Untitled - Palm Wood

ffiffiffinffifii[
Edltor-ln-Ghlel
'
Eileen Chan
eileenchanQagrLco,?.sg
Editorial Gorrerpondent
Debble Senxrd
Stall Wrltert
Dawn Neo
dawnneo0cd,com,W
Choryl Frols
On one of my most recent trips to Malaysia to visit a fairly rural
furniture factory, I had my camera with me in the car, ready ttl
jump out and snap a few shots of rubberwood plantations. Fgr
FDM Asia {as you might have noticed)we take a lot of the pictttres
ourselves and I was hoping to 'collect' a few to illustrate upconting
articles. All of this isn't interesting, except to point out that I never
did get an opportunity - despite the one and a half hour drive. Yet
if I'd wanted pictures of oil palm plantations, I could have clicked
away. These observations are far from new - we've run articles
before suggesting that the rate of rubber tree replanting in
e hflryl fro I s Q afl ,cotn. sg
Edltorinl Acrlttanl
Tsrss Kotr
Scnlor Art Dlrrc'tqr/$htdo Mrnagcr
Lnwrenco Lee
Art Dlrrctor/$hrdlo &tptrvher
leanard Sl
Grophlc Declgncr
Fttu takatunl Dltlliidr
Butlnesr lloeloBmcnf Manogpt
Casey Loo
c*eyloo0ql.comq
Advertlslng
I
Prumo[om llanrgcr
Paullnc Lee
Advertl*ng
Alan
I
Promctlonr Erccudvc
palnt
Malaysia has been rapidly dropping, wlrile the area planted in the more profitable oil
Clrculation Managcr
is steadily on the rise.
The great thing is that, in the near future, in addition to utilising rubberwood, furniture
manufacturers may also be using palm wood in their production. Kaohsiung TimLrer
products Sdn Bhd, a Selangor furniture manufacturer with extensive kiln drying expertise
has spent years researching palm wood (most recently with FRIM, the Forest Research
lnstitute of Malaysia, as a partner). Today, the company is confidently using palm wood to
produce laminated board and furniture for export and its products have even earned the
Clrcrlatlon Erccutlver
serious interest of the giant Swedish furniture retailer, lkea.
By all accounts, making furniture from palm wood is no easy task. The team at Kaohsittng
Timber products openly admits that palrn wood is tricky to dry and not the easiest to work
with - the wood is highly fibrous and porous and has varying density, to mention a few of
its challenges. yet its sheer abundance and low {or no) cost make this raw material hugely
attractive. lf palm wood products take off - and there are good indications that they will
- this development could have significant impact on Malaysia's furniture manufacturinq
Exccrdlvc Dlrector
industry.
The implications of palm wood technology are enormous;the ability to kiln dry and work
with palm wood opens up irnmense volumes of raw materialto the woodworking industry.
To give you an idea of Malaysia's potential wealth in plalrn wood timber, consider that in
1971 , Malaysia overlook Nigeria as the world's chief producer of oil palm, with a total area
of 32g,000 hectares in plantation. The industry has continued to grow - in 1999, accorcling
to government statistics, Malaysia's oil palm plantations covered a massive 3.216 million
hectares and the country's palm oil production accottnted for 52.6 percent of world outpttt'
Clearly, the furniture manufacturing industry stands to benefittremendouslyfrom harvesting
-palm
trees as an environmentally-sound and commercially-viable source of sawn timber'
Skeptical? Well, be sure to read the article'Pioneering palm wood' in this issue and make
inquiries for yourself. And remember - it wasn't so long ago that rubber trees made the
transformation from troublesome wood waste to valuable raw material.
