regulations.

Surface linings on walls and ceilings may also play an important role in the initial fire, especially in escape routes. Limitations of their reaction to www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

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Technology

Jeremy Levin, Los Angeles, US

fire performance are included in most building regulations.

In the fully developed fire, the performance of load-bearing and separating structures is important in order to limit the fire to the compartment of fire origin. This is called the fire resistance of the building structure.

There are two basic routes to verify the fire resistance of building element: by testing according to recognised national or international standards; or through calculation.

The most renowned international fire test method for fire resistance is ISO 834. For calculation, structural Eurocodes have been developed for all structural materials, containing one general part and one for structural fire design.

The one for timber structures is called Eurocode 5. It introduces the design methods for calculation of the structural stability of timber structures in the event of fire, applying the classification for criterion R for load-bearing function, and criteria E and I for separating functions, based on the so-called component

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Although most countries do not have specific requirements, timber structures often cap their limit at eight storeys.

additive design method.

Generally speaking, timber structures can obtain high performance for fire resistance, while the performance of wood or wood-based linings in the initial fire may be less favourable and also more difficult to quantify.

Technical Guideline For Europe The very first technical guideline on the

European level for the fire-safe use of timber structures and wood products in buildings is the result of the European project FireInTimber, Fire of Innovative Timber structures.

The project was conducted from 2007-2010 in close cooperation with 14 partners from nine countries. The key objective was to provide new possibilities for wood products in construction through proper fire design.

Technology

The technical guideline aims to provide scientific knowledge and covers the extended use of European design codes and standards, practical guidance and examples for fire safe design and principles of performance-based design.

The guideline presents information for architects, engineers, educators, regulatory authorities and the building industry.

The guideline is focused on structural fire design by providing the detailed guidance on separating and load-bearing functions of timber structures under standard fire exposure. Reference is made to the Fire Part of Eurocode 5 and, where new knowledge is available, to other references. Depending on national regulations, some of the new design methods may need approval of competent authority.

The guideline also includes information on reaction to the fire performance of wood products according to the new European classification system.

The importance of proper detailing in building design is stressed by practical examples. Active measures of fire protection and quality of construction workmanship and inspection are presented as important means for fulfilling the fire safety objectives.

The guideline comprises about 200 pages in total, including the following chapters:

Timber buildings Fire safety in buildings European requirements Wood products as linings, floorings, claddings and facades 5. Separating structures, 6. Load-bearing timber structures 7. Timber connections 8. Fire stops, service installations and detailing in timber structures 9. Novel products and their implementation 10. Active fire protection 11. Performance-based design 12. Quality of construction workmanship and inspection

Timber buildings can be as fire safe as any other type of building, but national

regulations still form obstacles and technical design solutions are available only in some countries.

A recent European guideline presents information on calculation tools for the fire resistance of timber structures and can be used worldwide. Further development and application of new technologies for performance-based design will facilitate extended and fire safe use of timber in buildings.

A major remaining task is to create a system for harmonising the national building regulations. A promising tool is to use fire safety engineering to replace or at least complement present prescriptive regulations. There is a need for exchange of experience between countries and continents. FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3204

Visit us at

XYLEXPO

08.05. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 12.05.2012 in Milan, Italy Hall 2 / Booth no. B04

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ENQUIRY NO. 347

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Panels

Winning A

Clean Fight As industry guidelines become increasingly restrictive, producers are more open than ever to the possibilities that alternative resins have to offer. FDM Asia talks to Berliana Harnadewi, marketing manager for Asia at Huntsman, about the current issues the panel industry is facing and how methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) can provide the ideal solution.

What are some of the challenges panel manufacturers are facing?

There is no doubt that the Japanese F★★★★ formaldehyde emission standards are getting increasingly stringent, as a result of increasing living standard expectations from buyers for higher quality products. Panel producers, in turn, want to sell higher quality products so that they can achieve better profit margins.

Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) is being considered by producers who want to take advantage of this ‘no-added formaldehyde’ solution.

Many of our customers are keen to meet industry set emission standards by using a complete eMDI system. For other producers, they are seeking ways in which they can improve line speed when manufacturing Super E0 and E0 panels, which can be achieved by using the substance as a catalyst with melamine urea formaldehyde (MUF) resin.

Furthermore, the substance also improves stability during production which helps to reduce the reject rate and improve the ease of operation.

In order to really illustrate how seriously the industry is taking such standards, I attended a formaldehyde forum in Kuala Lumpur at the end of 2011, which highlighted the concern the market has on formaldehyde emission levels. It

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is something that people really are taking on board and keen to take actions against now rather than later down the line.

The changing classification of formaldehyde has forced wood manufacturers and the resin industries to become more innovative and develop new technologies to address the situation. At this period of time, MDI is certainly one of the best alternatives to help wood based panel industries reach the Japanese F★★★★ formaldehyde emission standards whilst also delivering a superior quality product.

What are the key considerations when switching to a new resin?

There are two priorities for producers when selecting the right resin for the job at hand: consistency in quality and cost effectiveness.

Producers need the assurance that the resin they use will produce panels to their exact requirements and expectations, in terms of physical properties and performance. Consistency is crucial for them to ensure return business and to protect their reputation so any resin needs to guarantee this every time.

Within the current climate, cost is of more concern than ever. If resin suppliers can demonstrate the cost efficiency of their solutions, based on requirements and cost per use, in a realistic format, then producers are sure to be interested.

Panels Why is the industry slow to change to MDI? There still remains a misconception with some producers that MDI poses increased health and safety risks compared to using traditional formaldehyde based resins, but this really is unfounded and untrue.

When working with any chemical, there are certain environmental, health and safety (EHS) issues that must be addressed, and MDI resins are no different at all. All that is needed is a dedicated approach to EHS from the outset.

Working alongside certain customers, we can assist them in complying with international, national and regional standards and attaining a safe production environment. In Asia, we have local environment, health and safety experts to ensure complete compliance with all necessary procedures and best practices.

We are confident that by helping new customers understand more about the product from the inside out, it will in turn lead to continued rising levels of uptake of this technology.

What is more, we are committed to continuous improvement in EHS procedures and together with our clients we strive to make sure the highest standards are upheld for the benefit of everyone concerned.

Do you think more manufacturers will turn to MDI resins instead?

The Asia Pacific market has really started to open up to the possibilities of using MDI in the production of composite wood panels and we are very encouraged by the response we’ve had in the past couple of years.

We feel this has been greatly influenced by our dedicated ‘on the ground’ support work and the success stories we’ve had from customers who have implement MDI in a very cost effective way whilst also benefiting from enhanced physical characteristics of the finished panels and increased productivity.

For example, in the production of particleboard, using MDI can provide an increase in press speed of 10-20 percent.

More and more customers are asking us for an industrial trial which indicates to us how open producers really are to new technologies. Having had such successes inspires confidence and I’m convinced the entire APAC region will see the benefits of MDI. What do you think will drive the market this year?

For sure, industry legislations such as the Japanese F★★★★ emission standard will be the main driver, especially in order to fulfill the requirement of quality end products to feed the export market. In my mind, MDI remains the choice to meet this requirement.

As I’ve said, Asian composite wood panel producers are becoming more and more open to MDI technology and much of the focus for us is ensuring we nurture interest and cultivate an open dialogue.

