An interesting point was raised at the recent 5th European Wood-Based Panel Symposium by Professor Marutzky. He said that if urea and melamine formaldehyde resins were banned for use in WBPs, then the industry as we know it would cease to exist because there are insufficient quantities of alternative adhesives. This may be true now, but what about the future? Could another adhesive dominate the WBP industry as the aminoplasts have? To do so it would have to perform as well as, or better than, the aminoplasts and come from renewable resources. Such adhesives have existed for a long time, with many based on tannins, proteins and starches. Of these, the tannins have achieved most success, being used to make plywoods and particleboards commercially, either as pure adhesive or as an additive to a synthetic adhesive. Tannins are a complex group of phenolic compounds concentrated in the bark of many trees. There are two types: hydrolysable and condensed. The hydrolysable tannins are not used for adhesives as they tend to have lower molecular weights and lower reactivity to formaldehyde. Condensable tannins on the other hand, react readily with formaldehyde. Flavonoids are the monomers of condensed tannins. The four structures (above) represent the monomer units thought to be most relevant to the adhesives industry. If we disregard the technological difficulties of using tannin-based adhesives - inconsistency, mechanical characteristics, colour, etc - and assume these can be overcome, could tannin-based adhesives replace aminoplasts? According to the FAO, world production of WBPs in 2005 was 231.5 million m³. Assuming an adhesive content of 8%, the quantity required is around 18.5 million tons, 90% of which are aminoplasts. So, around 16 million tons of tannin per year would be needed to replace aminoplasts. The FAO also states that the world produced 3,490 million tons of roundwood in 2005. Assuming that 30% of the trees could yield some useful bark, that the bark represents 15% of log volume, and that a supreme effort is made to harvest the bark, resulting in, say, 50% being available for processing, then 78 million tons of bark would be available. The condensable tannin content of bark varies widely, but, assuming an extraction level of 10%, then almost eight million tons of tannin would be available for adhesives. Even with the rather generous assumptions used above, the quantity of tannin is insufficient. This shows that demonstration of the viability of an adhesive must also be supported by sufficient volumes. Tannin based adhesives and those based on other renewable molecules do have a future, but, the transition is not going to be quick and will demand long-term planning at the governmental level. Questions? Email: mark.irle@ecolesuperieuredubois.com

This issue contains two conference reports, the annual European Panel Products Symposium (EPPS), organised by the BioComposites Centre in Wales, and the biennial European Wood Based Panels Symposium, organised by the European Panel Federation and the Wilhelm Klauditz Institute and held in Germany. In the case of EPPS, this was the tenth such event (and the fifth for EPF/WKI). The symposium started life in the Imperial Hotel in Llandudno in October 1997. It has since moved to a purpose-built conference centre in the town and next year is to change its name slightly and move further afield, to Cardiff in south Wales.

To achieve a reduction in HAP emissions, the EPA developed new national standards (rules) for specific industrial groups and one such rule is the Plywood and Composite Wood Products Maximum Achievable Control Technology rule (PCWP MACT). The PCWP rule requires that facilities reduce their emissions of a select group of HAPs thought to pose the most significant impact on public health through emission control devices or modifying operations. However, facilities which would be impacted by the PCWP rule have a second option. They can avoid its requirements completely if it can be demonstrated that emissions from certain process units do not pose a significant public health risk or hazard. This is referred to as low-risk delisting. There are two methods a facility can use to do this:  * risk-based look-up tables provided by EPA, or  * site-specific dispersion modelling and risk assessment.  The risk-based look-up tables correlate stack heights, source distances from the property line and health risks to acceptable maximum emission rates. A facility is required to estimate emissions and compare emission rates to those listed in the look-up tables to show that it qualifies for delisting. Site-specific modelling, however, is more complicated and requires additional effort; most facilities choose to use the look-up table method as a starting point and then, if the facility fails that analysis, move on to the site-specific modelling. The general perception of many facilities is that the look-up tables are applicable in most, if not all, situations. In reality, very few facilities, if any, will be able to use those tables as a low-risk delisting option. EPA states, in both the PCWP rule preamble and rule text, that the look-up tables may not be applicable to all facilities. EPA specifically highlights capped sources (sources with rain hats or other obstructions on the emission point), complex terrain and building downwash as factors not accounted for in the development of the tables. The limits placed on the look-up table applicability by EPA are more qualitative than quantitative and are based on how the tables were originally compiled. They were developed by EPA using a simple atmospheric dispersion model (SCREEN3). Only a single stack can be modelled, and EPA used approximate 'mid-point' source parameters (height, velocity, temperature and diameter) across facilities in the PCWP source group to model a single representative stack. The meteorology used in the SCREEN3 model is worst-case because winds are assumed to blow from the emission source toward the receptor location at various speeds but the wind direction assumed by the model is not affected by local terrain. Additionally, the approach to developing the look-up tables assumes that the single modelled stack exhausts vertically, building downwash (the effect on exhaust plumes by adjacent buildings) is not present and the surrounding terrain is flat. These three assumptions limit the tables' applicability for most facilities attempting low-risk delisting. The assumption that all sources exhaust vertically affects both capped sources and horizontally exhausting ones. If a facility has either of these, the look-up tables may not apply, since the dispersion of a capped or horizontally exhausting source would be poorer than the source representation assumed in the development of the tables. Buildings close to sources can affect the exhaust plume. Their downwash effect can result in 'pulling' the plume downward. This can lead to higher modelled ground-level concentrations. Since the look-up tables do not account for any building downwash, a facility wishing to use them cannot have any major sources that are affected by it. The general rule of thumb (not accurate in all situations) is that a source exhaust point must be two and half times higher than the adjacent buildings in order to be free of downwash. Press vents which are not significantly higher than the press building, ground level bag houses, process water in ponds or open impoundments and a host of other emission points at a PCWP facility are typically caught in the building downwash of the manufacturing buildings. Local terrain may also prevent the use of the look-up tables. The flat terrain assumption in the tables is not a conservative one. Many facilities will have some terrain features close to the facility, including complex terrain (ie terrain elevations higher than the facility emission points). Elevated terrain will generally cause higher modelled concentrations than if flat terrain is assumed. If a facility has capped or horizontal sources, sources which are not two and a half times the height of the nearest buildings, or has elevated terrain close by, the look-up tables may not be applicable. If a facility determines that the tables are not appropriate, or if a local agency determines that the facility may not use them, the remaining option for low-risk delisting is site-specific modelling. In site-specific dispersion modelling, a more refined model is used which has the ability to address all the shortcomings of the much simpler look-up table model. A dispersion model allows a facility to represent horizontal exhausts, building downwash and complex terrain. After a close examination of the methods used to construct the look-up tables, it is apparent that they are not applicable to most PCWP facilities. In practice, they may only be applicable to a very small number of facilities attempting to qualify for delisting from the PCWP MACT rule. Where the tables are applicable, a very narrow set of criteria must be met and they must be approved by the local agency. Note that the separate EPA MACT rules applicable to boilers and process heaters contain similar risk assessment look-up tables that were similarly developed and have similar limitations to those discussed. Site-specific modelling can be applied to almost all facilities and there are no rigid parameters a facility must meet in order to conduct that modelling. Those wishing to use the look-up tables as a delisting option should seek local agency approval well before submitting the delisting demonstration. Alternatively, facilities may wish to consider using site-specific dispersion modelling and risk assessment. Approval of the delisting demonstrations is required by October 1, 2008. Geoff Scott is a project engineer with SECOR International. SECOR is a multimedia environmental consulting firm with offices nationwide and membership in the National Council for Air and Stream Improvements.

