Shape and go!
Startup Okinlab was at LIGNA 2017 to showcase form.bar, the world's first web application to offer customers a truly intuitive way to design and organically shape furniture before simply sending the data to a local workshop for manufacturing.

At LIGNA 2017, Okinlab GmbH from Saarbrücken unveiled an ingenious upgrade to its form.bar design app, originally released in 2015, in the form of a carpentry data platform that should not only make the design-to-production process much more efficient for manufacturers but at the same time form a new gateway to e-commerce. It is designed to optimize shapes mathematically and replicate natural forms and already incorporates manufacturing specifications during the design process for automated manufacturing using CNC milling.

To achieve this, form.bar covers the entire furniture manufacturing process from design right through to production in a single web application. This is meant to guarantee the functionality, esthetic appeal and manufacturability of the furniture and enable series-style production of unique designs. Shelves, sideboards, TV units, chests of drawers, benches, room dividers and many other kinds of furniture can be customized in 3D this way at www.form.bar. What's more, the price for the choice and volume of material and CNC milling requirements is constantly calculated and displayed in real time throughout the actual design process. Okinlab has developed form.bar to standardize the design process for customized free forms and to pave the way in Furniture Manufacturing 4.0 by enabling the production of one-off pieces under far more favorable series conditions.

Okinlab GmbH (66111 Saarbrücken, Germany), Hall 11, Stand E44/1
Contact: Alessandro Quaranta
Tel.: +49 681 410 976 42
E-Mail: presse@form.bar

Yet another LIGNA success!
When a French sawmilling company and an Italian supplier of scanning solutions meet in northern Germany to sign a deal that benefits everyone involved, it can only mean one thing - as the world's leading trade fair for the wood processing industry, LIGNA brings together what belongs together.

CT Log from Italian-based Microtec is a 360° X-ray CT sawing solution that scans and reconstructs the internal features of logs to produce an optimum section view in real time. As a result, it supports fully digitalized log reconstruction and virtual sorting to successfully optimize bucking and sawing processes. Sawmilling company Piveteau Scierie was won over by CT Log and its end-to-end, high-quality, all-round log reconstruction in 3D. The company has already invested previously in various Microtec solutions, such as Winlog software for log sorting in log yards, a transverse wane scanner and a Goldeneye 500 Multi-Sensor Quality Scanner with X-ray module for lumber quality grading and bucking optimization.

Piveteau Scierie, which is based in Saint Florence, France, and has been a Microtec customer for many years, decided at LIGNA 2017 in Hannover to equip its log yard with Microtec’s CT Log computer tomograph. The company is looking to use this investment to improve its production capacity and increase the value of its logs. "We're very proud that Piveteau is continuing to place its trust in Microtec solutions to upgrade its production facilities," says Federico Giudiceandrea, Microtec CEO, who goes on to highlight a special aspect of his company’s corporate culture: “We see this as a sign of Piveteau's satisfaction with our previous projects and its trust in our work, which is what matters most to us." Following Swedish company Norra Timber, Piveteau Scierie is already the second company to acquire a CT Log from Microtec this year - and, thanks to numerous other productive discussions at LIGNA 2017, this success is set to continue for Microtec in the months ahead.

Microtec srl (39042 Bressanone/Brixen, Italy), Hall 27, Stand F27
Contact: Simon Schweigkofler
Tel.: +39 0472 273 730
E-Mail: marketing@microtec.eu

Roll on the next LIGNA!
Horst Klaes GmbH & Co KG from Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler was so successful with its customized software solutions at LIGNA 2017 that the management team is already planning its next trip to Hannover for LIGNA 2019.

Klaes was founded in 1983 as a one-man enterprise in Rosenheim. Over the past 30 years, it has become one of the world’s leading providers of innovative software solutions for windows, doors, facades and conservatories, with around 220 employees and over 7,000 customers in more than 50 countries across the globe. Klaes now offers tailored products for companies of all sizes, including flexible solutions for component trading and highly integrated end-to-end ERP solutions for industrial production. The comprehensive portfolio met with an excellent response from visitors to LIGNA 2017. Torsten Schrader from the Klaes sales management team also stressed that customers were in a very good mood thanks not only to their excellent business results but also to the further developments and new solutions on offer from Klaes.

