LIGNA 2015: More Innovation, More Integration at This Year's Event
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LIGNA 2015: More Innovation, More Integration at This Year's EventGerman Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers’ Association: Sales up despite tough market conditions

Germany’s woodworking machinery industry is expecting solid sales growth in 2015, with current forecasts running at three percent. This increase would see the industry’s total sales of stationary woodworking machines rise to 2.6 billion euros by the end of the year. 

FRAUNHOFER APPLICATION CENTER INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION (IOSB-INA):Where machines become intelligent

Information technology plays an increasingly important role in our everyday lives; the trend of ubiquitous digitization is unmistakable. This development requires an increase in innovation across Germany’s industrial landscape.


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LIGNA 2015 at a glance

"Surprisingly versatile” – machining of plastics, composites and other similar materials at LIGNA 2015

Manufacturers of woodworking plant, machinery and tools now offer competitive solutions (off-the-shelf as well as custom-built) for other materials – especially for plastics and composites. The specialist know-how of woodworking machinery producers has also been harnessed to aluminum and fiber-reinforced cement.

Skilled trades poised to gear up with CNC technology

The joinery trade is undergoing radical change as computer-aided production systems increasingly support or even replace traditional work processes and structures.

LIGNA 2015: Innovative edging technology improves wood utilization and streamlines production

Price pressure and the high cost of raw materials and labor are having a major impact on the sawmill industry. When it comes to new investments, therefore, the wish list is headed off by equipment which can improve wood utilization and resource efficiency or automate processes.

Surface technology at LIGNA 2015: The pulse of a fast-moving market beats in Hannover

When it comes to the visual appearance of furniture and flooring, these days variety is the name of the game, with the options ranging from polished elegance to authentic 3D surface effects.

Timber construction at LIGNA 2015: Cost-effective production technology for an upwardly mobile market

Structures like the Sauvabelin Tower in Lausanne, Switzerland, or the two Enel coal storage domes in Brindisi, Italy, bear impressive testimony to the potential of state-of-the-art structural timber framing. By now a number of wood-processing firms are specializing in this future-oriented field, with product segments ranging from traditional log-house beams and wooden slats for conservatory blinds to shear panels and glulam support beams.

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LIGNA 2015 (11 to 15 May):

LIGNA 2015: Global innovations showcase for the forestry and wood industries

– More international business – more innovations – more integration

– Versatility: multi-material processing systems

– Premiere of Wood Industry Summit

Hannover. More international business. More innovations. More integration. That’s what visitors and exhibitors can expect when the international wood industry demonstrates its immense capabilities and innovative spirit at the upcoming LIGNA in Hannover, Germany. The event runs from 11 to 15 May 2015, and all the market leaders will be there to impress solution-seekers with a tremendous array of products and services. Together, they will present key technologies for every single links of the wood value chain – i.e. plant, tools and machinery for industrial furniture manufacturers, carpenters, joiners and cabinetmakers; solutions for processing and working with solid wood; sawmill technology; systems for wood panel and veneer production; forestry equipment and machinery; and a range of technologies for extracting energy from wood. And as diverse as the technologies on display may be, they are united in promoting greater efficiency for every stage of production and processing.

“LIGNA is championing the cause of greater efficiency and integration in production by means of advanced technology. Like no other trade fair in the world, it features entire production lines in action – as tangible proof that integrated production and Industry 4.0 are indeed within reach. LIGNA is an absolute must if you want to find out about the latest developments and advances in automation and digitization in the wood industry,” said Dr. Jochen Köckler, the member of the Management Board at Deutsche Messe responsible for LIGNA. “Survival in today’s competitive markets belongs to those who master the latest strategies, systems and solutions. The ‘fourth industrial revolution’ has reached the wood and furniture industries, sparking a move towards total integration that shows no signs of abating. To take advantage of this trend and remain competitive, manufacturers need to optimize their data flows. And that’s true whether they are engaged in mass or one-off production. In the near future, workpieces, machines and logistic systems will be able to ‘talk’ to one another, and IT, telecommunications technology and manufacturing will merge to form a seamlessly integrated system. It’s a new production paradigm and it offers enormous opportunities for everyone concerned.”

The theme of integrated production is central to many areas of the upcoming LIGNA show. Among much else, it will have its own Guided Tour and be addressed at a series of talks to be held within the on-site Robotation Academy.

