HANNOVER, GERMANY -- Three machines, two of them offered in the United States by Stiles Machinery and the third by Giben, won "Novelty Symposium Awards" at the Ligna 2011 woodworking fair.
Venjakob, left, took top honors for its Ven Spray Perfect, a quick-change color system. It is a production-ready, automated color management system that allows the user to change from one color to the next during production in just a few seconds. Two-component paints are first metered and mixed on the color changer allowing for customized finishing of small quantity batches.
The new quick color change system is equipped with components from L & S Oberflächentechnologie GmbH & Co.
âWith the new system, a color change in automatic spray coating machines now only takes between 30 and 60 seconds,â said Otto NüÃer, Venjakob managing director. 
Second place went to Giben's LaserNest, right, available in the U.S. from Giben and in Canada from CNC Automation. The laser cutting machine for nesting intricate components from panels has a working area ranging from 2.050mm x 1,550mm to 3,000mm x 2,000mm.
The LaserNest laser is available from 750 watts to 3,000 watts. It is capable of achieving cutting speeds up to 140 meters per minute.
Homag's laserTech edgebander took third-place honors. What makes the edgebander unique is that a laser activates glue pre-applied to the back of the edgebanding 
material. This not only eliminates the need for a glue pot and maintenance of it, but provides a high-quality seamless edge. The laserTec edgebander is available in the U.S. from Stiles Machinery and in Canada from Homag Canada.
The Novelty Symposium Awards recognize technologies that have not been on the market for longer than two years. They are organized by Schuler Consulting GmbH, Rosenheim University and the publishing house, DRW-Verlag.
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