The Oregon State Department of Forestry has opened a new Tillamook Forest Center which is generating a great deal of educational interest, both for adults and children. The new museum, 50 miles west of Portland and not far from the Oregon Pacific Coast, celebrates the reclaiming of thousands of acres of some of the most productive tree growing land in the world. August of 1933 was hot, dry and extremely windy, not unlike August 2006, which was one of the worst Pacific Northwest wildfire seasons. August 24, 1933, was an extra hazardous day in the Oregon Coast Range mountains. A log hung up briefly while being yarded into a log truck loading area in Gales Creek canyon - this is in the western part of the magnificent old-growth forest and some of the huge Douglas firs measured up to 10ft in diameter and up to 300ft tall. That big log freed itself, rubbing heavily on another. A friction spark quickly set off a small blaze, which mushroomed and soon exploded to the tree tops. The Tillamook Burn was on its roaring way and would scourge nearly 300,000 acres before the work of firefighters and moist western winds slowed the spread. The autumn rains finally quelled the blaze, but not before 12 billion board feet of timber had been killed. Remarkably, only one person died in the fire. On the big 'blow-up' day, the Tillamook exploded through 200,000 acres of huge timber in 20 hours, its terrible heat generating hurricanes of fire. Ships far out to sea were shrouded in the fire's smoke as ashes fell among them. In the city of Portland, 50 miles away, smoke and ashes hindered driving. Much of the forest was privately owned, but many of the landowners relinquished their ownership to county governments. They figured there was no value left to the land after the timber was killed. It wasn't worth paying the minimal taxes. This was well before timber was generally recognised as a perpetually renewable crop. The counties passed on much of the tax-foreclosed land to the Oregon Department of Forestry. In turn, the department agreed to share future harvest income with them. Meanwhile, many recognised the value of the dead snags. An entire industry grew up around that salvage, which continued for 25 years after the first fire. Five or six inches of rot might have to be barked off the huge logs, but there was still plenty of good clear wood ready for sawing or peeling. Several large sawmills started sawing the material during the US' worst economic depression. The first salvage logging took only the highest-value material. Then, as the economy gradually improved, lesser-grade material became merchantable. Through the years some sites were salvaged a half-dozen times as values increased. During World War II the US Navy built two huge airship hangars on the outskirts of the nearby town of Tillamook. These housed 252ft airships which flew cover over Pacific-bound convoys, seeking submarines. After the war, Roy Gould built an entire Diamond Lumber Co plywood plant inside one of the hangars with plenty of room to spare. At the time, these hangars were billed as the largest wooden buildings in the world, being 1,072 feet long and 192 feet high, each covering more than seven acres. Timber Structures in Portland, Oregon, made the prefabricated trusses. The doors were 120ft high and 220ft wide. One of the hangars was destroyed in a 1992 fire, while the other is now an aircraft museum. Mr Gould developed a specialised veneer core drying line which, unfortunately, didn't work out. Chains with close-mounted 3ft-high wickets ran through a long drying chamber and core sheets were placed between the wickets to emerge as dry core at the end, but the wickets would hang up, tear off, and regularly disrupt the line. Some salvage loggers worked nearly their entire careers without touching a live tree. Before the black char weathered off the snags, the burn loggers' smudged, black faces made them instantly recognisable by their mates who worked in green timber. The Tillamook evolved into a six-year jinx with fires - most nearly as large - following in 1939, 1945 and 1951. That jinx wasn't broken until 1957 when salvage work from the original fire was being completed. Since then, more sophisticated fire prevention measures have kept fire levels to a manageable minimum. Earlier, fuel levels built up during the six-year period. An entire generation of Portland area school children grew up around the Tillamook Burn. Hundreds of them planted seedlings in the huge areas lacking a natural seed source. They still take a personal interest in what is now the Tillamook Forest. State forestry crews planted the tougher ground and small helicopters direct-seeded thousands of acres. It was all part of one of the world's largest reforestation projects, with 72m seedlings planted. Today, 73 years after that first fire, what was once an endless sea of dead snags, is now a green and growing forest. It's not huge old growth, but some trees will probably end up like that after 200 years or so. Some trees have already been harvested and replanted, but pressure groups try to block harvesting, as they do elsewhere; they want the forest to be used only for recreation, homes for wildlife and as a water source. The department recognises all the attributes with a plan that calls for sustainable timber harvesting to improve the forest's health and to contribute revenue to local schools and counties. Children and adults alike can see the whole story in the new museum. The 13,500ft² installation on a 40-acre site lies along the Wilson River which was one of the main drainages ravaged by the fire. A 40ft-high fire lookout tower is the first structure spotted from the parking lot. Weyerhaeuser Company provided most of the financing for a striking 250ft pedestrian bridge spanning the river. It provides access to a 25-mile trail through the forest. A number of interpretive trails surround the centre, while tall trees planted by the school children surround it all. The US$13.5m project has been financed entirely by private and industry donations from the Collins Foundation, Weyerhaeuser, Oregon Forest Resources Institute, Starker Forests, the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation and more than 350 others. The centre is a showcase for natural and recycled materials, as well as energy conservation. Wood pellets made from manufacturing residues heat it. Most of the construction wood came either from the site or elsewhere in the Tillamook Forest. All the framing material - 2x4in through 2x12in - was grown, harvested, and milled less than 30 miles away. The centre has garnered many awards for its planning and construction. It includes a 60-seat multi-media theatre, educational panels, old photos, forest management models, old tools and everything appropriate for such an historic story. Descriptions of current sustainable forest management techniques are important components. An aged steam logging yarder, salvaged from nearby, is housed on one side of the double building, which is rather reminiscent of an old-time logging camp. Columbia Helicopters, which is involved in logging and forest fire fighting, flew it to the centre. Doug Decker described the project, which was authorised by the state legislature in 1991. Mr Decker, who had been the department's public affairs director, was assigned to be project leader with complete responsibility, including fund raising, planning, construction and operation. "This is not just about a building," he said. "It's a people story. We have programmes for kids and adults to create an audience and interest. In our first summer we're getting about 650 visitors a day. We lead hikes every weekend to show how things have moved from being a moonscape to the present heavy forest." It provides an opportunity for the present generation, most not linked with forestry, to see what fire, forestry and the forest industry are all about.

Many in the wood based panel business realise that logs - their raw material - are getting smaller. This trend has forced changes in machinery and manufacturing methods to efficiently utilise the smaller material while maintaining production volumes. This same trend has forced loggers - suppliers of that raw material - to make their operations more efficient by developing and adapting new machines for their forest harvesting operations.The Pacific Logging Congress (PLC) bands together western US and Canadian loggers to keep them up to date on the newest techniques. It has been an entity since 1909. Interestingly, the logging congress was instigated by George M Cornwall, founding publisher of The Timberman magazine, a US logging trade journal. Every five years the PLC sponsors a 'day in the woods'- it was actually three days this year - with real-life demonstrations of the latest logging equipment. But it was much more than just a show as.the machines were carrying out production logging, with loading and hauling carried out at night so as not to interfere with the spectators. Loggers came from throughout the west and the Pacific to watch the new machines in action and determine which they would like to use in their operations. Traditional rubber-tyred and tracked machines were in the mix. But it wasn't just loggers. The PLC invited school children and their parents, as well as the general public, to tour the operations in a low-key effort to educate them on the benefits of forest management. This not only supplies jobs for the economy, but it improves forest productivity and protects other forestland benefits; some 2,400 students toured the demonstration. The set-up this year was on the Longview Fibre Nehalem tree farm near Clatskanie, Oregon, near where large scale timber harvesting started a century ago on the Columbia River. The 5,000 logger participants rode buses to the top of a hill and then walked down through the exhibits on a 1.3 mile series of logging and skid roads through 186 acres of second-growth forest. There were 19 activity sites with 10 manufacturers actively logging. Nearly 75 manufacturers from the US, Canada, Japan and Scandinavia were represented. Static displays and information centres were scattered along the way with a large tent housing many more exhibitors. Tree felling is probably the most changed in operations because of the smaller timber now logged in the younger stands. The machines grab stems, cut them off at the stump, turn them parallel to the ground, snub off the branches, and cut them to length, almost automatically, with the operator computer-controlling the operation from the machine's cab. This has made the job much more efficient, while reducing breakage, when compared with conventional chain-saw felling. Forwarders move the logs to the landing for loading. The increasing emphasis on forest thinning generates ever-smaller wood suited for commercial power generation. Sophisticated chippers were also demonstrated. Perhaps the show's star was a huge S-64 helicopter, which demonstrated the art of helicopter logging. Erickson Air-Crane Inc of Central Point, Oregon now manufactures the Sikorsky model in addition to using it for logging and for fighting forest fires.

In introducing the 10th edition of EPPS in the newly extended North Wales Conference Centre in the coastal resort of Llandudno, Dr Paul Fowler, director of organisers the BioComposites Centre, said: "This year we can celebrate 10 years of excellence in the dissemination of information from all over the world". Dr Fowler went on to say that the delegates could also help to celebrate the official opening of the BioComposite Centre's redeveloped pilot facility at its new home on the island of Anglesey, not far from the university in Bangor, followed by a 10th anniversary gala dinner in the unique atmosphere of Beaumaris Castle (pictured above). He also announced a big change for 2007. "We have decided it is time for a change and for growth for this symposium," he said. "Next year we will launch IPPS - the International Panel Products Symposium - as a fitting evolution of this truly international event. This will be held in the Welsh capital Cardiff and will run back-to-back with a conference on wood modification." Fittingly, the keynote speaker for EPPS 10 was a man who has presented a paper at every edition of EPPS since the first in 1997, Dr Mark Irle of Ecole Supérieure du Bois, Nantes, France. He is also of course a regular contributor to WBPI. Titled 'Our global business', Dr Irle's paper began by looking back over the last 10 years. "The latest statistics published by the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation show total world production of all wood based panel types to have been 225 million m³ in 2004," said Dr Irle. "This annual growth in production, equivalent to nearly eight million m³ per year, is a little short of the nine million predicted by Dr James Bolton (founder of EPPS) in 1997 but the growth is real. It is surprisingly linear and, for the moment, continuous." Dr Irle then went on to express that growth in terms of per capita consumption. This showed an increase of 57% between 1991 and 2004. "This is the real success story behind the wood based panels sector," he said. The speaker then outlined the production history of each of the various panel types and the positive contributions made by research to the industry. He concluded: "The consumption of wood based panels is increasing on a global level and the indications are that this will continue, especially now that the positive benefits of using [them] are recognised by governments and the general public. "Continued growth can be assisted by the development of new products, improving the reliability and consistency of existing products and by demonstrating the benefits of panels over other materials. All these require research and the research community must interact more with the commercial side of the industry, become more aware of its needs, provide solutions and