Part of this dialogue needs to be about informing the industry on what MDI resins are, how they can be utilised and the long-term benefits; once this message gets through, we are confident that MDI will become the resin of choice for the majority as the practical application results really do speak for themselves. FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3301

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

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The Versatile

NEW KING Of Flooring Laminate flooring has evolved from a niche product into a multi-billion dollar business. There are a number of reasons for it ascension in the world of wood-based floorings. By Kalin Datchev, director of operations China, Chinafloors

L

aminate flooring was originally developed in Sweden in 1977, spread throughout Europe in the 1980s and became widely available in the 1990s. With the introduction of glueless laminates around 10 years ago, its development undertook another dramatic growth spurt. As a result, within three decades, laminate flooring has grown tremendously from a niche product used mainly to improve fiberboard factory production rates by using excessive capacity, into a multi-billion dollar production business with numerous manufacturing facilities around the world.

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Laminate flooring has a current estimated worldwide market share of 20 percent among all floor coverings and it is still growing. It has long become the dominant flooring product in Europe, has a very strong and consistently increasing market share in Asia and in the past decade, has been the fastest growing floor covering by volume and penetration in the huge and lucrative, traditionally carpetdominated, US market.

Laminate flooring is characterised by its consistent quality and excellent usage characteristics combined with easy installation and low maintenance costs. Modern laminate flooring is robust, shockproof, impact and pressure resistant, including point loads from heavy furniture. It is scratchproof and abrasion resistant due to a particularly hard surface coating.

Authentic-looking surfaces are immune to discoloration and colour-fading. Antistatic, dust-repellent and anti-allergic,

Surfaces & Flooring The second, middle or core layer is made out of high density fibreboard (HDF), which is the main part of the laminate plank and into which the connecting system is profiled.

Good-quality HDF with sufficient density is preferable since Laminate Flooring Technology it gives the final product needed solidity and dimensional The basic structure of laminate flooring hasn’t changed much stability as well as guaranteeing sufficient strength for the since its introduction. However, continuous advances in the locking system. manufacturing technology, raw materials, chemicals and, The third, bottom or balance layer consists of impregnated not least, in the machinery available, have turned modern paper. This layer provides additional strength to the laminate laminate flooring into a high-quality product with excellent plank, preventing it from bending or warping, as well as and very consistent usage characteristics. providing additional dimensional stability and protection against moisture seeping from below.

This layer is around 0.2 mm thick and its strength and thickness should be matched up with the top layer. The balance paper is usually printed in a uniform colour since it’s not visible when the product is in use.

The end result is a product that consists of over 90 percent natural wood and combines the best characteristics of natural wood floors with the strong surface of a melamine-faced board.

A laminate plank has a thickness between six to 12 mm with thicker laminates becoming more and more popular because it is a stronger, more stable product with better noise characteristics, Laminate floors are constructed using direct pressure laminate (DPL) and high pressure laminate (HPL). as well as a more high-end feel.

Laminate floors are constructed using two different methods of manufacture: direct pressure laminate (DPL) and Laminate Flooring Manufacturing Process high pressure laminate (HPL). The large majority of modern The modern laminate flooring factory is a model of efficiency, laminate is DPL due to its ease and speed of manufacture quality and precision. and easily-achievable consistent quality at a moderate The first step in the manufacturing process is to impregnate production cost. the raw décor paper into sheets or rolls. This is done in an The basic structure of DPL flooring consists of three impregnation line. The raw paper is introduced into a bath layers: of melamine resin where abrasion-resistance chemicals are First, a top layer which gives the flooring its look (colour, added. The paper absorbs the resin and is then dried, but surface structure, gloss and touch), as well as providing a the resin doesn’t completely cure. hard, scratch-resistant, surface. Depending on the type of Alternatively, two separate sheets of paper can be used. production process used, the top layer can be made out of In this case, one sheet carries the colour print and the other one or two sheets of impregnated décor paper. The overall carries the abrasion-resistant chemicals. In this case, both thickness of this layer is between 0.2 and 0.4 mm. sheets are impregnated with melamine resin separately.

The décor paper for the top layer can be printed into The bottom balance layer is also impregnated with a variety of wood grains and designs as well as stone-like melamine resin but no abrasion-resistant chemicals are looks. This is determined during the printing of the décor paper. The surface can have Wear-resistant overlay impregnated different textures, gloss level and feel; this with aluminum oxide is determined during the hot pressing of the Decor layer with wood grain product. And finally, the edges of the plank Loc for HDF (High Density Fiberboard) glueless can also be made beveled, giving the product installation Balancing layer the look and feel and real wood. This is done through profiling. laminate flooring is easy to clean and is suitable for hot water underfloor heating systems. And, of course, it is durable.

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Surfaces & Flooring added there since abrasion resistance is not required at the backside of the flooring plank.

The second step in the manufacturing process is pressing.

Modern DPL is pressed in a hydraulic press capable of creating high pressure and heat. The HDF is placed on top of the bottom balance layer and the top layer is placed on top of the HDF. Then the resulting ‘sandwich’ is pressed together for a pre-determined amount of time. The pressure and temperature of the press are strictly controlled during this process to ensure a smooth, clear surface and strong bonding between the three layers.

During this process, the final surface and structure of the laminate flooring is being determined. Different looks, structures and gloss levels are possible and can be achieved by placing a different structured steel plate in the press.

This steel plate makes contact with the top paper layer thus giving the product its final look.

During the pressing process, the melamine resin that was used in the paper impregnation process acts to provide a strong permanent bond between the top and bottom paper layers and the middle HDF core. No additional adhesive or other chemicals are needed during this process, making it an efficient process.

The end result is a big (usually 1.25 by 2.45 m) laminated sheet called a masterboard. At this point, one can already observe the finished surface of the flooring and perform initial tests for factors such as abrasion resistance, gloss level, colour fidelity and surface clarity.

The third step is the cutting of the resulting big board (masterboard) into individual planks. The masterboard is taken to a multi-plate saw which cuts the board into smaller pieces. The size of the small planks determines the final size of the product. After this step, the end product consists of small individual planks which are very similar to the final product but can’t be easily installed. The small planks are then given sufficient time to cool off, during which, they will settle in their final shape.

The fourth step is the profiling of the individual planks into finished flooring. Since the planks are fully cooled down, they can be safely profiled in a precise shape knowing they will preserve this shape. The profiling is done in a high-speed, fully automated profiling line where precision diamond tools cut into the sides of the plank, creating a matching surfaces that can be later installed together.

Modern laminates almost exclusively use a variation of several patented locking systems in existence, which allow for a fast and easy glueless installation. Most profiling machines also have laser printers attached to them, which print product information at the bottom of the plank.

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The fifth stage, which is optional, involves some finishing touches to a product which has a bevel. Many modern machines incorporate this in the profiling process.

The final stage is the packing line where the finished planks go through a final quality inspection and then are packed in boxes and stacked in pallets. The laminate flooring is then ready to be shipped to its customers.

The Look Of Laminate Flooring The colour and design of the floor surface is determined by the print on the décor paper. Manufacturers today employ professional designers and colour specialists to ensure realistic, pleasing and high-fidelity results for their designs.

The surface and structure of laminate flooring are determined by the steel pressplate used during the pressing process. The look and feel of the surface are crucial for the realistic impression the floor gives. The differences between modern laminate and real wood are becoming increasingly

The colour and design of the floor surface is determined by the print of the decor paper.

difficult to detect because laminate floorings now look very much like their natural models.