bS*-^*Q-
il
lkn
Stephanlo
lan
Chang Chln
Suean
lrr
Ctret
,
Executive Board
ilenaging Olrrctot
Stephen Tey
Kenneth Tan
lndu*try Conculltntt
Mlchael fllnnlnqs
Consullartl Ginnbl3
-F
r Eas{ Associatat
f)ng Klm Chuan
Maneglng ttrcclor
t/a/eywoad drcctor
Winston Chiu
Prcsidenl
Teclnll< Assodatss bE
g
EA'TERH TRTDE'}IEDI' Prf,
lrD
M.t.T}. (q i'tO. OA:O2.200O
ISSN 0219-2284 PPS ta0,Yl2l2m0
Pubhrhod by:
E*stem Trade Madts Pl6 Ltd,
I toong Bakar Batu, l07"l2
Singaporo 348740^
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ili':.:,j,ii;r:iti':r:tj'.-:i;''!j
Alit:l' ,,r:lr;s 6[ researcfu, the Malaysian Cglnpapy lda6irsi ur r u, l.i
ffimwffiffiffiwffiffiffiffi
ffi
ffiffireffi
i
t
has o vcrc(
)r ] lri
he tlilt'ictrlties asstlciatecl with kiln clryirlg lritlttl wotttl'
(tlt* flgt't-rst
i\l;c1,ily, with tfie technical backing ol'FItlM
f
Wwffiffi
lt rc i r i g
Ites*ir rch I nstil ule ol.Mal aysia), tlre con r 1lany i s Pri lt
lagrinirted l-xlarcls ancl firr"niture lirt"exptlt1, itttd IKltiA is
iI g
ltu y i lig tl:c:i r pal m woacl shelvipg 6n a t ri id tiitsi s' Acc:txrl
bttt
tcl th* ltaohsiungteanr, rvorking with palnr istr'1casy,
r
it
is; u'nt"th
e've been doing R&D into Palm
ffi6
firbcr products sdn Bhd believes
"
wood for about 12 Years arrd kiln
drying has alwaYs been one of
the maior challenges," exPlains
Irlr Omar Matan,
wastt't enr:ugh, cliscolclration of tlre wood (h'lack marks)
contmonly result front inappropriate drying schedr-ilcs'
conrirrg up witlr solutiorrs to these problems has been
rcsult of research and perseverance'
o{ the
cr-:ntent variation, he eniphasises' Some pieces
{lry'
vui]r
tinr[:er wiil erlways be clLrite wet, where otiters arc]
rl hc'rir{inrr As if ili;il
tl-re
.,0urcompanyhasprovicledkilrrdryingservicesforover
General
lrlanager at Kaohsiung Timbor Products. "Now, we firrally
moisture
have tlie techriology to rJealwith palm wood's hiqh
to
different
completely
is
palrn
wood
corrtent." Kiln cltyirlg
rnoisture
hiEh
to
due
l<iln drying other timber, particularly
the clltrrt.
30yearsandthat'swhereourexpertiseisderived,''adds
"We' ve
i",klsh Law, Kaohsiung's Prolect General Manager'
{;oille across a lot of species - a whole range of hardwoods
* and managed to cleal witl-r drying probletns
ar tcl softwoclcls
M
however,
tl rtot tgh troubleshooting and research. Previously,
failed' I'lot"v
\r,;ili:rl we tried to kilrr ciry palrn wood, we always
deal
liirve titrally rleveloped the teChnalogy arrtj sl<ills t':
v,.,r:;
,-ri
tl
tiit\ ir f,lil ttt
1::i
peti:ent
re{-rc\'rri/ frcr:r the
l<iln
ntber - usually rejected
speciaily. This tends to rnean that you
need to have a production line geared
srnaller pieces.
only to palm wood
acceptable.
Tl re
rentain-
ing pieces of sawn
ti
well-
"Cornparedtorubber
received by ctlstomers. Palm wood is more v,,oocl, tpe beauty of
challenging to kiln dry and to work with than palrn wood is that you
rubberwood, but oil palm trees are plentiful ancl glct
and
cost.
worl<ing lviih Palm,"
dueto vrarping-are not
wasted, but ripped into
tlre rvood, is highly
presently available without
to
admits [-aw. "CortsiCer sanding - you
can buy a sanding rnachitte frotr one
of the best suppliers in the world, bt-lt
that doesn't meari that it lvill work att
palm wood in'lnrediately. Gerierally
you'll need to set uP Your machine
lryer wlrich. qiven the
clrallr:nglirrg rrature of
e
The texture and grain of palm wood has been
"One does need to take a sPecial
approach
- it's not possible
to use the satne set up for Palm as
you would for, say, rubberwood." The
nrajority of the rnaclrines used hy
longer lerrgths
Kaohsiuncl have beerr nrodified by
llrerel iri n0 internal
tlre company's in-lrouse enqineer ittct
* wltett yot.t cut
with palnr wood. We're not able
to eliminate all of the difficulties
cluality cleteriorn.tiutt
associated with working with palm,
but we are able to minimise thent."
lengtlt," corrtttten-ts lv'latan. "Palm
wood is also frec cf llre corrtplication
of latex, whir:lr r;an Ile a prol:lem witlt
the wootl, it's ttice nlotrrt tlre complete
departntent.