gain its confidence". Session 1, 'Fundamental studies', was opened by Dr John Sharp, whose paper was entitled 'wood, wood based panels and swelling. Is wood really low-tech?' Dr Sharp pointed out that thickness swelling can be a significant problem in panels, with major variations and a totally erratic distribution of values leading to a reinforcement of the 'low-tech' image. "However, if we consult a wood technologist or structural engineer, a different view will be proffered and in such professions, wood may be seen as being far from 'low-tech'," said Dr Sharp. He concluded that swelling in a panel is least when the wood elements are in parallel as in wood, plywood and OSB. He also suggested that higher density panels are less dimensionally stable due to fibre compression, particularly at fibre cross-over points. Next, Thomas Walther presented 'new opportunities for the microstructural analysis of wood fibre networks' - a matter closely connected to the previous speaker's points. "The analysis of the microstructure will help us to better understand the fundamental mechanisms affecting the mechanical and physical properties of wood fibre based composites," said Mr Walther. His work aimed to produce 3-D images of wood fibre networks by the use of microtomography combined with powerful image analysis tools, with simulation of mat permeability and thermal conductivity. After coffee, Professor Edmone Roffael of the University of Göttingen discussed his team's work on chemo-thermo-mechanical pulping (CMTP) versus thermo-mechanical pulping (TMP) for moisture resistant MDF. He concluded that CTMP has a positive effect on the mechanical properties of the boards, but a tolerable negative influence on thickness swelling. It also has a positive impact on moisture and hydrolysis resistance of the boards "which could mark a profound change in future dealings of the market with this product. It may also save resin without impairing board properties". Dr Amy Philbrook has carried out co-polymerisation studies of wood resin using 15N NMR correlation spectroscopy and found that this is a powerful tool in elucidating amino resin structures in diisocyanate-urea-formaldehyde and phenol-urea-formaldehyde resins. "As a result it is now possible to correlate the molecular structure to the physical properties of the resin such that the benefits of co-polymerisation can be assessed," said Dr Philbrook. High strength resin-impregnated compressed wood is seen by Dr Mohamed Iftekhar Shams, from Khulna University in Bangladesh, as an answer to wood's inherent problems of dimensional instability due to moisture, low durability due to bio-deterioration and lower mechanical properties compared to other engineering materials.  However, Dr Iftekhar Sham's team found that high pressure hot pressing meant high cost. They thus developed a system of lower pressure pressing with phenol formaldehyde resin impregnation and steam treatment of the wood. The end-use suggested was as a highly-densified surface layer for plywood or waferboard to produce flooring, table tops and similar high-wear surfaces. Session 2, 'Resins and emissions', was opened by Dr Manfred Dunky of resin maker Dynea. His 'mini-keynote' presentation was entitled 'Resins in Europe (for particleboard, MDF and OSB)'. Dr Dunky pointed out that European annual production of these composite panels comprises almost 60 million m³, consuming in excess of five million tons (liquid basis) of all types of condensation resins, such as UF, MU(P)F and PF, as well as pMDI. "With the anticipated annual growth in panel production between 2006 to 2010, there will be 25 plants established in the next five years, leading to an additional resin demand of 800,000 to one million tons, including Russia, in 2010 when compared with 2005," said the speaker. Requirements for the development of the resin industry going forward were identified by Dr Dunky as cost-effective bonding solutions such as: minimising resin consumption; shorter press times; special resins for low density boards; mat pre-heating without resin pre-hardening; and dry gluing. Requirements of the resins themselves would include: broadening the operating window in production; further decreasing formaldehyde emissions; improving moisture resistance and swelling characteristics of panels; and bio-based and binderless bonding. Dr Dunky suggested that the close link between the wood based panels and the adhesives industries is the best way forward. 'Trends in indoor air quality legislation and monitoring - could you be affected?' was the title of the paper by Peter Williamson of PPM Technology. He said that several factors, including wood panel products, can contribute to poor indoor air quality (IAQ) and that the IAQ legislation already introduced in the Far East is likely to increase the demand for low formaldehyde/VOC-emission products. Dr Alpha Barry of Forintek Canada Corp reported on a study of volatile organic chemical (VOC) emissions from an MDF pilot plant dryer exhaust in which he found that it was possible to reduce emissions by better control of the entire process. Emissions varied with resin loading and type, with MUF resins in MDF producing lower emissions than UF resins. Mathias Makowski of the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest products, Hamburg, Germany, reported on 'Measurement and health-related evaluation of VOC emissions from OSB made of Scots pine'. These VOCs are mainly terpenes and aldehydes from the pine itself and are thus of natural origin and their release is a factor of temperature and hot stacking conditions. 'Online measuring method for the fast determination of formaldehyde emissions from panels and finish foils' was presented by Steffen Tobisch of the IHD institute in Dresden, Germany. He reported that the field and laboratory emission cell (FLEC) and online formaldehyde analyser used in his experiments gave fast and continuous measurement for quality control and allowed the optimisation of panel plant parameters and lacquer recipes. Christopher Phanopoulos of Huntsman reported on his study of penetration and diffusion behaviour of isocyanate based adhesives, saying that they were found to wet wood well and spread and penetrate rapidly and that their mode of adhesion allows for dissipation of stresses and thus higher strengths. Dr Kelvin Chapman of MDF Tech New Zealand opened the second day's session on 'Raw materials and preparation' with another mini-keynote address entitled 'Zen and the art of making MDF'. He concluded that "The key to making good MDF lies in understanding the whole process, not just one part". Dr Sujit Banerjee of Georgia-Tech, Atlanta, US, reported that the amount of fines produced while flaking wood for OSB manufacture depends on both temperature and knife sharpness angle, with more frequent knife changes recommended in cold winter conditions. The use of waste, or recycled, wood for panel manufacture is likely to increase, at least in Europe, so the presentation of Peter Meinlschmidt of the Wilhelm Klauditz Institute (WKI) in Germany on innovative separation techniques for particleboards made from this material was perhaps timely. He addressed the problems of removing contaminants which cannot be separated by mechanical or magnetic means by using infrared thermography and online spectroscopy to identify contaminants such as rubber and plastic. Work continues on ways to remove the identified pollutants. Wayne Wasylciw from the Alberta Research Council in Canada looked at the manufacture of oriented structural split straw board (OSSB) in a similar process to OSB, developed by ARC and now being commercialised. This utilises the tensile strength of straw strands in tension parallel to the stalk, which he said is comparable to aspen strands. Work continues in developing a commercial straw splitter, rather than using existing wood OSB technology, and on scaling up production speeds, but it looks promising. Session 4 covered 'The built environment' and was kicked off by professor Jalaluddin Harun of the Institute of Tropical Biocomposites in Malaysia looking at prospects and challenges in the Asia-Pacific, with a focus on Malaysia. "Raw material for solid wood production is declining and there is a need for new sources of raw materials to sustain current manufacturing and development," he said. The speaker said that new biocomposite products like fibre reinforced plastic composites, LVL and kenaf oriented board offered possibilities for some markets. Professor Tom Woolley, an architect from Queens University Belfast, Northern Ireland, discussed 'natural building'. He talked of the use of natural insulation materials such as hemp or wool and 'hempcrete' wall systems. Staying with buildings, Joe Martoccia, now a director of UK timber frame house manufacturer/builder Potton and of the UK Timber Frame Association, but formerly employed in the panel manufacturing/marketing industry, spoke about the increasing acceptance of timber frame in the UK. With market growth by 2010 expected to be 50%, Mr Martoccia called on the panel industry to work with the timber frame industry to develop more and better panel products to share in this growth.  Following this presentation, the delegates were taken to the Isle of Anglesey to witness the official opening of the new pilot line by the vice-chancellor of the University of Wales Bangor, Professor R Merfyn Jones (see photo page 42) and on to a gala dinner at the 13th Century Beaumaris Castle. Session 5 was entitled 'Process control technologies' and the first speaker was Dr Martin Ohlmeyer of the Federal Research Centre, Hamburg, who offered 'New methods to determine fibre quality for MDF production' in which he presented preliminary results for an optical fibre size and distribution measurement system. Matthias Fuchs, technical director of Electronic Wood Systems, Hameln, Germany presented the EWS Conti-Scale for non-contact measurement of area weight and thus board weight on the production line at high speeds - and the EWS Gauge Controller for thickness measurement. Dr Bernd Bergmann of GreCon, Alfeld, Germany, then presented the on-line x-ray inspection system 'Dieffensor' to detect glue lumps and foreign bodies before the continuous press to prevent expensive damage to the stainless steel belt. Surface smoothness of panels is vital to certain surfacing processes and can be a problem with rubberwood based MDF, as manufactured in Malaysia. Dr Jegatheswaran Ratnasingam, faculty of forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, reported on contract research for a Malaysian MDF producer into surface finishing, in which he found that 150-grit sanding was best for liquid surface applications, while 120-grit was best for overlaying. Robert Massen of Massen Machine Vision Systems, Germany, reported on his company's automatic visual monitoring of bare and surfaced panels using multi-sensorial camera-based inspection systems with different camera/illumination modules. These sensors can be used on raw boards, profiled edges or decorative surfaces to assess both physical and aesthetic quality, giving quality inspection and process monitoring at the same time, with automatic generation of quality reports per shift, said the speaker. The final paper in this varied symposium was from Arun Gupta of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. He and his team had modelled the hot pressing of MDF and found that their model could predict the main variables which control the manufacturing of MDF panels. This year's EPPS, as always, set a demanding pace, with 25 papers presented in the five sessions, but still allowed time for questions of the speaker at the end of each presentation and for the all-important networking among delegates. The international flavour of this event, with speakers from Europe, Asia, North America and New Zealand and delegates from all corners of the world - as at every EPPS - would certainly seem to justify the change in name to the International Panel Products Symposium (IPPS) from 2007. This article can only give a brief glimpse into the subjects covered at EPPS10, but copies of this and previous years' full proceedings are available for purchase from the BioComposites Centre at: www.bc.bangor.ac.uk

