Until two decades ago, work related to wood, be it at residential construction sites or for furniture manufacturing, was a labour intensive one, something that depended totally on disorganised contract activities. Lack of access to world-renowned mechanised processes was the reason for this labour-oriented process to continue.
Manual carpentry has its fallouts as irregular delivery schedules, lack of consistency in quality and wastage of precious raw material have to be tackled with. This is where Indiawood exhibitions stepped in to help people come together from across the world and to a large extent change the dynamics of the woodworking sector for the last few years.
The ‘Indiawood 2012' exhibition (on till February 14) has over 550 exhibitors from 30 countries displaying specialised woodworking machinery (for processing solid wood, plantation timber, bamboo & other substitutes), tools, imported and domestic furniture fittings and accessories and raw materials. These exhibitions have helped the woodworking community across India and Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal and Malaysia come together for an exchange of ideas and technology.
The exhibition is the world's third largest woodworking industry trade show, a biennial event organised jointly by EUMABOIS (an European federation grouping 14 European national woodworking machinery manufacturers' associations) & PDA TRADE FAIRS, a Bangalore-based professional trade show organising company.
Says a spokesperson of the National Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers Association, “There were times when India faced a supply crunch in conventional solid wood. Although alternative wood sources such as rubber wood and other plantation timber were available, the processes and technologies for applications weren't rampant. Such exhibitions helped a market waiting to be serviced. Skilled people and raw material are not enough, state-of-the-art technologies are required to industrialise the sector.” ‘Indiawood,' by showcasing many innovative technologies, helped the Indian woodworking sector adapt to plantation timber to meet the domestic demand for furniture. Ground-breaking technologies like finger-jointing, for example, helped minimise wastage.”
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