Machine performance also needs
to be fairly closely monitcred since
working with palnr wor:d does ieqLtit'e
ruLrberutrr:iorj."
some extra attention. With cutting
machines, for exar^rrple, sawblade
grant by the Malaysian Technology
Development Corporation (MTDC),"
Palrn wllori rrray lre fr"ce from latex.
but it lras its ouin ir,liosyncrasies,
durability (either high quality tungsten
carbide or diamorrd iipped tools) is
explains Law. "T'o make sure that we
spent this grant properly - solely on
irrcluclirrr.l u31,,,iric1 cj'.rrr:ii1y and a higlt
important.
- we were
fibte corrlr:ril. "llte tierrsity of palnt
wood ran(;es frlttt 2tl0 trl600 kg/m3,"
sanding of the 6;alrn wood surfa.ce is
a valuable step in preparation for
collaborating
Matarr exlli;rins. "Tltrl lrtwest density
lacquering; if the surface lias anv
'rouglr' ancl 'srnootlt' patc;hes. tlre
lacquer finish can be patchy and
Just recently, Kaohsiung teamed uP
with FRIM. "We were given an R&t)
research and development
asked
to appoint a
is abrirrt lrrrlf tlrat cf
partner. ln our case, that partner is
FRIM. The lnstitute has helpecl
(apprnx
in testing the wood for furniture
tlre [righc:;t rlcrrsilyi is r;reater tltart
applications, in product development
and with some of the machinery."
Ultimately, however, the special
know-how belclngs to Kaohsiung.
that of
tirnber
it r
ral niv'1
fifl
I
r
I
lrrt;lrgr,,\roorJ."
(sr rilal rlc for
rtt[-rtlerwooci
lrll(l ltq/r n3) wlti le
Ilialt
uneven.
density
Iritllr strerrcth appli-
caticlrrs) orirlinntes ftortt
wood llrn lr',.ri,;pr
l-,ikev,tise, cat'eful arrd fine
attrJ
tlte nlder
ottler silr:tiotts of
tlte pllrn trre lrttttk. Yr:lttrqer wood
The hlature of Palm
Oncefelled, the palm treetrunk, which
can be up to 30ft long, is cut into
lengths. There
is no need for
de-
comes frnri r llrr: lril;lrcr scctiotts of the
tree arrrJ frorrr tlre <:etrtlrc of its trurrk. ln
future, l(aolr:ririrtq itrtertcJs to design a
device to sepairte uvood on tlre trasis
barking and sawmills inside the palm
plantation are used to cutthe logs into
sawn timber. Lengths of 10-1Zft are
possible, in contrast to rubberwclod,
where 6ft tends to be the maximum.
of densiiy.
The sawn palrn tirnber then undergoes
makes cuttingl ;lnci :;anrlilrc; rlocidedly
tougher. Cutting tools are ittclinecJ to
pressure inrpregnation (chemical
preservation) and aspecial l<iln drying
A wide belt sander smoothenr !l.ie
suffer arJditional wear attcJ sancling ' laminated boards pricr to lacqueritig.
rnachines can end
scheclule. Kaohsit-tng manages to
Rough Stuff
Palm wood is exlretrtely {ibrcus, wlrich
Lrp raising;
thefibres
rather tirnn stttootliing the strrface.
Kaohsiung'sfactotryis located in Subang,
Selangor anrl enrploys 300 workers.
.",,*,*::,@x&u"
raw materiais
little tirerr:rre tqr
Llse
twr: lnr-:'.lt teritrg sYsterns,
it erral;les L!s to meet
strinq;errt ettvirontnental
stancl;lrds."
the
date
resPonse to Palrn wood to
ancl
has been rewarding say lvlatari
woocl
Law. That Kaohsiung's Palrn
of
items have attracted tlre attention
t
giant' lkea'
the Swedish furniture retaii
years
"Three
encouraging '
t
!
palin wood anrJ
ago, lkea looked at our
I
i
I
I
t
is particularly
'' ? iyi
TheKaohsiungTimberProcluctsteam(fromleftto
Falrn Wnr:cl Fltlses
Jlre rliffir:trltirs of trsirrg
tlalatrr;ed
Jtaltrt tvc'rr] are
with a' rnr'rltitucle of
advattta'-lrrs. "Oil pralrn is
rigtrt): Josh Law, Proiect Team..YT:E::-oT,i:
Ho. Tat Sam' the
and
Manager;.