The 5th European Wood Based Panel Symposium took place in the Maritim Airport Hotel, a short covered walk from the arrivals/departures area. The symposium organisers, the European Panel Federation (EPF) and the Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut (WKI) crammed in 32 presentations in two days for an audience of around 320 delegates from 30 countries in the panel manufacturing, machinery making and resin producing sectors. Simultaneous translation was supplied in German, English, French and Italian (though many slides were still in the speaker's native language). Sessions were: Market trends, challenges and opportunities for wood based panels; advanced production technologies; products and quality control; new products and technologies; adhesives and gluing technologies; and ecological challenges and credentials. President of the EPF Laszlo Döry started the symposium by presenting the EPF view of the current situation, challenges and opportunities for the panel industry. Mr Döry pointed out that the European industry's most aggressive competitor is China. He also said that the EPF is seeking the support of all branches of the woodworking industry in Europe on the issue of biomass and the threat to wood supplies imposed by subsidised energy generators. "The future for our industry is continuous investment in improving production techniques, enhanced panel properties and new products and applications. This involves scientists, producers and suppliers and is one of the aims of this symposium," said the president. Next, Martin Greimel, of the European Commission DG research advised of new research opportunities for the wood industry through the FP7, although funding was not yet finalised. He said that the EC is co-financing research on a collaborating basis to bring researchers together, as many are scattered with consequent duplication of work. The wood products sector is just one part of this programme, one aim of which is to 'Establish wood as the material of first choice in many industrial sectors'. Hubert Röder of Pöyry Forest Industry Consulting looked at the raw material supply of the wood based industries in Europe and forecast a huge leap in demand for wood in the next 20 years. "The sawmilling industry in Europe has developed very favourably over recent years and the production increase will continue but will shift to a faster increase in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union," said Dr Röder. "Pulp and paper are also very important and will see an increase in demand for wood. MDF and OSB are very dynamic and particleboard will also increase but differently within different regions," he said. "We have tried to quantify the demand for wood based panels and could project an increase of 25 million tonnes to 2015 by extrapolation, but expect a bigger increase, with a different raw material mix. "An increasing amount of wood will be unavailable to the wood products industry in the next 20-30 years - competition will intensify," warned Dr Röder, citing pellet production from fresh wood as an additional threat to supplies. Karl Schukt-Bornemann of ExxonMobil's paper was titled 'The outlook for energy - a view to 2000'. He forecast over 50% increase in energy consumption by 2030 but suggested that there is enough oil for the next 2-300 years, if one does not consider the price. Ms Claudia Krapf of Seeger Engineering, Germany, looked at the economy of biomass power stations (using wood and other fuels) in different European countries, saying that it was not just a threat but an opportunity to panel producers, as they also have a high energy demand. Achim Offermann of Idemitsu presented a high-performance lubricant for continuous presses, outlining the demands made on a lubricant by these complex machines for high lubricity and temperature stability with low consumption, evaporation and sludge formation. Fabio Chiara, sales manager of Pal srl of Italy presented the Quadradyn screen for primary screening of OSB strands. As a green or a dry screen, Quadradyn removes fines and classifies the core and face material, and avoids strand breakage, said Mr Chiara. Tim Schäfer of HFHN Wood Engineering, Germany, offered a new generation of knife ring flakers for OSB. The flaker has an internal diameter of 2,500mm - the world's largest said Mr Schäfer - and a knife depth of 725mm so it is a big machine. "Large volumes in a single machine means low cutting speeds and therefore high quality flakes," claimed the speaker. Still on the subject of size reduction, Robert Loth of B Maier, Germany, presented his two-stage process for utilising recycled wood in the production of particleboard and MDF. He said that 40% of this material could also be used for producing OSB strands. Metso Panelboard can trace its history in refiners for the production of wood fibre back to 1931 when Sunds produced its first refiner, said Anders Mattsson. In 2005, Metso produced the Evo-Series, having developed a new bearing set up, and a helical disc housing which optimises flow to reduce energy consumption. Mr Mattsson said a customer had achieved 25-40% reduction in specific steam, depending on the product being produced. Günter Natus of Dieffenbacher presented mat steam pre-heating as a way to increase the capacity of continuous presses. He said that steam pre-heating increases mat temperatures and thus reduces pressing times and enables the production of thick boards and products such as laminated strand lumber (LSL) economically. He claimed increased capacities of 10-30% for MDI-bonded boards, and 10-20% for those bonded with MUF resins. The first presentation in the session on product and quality control was given by Joris Van Acker of the University of Ghent, Belgium, who looked at the service life performance of plywood in view of CE marking for biological durability. As a fifth framework European research project, Dr Van Acker and his team evaluated 25 plywood types - both commercially available ones and those developed specifically for the project - for durability and performance. The project started from the point that most European plywood is made from species with low durability. He concluded that for integrated CE marking, it is essential to establish quality requirements for plywood related to specific end-uses. The work is ongoing. Hauke Kleinschmidt of Electronic Wood Systems (EWS) presented the company's Conti-Scale as a new solution to measuring cross-density profile and panel weight continuously on the line, employing a low-dose radiation source. Turning to the subject of resins, Panagiotis Nakos of Chimar Hellas in Greece described a 'Novel process control for the resin and panel industries based on FT-NIR spectroscopy'. This allows simultaneous determination of solids content and molar ratio of resins and determination of the exact reaction path. Connection to a remote monitor in the control room allows corresponding control of the reaction. The system can also be used on paper impregnation lines to quantify volatile content and to identify usable and unusable papers, he said. For the actual decor paper production line, Matthias Rump of paper maker Technocell reported on 'High-speed online visualisation for improved quality and process productivity on paper making machines'. This employed a high-speed video camera system and online visualisation unit. Cutting panels to smaller sizes for furniture and other end-users requires careful control of waste and efficiency and that is the business of Altanis of Germany. Managing director Roland Schramme described his pCUT computer program to optimise cutting and reduce waste in his cost-based production process. Returning to quality control on the panel production line, Kai Greten of GreCon, Germany, described its online X-ray inspection system 'Dieffensor' for protection of the steel belts of a continuous press. "New niche products have been developed and this is why this research was needed into the structure of OSB," said Xavier le Fur of WKI. Mr le Fur's presentation concerned online image analysis in two areas: strand geometry and size distribution; and strand orientation. "These properties all affect porosity with regard to gluing and to panel density," said Mr le Fur. They also affect panel properties such as bending strength and Mr le Fur concluded that panel properties could be optimised by using his technique to control strand geometry, combined with a suitable layer composite structure. The next session, 'new products and technologies' was opened by professor Andreas Michanickl of the University of Applied Sciences, Rosenheim, Germany. He described his ongoing work developing a new lightweight panel which can be produced with existing technology. It is based on a very light wood based core layer with a density of 350kg/m³ made of large softwood chips and with very thin surfaces of MDF or other materials bonded with UF or isocyanate binder. Core and surface layer are produced separately in order to obtain light weight and good properties. Jochen Aderhold of WKI looked afresh at 'Plywood made of large diameter timber'. "Many people think plywood is in retreat globally, but it is in fact number two in the world after particleboard," said Dr Aderhold. He also pointed out that German plywood consumption is increasing, while production is falling. He said that Germany has a large resource of large diameter logs available and discussed spindle-less peeling to deal with rot problems and various other methods to utilise veneer from these logs to the full, with the objective of ultimately building such a plywood mill in Germany. Didier Goesaert, Schenkmann & Piel Engineering, presented 'High capacity dryers for particleboard and OSB'. The seven metre diameter drum has the internals pre-assembled on 'omega support discs' which can then be inserted into the drum rather than welding all internals in situ. The dryer is claimed to air-classify the strands to produce more even drying and minimise heat damage and strand breaking. Marie-Lise Roux of CTBA, France, looked at powder coating panels for furniture and the influence of the substrates. This work has some way to go but shows promise for MDF, she said. Work on a new panel made from a sandwich of 20mm high-density polystyrene core and 10mm particleboard faces was reported by Stephane Garcia of AIDIMA, Spain. He found that dimensional stability in humid conditions was superior to either particleboard or MDF and that its very low density lead to new applications such as interior doors. Professor Rainer Marutzky of the WKI opened the session on adhesives and gluing technologies with a presentation on 'Ecological and technological developments and their influence on the European wood based panel industry'. He said that aminopolast resins are used in around 90% of panels, phenoplasts in 4% (mainly plywood), pMDI in 3% and "others" in around 1%. "Any alternative resins need to be available in large amounts, homogeneous quality and at an acceptable price," said Dr Marutzky. "At present, alternative resins are only suitable for niche products." He recommended continuing with existing resins for now with a commitment to produce E1 boards but to work towards a lower (formaldehyde) emitting class of maybe E0.3. Foam gluing for plywood was discussed by Jouni Rainio of Hexion Speciality Chemicals. He said it had been around since the 1960s but earlier systems had limitations. His company has developed a system suitable for different kinds of plywood plants by selecting the appropriate extenders and foaming agents and optimising the glue mixing station, he said. Detlef Krug, IHD Dresden, reported on a protein-modified phenol formaldehyde resin with low formaldehyde emissions for the manufacture of moisture resistant panels. The first speaker from a panel manufacturer was Francesco Balducci of Falco (Gruppo Trombini), Italy and COSMOB. His subject was 'Developing trends in Italian particleboard production'. This was part of an ongoing European project to develop the use of recycled raw materials to produce particleboard panels with lighter weight and improved performance. Mark Irle of Ecole Supérieure du Bois, Nantes, France, looked at quality and contamination control in recycled wood in Europe, particularly in relation to the European toy safety standards. He said that metal contamination in recycled wood is very variable and this can distort results, thus a median value is required rather than a mean value. "We need a clear protocol on processing of samples in the laboratory rather than the current 'guidelines', said Dr Irle. Formaldehyde is a hot topic in the industry and Detlev Clajus of FormaCare, an association mainly of chemical companies involved in the formaldehyde industry, updated delegates on the current status. Dr Clajus announced that the Scientific Committee on Occupational Exposure Limits of the EU (SCOEL) would publish a recommendation for an Occupational Exposure Limit of 0.2ppm (eight-hour time-weighted average) and a Short Term Exposure Limit of 0.4ppm; the formaldehyde content in human blood is 3ppm. The EPF has its own formaldehyde testing project and Kris Wijnendaele (EPF) and Rainer Marutzky (WKI) reported the first results. Mr Wijnendaele stressed that all panel producers with EPF and FEIC membership have committed to produce only boards of at least E1 quality and that the emission of these panels is much lower than any regulatory limit in Europe. Dr Marutzky reported that the first results indicate that the gas analysis, flask method and desiccator methods are suitable for evaluating the formaldehyde emission and classification in factory production control. Alpha Barry of Forintek, Canada, spoke on 'Correlations between formaldehyde emissions testing methods. Dr Barry concluded that there was excellent correlation between ASTM E-1333 and ISO 12460-2 for MDF and hardwood plywood and that a mixture of data from particleboard, MDF and hardwood plywood showed an interesting correlation between the two methods. Professor Edmone Roffael of the University of Göttingen rounded off the conference with his presentation on 'VOC emission from wood based panels: state of the art and measures for reduction'. He said The VOC-emissions depend on many interacting factors such as the wood species used, the adhesives applied and the pressing conditions selected, while storage decreases the VOC emissions of panels. Dr Roffael said it is possible to reduce the VOC emission of particleboards through treatment with alkaline reagents without negatively affecting the strength properties of the panels significantly. This was certainly a fact-packed symposium and maybe the organisers tried to fit too many presentations into the time available; time for questions of each speaker at the end of a presentation (none was allowed) often draws out additional illuminating information. However, much was learned by the delegates to take back to their daily working lives. Any enquiries for further information about this symposium should be addressed to: info@europanels.org