According to Schrader, the official conclusion that the Industry 4.0 concepts for the timber industry were the number one topic at this year's LIGNA 2017 and that the innovations in digitization, networking and automation impressed visitors also reflects his company's positive experiences in Hannover. For example, the company fared well in "networking to the end customer and trading partners" thanks to its Klaes webshop and webtrade. It also exhibited Klaes 3D - a highly flexible tool for digital workflows. Achim Binder, a member of the technical sales management team, confirmed the healthy national and international demand for Klaes e-control as a key solution for automation in the production environment. "We held a great many detailed discussions about current projects and new machine concepts. Small companies are now also addressing this issue with a view to creating future-proof production processes," he explained. Schrader summed up by saying that the company's showing in Hannover was such a success that it will definitely be back for LIGNA 2019.

Horst Klaes GmbH & Co KG (53474 Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Germany), Hall 27, Stand K50
Contact: Torsten Schrader
Tel.: +49 2641 909 2540
E-Mail: tschrader@klaes.com

Filament with a pepper flavor
At LIGNA 2017, 3N Kompetenzzentrum Niedersachsen and partners from research and industry showed how wood and natural fibers can be used to replace oil-based materials and improve mechanical properties

In May 2017, as is the case every two years, Hannover's exhibition center was once again dominated by LIGNA, the global meeting point for the wood working and processing industry. As well as traditional exhibits such as plant and machinery for wood working, innovative wood materials have become an increasingly key focus of the trade fair in the last few years. For example, 3N Kompetenzzentrum e. V., 3D-Print SAM and Linotech GmbH & Co. KG joined forces with the Bionics Innovation Center of Bremen University of Applied Sciences to present new biobased materials for processing using 3D printing and micro injection molding.

"As a result of a growing awareness of sustainable product solutions, the demand for biobased materials that are not dependent on oil production is rising," explained Prof. Jörg Müssig, head of the Biological Materials working group at Bremen University of Applied Sciences. New material recipes for biobased materials with outstanding properties have been developed as part of the German-Dutch INTERREG VA project "Bioeconomy in the non-food sector" and in close collaboration with industrial partners. "By combining various biobased polymers with wood and natural fibers and by-products from the agricultural industry such as pepper fibers, it isn't just possible to replace conventional oil-based materials but also to improve the mechanical properties," added Hansjörg Wieland from 3N Kompetenzzentrum e. V.

3N Kompetenzzentrum Niedersachsen (49757 Werlte, Germany), Pavilion P32, Stand A04
Contact: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Müssig, Hochschule Bremen - University of Applied Sciences
Tel.: +49 421 5905-2747
E-Mail: joerg.muessig@hs-bremen.de

LIGNA marks clear upward trend
LIGNA 2017 exceeded all of Alberto Maestri’s expectations: "There's a clear upward trend," says the managing director of Cefla Finishing. He singles out the contacts from Asia, who were in Hannover looking to improve their production processes with investments, as a key factor.

LIGNA 2017 was a resounding success for Italian company Cefla Finishing, which develops and produces customized and turnkey production lines for the timber market. "This year's LIGNA," says Managing Director Alberto Maestri, "exceeded all our expectations and even topped the previous event, which was itself extremely successful in terms of both quantity and quality." Maestri says his company's success in Hannover was due in no small part to the comprehensive offering with numerous innovative elements in all the technological sectors where Cefla Finishing is active. "We showcased our innovations, pursuing a highly effective communications strategy and raising the right expectations, which we then met in very tangible ways during the trade fair."

Cefla Finishing, a world leader in coating, decoration and digital printing on wood and its derivatives, generated a high level of interest among international visitors at its 1,400 m2 stand, particularly thanks to J-Print 3D, the innovative system for producing synchronized 3D effects using digital printing. The new Omnidry dryer series was also a real crowd puller, as was the iGiottoApp X2, an anthropomorphic robot with two arms that can operate synchronously and asynchronously thanks to anti-collision software and that optimize spray paths.

CEFLA S.C. (40026 Imola, Italy), Hall 17, Stand F47
Contact: Roberto Bolognini
Tel.: +39 0542 653441
E-Mail: cefla.finishing@cefla.it

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