Today’s laminate floors have a plethora of available surfaces including rough wood finish or wood grain, matt, smooth or glossy finishes as well as embossed and different tile- or stone-like finishes. Successful manufacturers nowadays invest a lot of time and effort in improving the look and feel of the surfaces they produce by designing their own press plates to use for their products.

Quality Management System & Quality Standards A well-organised laminate flooring plant has quality checks at every stage of production, yet manages to maintain a smooth flow of the product through the different manufacturing

Surfaces & Flooring steps. Well-maintained machinery, combined with a good quality-assurance system, make laminate flooring production an efficient process with low inferior products and reject rates.

Laminates are tested, among other things, for squareness, lack of bending/warping, height-difference, surface clarity and consistent gloss level in addition to many other characteristics.

An important, although often forgotten step, is the simple visual test of the finished product.

A good laminate floor is not only technically perfect but is also pleasing to the eye. With the availability of modern technology, good manufacturers increasingly often distinguish themselves by making flooring that not only performs well but also just looks better than the others.

Environment & Health Modern laminate flooring production is an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient process. Machines are designed

ENQUIRY NO. 319

and maintained to work with maximum efficiency which is helped by proper production planning.

Since laminate production is a multi-step process, this is very important.

Waste is controlled to a minimum. Rejected materials are re-used for packing, pallet making or for protection boards. Even the dust produced during profiling is captured by sophisticated filter equipment and re-cycled.

Laminate flooring in itself is a clean, allergenic-free and easy to clean product. Modern laminate is also anti-static and, as a result, dust practically does not adhere to the floor at all. Due to these qualities, laminate floorings are not only ideally suited for allergy sufferers, small children and families with pets but also for homes that are exposed to harsh and dusty environment. FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3401

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Furniture Design, Hardware & Fittings

The Origins Of

F

DESIGN

urniture design is a field that is extremely varied, with a multitude of styles that are continuously changing.

While terms like ‘art deco’, ‘modernism’, ‘grunge’ or ‘traditional’ are used to describe different styles, they are essentially just guidelines. Design is a personal issue that is subjected to different interpretations by the user.

Culture is a pervasive factor in all facets of life, and this includes design. There are distinct styles seen across the different continents, with countries in the same region remaining distinct but sharing some traits as well. Part of the similarities can be attributed to the effect physical factors had on culture development, such as climate and natural resources. Cultural differences have also led to separate areas of focus in furniture

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Herry Lawford, London, UK

History, experience and geological factors are some of the contributors to culture, which ultimately forms the basis of a designer’s motivation.

By Sherlyne Yong.

design, which can be anything from material usage, manufacturing processes, aesthetic designs or functionality.

British designer and materials specialist, Chris Lefteri believes that culture has a huge effect on furniture design, with national identity and design identity playing a role that may sometimes be subtle. As he has observed differences in students across multiple nations: “(In) the US generally speaking, the design industry is more commercially minded. It is much more about business.” He has noted that students in Asia place a greater focus on skills and craftsmanship, while he has added that: “In Europe, say in Holland or the UK, it is all about the idea, being radical, or subversive.”

Cultures Influenced By Wood Availability A stark contrast can be seen among the entries in FDA 2012 from the works of student designers in the International Furniture and Craft Fair Indonesia, and those of the Ideation Award 2012, held in conjunction with the Malaysian International Furniture Fair. The Malaysian and Indonesian designers used wood heavily in the construction of their designs, while the FDA contestants were mostly using mixed media, such as various combinations of metal, leather and wood. For instance, every single designer in the Ideation Award 2012 utilised wood in their designs, with a majority using it as their base material.

Metropolitan Influences Culture is formed by history, but changes in relation to developing times. This is evident in the designs of the FDA finalists. As Doonyapol has shared, sometimes design follows technology, but at other times it leads. Changes in our environment have created an influence in design trends. For

instance, while Indonesia used to have abundant wood resources, materials such as teak have been overused, with deforestation exacerbating the situation.

Designers have been looking for alternatives that are more sustainable, like Evelyn Lioe’s choice of Indonesian Sungkai wood. She shares: “In the past ten years, Indonesia has been discovering many ways of forest preservation. One of those missions is to seek a replacement timbre such as Sungkai and Kamper. Sungkai is now becoming popular because of its ability to grow throughout the year.” It takes much less time to grow as opposed to teak, which requires decades to centuries.

Although Hong Kong and Singapore are places in close proximity to Indonesia and Malaysia, the design ideas originating from these cities have a culture that pushes for innovation instead of upholding traditions. Their designs are driven by the use of novel materials and/or manufacturing processes. Changing living spaces have also affected the conceptual idea behind a piece.

Instead of using conventional materials, designers from these cities have been experimenting with alternatives that are less common in the market. Willie Tay toyed with the idea of

ENQUIRY NO. 348

Indonesia and Malaysia share a similar wood culture, such that it is used heavily to construct houses and furniture. The extensive use of wood is attributed to its availability in the region and accessibility to it. As a natural resource of both countries, it was used throughout the countries’ history. It was used for perpetually everything, and houses were built entirely out of it.

This has led to the development of the woodworking craft, with Indonesia being known for its woodworkers. In return, the establishment of such skills as the country’s niche has furthered the cycle, where wood remains as the choice of material used. Influences can also be seen in the work of local designers, such as that of Ideation Award finalist Sim Chia Yi, who tapped on her Malaysian identity to create a chair that referenced the culture of ‘Bersila’, or sitting cross-legged.

Dee Adams

Furniture Design, Hardware & Fittings

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Dee Adams

Furniture Design, Hardware & Fittings

using bamboo charcoal in furniture design after seeing it used in other industries, and eventually made his own in a man-made kiln. Likewise, Rafaela Marsha Ciputra was the first to create a freestanding chair made out of concrete canvas — a material normally used for emergency shelters.

Changes in the environment such as the proliferation of smaller living spaces, and a faster pace of life, have led to the birth of multi-functional furniture. The increasing need for convenience has also led to the use of materials that are durable and easily replaceable, as well as furniture that can be easily stowed away. Ng Ka Wai has created a piece that doubles up as both a lounge chair and a rocking chair. It comes in a ready-to-assemble flat pack, is storage friendly, and employs components suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

Designs Highlighting Wood’s Nature Scandinavian designs are one of the most well known styles, and characterised by the heavy use of wood, simplicity, warm tones and bright colours. It is a popular and long-lasting culture that is set to stay, as carpenters and woodworkers develop a love for the inherent qualities of wood. “Wood will always be my favourite material. I am a cabinetmaker, and in Scandinavia, we have a strong tradition for using wood. It makes sense for this piece of furniture, I wouldn’t know what else to use,” says designer Jonas Jensen.

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Extensive wood usage in Scandinavian furniture can be traced to the climate of Nordic countries, where frigid weather is common. Designers have been using wood for its warm features to brighten up a space and make it less dreary. Most furniture highlights the warm brown tones of wood, with the only product decoration being the wood grain.

Spaces are also commonly based on a white palette with bursts of colour, which add a sense of spaciousness. Clean lines and simplicity are also favoured qualities in Scandinavia, mirroring the valued attributes of calmness and clarity.

The pragmatic approaches of Scandinavian people have resulted in functionality and comfort taking precedence within this style of furniture design. Sweden’s people centric society, where citizens are considered the country’s most valuable assets, has brought about a strong ergonomic focus in its furniture making. This has led to the rise of user centred design, with the needs of users being a key component of the design process.