Trespa International BV, headquartered in Weert, Netherlands, defines its core activities as the production, sale and marketing of high quality decorative panels for outdoor and indoor applications, offering the user a very broad range of design options. With a turnover of EUR125m Trespa manufactures some four million m² of HPL panelling per annum. Customers include Mango, Esprit, McDonalds', Volkswagen/Audi and Harley Davidson. In 2004 the company obtained ISO 14001 accreditation, becoming one of the first producers of panel material to receive such recognition. The ISO 14001 standard describes the steps required for setting up, implementing, maintaining and improving a completely integrated environmental management system. And currently, with the EN 438-7 European legislation regarding building products which came into force on November 1, 2006, Trespa has announced that its range of building materials will carry CE marking with immediate effect - to indicate that its range of HPL panels fully complies with the requirements of the new European standard. Here, then, we concentrate on the global application of two of Trespa's distinct product lines, Meteon and Virtuon panels. First we turn to Italy where Trespa's partner Inpek has just completed new corporate headquarters in Vipiteno. The building is designed to be a stunning piece of architecture, which blends closely with its environment and showcases Trespa exterior and interior panel products in an unusual way.  The new offices and showroom, designed by Italian architect Enrico Massagrande, is situated in an area of spectacular beauty near the Brenner Pass and the border with Austria. The architect's concept was for a building that would reflect, and complement, the landscape. For example, the front elevation is angled to reflect the irregular character of the site. Mr Massagrande was particularly interested in exploiting the use and potential of Meteon and Virtuon panels and the final design is a bold statement of long life, durability and interesting materials, says the architect.  Seen from a distance, Inpek is dominated by a dramatic backdrop of mountains, bare rock and fir trees and the ever-changing colours of the seasons. It is this scene that the architect has tried to echo in the elevations of the building, using bands of dark and light Meteon panels. Occasionally, the rigid geometric pattern of wall and window is broken up by other full height walls of irregularly cut and coloured Meteon panels. The most dominant feature is the so-called 'Wave of Life', which winds around the building and is also made from Meteon panels. Along the main entrance, quartz pebbles have been used as a reminder of streams and to reflect the light. At night the whole effect gives the appearance of an artificial woodland. Inside, the building continues the dialogue with nature, starting at the entrance with grass-coloured carpet to present a seamless flow between exterior and interior. Large windows continually capture the sight of the exterior wave feature. "We think we have achieved our objective - to present innovative developments and ideas to architects, designers and other visitors and to demonstrate what is possible with Trespa panels - all within a very functional but aesthetically pleasing building," said Erich Klammer, general manager of Inpek.  The SportPlaza Leuven in Belgium is a brand new indoor sports complex, catering for a range of sports from indoor climbing to squash. The 12,000m² complex is currently the largest in the Benelux area and includes a leisure pool, fitness facilities and a sauna - all supported by a brasserie, restaurant and seminar centre. "About three years ago, the City of Leuven indicated that it wanted to build a sports complex and swimming pool," said SportPlaz exploitation manager Bert van Cauteren. "It owned a suitable piece of land, an old industrial site, but budgets were limited." Eventually a contract was awarded to a group of companies, which included Axima, Sportfondsen and Van Roey. The group appointed De Gregorio & Partners Architects in Hasselt. Under the terms of the contract the group (now formally established as a joint-venture business, Sportavan) has undertaken to build, maintain and manage the centre for a period of 34 years. During this time all income will be used to offset costs. After 34 years, the entire complex will become the property of the City of Leuven. The whole project is impressive because of its highly functional design using a range of materials including bricks, concrete and local stone. According to Bert van Cauteren - who has worked in sports projects for more than 15 years - the choice of materials was made on the basis of aesthetics and durability: "When you want to achieve an operational success over a period of 34 years you need to select your building materials with care. "We have many clubs visiting the centre and not everyone takes as much care of the facilities as we would like. So we have a graffiti problem - especially in the changing rooms. It is for this reason that that these rooms are all fitted with Trespa Virtuon panels. We believe that Virtuon provides us with good looks, low cleaning and maintenance costs and a high level of hygiene." Also in Belgium, the library of the University of Louvain utilises Meteon. Thirty years ago, Paul van Aerschot designed the faculty of theology library for the university. In 2005 he was again approached to design an extension to the same building. And, fully in keeping with the building's use, the architect designed a side wall, which says it all. Paul van Aerschot: "I wanted to give the building a powerful visual impact and have it convey a message. On the one hand, this message should say something about the function of the building [library] and on the other hand about this function's specific nature [a theological library]. "By making use of Meteon in various colours I made it look like a book case, on which I wrote the Latin word SPES, meaning 'hope'. "The Trespa Meteon collection with its rich colour palette, and the flexibility its shapes and forms offer, gave me all the freedom I needed to have the Louvain library speak for itself". A high school in Hoofddorp, in the Netherlands, has a highly individual façade thanks to Trespa. To highlight the school's open campus, architect Jan Weeda designed one wall of the new extension in glass - providing light and insight. For all the other walls he selected Meteon Originals. These panels are said to create a more fluid surface with the light reflected in different ways throughout the day - further enhanced by their metallic finish. "The customer is very happy with the end result; we have met all the requirements and have given the building a strong and striking visual identity." said Mr van Aerschot. The William Rainey Harper College, a community college in the Chicago suburb of Palatine, Illinois, US, recently opened the Avanté Center for science, health careers and emerging technologies. "The design of the building was intended to reflect a theme of movement, of moving forward," said architect Erik Kaae Andersen. "Trespa enabled us to articulate our vision. Red and yellow copper define the various building blocks and highlight the entrances, and windows placed at regular intervals accentuate the asymmetric panel modulation. Differing, thin accented bands, rotated 180^o, and exposed stainless steel anchoring studs ensure a sense of finesse. Thanks to the modular construction and the panel sizes, waste was minimised to only 3% - a fine example of building economically." A new University Hospital in northern Bavaria demonstrates how Virtuon is used to create hygienic environments in hospitals and healthcare projects. The first phase of the hospital, the Surgical Centre, has been completed at the Julius Maximilian University in Würzburg. This was designed by architects Schuster Pechtold Schmidt, specialists in the design of hospitals and medical facilities and the upgrading of existing healthcare buildings. The Surgical Centre has 14 operating theatres as well as post-operative and other treatment rooms. Completed in 2004, the 22,500m² centre is designed for major operations and local emergencies and has the very latest in medical technology. It is said to be Bavaria's most advanced surgical facility and one of Europe's best. The second phase of the development is a similar-sized medical centre due for completion in 2009. At Würzburg, 4000m² of Virtuon panels have been used to line the walls of the operating theatres and associated rooms. "In reality, it was not a difficult choice," said senior partner Constantin Schuster. "We are very familiar with Trespa's products and especially with the hygienic performance of the Virtuon panel."

China has been a major market for the products of Andritz during the boom in the construction of new MDF mills there in recent years. In fact, the company has sold over 80 lines to that country, some of them being complete high-capacity lines in which Andritz has supplied everything from woodyard to chip washer to refiner. Of course China is a less active market now in terms of new 'green field' lines, due mainly to the shortage of raw material and energy supplies, but that has not troubled Andritz, which reports a full order book and manufacturing programme based on orders from around the world. And it still has good business in China. Notable among its orders from this country is the fifth order in five years which the Austrian-based company received in July 2006 from Yangdong Luyuan Wood Based Panelboards in Guangdong in the far south of China. Scope of supply includes a woodyard, chip washing system and a pressurised refining system with a capacity of 600 tonnes per day. It will be equipped with a 60in-1CP refiner and is scheduled to go into production in the third quarter of 2007. Also, in March of this year, the Shenyang Heavy Machinery Group of Lioaning ordered a second 49in-1CP pressurised refining system with a 288 tonne per day capacity. Back in Europe, Fiberboard GmbH, a member of the Classen Group of Germany, has signed a contract for the supply of a fibre preparation system for its new MDF mill in Baruth in the east of Germany. This line is due to start up in June 2007 and Andritz will supply the chip washing and pressurised refining system. In Spain, Unopan Tableros de Fibras of Burgos has a new MDF factory under preparation and has ordered a woodyard from Andritz. This will comprise debarking, chipping, chip handling, storage and screening equipment as well as a chip cleaning system and pressurised refining system with a 60in-1CP refiner. Start-up is scheduled for the third quarter of 2007. These are the major orders received to September 2006, which has also been a busy year for start-ups and final acceptances for contracts received in the recent past. However, Egger's plant in Wismar in the north of Germany illustrates the fact that Andritz is not solely reliant on new-build mills for its income. In January 2006, it received the final acceptance from Egger for an upgrade of its pressurised refining system. This was completed in five days and included a new 60in-1CP refiner and also replacement of the existing 20in plug screw feeder with a new 24in unit. Similarly, Pfleiderer Holzwerkstoffe International's Baruth (formerly Kunz) MDF line had a complete system upgrade to a capacity in excess of 1,320 tonnes/day. The existing 24in plug screw feeder was replaced with a 26in one; and the vertical digester and discharger were exchanged. The originally installed refiner was a 70in diameter one and had spare capacity so Andritz optimised and upgraded the whole system, which still has spare capacity for future growth. This is currently the largest single-stage pressurised refining system in the MDF industry, says Andritz. Turkey has been a main focus for new MDF mills in recent times, and a growth market for Andritz, with five pressurised refining systems supplied in recent years. In June 2006, Yildiz Sunta MDF of Izmit started up. It has an S2064M refiner, the largest in Turkey, with a 24in plug screw feeder. Other lines started up end-2005/early 2006 included Kronospan Egorievsk and Hubei Baoyuan Group. "We are the market leader for high-capacity pressurised refining systems for the MDF industry," said Michael Rupp, Andritz's general manager for sales and marketing for Panelboard Systems. Wood is not the only material used in MDF production and annual plant fibres may well become more common. "We have new ideas and processes available for bagasse (sugar cane waste) and other annual plants," said Mr Rupp. The Andritz group also offers tailor-made refiner plates to meet individual customer requirements, he added. As well as systems for large MDF factories, Andritz also produces laboratory-size equipment and in summer 2006 supplied a 12in refiner system to IHD Dresden, Germany, a well-known research institute for the wood products industry. Andritz's head office for products for the MDF industry is on the outskirts of Austria's capital Vienna and its main manufacturing base for refining systems is in Graz, where the Andritz group's headquarters are also based. The group also has around 35 workshops and over 100 subsidiary companies, serving the pulp, paper and MDF industries, worldwide. In Finland there is another subsidiary, Andritz Oy, specialising in the equipment for the woodyard including debarkers, chippers, chip storage and screening and handling systems. Although wood is a very important part of Andritz's overall market, the paper industry is also a big consumer of its refining technology - and its tissue paper machines. In addition to the complete product range for pulp production, the company is also a supplier of systems for the treatment and processing of stainless and carbon steel products, solid/liquid separation, animal feed processing technology, wood pelleting equipment and water turbines and pumps. This last area saw significant expansion in 2006 with the purchase of VA-Tech Hydro, one of the world's leading suppliers of electro-mechanical equipment for hydro-power plants. For the Andritz Panelboard department, the market remains strong and reflects the shifting nature of the geographical development of that industry in recent years: yesterday (and probably tomorrow) China; today Turkey, South America and western Europe. For the future, MDF production capacity seems certain to be growing, somewhere in the world.

