| This year’s international fair of machinery, equipment and materials for the wood-working industry WOOD-TEC, staged from 20 to 23 October at the Brno exhibition centre, is a great opportunity for exhibitors from the Czech Republic and EU countries as well as for visitors to the fair. In spite of the global recession the interest of exhibitors in displaying and introducing their products is very keen. The firms believe that this specialised fair will be a great investment into the future and they use it as a strong marketing tool. An opinion poll carried out among exhibitors discovered that they want to be seen in Brno and to show their range of goods; only in this way will they manage to succeed in production and trade in the future.
At this event they will also get to know the new technologies in the area of wood-working and establish new important contacts. At present a total of 206 firms from 12 countries (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thai Wan) have registered. A number of prominent firms, leaders in their branch, have promised to attend the fair; among them BALJER-ZEMBROD Ltd., BeA CS Ltd., Blum Ltd., FELDER Group CZ Ltd., HÄFELE GmbH & Co. KG, Hettich CR k.s., HOUFEK, ITALCOMMA Ltd., PANAS Ltd., ROJEK dřevoobráběcí stroje (Wood-Working Machines), Schachermayer Ltd., TEKMA Ltd. and others.
The following exhibitors will have the largest stands: Rojek (600 m2), EPIMEX dřevoobráběcí stroje Ltd. (Wood-Working Machines) (450m2), Felder (500 m2) and Houfek (400 m2 each).
WOOD-TEC will occupy the state-of-the-art pavilions
WOOD-TEC will be staged at the Brno exhibition centre from 20 to 23 October 2009; the exhibitors will be concentrated in Pavilion F and for the first time also in the new Pavilion P. The sponsor of this important Central and Eastern European fair is the European Association of Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers EUMABOIS which consists of thirteen national association representing 800 European manufacturers of machinery (800), tools and accessories with a production of more than five million EURO, i.e. more than 56 % of the global production in this branch.
The nomenclature of the WOOD-TEC fair will include: Machines, technology equipment and services both for forest management and for primary and further woodworking, for finish and for the assembly and packing of wood; Transport, handling and storage technology; Robotics: Machines and equipment for special processes; Ancillary machines; Manual machines for processing wood and plastic materials, tools and accessories etc. The nomenclature also contains Energy saving; Electronic data collection; Materials, dyes and chemical products; Fittings; Upholstering machines; Independent services; Research and Testing Institutes and Technical literature.
Trends, novelties, current topics
As is now customary the WOOD-TEC fair offers a very busy accompanying programme; the principal topic is: “Wood – an integral component of sustainable development”. Seminars for experts will be held during the entire four days of the fair directly in pavilion P which not only disposes of an area of 10 000 m2 of net exhibition space, but also offers up-to-date equipment and perfect infrastructure, including a parking lot in the immediate vicinity of the pavilion.
A seminar of the same name organised by the Department of Forest and Wood Products Economics and Policy, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry (MUAF) will open the accompanying programme. Together with Brno Trade Fairs the University is taking part in the organisation of the entire accompanying programme. The one-day seminar “Electronic Inspection of Round Timber and Bioenergy” will be held on the second day of the fair, 21 October. The lecture on a very relevant topic
called “Energy Use of Biomass and Wood Research – Theory and Application in Practice” promises to be interesting.
On 22 October specialists will give lectures on current trends in machines and tools for woodworking and modification and wood compression. On the agenda of the programme is also surface finishing of wooden materials using low-energy cold plasma and its application in engineering and in the woodworking industry. In this part of the programme those who are interested may see demonstrations of works of students of MUAF in Brno, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology on Research in Woodworking, Cutting Tools and Wood Modification.
On the agenda of the last day of the fair, 23 October, is the reliability and service life of wooden structures; also composite wood-based materials used for the manufacture of wooden structures and material models of wood. Part of the seminar will be Mapping Historical and Contemporary Wooden Structures and what will not be missing are demonstrations of the works of students of MUAF on the topic of Historical and Contemporary Wooden Structures.
As is now customary a popular-science competition will be held at the stand of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood TechnologyMUAF (from 21 to 24 October) called “Learn to Recognise Our Wood” the basic intention of which is to give the general public of all age categories a better idea of all the native woody species. People will learn to distinguish microscopically and macroscopically the respective woody species. The advantage is that they will have the opportunity to touch the wood samples and to compare their hardness, colour, brightness, scent and other properties. An integral part of the competition is a poster exhibition with pictures and descriptions of the main woody species of the Czech Republic. The competitors will have to specify correctly five wood samples; from the correct answers winners will be drawn and will receive prizes. |