Although shared experience has created some sense of homogeneity within the design industry, individuals still manage to retain their distinctiveness as design is influenced by many different factors, which comes in countless permutations.

FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3501

Furniture Design, Hardware & Fittings

A Fitting Function F

urnishing is the first thing that comes to most people’s mind when décor is mentioned. While furniture is a major contributor to décor, supporting players like hardware and fittings play an equally important role. They provide both aesthetic appeal and functionality, which creates added value, as designers no longer adopt a singular focus on visual appeal but user-design interactions too.

Hardware such as hinges and knobs can play an integral role in achieving certain architectural themes. They make huge differences in country, renaissance, contemporary and mod styled décor among others, and can do this both directly and indirectly.

A Call For Attention The direct approach can be seen most extensively in country and eclectic styles. In these types of décor, hardware plays a pivotal role by standing out and drawing attention to itself. It generally makes use of hinges and knobs that are highly decorative and ranging in colours and sizes. For a country styled kitchen, dark coloured brass hinges are commonly used in tandem with neutral toned cabinets. At the same time, they are often of intricate designs with high level of details, which aims to add complexity to an otherwise simple look. An eclectic style may also employ a mix of knobs and hinges in varying shapes, sizes, and colours.

While the aforementioned themes sought for fittings that stood out in terms of colour or the level of detailing, a contemporary or minimalistic theme would focus more on sleek looking accessories. The choice of material in this case would most definitely be metal, such as steel or

Sukanto Debnath, Hyderabad, India

Contrary to popular notion, hardware and fittings provide more than just practical benefits by contributing towards a design. By Sherlyne Yong aluminium with a smooth finish. This is opposed to wood fittings or burnished handles that can be used in country or eclectic styles. Instead, hardware used in contemporary architecture is understated and comes in basic shapes and muted colours, such as black or silver.

Working Behind The Scenes Hardware and fittings can also be used to enhance the aesthetic value of a room indirectly. Although unseen, the functions provided by the hardware can contribute to a particular theme. For instance, they are often concealed in mod styles, which strive for smooth, neat lines.

Besides concealed hinges, mechanisms such as lift systems can also be employed to create a clean and integrated feel. Companies like Blum and Hafele are offering lift systems for cabinets that utlise gliding mechanisms to provide a smooth and noiseless movement.

Mod designs can also make use of automated lifting systems to enhance its futuristic vibe. A clean look is what the mod style aims to provide. The use of lifting systems that open and close automatically with a touch of a button serves that purpose. Such systems are powered electrically and compatible with different types of overhead cabinets. They have the capabilities of adapting to different door orientations as well as bi and single fold fronts.

As manufacturers understand the dual roles of hardware and fittings, they have been rolling out more innovations and product lines to cater to the needs of an increasing FDM range of architectural styles.

ENQUIRY NO. 3502

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57

Geoff Wong, Brisbane, Australia

Wood & Sustainability

Responsible Management The Remedy To Forest Resources The future of our forests as the major terrestrial ecosystem will depend to a great extent how responsible we manage this key resource in order to maintain its multiple services for our well-being. By Florian Kraxner, research scholar and deputy leader of Ecosystems Services and Management Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

T

he complex forest ecosystems are extremely diverse and range from dry desert shrub land in climate zones like those of Mediterranean Europe to temperate and boreal forests in the Nordic Countries, Canada or Russia, to large evergreen rain forests in the tropics of Asia, Africa and South America.

The latest survey on the state of the forests by United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 2010 finds that forests covered some 31 percent of the world’s total land area — about 4,033 million hectares. Although only seven percent of the entire forest area is planted forest, this share attracts more and more attention by the industry, forest practitioners and scientists.

The reason is that from pristine forest, some 13 million hectares disappear every year. Due to substantive afforestation activities in countries such as China, the installation of forest plantations in Asia and South America, or natural expansion of forests like in Europe, the actual net loss amounts to only half of that amount.

However, the global forest area is shrinking year by year accompanied with additional undesirable consequences such as loss of livelihoods and jobs, biodiversity and living space for animals, food and clean water, fuel wood and

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Wood & Sustainability

wildxplorer

other energy resources, as well as soil, nutrients and medical substances, to name just a few.

Still, the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people directly depend on forests, while forests provide a home to more than 300 million people worldwide. Approximately 14 million people are formally employed in the forestry sector, while many more depend directly and indirectly on forests and forest products for their livelihood.

For instance, mainly in the developing world, wood-based fuels are the dominant source of energy for more than two billion poor people. In Africa, over 90 percent of harvested wood is used for energy. Moreover, wood is not the only resource taken from forests. About 80 percent of people in the developing world use non-wood forest products (eg: fruits, nuts, spices, animals, honey, oils, fishes, rubber, resins, gums, medicinal products and oils for cosmetics, etc.) for health and nutritional needs and as their source of income.

Global forests are home to 80 percent of the terrestrial biodiversity.

The annual total global trade in wood and non-wood forest products is valued at around US$400 billion, out of which the value of non-timber forest products is estimated at US$18.5 billion with edible products accounting for the biggest share.

Forest timber and non-timber products are estimated to contribute about one percent of world gross domestic product (GDP). These figures are not taking into account yet the value of biodiversity and indirect income as well as value added created through forests — presently it is difficult to value in money terms the fact that the global forests are home to 80 percent of the terrestrial biodiversity, providing habitats for more than half of the world’s known plant and animal species.

Challenges Of Future Forest Management Despite our economic, ecological and social dependence on forests, we are still allowing them to disappear. While most deforestation takes place in tropical countries, most developed

countries with temperate and boreal forest ecosystems — and more recently, countries in the Near East and Asia — are experiencing a slight stabilisation or even an increment in their forest areas. Also, monoculture-tree-plantations are contributing to such positive effects.

However, tree plantations by far cannot provide services similar to a natural forest. Examples of such services include biodiversity or subsistence agro-forestry and livelihood, as well as soil and water protection. A reduction of forest quality — forest degradation — is an immediate result of converting pristine forests directly or indirectly in plantations.

The world’s ecosystems and forests in particular currently face numerous and diverse challenges, threats and risks.

Climate change may exceed the stability thresholds and buffering capacity of forest ecosystems by the middle of this century in many of the world’s regions.

Forest and other ecosystem losses and degradation are an intensive, relentless process and deforestation in the tropics continues at an alarming level. Social issues such as corruption remain an inherent feature of the world’s forest sector and governance of forests in many countries is considered insufficient. However, the challenging problems facing the globe’s forests cannot be solved only from within the forest sector.

The world is developing under a mounting shortage of resources (ie: land, water, food and energy) and growing conflicts in policies, strategies and lacking implementation of sustainable use. Consequently, ecosystems and ecosystems management — including forest management — should be considered in a substantially wider context, closely interconnected with other land uses and economic sectors.

Only an integrated view and approach driven and accompanied by holistic scientific analyses can be the major future objective of adequate forest management. As foresters and forest scientists, we have to put our focus on an integrated systems view of all relevant terrestrial ecosystems.

Solutions Through Responsible Management Because of the huge economic benefit of forests, the demand for commercial timber and other products is ever increasing.