The Dieffenbacher of today is no longer just a press manufacturer but is a sum of many parts brought together over the years in an ongoing process. The policy for some time has been to take over, or to take shares in, companies which can supply each piece of the complete jigsaw puzzle which is a modern panel production plant. Thus, forming came into the fold some years ago, from the expertise of Schenck Panel Systems which was absorbed into the Dieffenbacher company and today trades as ASA, based, like Dieffenbacher GmbH & Co KG, in Eppingen. More recently, specialist dryer manufacturer Schenkmann & Piel of Leverkusen joined the family in a two-stage takeover and still trades as Schenkmann-Piel-Engineering. The hydraulic press - daylight or continuous - remains at the heart and foundation of the business but only as a part, albeit the major one, of the whole production process. In another move to add a new competence to the company family, Dieffenbacher in summer 2006 acquired a minority shareholding in Italian company Instalmec and is already having some Dieffenbacher products manufactured there as a prelude to producing some complete product lines at the San Giorgio di Nogaro factory in Udine, eastern Italy. Instalmec's own product range includes extraction systems and filters, separators, rotary and gate valves, cyclones and silos and screening systems. "There are still some product lines which are not inhouse at Dieffenbacher - yet - but expect more news in 2007," said Günter Natus, managing director for engineering and sales director for North America for the wood based panel division. "In the meantime, we are very happy with the number of orders we have and with the diversified nature of them. Two years ago, almost all our business was for China but we have a wider spread now, although of course we still have orders in China as part of a well-balanced global distribution. "If you include the already in-progress orders, we have more than 20 projects in our factory at present." Because most green field projects take 18 months to two years from project to final acceptance of the line, Mr Natus said the company already knows its turnover for 2007 is going to be good, with the workshops busy until well into the third quarter. "At the beginning of 2006, I would have said the China 'boom' was more or less over, apart from a couple of particleboard lines maybe, but I would have been wrong," admitted Mr Natus.  Of the 11 orders taken by Dieffenbacher between January and October, three were for complete lines for China: Hebei Yingyang (particleboard); Dongdun (MDF); and Shengda (MDF). There were also orders for Hungary and Latvia (both for Kronotec), Thailand (Kristina), Spain (Unopan), the US and Chile (Louisiana Pacific) and Russia (Cherepovets). These orders cover thin HDF (THDF), particleboard, OSB, MDF and OSL (oriented strand lumber). They also include one single-opening and one refurbished multi-opening press. The rest were for Dieffenbacher's signature CPS continuous presses. However, the China market is not just for green field developments, said the technical director: "There is a trend to replace old multi-opening lines with continuous ones because they are more economical." Dieffenbacher is in the process of building a local assembly facility in China, close to Shanghai, which should start production around March or April 2007. At first, this factory will assemble parts of forming stations produced by sub-contractors, as well as parts of the finishing line: "Mainly the bulky and labour-intensive components," pointed out Mr Natus. "We are already having dryer parts produced in China and other parts of the world by sub-contractors." The company has also expanded its workshops in Canada and the Czech Republic and is steadily increasing the number of local service stations it has around the world, staffed by Dieffenbacher people."Our main strategy is to strengthen our service, worldwide," said Mr Natus. On the research and development front, raw material is taking centre stage at present. "Everybody is worried about scarce raw material - even our customers in Canada and the US at a recent Dieffenbacher press users' meeting expressed concern," said Mr Natus. "So we are active in alternative raw materials - annual plant fibres - which we think are a good idea in certain circumstances. We are looking at alternative raw material sources which are not being burnt because of political subsidies," he said, in a pointed reference to the European industry's problems with EU biomass fuel subsidies. Another target of Dieffenbacher's R&D is new high-value products such as OSL. The company has supplied its second line to Ainsworth for its Grand Prairie mill in Canada. The first was a 12ft wide line for OSB but the latest is a continuous OSL line with steam pre-heater. Louisiana Pacific has also ordered a single-opening 64ft press with steam injection for its Houlton, Maine OSL mill. "We have also invested in a new laboratory press in our Eppingen R&D centre, which is capable of running steam injection for OSL production," said Mr Natus. "We developed the pre-heater for OSL, but it has also proved useful in other lines, such as the BHT Kunz (now Pfleiderer) particleboard line in Thuringia, Germany, which switched to MDI resin - a slower curing resin with resultant loss of production capacity. The pre-heater has restored that lost capacity." Kronospan's THDF line in Hungary - Dieffenbacher's latest such high-speed line, due to start up in mid-2007 - will also have one directly in front of the CPS press to increase the surface moisture content. Thin HDF is currently experiencing strong demand and requires a special line, running at much higher speeds. To achieve this, Dieffenbacher has made a number of modifications to the continuous line: It has increased the length of the infeed section of the CPS for better de-gassing and increased the speed of the whole press. It has also heavily modified the forming station to dissolve lumps and fibre balls and it has further increased the forming accuracy. The Dieffensor, jointly developed with sensor manufacturer GreCon to detect lumps or foreign bodies in the mat before the CPS thus protecting the valuable steel belts, is a vital part of this whole concept, says Dieffenbacher. Current design speed of such lines is 1500-2000mm/second and the range of board thicknesses they can produce starts from 1.8mm. A line for a rather different type of product is being offered by the forming division of Dieffenbacher. Normally producing presses for moulding metals and plastics, the division has turned its attention to hot press moulded wood chips and resin in the Werzalit process to produce pallet components; it has supplied presses to Werzalit licensees for some time but is now allowed to approach certain markets directly. On the subject of the ever-increasing length of continuous presses, Mr Natus feels that, while it may be possible to produce shorter presses for the exclusive production of thin board, with customers looking at 3,000m³/day lines for a range of panel thicknesses, presses will have to be a minimum of 50m long. Dieffenbacher has already supplied a particleboard line to Romania which is achieving almost 3,000m³ a day on a 58m-long press. "Anyway, to double the capacity of a mill does not mean doubling the cost," advised Mr Natus. "A 20% longer press is not 20% more expensive. Yes, a pre-heater is an alternative to a press extension on an existing press for regular MDF or particleboard, but for a new mill, it is far better to go for a longer press in the first place." Dieffenbacher attaches great importance to its ability to supply complete plants from woodyard to finished product from the one source and has many references in that field. All that is likely to change in the future is the closeness of the relationship between this 133 year-old Eppingen-based company and the manufacture of all the pieces in that jigsaw puzzle, both at home and abroad.

