In the early days of Shanghai Wood Based Panel Machinery’s (SWPM) existence, when it was founded by the China Forestry Bureau, the company made production lines for the manufacture of wet-process fibreboard (hardboard).
In the 1970s, the company became part of the Shanghai Electrical Co (SEC) and continued to produce hardboard lines but also added plywood production lines with cold press, hot press and glue blending.
The company later added the technology for particleboard production to its range, but perhaps the most significant development for the company was when it developed its first MDF line, in 1992.
SWPM went on to become the major supplier of multi-opening presses and complete lines for MDF production in China and to begin exporting to other parts of the world.
Then, in a move which surprised many in the global panel industry, the world’s number one panel producer, Kronospan, purchased a 70% shareholding in SWPM in October 2004, while SEC retained 30%, as it does today.
Kronospan made the purchase through its subsidiary Kontex of Hong Kong, set up for the purpose of forming the joint venture with Shanghai Mechanical and Electrical Industry Co Ltd, a subsidiary of SEC.
However, subsequent to my visit to SWPM in late April, major machinery manufacturer Dieffenbacher of Eppingen, Germany, announced that it had bought Kronospan’s majority shareholding in SWPM. This was announced on May 15, 2009.
As soon as it bought the company in 2004, Kronospan immediately introduced some efficiency measures and reduced staffing levels quite dramatically, although that had been a trend for some years already; fifteen years ago the company employed 1,200 people, whereas today the figure is less than 500.
The offices were the subject of a major refurbishment project in 2007, while in 2008 a new research and development (R&D) centre was opened adjacent to the main offices.
“With the help of Kronospan after their takeover, we upgraded our management systems,” said Li Jie, manager
of the international sales department
of SWPM.
“Then, under the technical support and supervision of Kronospan,
we launched our first ContiPlus continuous press, using the knowledge and
experience of a long-term user of
continuous presses.”
This press was installed in Kronospan’s Bucina DDD particleboard factory in Zvolen, Slovakia in 2007 (WBPI April/May 2009, p35).
The continuous press had been under development by SWPM since its preliminary designs were drawn up in 1999 and the first one, a 4ftx18m unit, was test-run in SWPM’s own works in 2005.
The Bucina press is 45.1m long and eight feet wide. SWPM delivered its first 4ft wide ContiPlus at the end of 2008, to a Kronospan plant in Strzelce in Poland. That press is 38m long.
The Anting factory is now making an 8ftx52m ContiPlus for particleboard production at another Kronospan factory in eastern Europe; the name was not revealed.
It is also working on orders from two Chinese customers for 4ft-wide presses. Global Jiahe Panel Board Industry Co Ltd of Xian in Shaanxi Province has ordered a 32m long press as its first panel production line. It was delivered in May, to produce particleboard during 2010.
Jinyang Wood Industry Co Ltd in Xinjiang Province has ordered a 38m ContiPlus and is an existing customer of SWPM for multi-opening press lines. This press will go out in November this year to produce MDF some time in 2011.
“Since the arrival of Kronospan we have also invested a lot in advanced machine tools for making state-of-the-art products and we have many new machining centres in our factory now, including a new milling machine for hot platens installed this year,” said Mr Li in April, before the Dieffenbacher takeover had been announced. “The investment since Kronospan bought into the company has been greater than for many years.”
The products of SWPM fall into five main categories: First are press lines from forming station to finishing section with the technology for the production of MDF, HDF, particleboard and OSB using the company’s latest product, the ContiPlus continuous press, in four or eight foot width; then there are the more traditional multi-opening press lines including all the technology for MDF, HDF and particleboard production with various sizes of press being offered, both in terms of number of openings and platen size.
Short-cycle press lines for board sizes of 4x8ft, 6x8ft, 6x12ft, 7x9ft and 7x14ft are also made at the factory in Anting.
The fourth category of products is press lines for other industries such as high pressure laminate production, printed circuit boards, rubber belts, etc.
Lastly we come to refiner systems. Refiners for fibre production for
MDF are offered in 36, 38, 42 and
44 inch diameters.
In all cases, design and assembly is carried out in the Anting factory but for big projects, some components are outsourced, such as electric motors.
“In general, we develop new products in a customer-oriented process,” explained Mr Li. “At the present time we are mainly upgrading the ContiPlus for better performance and lower manufacturing costs for us. We are currently importing a lot of components from Europe and we are now looking at manufacturing those inhouse.
“We also provide existing customers with technical support for their production, troubleshooting, and spare parts at competitive prices.
“We want our customers to have stable production, lower costs and increased sales and we are helping them to do that.”
Clearly the market for new machinery is difficult in the current economic climate, but SWPM claims to have 100% of the Chinese-made complete line projects placed in China in 2009.
“At the end of last year, some projects and orders were suspended but since the national government injected a lot of money into the economy, most of them are now back on,” said Mr Li.
So what about SWPM’s plans for
the future?
“In the short term, we hope to increase sales of the ContiPlus in both the domestic and export market and gain more project experience,” said Mr Li. “In the longer term, we want to become a leading player in the panel machinery market worldwide.”