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Fruitful meetings at Ligna
Valutec's success in launching TC continuous kilns in North America has clearly reverberated around the industry. That is one of the key takeaways from the world's largest sawmill fair, Ligna in Hanover, Germany, where Valutec featured as one of the exhibitors.
“Operators based throughout North America showed a great deal of interest,” says Eric Johansson, Marketing Manager at Valutec. “When we entered the North American market six years ago, we were prepared to make a long-term commitment, and so we have. The TC model is a flexible type of kiln suitable for markets around the world, and we see continued great potential, especially in North America.”
To date, Valutec has commissioned eight TC continuous kilns in Canada and the United States.
In the company’s experience the exhibition offered a number of valuable meetings, although there were slightly fewer visitors than in previous years.
“For our part, meeting people from sawmills is always worthwhile. It’s a great opportunity to see the bigger picture and draw benefit from inputs which can lead to new ideas,” says Robert Weithofer, sales representative at Valutec.
The sawmill industry is undergoing major change, where megatrends like automation and sustainable transition are two focus areas. While there is a great deal of interest in offerings that help sawmills advance, they must also make good business sense.
“In our analysis, advantages associated with automation and sustainability must be easy to use and to integrate with other sawmill processes. Preferably, they should also help increase quality; at an absolute minimum, they must never compromise on that particular factor,” says Robert, who goes on to say:
“It's the same thinking that underpins the optimizations we offer in Valmatics 4.0; we must be able to optimize all parameters at the same time. The same goes for sawmills investing in sustainability, they still want good deals while developing the work environment around the kiln.
Among the offerings Valutec has recently launched are more efficient electric motors, which reduce energy costs and have a significantly longer service life.
Ligna attracted 1,300 exhibitors from 50 countries. At an early stage during the fair, which took place between 15-19 May, the estimated number of visitors totaled around 80,000.
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