Berndorf Band has been supplying stainless steel belts for continuous presses for wood based panels since the first of those presses hit the market in the 1970s. That press was made by Küsters in Germany and the belt was 1.2mm thick. Of course the number of continuous presses made since then has soared, with Dieffenbacher, Siempelkamp and Metso Panelboard (inheritor of the Küsters press) having sold many continuous press lines for panel production worldwide, with belts up to 3mm thick. However, responding to market demand, Berndorf recently developed a new 3.5mm thickness, which it says is unique in the market. The first belts are already delivered and will be used in Siempelkamp presses for continuous panel production. However, it is not just such presses which employ Berndorf's belts today but the decorative laminate business is taking an increasing share of the company's production; and not just in smooth-surfaced belts. Until relatively recently, embossed decorative surfaces were only produced using engraved press plates in single- or multi-opening presses. Laminate flooring has been a major driver in the transfer of this technology to continuous presses employing textured stainless steel belts. Significantly, in 2000, Berndorf Band took over the German company Hueck Engraving, a specialist maker of smooth and embossed press plates, and started producing embossed stainless steel endless belts for the laminating of panels with decorative papers for laminate flooring and furniture.Berndorf Band also produces stainless steel transport and process belts for a variety of industries including the food and chemical sectors. Gernot Binder, director of belt production and services, took us through the production process. This begins with inspection of the stainless steel strip as it arrives from the steel mill. The steel is then levelled in a roller process to achieve optimal flatness and straight tracking. The levelling machine has its two end heads mounted on rails so that all lengths of belt can be accommodated, up to 250m. The embryonic belt is edge-trimmed simultaneously in the levelling machine for the accurate longitudinal welding required to make the wider belts demanded by the panel industry. This is then carried out in a TIG welding process (Tungsten Inert Gas). After welding the belt is made into a roll, followed by heat treatment in a specially designed chamber. This improves the belt's tensile strength and durability. Next comes simultaneous two-sided wet grinding of the belt until the weld is invisible and the surface meets the required specification. Berndorf recently installed an automatic surface inspection and thickness measuring system on the grinding line, designed to increase production speed. This, like all the machinery in the factory, was designed in-house. The final step is the preparation of the ends of the belt which will later be welded at the customer's factory to form an endless belt for the continuous press. This preparation process is automated to ensure the endless belts run straight and true in the press. The belts are then rolled onto wooden drums and packaged ready for shipment. Andy Holzinger, director of business development, then showed us to a separate production hall where the belts for laminating are produced, after longitudinal welding in the main factory. These belts, unlike those intended for raw board manufacture, are joined into a continuous loop before being textured. There is another important difference here too. The longitudinal weld is spiral, which means it has no cross-weld when the completed loop is made and this avoids a potential weak spot where the longitudinal and cross welds meet, explained Mr Holzinger. This system is patented by Berndorf. "We can produce wood grain effect, or any structure the customer wants," said Mr Holzinger. "We work from a customer's sample and our designers replicate it on the belt surface." The belt production process starts in a similar way to that for raw board belts, but as a loop, with levelling, welding and grinding. Then the decorative pattern is printed onto the belt's surface in what Berndorf says is a unique process. Chemical etching is carried out by spraying the chemicals onto the belt in a closed room, with most structures having more than one component to them, so the belts are printed and etched twice. Various depths of structure can be offered. The finished belt is then chrome-plated to give it a hard surface, polished to achieve the required level of glossiness for that design, and packaged as a loop on a steel frame inside special steel-framed wooden crates. Service is an important part of the supply of such high-value products as stainless steel belts. For instance, laminate flooring decors have a wear-resistant surface (usually containing aluminium oxide) and this is abrasive to the belt. Thus Berndorf can re-polish the belts to restore the required level of glossiness. All belts can be serviced, refurbished or repaired here, regardless of who the original manufacturer was or whether or not the belts have a structured surface. The Service Centre incorporates service, training and research and development. "We carry out 550 to 600 service jobs a year for our customers, from welding a cracked belt to installing a new one," said Gerold Wimmer, technician for customer services. "It requires a lot of equipment and skilled people." Berndorf Band has 26 service centres around the world, equipped with all the required tools, and is in the process of setting up a further two, in India and Bulgaria. "We train our own people on a regular basis on manual belt repairs, re-training our service specialists from all over the world every two years. They then receive a certificate," said Mr Wimmer.  Training facilities include an old production machine with the belt running as in a continuous press. Customers' staff are also trained at the Berndorf centre so that they can make emergency repairs and various repair tools are available for clients to purchase. Berndorf has offered a belt patching tool since 1997, but this has been continually developed and has now reached generation three. The tool cuts out a circular section of belt containing a crack or dent and welds in a replacement. Patching Tool 3000 has halved the repair time of generation two and is also half the weight, enabling it to be operated by one person instead of two. The magnetic clamping of the second version is replaced by pneumatic. Like the mark two, the 3000 also employs two-sided welding, not available on the 1997 version. This is claimed to give a much better, less stressed, repair. During running in a continuous press, the belt is subjected to heat and mechanical stresses and develops tensions as a result, which cause 'cupping', or curvature of the belt across its width. The shot-peening device offered by Berndorf fires very small steel balls onto the outside of the belt, within a traversing cup which captures the balls for recycling. This process flattens the belt and can be done during panel production. The expensive alternatives to this are to stop the press, remove the belt, turn it inside out and put it back - or replace the belt entirely. Most of the damage to belts in continuous presses occurs on the edges and Berndorf offers another tool to maintain the edges and thus prolong belt life. A set of selected hand tools and processing machines for minor repairs is also offered. The customers can thus choose whether to carry out their own repairs, having been trained by Berndorf, or to call in a Berndorf service person from their local Service Centre. Mr Holzinger said that demand is high from all market sectors for the company's belts and Berndorf is thus building production capacity on its existing site to enable it to fulfil future market demands.

Hindrichs-Auffermann has a history of over 100 years in metal working and in the 1960s brought its experience to bear on the manufacture of steel press plates for the production of laminates. At first these plates had smooth surfaces, but in the 1970s, the company moved into making plates with textured surfaces. About 20 years later, it made the leap into producing endless press belts with both smooth and textured surfaces. Then in 2000, Swedish-headquartered stainless steel belt manufacturer Sandvik bought Ennepetal-based Hindrichs-Auffermann, fully incorporating the company into its group two years later. Now Hindrichs-Auffermann was part of one of the two world-class producers of stainless steel transport and press belts, able to offer the complete range of products from the plain stainless steel belt up to the decorative end of the business. The decorative surface panel market is one which has continued to increase in size and consumer appeal as paper-based decorative surfaces have become ever more popular and sophisticated. The last two years have seen particularly high investment at the Ennepetal factory in realising lean manufacturing production, which has resulted in an increase in production capacity and reduced delivery time for press plates and endless press belts. On the endless press belt side of the business, in 2006 the company qualified a new steel grade for use in the belts after extensive testing, switching to 1100 and 1150 SMD stainless steel. It also improved its welding technique by modifications to the control systems. The raw material for the belts is supplied by Sandvik as a coil and is then fully processed at Ennepetal. This involves levelling, grinding, texturing if required, polishing and hard chrome plating by a specialist company in Switzerland. "The lifetime of our belts has increased from one to one and a half million metres of laminating three years ago to four to five million metres now, due to improved belt material and welding, but also to better training of our customers in the care of the belts," said Dr Alfons Böhm, global sales and marketing manager for Hindrichs-Auffermann since last January. "We offer belt maintenance training to our customers covering care, installation and maintenance of the belt, as well as carrying out repairs in good time before the belt is irreparably damaged," He said. "This improves customer relations, although you could say it reduces demand for belts," he added half-jokingly. Unlike belts used in panel production of course these textured belts cannot be patched, but slight damage can sometimes be trimmed off. Textured belts do collect deposits during the pressing process and Hindrichs-Auffermann offers its customers a cleaning and refurbishment service at Ennepetal. So what does the future hold for the textured belt business? "We are seeing increasing demand from some customers for belts with deeper, rougher textures and we are carrying out a lot of developments on this front," said Dr Böhm. "The technical challenge is being solved, together with our customers and the machinery suppliers, because deeper textures require higher pressing pressures. We hope to bring this to market during 2007." The importance of the textured belt business to Hindrichs-Auffermann is brought home by the fact that today 40% of sales are in that market, 40% in press plates and 20% in service and minor products. In the early 90s, plates accounted for 80% of turnover. In plates for short-cycle pressing, Hindrichs-Auffermann offers 900 textures (it offers about 400 in belts). Plates do have one strong advantage, which is that the capital investment is less than an endless press belt for the continuous process, although it depends on the production process. Another advantage of press plates is that they can be re-textured several times, while belts can't. However, the advantage of endless press belts is essential when it comes to high-volume production. Registered embossing in synchronisation with the printed decor paper pattern is increasingly popular, especially in wood grain-effect laminate flooring, and Hindrichs-Auffermann is increasing its capacity for such plates in the coming year. "We develop our textures, partly together with the printers of the decor papers, and try to match textures to the printed images. It can take several months to develop a new texture, including the production of a lot of samples," explained Dr Böhm. Hand-scraped textures with an eye-catching deep and rough surface, which have uses in the flooring industry, are increasingly sought by Hindrichs-Auffermann's customers. Wood grain designs are by far the biggest sellers, but the company also offers Stone, Tile, Smooth, Pearl, Stipple, Alu, Grass and Grafic (fantasy) textures. "We have developed a computer software system where we can combine different textures with decor papers, define the gloss level and depth of texture and show it all on screen. It is designed to cut development time and offer a wider range of possibilities. You can't actually feel the surface on a screen of course, but at least it narrows the range of choice," said Dr Böhm. The software is known as computer aided texture development, or CATD. "We can scan textures down to an accuracy of two microns and one can actually see a difference of two to four microns so that really affects the appearance of a decor." In North America, Hindrichs-Auffermann/Sandvik have offices in Guelph near Toronto in Canada, and in Totowa near New York and Chicago in the US. A new sales manager for South America was appointed in November to increase activities and services there. In Asia, the focus is China with a sales office and local refurbishing service in Shanghai, but for the other Asia-Pacific regions the company also has offices and representatives all over the continent. "We deliver to 112 countries at present," said Dr Böhm. "Hindrichs-Auffermann's vision and philosophy for the coming years is not to be seen only as a seller of press plates and endless press belts but as a producer and seller of textured surfaces which give character to the product."

