Page 9 - CMA PROfiles Fall 2019

If you haven't looked into LED lighting lately, you are way first day and part of the second day. Days three and four
behind the curve. There are many innovative LED products were spent on in-depth visits and talks with vendors. I came
heading our way based on what I saw at interzum (see my away with a ton of great ideas, goals, and a wish list that
forum post for more details). requires a winning lottery ticket. (Seriously, who DOESN'T
All booths have English-speaking representatives, so there need a fire extinguisher that looks like a jet engine?)
is no language barrier, and the familiar brands have U.S. rep- Edgebanders continue to advance. Homag now offers
resentatives on hand. Even outside the show, you’ll find few zero-line capability in all of its edgebanders via its AirTec
language barriers; hotels and restaurants have English speak- technology, including an entry-level machine that costs
ers on staff as well as most of the services you may need. around $80,000. Incidentally, the U.S. representative that

Next, Fox went to LIGNA, held May 27-31 in Hannover, Germany. they found for me was none other than Christian Vollmers,
This show features technology “for the entire wood value the president of Stiles, who gave me a tour of the "booth"
chain – from harvesting machinery to industrial processing and and a detailed sales presentation on the entry-level bander.
production plant and equipment.” Here are his LIGNA highlights: I also checked out products from Felder, Holz-Her, and
Virutex. (Again, you can find full details in my forum post.)
LIGNA is the largest woodworking machinery show in the
world, and like interzum, it happens every two years. The
organizers of the two shows schedule them so that attending
both is easy. interzum ends on Friday, and LIGNA starts on
Monday of the following week.

One of the more interesting CNCs that caught my eye was
a monster in the Biesse booth that’s designed for making
timber frames (a more common construction method in
Europe). CNCs are probably the most commonly owned
automated machines among cabinetmakers, but they are just
the beginning. Automation is moving into nearly every aspect
of our business – I saw robotic forklifts, pallet movers, pallet
wrappers, parts handlers, etc.
Hand tool vendors were showing all kinds of portable
It’s hard to comprehend the size of the show without being power tools that we don't have in our market (at least not
there in person. There are at least 10 halls of varying sizes; routinely). I found a 6" or 8" portable power planer, as well as
the Homag booth alone takes up an entire hall. As with circular saws with what appeared to be molder cutting heads.
interzum, there are English speakers in every booth, and I also saw a cool jig for routing stair risers for housed-and-
most are staffed with U.S. team members. wedged style stair construction. Also, Festool introduced its
portable table saw with SawStop technology.
I would recommend attending all five days – consider making
LIGNA the center of your trip. I did only four days this year Fox’s enthusiasm for these shows is contagious, and we’re happy
and could have easily spent another day. If you don’t have to have his on-the-ground reporting. Want to follow his lead?
that much time, you can be strategic and see the things that Consider attending in 2021.
matter most to the average cabinet shop in one day (if you “I believe every cabinet maker should attend these shows
don’t spend much time talking to reps). On this trip, I was at least once,” Fox says. “None of our shows in the U.S. can
able to cover the main areas that apply to my shop on the compare to the size and hospitality.” Viel Spaß!

CABINET MAKERS ASSOCIATION 7