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Commoditization, and How to Avoid It! Interface 2004 The magazine for wooden floor manufacturers worldwide no. 3 December COMMODITIZATION, AND HOW TO AVOID IT! Keeping on the right side of the law in Brazil 3 The enduring success of an Austrian family firm 6 Your chance to win a great Bona gift 7 What do hang gliding and quality management have in common? 12 Editorial An issue to be Correct environme discussed practices in Brazil In the last issue of Interface I raised the question of what we could do as an industry to avoid a steady descent into price wars and commoditiza- tion. From your feedback, I understood that Bona is not alone in its concern. Many of you agreed that in order to afford to maintain current levels of innovation and quality in parquet flooring, we must provide end consumers with more informa- tion about the products they are buying. At the moment, the end consumer has so little informa- tion that it’s not surprising his or her decisions are steered predominantly by price. I recently discussed the matter with an Austrian colleague, Karl Scheucher (see feature, page 6) and he agreed. Scheucher is in the process of building a new office space with special facilities for training retailers, distributors and professional installers about their pre-finished parquet range. It is encouraging to hear that one of our key Our newly appointed Bona representative in Brazil, customers is investing in customer education, Tony Borek, gives advice about doing business in since it will ultimately benefit the whole industry. I believe that, as end consumers become more South America, and explains how to avoid the risks knowledgeable, and can make better informed purchasing decisions, they will also become more of dealing in illegally taken timber. demanding – of both information and quality. And this is positive for any company that wishes to position its products on the market, and not just have them fall into the generic (i.e. commoditized) category of ‘wood parquet’. To further stimulate thoughts on this subject, in this issue of Interface we include an article exa- mining commoditisation as a general challenge facing manufacturers around the world. I hope you’ll find it enlightening and inspiring to read GLUEBOEN ARTICLE PARKETT – SUGGESTTRAVELS ITFIRST IS SEPARATE CLASS about the strategies pursued by other companies in other sectors, and that you'll take something useful away with you. Over the last few years, Bona’s Norwegian customer, BOEN (previously BOEN and Höhns) has become a major international player in the parquet floo- ring business. Here you see their engineered Merbau Plank flooring (600 square Paul Spångberg metres of 15 mm Merbau Plank) instal- Director Division Industrial Coating led in Eurostar’s First Class lounge at London’s Waterloo Station, UK. The Boen Parkett was specified by Haskoll Architects and installed by contract flooring specialists, Loughton dimensional stability and tough, high Contracts of Loughton, Essex. quality finish. Merbau was the prefer- Usually designed as a floating floor, red choice of species due to its ability the Boen Parkett 15 mm range is also to withstand heavy pedestrian traffic as suitable for fully bonding to the sub- well as for its aesthetic appeal. floor, as was required in this particular You can find out more about BOEN installation. Boen Parkett was selected on www.boen.com for this installation due to its excellent 2 Interface Environment What kind of environmental prison sentences, or a penalty restric- certification exists for wood ting entitlements. In some cases, the ntal from managed, sustainable company or individual is required to forests in South America? reforest the deforested area with native FSC Certification (Forest Stewardship tree species. Council). The aim of the FSC council is to ensure that the consumer gets wood Acquisition of illegal wood products from forests that are properly In Brazil, a consumer receiving or acqu- managed, environmentally sustainable, iring illegal wood products from native socially beneficial and economically trees, which are in their raw state or viable. However, the certificate is not a ”in natura”, for commercial or indu- guarantee of final product quality. strial purposes such as, cut timber, wood pieces, firewood, charcoal and What are the advantages other forest products must ask for an for companies of using ATFP (Authorization to Transport Forest FSC certified wood? Products) from the vendor. Failure to do The advantages are numerous! Here so would result in a fine and/or impri- are some typical examples: better rela- sonment. The ATFP proves the origin tionships with consumers, meeting of the wood and the issue of this docu- of market requirements, product dif- ment is the responsibility of the IBAMA ferentiation, access to new markets, (a national institute in Brazil). improved public image of the company, reduction in the number of work acci- What should Bona’s customers