Since the first continuous press was introduced to the wood based panel industry, the pressure has been on to produce boards at higher speeds, with better quality, and to produce them ever more economically. Very thin boards have to be produced at high speed to make them an economical proposition and in this case, thin means thicknesses of 3mm down to 1mm. This is where the latest development of the ContiRoll line comes in. "Engineering a successful thin board plant is very difficult because of the speed required, with a guarantee of 105 metres per minute," said Lothar Sebastian, manager of engineering design for the wood processing section of Siempelkamp. The company's latest thin board line is designed to run at up to 120m per minute. In order to feed the right quality of fibre to the press at these speeds, Siempelkamp's StarFormer has been modified, starting with the bin filling system. Fibre decelerating rollers have been installed between the double screw and the bin to achieve a low falling height and speed, to prevent clotting/compaction of the fibres, explained Mr Sebastian. "We have also minimised the distance between the discharge point of the bin and the forming head and reduced the spacing between the spreading rollers to achieve more accurate distribution," he said. At the same time, all oversize glue lumps are discharged, while smaller ones will be dealt with by the next innovation - the compacter. The thin board line has a conventional textile belt pre-press but this is then followed by a second 'pre-press' which is the compacter. This has three tasks to perform: To further pre-press the fibre mat to the required density to suit the high-speed entry into the hot press; to further squeeze air from the mat; and to crush any glue or fibre lumps. When a normal mat needs to be rejected, such as when metal contamination is detected, a trash gate opens and the mat falls down to be taken away. However, when the mat is highly compacted, as in this new line, it would not simply break off when the gate was opened. Hence there is an extra cross-cut saw before the ContiRoll entrance. "This ensures proper mat separation and generates a well-defined front edge - another prerequisite for trouble-free mat transfer into the press at high line speed," said Mr Sebastian. Key to the pressing of thin boards is the flexible infeed section of the press. "Siempelkamp invented the flexible infeed and it is unique in our presses," he said. "The upper platen is continuously flexible, not just in one or two 'segments' and the infeed can be adjusted to any requirement of the customer on every ContiRoll built for the last five years. It is a patented system. "The most important benefit of this system is in de-gassing the mat. It allows more progressive, smoother de-gassing, particularly when you have a fast-moving mat." New for the thin board line is the directly-heated large diameter infeed drum. "Thin board mats have to be heated very fast as they enter the press," explained Mr Sebastian. "The heating capacity of the infeed drum in this press is set accordingly. After that, the temperature has to be maintained to cure the resin." The stainless steel press belts used are quite thick, at up to 3.5mm, to enable them to store heat to maintain the required pressing temperatures. "Boards of only 1mm thickness are very easily damaged by temperature and pressure variations and an even, homogeneous, surface is vital as they are often liquid- or thin-paper covered," explained Mr Sebastian. "Thus heat and pressure must be very evenly distributed. "This means the infeed drum is of a very special design and we also installed one extra row of cylinders in the press to ensure even pressure distribution across the belt, while in the longitudinal direction, pressure is distributed in an even curve." To assist in achieving this precision, firstly there is a thickness gauge at the press exit which controls the cylinders in the calibration section. This measuring device has several tracks across the press width - one for each pressure cylinder. Secondly there is an automatic density control system at the press infeed and press adjustments are made accordingly, automatically. The first of these high-speed thin board lines was sold to Pfleiderer for its Grajewo, Poland, plant. The second was sold to Fantoni for its Lesonit plant in Slovenia and the third to SFC in Turkey. The latter two lines will be slightly different because they are required to produce from 1mm to 25mm boards. With respect to the closed-loop feedback control for the infeed adjustment, the 'prototype' press was installed at Egger's Brilon plant in Germany, where an existing press was extensively modified. Apparently this was to Egger's delight, which refers to it as its 'autopilot line'. A second major new line concept for the Siempelkamp group is the lightweight, frameless, paper honeycomb-cored continuous panel production line developed by SHS (Siempelkamp Handling Systems). This line employs a continuous press originally developed by SHS for other markets, which is nothing like the ContiRoll, except that it is a double-belt press. But its role is more calibration than hard pressing and the 'belts' are made up of stainless steel sections, like a tank track, rather than a continuous belt like the ContiRoll. The first line, running at Egger's St Johann factory in Austria since September 1st this year, uses 3mm particleboard or MDF faces, although other panel types and thicknesses could be used. The complete sandwich panels are from 16 to 100mm thick. German machinery maker Homag developed the system to insert and laminate an edging in the frameless panels as a separate continuous process after the SHS press. Egger developed special jointing techniques between these panels. A third new Siempelkamp concept was the wood fibre insulation board line supplied to Gutex of Germany, which started production last February. These panels are made, crucially, in a dry process rather than the traditional wet process, and in thicknesses of 20 to 240mm. Such thick boards were previously only obtainable by gluing multiple boards together, said Mr Sebastian. After a special dry resination and forming system and pre-pressing, the glued fibre mat is steam pre-heated in a version of Siempelkamp's ContiTherm unit which acts as a calibration and hardening unit. In addition to these three major new developments, Siempelkamp's 'conventional' wood based panel business has also been doing well. The company reports 10 major orders for its existing technologies this year up to September, worldwide - eight of them involving ContiRoll continuous presses. For the future, Mr Sebastian sees a continuing trend towards thin board, with presses getting shorter and extremely fast. The company does also have enquiries for presses up to 80m long for thicker board production and is preparing a new heavy-duty chain drive system, further developing that already designed for the 70m-plus Tolko OSB line in Canada. Presses may get shorter in future, agreed Mr Sebastian, but that will depend at least partly on external factors, such as the development of faster-curing resins.

Decor paper impregnation lines are fundamental to the production of papers for laminating wood based panels for furniture or laminate flooring and, like all stages of the panel production process, are subject to demands for ever-higher speed and efficiency of production. Vits Systems GmbH, founded in 1928 in Langenfeld, is a specialist in 'web treatment' systems and for the panel industry that means laminating paper impregnation lines. This year brings a landmark development for the company because under construction in one of the halls of its factory is the result of almost two years' research and development. The first results of this new development were in fact announced at Ligna 2005, where the company introduced its new dryer generation and new sheeter and stacking systems for a high-speed line. The whole line is to be assembled and tested at Vits before delivery to the customer. This is not just a new impregnation line, but one which runs at speeds never before achieved. "The new line will run at up to 120 metres a minute for certain melamine products," said head of sales for plant engineering Daniel James. "Current impregnation lines available on the market are limited to around 60 metres a minute and we expect this one ultimately to run at a steady speed of 100 metres a minute." Mr James went on to explain the development route which the company has followed to reach this stage. "We looked at all the bottlenecks on existing lines and talked to our customers who were running at the fastest speeds. A lot of research and development went into this new line and this is the most modern equipment in the world today," he said proudly. The line includes a brand new impregnation unit to suit the customer's requirements. It will be delivered in early 2007. Mr James said the new sheeter was one of the crucial developments; with a line running at those kind of speeds, and the fragility of decor paper, rapid and careful handling of the treated paper at the end of the line was obviously going to be important. "This involved a lot of development in terms of ease of maintenance, the drive system and an 'active' stacking system that takes the sheets of treated dried paper away, rather than just dropping them onto a pallet in the conventional way," said Mr James. Three on-the-line measuring heads for the raw paper, intermediate stage and the final product, developed jointly with Scienta of Finland, have been integrated into the Vits control systems and intelligent software which will operate the line. These will provide a wealth of information to the operator, said Mr James. "It is not just the usual weight and moisture measurement, but other parameters such as temperature, degree of polymerisation in the dryer and other factors which will enable us to get the maximum possible out of the length of the brand new design low-energy dryer. We can measure all we need to know for this," he explained. There are also more scanners in the cooling area after the first dryer and before the second, plus a gravure unit for the intermediate melamine coating. Of course a faster line speed requires faster drying - hence the development of the dryer. The sheeter has already been successfully tested with standard decor paper at 120m per minute in various widths. The new line is expected to be available to the general market in mid-2007. In the meantime, Mr James said that Vits has a full order book. One of those lines was for a Russian panel making factory and another under assembly for Russia was for a filter paper coater for the automotive industry. Sheeters for offset printing lines are another good source of business for Vits. The panel industry today accounts for about 70% of the company's turnover. "We are also the only manufacturer of impregnation lines which can offer our lines certificated to the ATEX 100 explosion safety regulations," claimed Mr James. A lot of Vits' component manufacturing is sub-contracted to specialist engineering firms who have a long history of supplying the company's requirements. The sheet metal components come from one of three suppliers in northern Germany, eastern Germany and the Czech Republic. "Which supplier we use depends on where the final machine is to be delivered," explained the sales manager. Vits also has a joint-venture company in China. Vits Imaco (Suzhou) Engineering Co Ltd was established in a 10,000m² factory in 2004 to supply the Chinese and South East Asian markets with impregnation lines with around 80% local content. A new factory hall to make products for the printed circuit board market is planned there. Precision components such as the rolls for the impregnation lines are carefully checked at the Langenfeld factory on arrival before being fitted with the high-precision bearings and then being assembled into coaters in the assembly area. These bearings are set to very tight tolerances and are adjusted on a special granite base. Vits does not work alone in developing its lines. "We have a lot of customer visits and we work very closely with our customers on R&D. We also have a much closer relationship with the paper makers, printers and resin suppliers than we did in the past," said managing director Achim Hackspiel. "Flooring is a classic example where, when they were looking for an abrasion-resistant surface, we worked with the resin, paper and corundum suppliers to develop the successful ARP (Abrasive Resistant Pre-Impregnated Products) system." Registered embossing of papers, in which the embossing matches the printed woodgrain detail for example, has also required the same cooperation to achieve a treated paper with the right physical characteristics, particularly with regard to stretching.  The Vits company was bought by entrepreneur Werner Deuring in 2002 and in April 2006, he sold a majority shareholding to Granville Baird, a UK-based investment firm. This has freed up capital for further investment in R&D. The company has a new structure, with Vits Group, Langenfeld, at the top of the family tree. Vits Systems employs around 150 people. IFA in Bavaria specialises in resin mixing systems and has 25 people. Vits Imaco employs around 130. In 2005, Vits developed a finish foil line for pre-impregnated paper, printed and coated in the line and wound on reels. This was for Süddekor of Germany and included making the printing head. It runs at up to 300m/minute. A second line, for Interprint of Poland and with a speed of 200m per minute, was due for delivery in December. "This year has been very good for us in our traditional lines too," said Mr James. "Turkey has been very active as has Russia and we feel that North America is about to improve as a market - we have supplied several lines there recently and see an increasing demand. Three lines were also sold to South East Asia in 2006. When it comes to new developments in the race for higher speed production, Vits Systems would currently appear to have a firm hold on the baton.