Demand comes from many different forest industry sectors, starting from the logging industry, pulp and paper, or the saw milling sector, to the industries further downstream the production chain such as the board, panel and flooring producers, or the furniture sector. Also newer industries such as the energy sector or the biomaterials or biorefinery industry, down to — so far rather loosely connected industries such as the food industry or the agricultural sector — are increasingly seeking similar raw materials or land to expand into. www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

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Wood & Sustainability

Jeffery Turner, California, US

Essentially, all of these source their demand from the same By mid-2011, the global area of certified forest was 375 feedstock resource: the forest. A projected world population of million hectares which is about nine percent of the total nine billion in 2050 and the needs to supply this vast amount global forest area. The potential supply of industrial roundof people with food, clean water, energy and fibre-based wood from these certified forests was estimated as 447 raw materials put forests under extreme pressure and make million cubic metres in 2011, about 25 percent of global careful planning and environmentally sound and responsible roundwood production. forest management indispensable.

While in the northern hemisphere, Canada, the US and Already, there are market signs of a growing shortage Russia are leading the ranking of the countries with most of the especially of tropical hardwoods — raw material for highly certified forest area (each between 30 to 150 million hectares specified industries — and other alarming signals of irreversible of certified forest area), in the southern hemisphere Australia, ecological and social damages in all types of forests and forest Brazil and Malaysia are on top of the ranking (each between areas. This is mostly due to over-harvesting of timber and 5 to 11 million hectares of certified forest area). Malaysian clear-cutting of forests given the increasing demand from a Timber Certification Scheme, for instance, has increased its growing human population. certified area in Malaysia by In order to maintain the five to seven percent annually multiple ecological and social since 2008 and has been fully services offered by our forests, a endorsed by PEFC. combined and global approach Also CoC certification has of — most importantly — been growing exponentially sustainable forest management, since their introduction in 1997. halting deforestation, tackling In 2011, the total number of of illegal logging through forest CoC certificates increased to law enforcement, a healthy 28,423. This indicates that mixture of production forest and trade interest in certification forest conservation, responsible as a tool to demonstrate high global trade of commodities, environmental performance behavioural change of society has remained strong, despite and last but not least, capacity the recession over the past A combined and global approach is essential to maintain the building activities and educative couple of years. multiple ecological and social services offered by our forests. measures from early school age CoC certification is also is considered essential. seen as a major marketing Sustainable and responsible forest management minimises tool for enterprises in the forest sector, differentiating their the disturbance of forest ecosystems and it is desirable when products and improving their reputation and competitiveness forest diversity is threatened by overuse, resource exploitation, in the market. In the northern hemisphere, there are countries old age and poor management. Such kind of sustainable such as the US, UK and Germany (each between 2,700 to management involves harvesting that is based on a simple 4,100 CoC certificates) dominating the ranking of countries system: the annual cut in a forest shall not exceed the with the most certificates issued, while in the south Japan annual growth. However, the future of the forests can only and Hong Kong (400 to 1,200 CoC certificates) dominate the be safeguarded if good management policies and practices listed countries. are also controlled and certified.

Although these figures can be seen as proof of success for forest certification, one existing problem is that globally, the certified area is not evenly distributed. More than half (54 Forest Management Certification percent) of the certified forest area is in North America, just Forest certification is a two-stage process. First, forests are under one quarter (23 percent) in the EU/EFTA region and 12 independently certified to a recognised standard, such as the percent in other Europe and the CIS. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Programme for the This means that almost 90 percent of certified forests are in Endorsement of Certification Schemes (PEFC), the Sustainable the northern hemisphere and the remaining 11 percent is split Forest Initiative (SFI), or the Malaysian Timber Certification across the southern hemisphere. It is, however, the southern Council (MTCC). The second step is the certification of hemisphere, ie: the tropics, where deforestation takes place operations in the timber supply chain, referred to as the 'chain at its largest scale. of custody' (CoC) certification.

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Wood & Sustainability Nevertheless, the discussion of forest management and forest products certification has not only led to an increased market of certified products in the north-western hemisphere, but also seems to have impacted the Asian-Pacific region with its huge wood demand and importance for the global timber market.

Countries that very recently have developed national forest certification systems include Australia, China, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia. Other countries such as Myanmar, New Zealand, India, the Republic of Korea or Vietnam are currently working on or discussing the development of national certification standards.

Also, China is paying much more attention to the increased use of certified materials in wood products manufacturing.

Yet, Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s domestic market for certified forest products is far from being mature and most certified forest products are presently still exported. Interestingly, in Japan, paper products companies outnumber wood products companies in CoC certificates. Though, Japan is an important market place for timber import for the housing construction industry and green building programmes provide an incentive to use certified wood products. Most green building programmes in Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific include credits or points for using certified wood.

as important as to extend forest conservation (presently 12 percent of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s forests) with special focus on high biodiversity hotspots. On the other hand, the idea of stopping net deforestation also includes taking parts of old-growth forest under sustainable management in order to avoid its loss to other land uses as well as to comply with the increasing demand for fibre.

Furthermore, trade in forest products plays an important role. On the one hand, trade barriers for e.g. food and biofuel commodities need to be lowered and on the other hand, forest products trade needs to support a more responsible and sustainable forest management, while trade in threatened species needs to be banned.

After all, ambitious targets with respect to stopping deforestation might only be achieved if each individual of our societies realizes that a change towards more resource awareness with respect to our ecological footprint is of utmost importance.

The idea of societal change has to become increasingly part of capacity building efforts and needs to be communicated and promoted together with the right values and attitudes for forest ecosystems and their multiple services for society.

FDM

Stopping Deforestation

ENQUIRY NO. 3601

ENQUIRY NO. 316

Overall, sustainable forest management is seen as a major tool to address deforestation. Deforestation implies the longterm or permanent loss of forest cover and also implies transformation into another land use.

The environmental non-governmental organisation World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) advocates for Zero Net Deforestation and Degradation (ZNDD) by 2020. ZNDD is defined as no net forest loss through deforestation and no net decline in forest quality through degradation.

In its Living Forests Report, WWF shows with the help of global land-use models developed at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), how such an ambitious challenge and target can be met in order to stem the depletion of forest-based biodiversity and ecosystem services, and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

Achieving ZNDD needs huge political will and requires great care if it is to be achieved equitably and sustainably, while protecting livelihoods of forest dependent peoples. It will also demand development of strategies that are environmentally and socially appropriate to national and local contexts. To address deforestation, complimentary measures in addition to shifting towards certified sustainable forest management practices are needed.

Controlling illegal logging by introducing the corresponding procurement legislation in the import countries is seen to be www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIAâ&#x20AC;&#x201A; april 2012

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Wood & Sustainability

Q & A On American Hardwood Lumber Grading (No. 2 & No. 3 Grades)

The grading rules for North American hardwood lumber were established more than 110 years ago by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA). A basic understanding of these rules is essential in successfully buying and/or using hardwoods from North America. In this Q & A, the association will provide explanations on some common questions.

O

ver the years, numerous questions are received regarding the lower grades of No. 2 and No. 3 Common. So this is an explanation of these grades; what is permitted in the required cuttings and what the level of expectation should be.

In order to fully grasp these and all the grades, some standard definitions must be understood.

Cutting

A portion of a board or plank obtained by crosscutting or ripping, or by both. In the Common grades, a cutting shall be flat enough to surface two sides to standard surfaced thickness after it has been removed from the board.

In the grades of Selects and Better, the entire board must be flat enough to surface two sides to standard surfaced thickness. Diagonal cuttings are not permitted.

Clear-Face Cutting

A cutting having one clear face (ordinary season checks are admitted) and the reverse side sound as defined in sound cutting. The clear face of the cutting shall be on the poor side of the board except when otherwise specified.