dents, contribution to the preservation look out for when dealing with of nature, protection of endangered suppliers in your region? species. When buying raw forest products from native trees in Brazil, customers What are the penalties should demand an ATPF from the ven- for illegal deforestation? dor together with the invoice for the The penalty for deforesting is imposed sale, to prove the origin of the product by the IBAMA and the relevant institu- to the IBAMA. If the forest product is tions in each state. Anyone committing not accompanied by an ATPF then the such a crime can be subject to fines, wood is most certainly illegal. COST-EFFECTIVE FINISHES, WITH VACUUM COATING Vacuum Coating machines are increasingly used in the wood finishing industry in North America, for treating pre-finished floors with either stain or UV-coating. This technology is very much in demand since it gives an even finish - even when used on the distressed floors that are so popu- lar among American consumers. The Larry Subervi investment required for a vacuum coa- ting machine is relatively low ($100,000- $200,000 in US dollars) so it appeals especially to smaller wood manufacturers. Bona’s UV finishes on vacuum coaters can produce about 25 grams per square feet per pass. Giving the final product about 50 grams per m2. Sheens can vary from 10 -80 on a gloss meter. The real beauty of this technology is that Bona’s vacuum finishes are equally durable as those produced on a regular roll coat line. Interface 3 Wherever you want to be we'll help you get there Where would you like to see your wooden floors? Bona has UV coatings that have been specially Maybe the Taj Mahal gardens aren’t on your new developed for damage resistance, making your wood- business list just yet, but why not exercise a little en floors suitable even for heavy traffic areas. Start by imagination? You might be surprised by how easily figuring out where you want to be…then contact Bona dreams translate into reality. to find out how we can help you get there. Customer case From pumpkin seed oil to pre-finished parquet Besides being the place that Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger calls home, this part of Austria has plenty of other surprises in store. You find lush valleys planted with corn as far as the eye can see, picturesque villages where farmhouse kitchens serve Buschenschank buffet, and men who still wear Austria’s traditional Lederhosen on a regular basis. And perhaps less surprisingly, this is where you find the office and production plant of highly successful wood parquet flooring manufacturer, Scheucher Holzindustrie GmbH. Interface magazine interviewed the company’s present owner, Karl Scheucher, and asked him to talk us through the last 84 years of nimble entrepreneurial maneuvering that has brought enduring success to his family firm. Founded in 1920, at first, the Scheucher ship was to start producing three layer the flourmill and pumpkin seed oil press enterprise included an impressive panels for the then highly fashionable are long forgotten, as parquet flooring array of different activities – farming, 'solid wood' kitchen furniture. It wasn’t now constitute’s Scheucher’s single a sawmill, a flourmill and a press for long, however, before the devaluation of most important activity. the region’s famous pumpkin seed oil. the Italian lire in 1995 caused Austrian So where does Scheucher intend to Then in 1936, Karl Scheucher’s father producers to lose market share, and a take the company next? entered the business. His activities new strategy was required. Karl explains, “Contrary to the cur- were sharply interrupted by WWII, but Karl’s answer was to start making rent trends of moving production to on his return in 1945, he focused his three layer parquet flooring. A research lower cost countries, we are actually efforts on developing that part of the trip to Scandinavia convinced him opening up a new production line in business which most appealed to him that this was the right course to fol- Austria. As a way of broadening our – the sawmill. Thanks to his interest low. Production began in 1996 with product range and meeting a greater and attention, the sawmill thrived, and the focus on the Austrian and German proportion of the market’s needs, we in the early 70s, Scheucher began to markets, and since then demand has have decided to start producing two produce readymade spruce and pine steadily increased. So much so in fact, layer parquet as of December 2005. wood products for the house buil- that in 1999 the plant’s capacity had to Two layer parquet appeals especi- ding industry. Most of the output was be doubled. Today Scheucher makes ally to professional floor installers, exported to Yugoslavia, the border of 1.5 million square metres of pre-finis- as it is thinner (space is sometimes which lies a mere 15 kilometres from hed floors every year and exports to a problem) and can be used to make the Scheucher plant.
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