Time is running out to book your seat on Weinig Australia’s Ligna double-header. There is one tour going to the US (and then on to LIGNA) and one straight to Germany with a tour prior to heading to LIGNA.
The US tour (10-24 May) has been prepared to meet requests to visit some installations that specialise in the hardwood industry.
“Over the past 10 years we have conducted tours that have predominately travelled through Europe and the United Kingdom, mainly focusing on softwood and often quite large scale operations,” said Sam Rowe, managing director, Michael Weinig Australia Pty. Ltd.
“By turning our attention to the United States, we have prepared a tour that focuses on businesses that are producing either high quality finished products, or components for further processing – all in hardwood species – poplar, cherry, maple, oak etc. This will be a working tour with quality site visits, but necessarily some long days and airport hops – but we believe it is excellent value!
“In many cases we will see the complete process from random width ‘slabs’ straight from the kilns, to sawn, graded boards and then crosscut components,” said Rowe.
“While the machinery in operation will be quite impressive, one of the really interesting facets of the tour will be examining the utilisation of various technologies to gain the utmost recovery and efficiency in the manufacturing process. From the sizing/cutting lines at the start of the process utilising either Valu-Rip (Raimann) to asses fibre yield before ripping, or complete scanning (Control Logic), through to full colour or X-Ray scanning (Luxscan) prior to cross cutting on an automated line, the whole process is fast and accurate with maximum recovery,” he said.
“Several of the sites are also using the Weinig Group System – Mill Vision to integrate the various technologies and manage material flow through the complete process. We will see an excellent demonstration of this to wrap the tour up before we head to Germany and the final leg at Weinig TBB and GreCon before heading to Hanover and the LIGNA Fair!!!
The Germany tour (9 – 24 May) has its sights set on the growth in engineered wood products. As natural and plantation resource becomes either scarcer or smaller in unit size, so too does it become more difficult to source longer, wider timber –particularly in stable, consistent grade and supply. Meanwhile, acceptance of finger-jointed material in the market place, machinery developments, architectural awareness and design, and adhesive technology has grown considerably.
This year, Michael Weinig Australia Pty. Ltd. has looked again to Europe to provide illustrations how this technology has developed.
This tour has been designed with a mix of SME and larger industry leader examples.
“We believe it represents excellent value and provides opportunity to access sites otherwise closed to visitors. We will also visit some examples that are not necessarily producing engineered wood products, but all the sites represent examples of intelligently integrated machine systems that utilise technology and material handling to minimise the labour content and maintain efficiencies in production,” said Rowe.
Different material handling systems will see solutions with traditional mechanisation with newer frequency and servo control, as well as vacuum assisted solutions. Ripping, scanning, cross cutting, fingerjointing, gluing will all be covered. This year we will be travelling in a reasonably concentrated area that will allow time for some ‘cultural’ experiences with some side visits planned en-route. We will also manage to fit in a barbecue and enjoy the fabulous Bavarian hospitality whilst we tour the Dimter factory in Illertissen!
“A highlight will be the final visit of a fully integrated plant with planing, scanning, cross-cutting, finger-jointing and stacking to wrap the tour up prior to the final leg at Weinig TBB and GreCon before departing for Hanover and LIGNA,” Rowe said.
If you would like to know more about either of these tours, phone Karen (02) 9609 5911 or email [email protected]