Note: Season checks are considered ordinary if they will dress out at standard surfaced thickness.

Sound Cutting

A cutting free from rot, pith, shake and wane.

Texture is not considered. It will admit sound knots, bird pecks, stain, streaks or their equivalent, season checks not materially impairing the strength of a cutting, pin, shot and spot worm holes.

Other holes ¼ inch (6.35 mm) or larger are admitted but shall be limited as follows: one ¼ inch (6.35 mm) in average diameter in each cutting of less than 12 units; two ¼ inch (6.35 mm) or one ½ inch (12.7 mm) to each 12 units and on one side only of a cutting.

Note: Used when clear cuttings are not necessary and structural integrity is important.

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Wood & Sustainability No. 2 Common

This grade is actually a combination of two grades, No. 2A and No. 2B. When the order calls for No. 2 Common, there is no limit to the amount of No. 2A or No. 2B to make up the order. If the buyer wants just No. 2A or just No. 2B, this needs to be specified in the purchase order.

No. 2A Common

This is a clear-face cutting grade, similar to No. 1 Common and Better. The board is required to yield 50 percent clear cuttings on the poor side with the better face of these cutting being sound.

The other half (50 percent) of the board has no requirements. The NHLA grades are based on the required percentage needed for each grade, outside of the cuttings does not matter.

No. 2B Common

This is a sound cutting grade where the only requirements are that 50 percent of the board will yield sound cuttings. This means that defects, such as checks, stain and worm holes, are allowed in the required yield on the poor side of the board with the better face of these cuttings being sound as well. So all those boards that are heavily checked, gray and weathered, and sticker marked are most probably going into this sound grade.

No. 3 Common

This grade is also divided into two grades: No. 3A and No. 3B.

No. 3A Common

This is a clear-face cutting grade where 2/3 of the board is required to be clear from the poor side with the reverse side of these cuttings being sound. To put this into perspective, on a 10-inch board only a little over three inches needs to be clear. This is a grade that is suited for flooring where the board can be ripped first and then crosscut to obtain any kind of yield.

No. 3B Common

This is a sound cutting grade where only 25 percent of the board is required to be sound on the poor face with the reverse side of these cuttings being sound as well.

Numerous messages from North American suppliers have been received, saying that their customers are claiming on shipments of these lower grades. On re-inspection a lot of this material usually makes these lower grades.

Q

uestion:

We buy mostly basswood and tulipwood and have a question about the stickers being used when the lumber is kiln dried. The suppliers seem to be using a stick that has raised, diagonal lines running in intervals the length of the sticker, which in turn is leaving grooves in our lumber.

Are these defects?

A

nswer:

These ‘detailed’ stickers were invented to reduce the contact points between the stick surface and the board, allowing more air-flow and reducing the likelihood of sap stain.

These tiny grooves are rarely a problem because they are gone as soon as the board is run through a planer.

Any such irregularity on the surface of a rough sawn board can be ignored if the inspector determines that they will surface off to the standard surfaced thickness.

When rough sawn lumber is surfaced (planed) to a finished thickness, defects such as checks, stain, and warp are not considered when establishing the grade of a board, if they can be removed in the surfacing (planing) process. The finished thickness for lumber of 1 ½ inches (38.1 mm) and less can be determined by subtracting 3⁄16 inch (4.76 mm) from the nominal thickness. For lumber 1 ¾ inches (44.45 mm) and thicker, subtract ¼ inch (6.35 mm). FDM

ENQUIRY NO. 3602

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63

Exhibition Review

Homag Asia Inhouse Show February 29 – March 2, 2012 Singapore

T

he Homag Asia Inhouse Show was held in Singapore from February 29 to March 2, 2012, with a live demonstration of the company’s wood CAD/CAM software. The session was held by sales manager, Olaf Lehmann, who showcased the program’s intuitiveness, time-saving capabilities and its seamless integration into the machining process.

He showed participants how the software supported the entire furniture making process from idea conception to the end product, with the different suite of tools for varying stages of the process, such as planning, design, cutting, costing, and assembly.

Starting with the planning stage, a room-planning wizard with more than a hundred textures available for 3D rendering, can help save time with its pre-emptive abilities. It can make suggestions based on a chosen reference element and provide warnings about potential issues with a design. Participants saw the warning system in place when a chosen board length was unsuitable for a particular design.

The software further features an extensive database of libraries of furniture and supporting hardware. Designers can customise a standard shape from the library by changing its dimensions, orientation, and even the types of drillings required, or build a design from scratch if preferred, with options such as customising edges and offsets available as well. Parts can be aligned to other components by ratio, without the need for inputting an exact measurement. In addition, the software has a connection scan function that intuitively matches relevant fittings for articles in a particular size. It also changes drilling patterns accordingly to the hardware being used.

Presentation purposes can also be fulfilled with a function that takes a screen shot from a particular angle in the designed room. A preview that integrates real-life background images with the designed furniture is available, along with room plans that contain exact measurements.

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Lists were created in the next step, which included graphics that illustrated each article and its individual components. Information on the quantity of parts needed, joinery, and required hardware were also displayed on the list, and can be downloaded to Microsoft Excel.

In addition, Mr Lehmann mentioned the software’s compatibility with WoodWOP and CutRite applications, and showed participants how the machine was able to print labels for each individual board component, as it was being cut. The labels included a barcode that corresponded to the CNC file, which contained all relevant information pertaining to that piece.

The wood CAD/CAM software also has functions that can estimate overall production times, by calculating the machine handling time and man-hours needed. In addition, it has a costing component that can calculate the cost of each article and the overall project, once users fill in the prices of materials within the software’s catalogues. Users can easily retrieve details, such as the costliest project component.

According to him, what was demonstrated at the showcase is only 20 percent of what the system can do. There are many optional modules that can be adapted into the software, depending on the needs of the manufacturer. For instance, a rendering module can be added if 4D rendering is required.

The software is also compatible with all machines currently in use, even for the company’s machines that are already 10 to 15 years old. It can be used with alien machining once the necessary connections are acquired, with some needing additional configuration adjustments as well. FDM ENQUIRY NO. 3701

Advertorial

More Specialty Wood

CUTTING PROCESS

There is more requirements on wood cutting recently, Such as More efficiency, More accuracy and More safety.

Log need to cut into pieces, batten need to cut into pieces, How do deal with them?

Most wood factories cut them using the traditional ways, such as band saw machine. Let us compare against the three abovementioned requirements: Efficiency, accuracy, safety.

For example, if there is a need for slats, the thickness is 7mm, 20m³, One band saw machine.

How about the efficiency? Data shows that it is about three work days.

How about the accuracy? The feeding style of band saw

Here we introduce a new machine: Round Log Multi-

machine is manual operated, we can’t ensure the accurate,

rip Saw Machine. It can reach all demand: efficiency,

usually it is ±5mm at least.

accuracy and safety and can deal with wood diameter of

How about the safety? The band saw is exposed, it can injure operator easily.

50mm – 280mm. One day can cut 15-40m³ logs. All saws are covered.

RUIMA MACHINERY CO.,LTD

Address: No. 1 Show Room, Lunjiao Woodworking Machinery City, Xibian, Guangzhu Road, Licun, Lunjiao, Shunde Dist.

