Ligna helps make more out of wood

This year’s Ligna show once again lived up to its reputation as a launch pad for innovation and defining industry trends. Exhibitors and visitors from around the world know that it is a window on the future of the forest and wood industries and that it is simply the best place to make new business contacts and turn new technologies into profits. True to its official motto, “Making more out of wood: Innovative, efficient, trendsetting,” Ligna gave a tangible boost to the recovery taking place in the global forest and wood industries, which are now enjoying a new lease on life.

Investment in efficient machinery and production solutions is the key to success for the wood-processing sector in today’s market environment. Energy efficiency featured as a keynote theme at the previous Ligna show in 2009, prompting even more machinery suppliers to channel their R&D resources into the development of more efficient processing solutions in time for this year’s show.

This year, 1,765 exhibitors from 52 nations showcased their products and services on a total display space of 130,000m². Alongside Germany, the most strongly-represented exhibiting nations were Italy, Austria, Spain, China (including Taiwan), Switzerland, Denmark, Turkey, Sweden and the Netherlands. A huge array of promising innovations filled the 13 halls and the open-air site.

The show attracted a total of 90,000 visitors – an increase of 13% over the previous event. While the fair has always demonstrated great international appeal, this year’s upsurge in foreign visitors marked an impressive milestone in the event’s history, with some 40% of all visitors attending from abroad – a 26% jump over foreign attendance in 2009. Visitors came from a total of 90 nations, with major increases in the case of Russia, Finland, the UK, Austria and Sweden. Attendance was also up from the US and the Netherlands.

Half of all visitors were top managers with purchasing authority and so a great number of projects were initiated, scores of deals transacted, and countless leads generated. The number of purchase orders signed this year was up 30% over 2009. Not surprisingly, the exhibitors praised the high quality of the show’s visitors in terms of their technical expertise and decision-making calibre.

The show’s keynote themes – lightweight construction, surface finishing and bioenergy from wood – met with keen visitor interest. The “lightweight.network” special presentation in Hall 24 highlighted the links between machines and subcontracted components in the furniture industry. Companies took advantage of the special display to showcase their lightweight furniture production solutions.

Industrial surface finishing technologies enjoyed a high profile, with exhibitor displays covering all aspects of the subject – from innovative coating materials and production systems to auxiliary materials and services.

Bioenergy has become an important part of the energy mix and a high-profile issue for the forest and wood industries, as more and more wood processors discover the enormous cost savings that can result from using their ‘waste wood’ to generate energy. Here, as in other areas, state-of-the-art engineering solutions are the key to maximum efficiency.

Ligna’s many international conferences, special events and presentations, which provided ample networking and knowledge-sharing opportunities, rounded off this year’s highly successful trade show offering.