plentif ul raw
General
Matan,
years' the (o h.,q"ty
20
Managing Director' For about
company,sprirnarybusinesswasinto,itno'ying;tnatetinlarttJ\^/eCan
component otllaitr Jritltti wor:t'i20 to 25
the expansion inio furniture anJ
6years' percetrt clreaprer than
production has occurred overthe last5to
dried
rubkrerwotlt'l *tltat's treated and
Di:;posing
sawntirnber. J:t iot kr fir rlsllirrg'
Fast-Curing Lacquers
Palm woocl is highlY absorbent and
fast-curing lacquer;
resins
slow-drying standard synthetic
speed
curing
get
the
not suitable. To
therefore requires
a
are
tworequired, otte needs to use either
pot glue systems (with hardeners) or
of
UV lacquers' "We've tried a variety
lacquers'
AC
coatings, includinE NC and
were drying problems and we
but there
foutrd thern difficult to use for mass
productlort," says Matan' UV lacquers
"
provide the best solution because they
cure quicklY and the UV raYs also
penetrate into ttre wood to cure the
into
coating that has been absorbed
the wood."
flat
KaohsiunE uses UV coatings for
system
polyurethane
surfaces and a
with a hardener for edges and remaining
produce'
surlaces of the furniture they
the
The comPanY is anxiotts to keeP
a
to
s1ste1
use of the polyurethane
of
nature
because of thetoxic
nrinimum
tire isocyanate
hardene'r:" involved'
"We've even gotten assistance from
coating suPPliers
presence
Of
to
reduce the
isocyanate in terms of ppm'
We do combination lacquering'
an
because our emphasis is on making
frorn
product
environmentally friendly
what would otherwise be wastea
wood." says Law' "Alttrouglr it is
palrn
of trees is a proi'rlctn {or oil
plantations, so ottr calc;ttlatiotts are
palrn trees'
basecl on trot payirrtl for tile
pl;lrrtation owners are
At the rnonteni,
0 to remove
actually payirrg at least [11v11
of
disposed
be
tltLtst
each tree, whiclr
is
tree
the
Iittrr:r
without bilrtting
kilt it' or it
injecterl with a srtllslancc to
be fellerl i:rnrrl ctripped' tJsing
neecls
!o
palm woocl to plrorlllce sawlr tirnber
for woodrruorkirrr'; aritl fttrttitLlte rnanLlvaluefacturing is a 11r':lt exarlllrk: of
adding," salis lv{nt;it l'
,,Of COtrrse," Ire aljtls. "tllere afe
people v;lirl nsl< tt:'r wtt;it wili happert
the
when we have to sliltt r)ayirll] for
the
to
lrl
Jroint
trees. My resp<lrlsc is
1
I
I
they
was sufficiently impressed ttrat
items for
asked us to develop sorne
i
h:ecause
thern. The process takes time'
i
tI
i
,
lkea of Sweclen needs to be
fully convinced of Palm wood's
perenvironmental statrts atrd tts
fortltance etc, but we are looking
f
I
t
i
ti
{
t
i,l
t
ll<ea on a
forward to manu{acturing for
year
cotnrnercial basis before tlre
out. tn
is
the meantirne, !!e've been
a range of small itents for
producing
I
,i
4
I
t
I
t
.t
i
i
ltas
ikea out of rubberwood' Tiris
l
i
trusiness
allowed us to establish a solid
the
relationshrp and to demonstrate
Law'
quality of our workmanship"' says
wi'rti
workirrg
"lt's exciting for tis io be
t
large
lkea, because of the potentially
shel'ring'
Besicjes
volumes involved'"
Kaohsiung is working on Producing
dirring chairs for lltea'
Kaolrsiung's annual turnover
in
at t1M I rrrbberwood procltrcts stands
expecteC to
10 million. Totalturnr:'rer is
ihe year'
be double this by tlre end of
paltn
ongr'ling
tlranks to the comparly's
is
Kaohsiung
wood business growth'
rubberwortr-l exntttlrlrl al:or rt20years
was
ago, when tlio ttse ':rI rt tltlrerrurod
also
e
wor
clwl
lers
l
at
l, plar rl inr
p'roneero,
payirlg to ltrivc llrn lltlttcer: renroved'
to buy
Wlren sawnrill:'; r;ti:tterJ lravitrcl
the logs, tlrat w;r'srt'l ttre end of
rubberwood itrtiLrstrY!"
curing
UV systems prcvic?e tlie fast
and
,uquii*U fY tfre highlY Ptlrol.rs
FI"J lacquers
wood'
palm
absorbent
on tlre edges o{ ttre lanrinated
"t"
"."0Cornbination lacquering (UV &
[""t0.