Guangdong, China Tel: +86-186-5828-7911 Fax: +86-757-8034-5399 E-mail: arron@sd-ruima.com.cn Web: www.woodworkingworlds.com

ENQUIRY NO. 350

Exhibition Review

IFFS/AFS 2012

T

he International Furniture Fair Singapore 2012/29th ASEAN Furniture Show (IFFS/AFS 2012), Deco Asia 2012 and The Hospitality Show 2012 took place from March 9 to 12 this year, at the Singapore Expo.

The event reinforces its status as Asia’s design-led furniture sourcing platform for the industry. Of particular significance are two brand new programmes — the Hospitality Design Furniture Converge Asia Conference and ‘SingaPlural’, the inaugural Singapore Furniture Design Week — that bring the latest in furniture and design to trade professionals and consumers alike.

This year, attendees have access to 512 companies from 26 countries at the shows. A breakdown of the exhibitor composition figures is indicative of Asia as the main driver of the economy, with over 80 percent of exhibitors from the ASEAN region and Asian countries. Many exhibitors from the ASEAN/Asian contingent have also chosen to launch their collections at the event. Of the total exhibitors, 30 percent are first-time exhibitors, consisting local, regional and international manufacturers.

With close to 5,000 pre-registered visitors and an expected total of 18,000 attendees (exact numbers not available at time of print), the show is also looking to host buying delegations from 29 different countries, indicative of a strong international presence to exhibitors, who relish the annual targeted opportunity to present renowned buyers with their latest designs and innovations.

Hospitality Design Furniture Converge Asia The conference serves as a knowledge-based platform at the annual exhibition. The introduction of the conference segment provides international delegates with a platform to network and

66 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

Singapore Expo Singapore March 9 – 12, 2012

exchange ideas. Clement Ng, business development director of IFFS, said: “Coming from all over Asia, the speakers provides broad and balanced perspectives, as well as opportunities to interact and exchange opinions.”

SingaPlural: Singapore Furniture Design Week Another first is the fringe event SingaPlural — Singapore Furniture Design Week, which ran alongside with the trade show. With multiple segments under its wing, the feature will showcase local and international design talents across various design disciplines, such as furniture, architecture, interior, graphic and fashion design. The showcase features 120 exhibitors’ designs at five stopovers around Singapore, including Singapore Expo.

To promote and develop design excellence in today’s ecoconscious society, the exhibition also encompasses a Green Pavilion this year, a debut collection of 10 local companies that are diverse in their approach towards sustainable practices.

This pavilion is curated by British designer and materials specialist, Chris Lefteri, who also shared his insights on the green business.

Andrew Ng, chairman of IFFS and presidential advisor of the Singapore Furniture Industries Council (SFIC) added: “In keeping with the industry’s development plans, we’ve intensified the show’s focus on global partnerships, design and sustainability. Working closely with DesignSingapore Council, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, SPRING Singapore and Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau, we are confident that this move will contribute to the island state’s goal of commanding 1.5 percent market share of the global furniture FDM trade by 2015.”

ENQUIRY NO. 3702

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ENQUIRY NO. 339

www.iwfatlanta.com

Exhibition Preview

Xylexpo 2012

May 8 – 12, 2012 Milan, Italy

X

ylexpo, the biennial international exhibition of woodworking technology and furniture industry supplies, will be held from May 8-12, 2012, at the Milan Exhibition Center Fieramilano-Rho. The show — the only Italian exhibition supported by Eumabois, the European federation of wood technology manufacturers, and by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development — will cover four halls with panel processing machines and technology in Halls 1 and 3; solid wood machining solutions in Hall 2; and suppliers and primary operation equipment and solutions in Hall 4.

Over 460 exhibitors have confirmed their participations, covering more than 30,000 sq m of total exhibition floor space.

Figures have indicated that companies are reducing their booth sizes to be more cost efficient. The result is precise layout designed with visitors in mind.

A technical seminar on wood drying, one of the many seminars of the exhibition, will be conducted on May 8 in collaboration with the Drying and Hydrometric Treatment Laboratory at Cnr-Ivalsa. On May 10, the first of two meetings organised by industry expert Attilio Griner, former manager of the Acimall Technical Office, will be held with focus on ‘penal

68 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

liabilities of woodworking machinery and plant users’. On the final day, May 12, a session will be dedicated to educating users on machines, quasi-machines and integrated systems.

There will also be three talk shows at the fair: On May 9, a debate on ‘biomass, opportunities and challenges for the wood industry’ will be organised by Xylon in collaboration with the wood department of FederlegnoArredo. A roundtable discussion will be held with the representatives of the packaging industry on May 10 on the topic of ‘wooden packaging: the road to real technology innovation’. The third and last talk show will be held on May 12 on the topic of ‘the questions of handicraft, the answers of technology’.

The exhibition will be held during Tew-Technology Exhibition Week, featuring technology shows including Plast (the international exhibition for plastics and rubber industries), Fluidtrans Compomac (the biennial international exhibition for fluid power technology and mechatronics) and Mechanical Power Transmission & Motion Control (the international biennial exhibition for mechanical power transmissions, motion control FDM and mechatronics).

ENQUIRY NO. 3703

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Calendar of Events APRIL

15-18: Ligno Novum – Woodtech

3-5: Dubaiwood

Hungexpo Budapest Exhibition Centre

AUGust

10 Albertirsai Str, Budapest, District X, Hungary

22-25: IWF 2012

Dubai International Convention &

Tel: +36 96/618 060

Georgia World Congress Center

Exhibition Center

Email: nagy.timea@xmeditor.hu

Atlanta, USA

Dubai

Website: www.lignonovum.hu

Tel: +404 693-8333

Tel: +9714 2829 299

Fax: +404 693-8350

Fax: +9714 2828 767

Email: sales@iwfatlanta.com

Email: info@dubaiwoodshow.com Website: www.dubaiwoodshow.com

JUNE

Website: www.iwfatlanta.com

6-8: Carrefour International Du Bois 2012 Centre des Salorges – BP 70 515

20-24: Technodomus 2012

30-2 Sep: Internationale Holzmesse 2012

44 105 Nantes Cedex 4 - France

Klagenfurter Messe, Betriebsgesellschaft mbH

Rimini Expo Center

Tel: +33 (0) 2 4073 6064

Messeplatz 1, A-9021 Klagenfurt am, Austria

Rimini, Italy

Fax: +33 (0) 2 4073 0301

Tel: +43 463 56800 0

Tel: +39 0541/744 759

Website: info@timbershow.com

Fax: +46 463 56800 28

Fax: +39 0541/744 751

Email: office@kaerntnermessen.at

Email: a.piccinini@riminifiera.it

Website: www.kaerntnermessen.at

Website: http://en.technodomus.it

8-11: China Furniture & Woodworking 2012

26-28: Bangladesh Furniture & Interior Décor

Zhongshan District, Dalian, P.R.China

SEPTember

Tel: 86 411 8253 8681

Ruposhi Bangla Hotel

11-14: FMC China 2012

Email: mariahcheng@sina.com

Shanghai World Expo Exhibition &

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Website: www.sinoexhibition.com

Convention Center

25F World Trade Center, No.25 Tongxing Street,

Tel: +88 20 9893773/2949

Shanghai, China

Fax: +88 02 9891253

Tel: +86-21-6437 1178 * 153

Email: info@windmillbd.com Website:www.bfidexpo.com

MAY

JULY

Fax: +86-21-6115 4988 * 153

19-21: Woodmach Cebu

Website: www.fmcchina.com.cn

Waterfront Cebu City Hotel Cebu, Philippines Tel: +63 2 7508 588/887 1304

8-12: Xylexpo 2012

Fax: +63 2 7508 585/887 1305

Milan Fairgrounds

Website: www.biztradeshows.com

Milan, Italy

Email: info@xylexpo.com Website: http://www.xylexpo.com

Tel: +1 604 801 5996 Fax: +1 604 801 5997 Email: info@woodmarkets.com Website: www.woodmarkets.com