The upcoming show will feature more than 1,500 exhibitors from over 40 countries, whose displays will fill some 120,000 square meters (over 1,290,000 sq. ft.) of space and impress solution-seekers in need of the latest furniture industry plant and equipment and innovative technologies for the wood and forestry industries. “Quite a lot of first-time exhibitors will be using this year’s LIGNA to present their innovations to the world. They include providers of solutions for the joinery and cabinetmaking trades, manufacturers of machinery for the furniture industry, production automation specialists, and suppliers of technology for processing solid wood and for sawmilling. These newcomers –and the fact that some of our regular exhibitors have markedly increased their booked space – bode well for LIGNA 2015,” said Köckler. “LIGNA features a wealth of information on the latest products, trends and innovations. It provides the ideas, inspiration and solutions that wood industry professionals need in order to future-proof their business models.”

LIGNA’s strong level of international participation sets it apart from rival shows. This year, its top ten exhibiting nations, apart from Germany, are Italy, Austria, China, Sweden, Taiwan, Switzerland, Turkey, France, Spain and the USA. Much of the growth in terms of leased exhibition space has come from Italy, China, Turkey and the USA.

One of the exciting new developments at LIGNA 2015 is that some of the fair's exhibitors of woodworking and processing equipment will be showcasing the non-wood capabilities of their machines. In other words, visitors will see machines that can handle not just wood, but plastics, composite panels, composites, insulation and construction materials as well. Some of the machine tools on display are even capable of processing light alloys. These additional, non-wood applications are advantageous in a range of fields, particularly caravan and boat building, vehicle customization, ship and aircraft interior finishing, and plastics processing and fabrication. The ability to process plastics and composites is also becoming increasingly important in the joinery and cabinetmaking trades.

CNC technology is also growing in importance in these trades. More and more joiners and cabinetmakers are investing in CNC processing centers in order to be able to deliver on the most exacting customer specifications and produce custom furniture and joinery quickly and at highly competitive rates. This growth is due in part to the increasing range of compact, high-performance options available at the trades end of the market and will be reflected at LIGNA, with its solid lineup of state-of-the art CNC technology. The exhibitors in halls 11, 12, 14 and 15 will present innovative solutions and entry-level CNC options for joinery and cabinetmaking firms of all sizes, from tech-savvy niche craftsmen to SMEs engaged in series production.

The other major new development at LIGNA 2015 is the premiere of the Wood Industry Summit, an intelligent, integrated platform comprising an exhibition area, a matchmaking platform, and a dialogue forum. The Summit targets exhibitors from international companies and economic regions that provide large-scale forestry machinery and other primary wood processing technologies. These exhibitors will have the opportunity to network directly with visitors from integrated companies operating in areas such as pulp and paper, forestry and log and timber processing. They will also meet forest owners, wood/timber merchants, investors, researchers and representatives of the timber-rich regions of Russia, China, Eastern Europe and North and South America. In this way, the Wood Industry Summit will broker new opportunities in growth markets.

Each day of the Summit will start with a brief lead-in presentation on a highly topical issue, followed by an in-depth lecture on market entry conditions for a selected export market. Each day’s proceedings will also include presentations on various solutions by exhibitors and will be rounded off with a tour of the exhibition, followed by an expert discussion panel. Among the big highlights of the Summit will be the displays of John Deere equipment, as Dr. Köckler explains: “Thanks to the presence of John Deere and other key players, the Wood Industry Summit means that Hall 13 will, for the very first time, also feature large-scale forestry machines. John Deere’s involvement effectively endorses the Wood Industry Summit and its chosen format, while at the same time making LIGNA’s forestry technology offerings more international than ever.”

LIGNA 2015 will also feature the Fibers in Process@LIGNA marketplace – a group pavilion that will provide a wood industry perspective on the various processes and technologies used in the pulp and paper industry. As well as offering an integrated overview of the entire resource cycle in this industry, the pavilion will focus on measurement and control systems, process optimization in automation, industry services and asset management, and resource and energy efficiency.

The open-air site and neighboring pavilions will also feature a number of exhibitors offering the latest in sustainable forestry and wood-energy equipment and solutions. Deutsche Messe AG With revenue of 312 million euros (2013),

Deutsche Messe AG ranks among the world’s ten largest trade fair companies and operates the world’s largest exhibition center. In 2013, Deutsche Messe planned and staged 119 trade fairs and congresses around the world – events which hosted a total of 41,000 exhibitors and some four million visitors. The company’s event portfolio includes such world-leading trade fairs as CeBIT (IT and telecommunications), HANNOVER MESSE (industrial technology), BIOTECHNICA (biotechnology), CeMAT (intralogistics), didacta (education), DOMOTEX (floor coverings), INTERSCHUTZ (fire prevention and rescue), and LIGNA (wood processing and forestry). With over 1,000 employees and a network of 66 representatives, subsidiaries and branch offices, Deutsche Messe is present in more than 100 countries worldwide.

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