PUf rnininnises the use of texlu
t
allowing proclucts to meet
"rO*n*tt,
environrnental stanclards'
tight
t
{
r
f
set
gearing up for ikea's orders and
already has established customers
r"rp
in lpr:h by
JLrne
of 2001). At
present, the company kiln dries aboiit
000tonsof timbera montlr and exports
from Japan, Australia and the UK buying
1
its palnr wcod products.
30 to 40 forty- foot containers of furrriture
a month.
Kaohsiung recognises the need
Fl*ns for ENpelrsion
Llse of Palirr
wood by other Malaysian furniture
to encourage the
Kauhsiung extribit*d at the Malaysian
lnternational Furnitr.ire Fair (MIFD in
manufacturers ancj to protncrte its
acceptance by export marl{,ets. "We
want to support the industry in using
early 2000 for the second tirne. At the
sho!i,, overseas br"ryers showed a great
deal of interest in purcirasing finished
this material. lt is irnportant
furniture frorl Kaohsiung.
"Custorriers couldn't believe the
Stacks of lact;u*red palrn wood
quality and price and were pushing to
receive oificial qLrctatinns from us as
shelving. Mostuf t$l* siruluing procluced
has a tliicktress ul l;*twuen 25 and
cluickly as possii:lel" laugtrs Law. "We
3{Jmin.
also l-rave furniture rnanufactLlrer$
interested in i:uying sawn timber,
larrrirrated boards and cctntponents
-ia be honest, we're more
front us.
Sawt) tit.irlit,ri
interested in cioing the value adding
ourselves, but
r,ole
iil:i
liii(;r ii.tlc."
Kaohsiirng alic;rtiy 1;l.lii it; suLlstantrally ex1-r;,ittt1 it:'; l.l I t.ii;iltltcs'tn tlru'
year 20{JiJ lry itir,;iriliii};.J r;tt1 atitlitiottal
cilpacity uf SilijiJiil' ir.r Iirurjt cxi$ting
ofcltltS
i*re loolting to sirpply
ffirqlnri €fum ffieta{rer \ffe
(i-i l
lrjw l*ti-,ir ;i ir l , .,i;l r,-liittlgtlto L;g
provide
SU,\tAl.lNDO Panels MtlF are mrrJe only fronr selectcd homrrgeneous woods rif Ac,r, l,r
nt,.tn2;ittrn .tril Crnelina arlnn:ahonl our own $ustainable industrial forest plantati'.rn. Sttnr;rliniIr
parrel is rvitlely applied in the manufacture Of furnitur*s, kitchen <lirinets, door parts, tttortltiing.
dense, all of which rnr[c firrislring
routirrg, .rntl lamirrates. lhe sur'iace is flat snrooth. unifcrnn
"t
lvork e.*;dr ior wirle <lwnancling uqes. Surnallndo panbls are nranufactured irr v.rritty of sizes
anti rlcnsitit-'s, provic!ing the opporturlity 1o delign rvith spesific
***T
&',,M
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mwnqnalindo traqg!
office : l,ur. ag*, Lestari
rr
Pirro
/',,11)f ncdecri.
:...
rvangx'1';l
Buii(ling
r,
,$Ot
il;'loffr;l,flil.[? ',';:lf]['.i:'*-"*
t'horrr.' (tr2-2'l ) 4(- I 6t'-1 l./41/4
I
I
a>:
:
{6J-2 I } 4ir I frt'tl I /t]2/tt
J
Ik;rlt'parc.: irrtp/\vwrv.sunt.rlrrrdrr.co.id [.mailr trr.lri\rli(!)\utr,rlittthr,ctt
iri
fr:r
rnanufacturers to gairr familiarity with
palm wood if the raw mater ial is properiy
takeoffand gain popula,-ity," says
L-aw.
"To start with, we'd like to see K[)
centres througl'iout lvlalaysia. The
business has such huEo potentialthat
we're also ready,,to consider a partner
-
perlraps a public-listed conrprany *'
'"nlillt
wlrorn v/e can sliare botlt the tecli-
rrolog;y and the
prclductiorl." {SffiF