Foleshill, Coventry, CV6 6GE, United Kingdom

Website: www.timber-expo.co.uk

Anhembi Exhibitin Centre Sao Paulo, Brazil Email: tatiano@feiraformobile.com.br

OCTober

Website: www.feiraformobile.com.br

2-4: Tekhnodrev 2012 Lenexpo, St Petersburg,

Hyatt Regency Hotel Vancouver, Canada

Ricoh Arena 71 Phoenix Way

Email: loretta.sales@timber-expo.co.uk

24-27: ForMobile 2012

Tel: +55 54 8402 9588

9: Global Softwood Log & Lumber Conference

25-26: Timber Expo 2012

Tel: 0208 8708 794

Tel: +39 02 89210200 Fax: +39 02 8259009

Email: william.yuan@ubmsinoexpo.com

Russia To be considered for inclusion in the Calendar of Events, send details of event (name, date, venue, organiser contact) to:

Tel: (812) 320 9684

The Editor FDM Asia Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road EPL Building #02-05 Singapore 169206 Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2805 Email: fdmasia@epl.com.sg

Email: forest@restec.ru

Fax: (812) 320 9694 Website: www.restec.ru

Kindly indicate the events you are interested in and fax the sheet/s along with your details in the Product Enquiry Page to (65) 6379 2806 or enquire online at www.fdmasia.com

*All details subject to change without notice. Please check with organisers for updates.

Product highlights China Foma: Impregnation Line

Martin: Table Saw

The horizontal paper impregnating and drying production line is automated and can continuously impregnate, dry, cut (or rewind) decorative paper and insulation paper.

The line is equipped with inverter servo control and displacement tension feedback control, electrical-adjusting metering roller gap with digital display, electrical control adopts on-site BUS and digital control. The rotary cutter is controlled by a servo-controller.

The hot pressing cycle is 45 s (pressure keeping time 30 s, assisting time (from hot press opening to closing) is less than 15 s, and carrier reciprocating running precision is ±0.5mm.

The T60A is an entry-level saw with a running saw blade, a smooth and precise sliding table guidance and a rip fence. Cutting height and angle are adjusted electrically via pushbutton with a digital readout for the cutting angle.

The main blade is powered by a 5000 rpm 4 KW motor. The maximum blade diameter is 315 mm, protected by a riving knife mounted guard.

Optionally, the saw can be upgraded with the ‘cutting height’ package that contains a stronger 5.5 KW motor with three rpm selections and an overhead blade guard.

Scoring width is adjusted with shims, while lifting and lowering are done pneumatically. Depending on the task at hand, the unit can be switched on and off without time lapse.

ENQUIRY NO. P381

ENQUIRY NO. P383

Columbia Forest Products: Panels

Prima Electro: CNC Control Unit

PureBond Classic Core panels are manufactured using voidless engineered MDF crossbands in combination with a veneer inner ply construction for product integrity, performance and beauty.

The design of the panels delivers a smooth, void-free surface quality that is comparable to composite core substrates, while also providing the lighter weight and increased strength of veneer core.

Since the panels are manufactured using no added urea formaldehyde, they are CARB Phase 2-compliant and also may contribute to LEED IEQ 4.4 credits.

The panels are ideal for applications such as furniture, cabinetry and fixtures, and enable fabricators to offer finished goods that are distinctive in design and quality. They can be ordered as FSC-certified products upon request.

OPEN-XS is an entry-level hardware that combines calculation potentiality and modularity. It comes with OPENcontrol which offers scalability in software performance and hardware configurations, and the availability of digital field buses. The system can be a stand-alone solution distributed on the net or integrated into the human machine interface.

The software is a flexible element that can move 64 axes using 40 channels, each interpolating up to 12 axes at the same time. It allows the realisation of general motion control applications with a production process management and axes interpolation implemented in the machine logic (OPEN-10), and more sophisticated CNC applications for 2D and 3D machining (OPEN-20, OPEN-30) with TCP, HSM and volumetric compensation.

ENQUIRY NO. P382

ENQUIRY NO. P384

www.fdmasia.com | FDM ASIA april 2012

71

Advertising Index

Enquiry No

343

Advertisers / Agency

Page No

China Foma (Group) Co Ltd

3

346

Dieffenbacher GmbH Maschinen - und Anlagenbau

1

341

DunHua Yalian Machine Co Ltd

23

349

E-Chain Machinery Industrial Co Ltd

39

345

Firefly AB

19

317

Fulpow Industrial Corp

35

338 Holywood Industrial Corp

326 Huntsman (Belgium) BVBA IBC

342 IMA AG Asia Pacific Pte Ltd

264 Internet Wood Glue Co Ltd

7

339 IWF 2012

67

318

72

312 PEFC

9

348

Samet A.S.

55

344

Sandvik South East Asia Pte Ltd

13

334

Shanghai Rocky Adhesives Co Ltd

25

340

Shanghai Qiulin Machinery Co Ltd

27

261

Siempelkamp Maschinen - und Anlagenbau GmbH & Co KG 5

316

Taihao Woodworking Machinery Co Ltd

61

350

Taihao Woodworking Machinery Co Ltd

65

319

Tong Fong Cutters Co Ltd

53

314 UBM Sinoexpo Ltd (FMC China 2012) OBC

320 Wen Chih Machinery Industrial Co Ltd

41

347 Wintersteiger SEA Pte Ltd

47

Legend:

31

FC

Jeffer Machinery Co Ltd

Advertisers with e-Brochures

This quick reference guide is provided as an additional service.

The publisher does not assume any liability for errors or ommission.

Head Office SINGAPORE Eastern Trade Media Pte Ltd 1100 Lower Delta Road EPL Building #02-05 Singapore 169206 Sim Eric Tel: (65) 6379 2888 • Fax: (65) 6379 2806 Email: salesfdm@epl.com.sg

Representative office SHANGHAI, CHINA Shanghai New Eastern Media Co. Ltd 15D Block B, Victoria Plaza, No.1068, Xikang Rd, Shanghai, P.R, China 200060 Ding Yong Mei Tel: 86 21 6276 8394 • Fax: 86 21 6276 4170 Email: ding@epl.com.sg

ENQUIRY NO. 318

Regional Sales Representatives Taiwan Japan Robert Yu Ted Asoshina Tel: 886-4-2325 1784 Tel: 81-3-3263 5065 Fax: 886-4-2325 2967 Fax: 81-3-3234 2064

Korea Young-Seoh Chinn Tel: 822-481 3411/3 Fax: 822-481 3414

www.fdmasia.com 72 FDM Asia april 2012 | www.fdmasia.com

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I-BOND 速 methyl diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) resins from HUNTSMAN are a family of powerful and fast curing, no added formaldehyde resins for the composite wood industry. They are used for bonding oriented strand board, medium density fiberboard, particleboard and wood fiber insulation boards.

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I-BOND 速 is a registered trademark of Huntsman Corporation or an affiliate thereof in one or more, but not all, countries.

ENQUIRY NO. 326

ENQUIRY NO. 314