Schopfloch 30/03/2011

Over 150 visitors flock to successful HOMAG Flooring Days event

HOMAG opened its doors to customers from the flooring sector on March 14th and 15th to attend its “Flooring Days 2011”, already the third event of its kind. 150 experts from around the world made the journey to the company’s headquarters in Schopfloch to find out more about the latest innovations and further developments in the field of laminate flooring.

Pricing pressure, growing product diversity, dwindling batch sizes and uncertainty about the patent situation in respect of transverse locking are all causing headaches for floor covering manufacturers the world over. These were precisely the issues addressed by the first presentation delivered at Flooring Days event in the form of a market analysis focusing on the solutions offered by HOMAG.

Other presentations on offer also dealt in depth with issues such as flexible “high performance laminate flooring lines” and the requirements that the dividing plants are expected to fulfil. Participants also had the opportunity to find out a number of interesting details about “packaging plants, the application of footfall noise insulation and 5G spring applicators”.

There was ample opportunity between lectures for discussion and for browsing the many information stands to find out all about the latest innovations from the supply industry. The array of stands included presentations from tool manufacturers and cleaning system suppliers, chamfer lacquering and hydrophobing system producers through to manufacturers of packaging, footfall sound insulation and spring applicator plants. Experts from all these fields were on hand at the various stands to offer advice and discussion. The program was rounded off by detailed live demonstrations of laminate flooring plants in the HOMAG production hall. Visitors were impressed by four laminate flooring plants currently under construction and their many highlights. The live demos held for the benefit of the many trade visitors covered a wide range of different concepts and performance classes.

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Four plants under construction within reaching distance
The technical highlight of the day was the sawing line for precise dividing of laminate flooring panels fitted with a special transport and camera system for alignment, gauging and synchronous dividing in alignment with the decor. The visitors were also particularly intrigued by a flexible high-performance line just short of completion which will take over almost the complete process from dividing and profiling through to chamfer lacquering, and will operate at a feed rate of 280 m/min during longitudinal profiling.
HOMAG staff were also on hand to operate a simple multi rip saw with downstream part separation and transport to the longitudinal profiling process. The demos were rounded off by another plant with a similar dividing concept but with the addition of a flexible profiling plant for narrow parts and standard planks in the medium performance segment.

Chinese manufacturer orders two additional plants
As a grand finale to the day, HOMAG was gratified to receive a major order from a customer in the Asian region. This visitor, who had travelled all the way from China to attend the open day, was prompted by what he saw to order a further two HOMAG profiling lines. The large-scale manufacturer from China already owns no fewer than 13 plants planned and supplied by the HOMAG Engineering project team.

The third flooring open day in Schopfloch was undeniably a resounding success from start to finish. The relaxed atmosphere and the opportunity for laminate flooring manufacturers to meet provided the perfect platform for lively and interesting debate in informal surroundings. The next time the “laminate flooring community” is due to gather again will be at the Domotex in Shanghai.