GERMANY – Three topics: Integrated Woodworking – Customized Solutions, Smart Surface Technologies and Wood Industry Summit have been chosen as LIGNA’s 2019 Main Topics.

The woodworking industry worldwide takes notice of this announcement as LIGNA, which runs from 27 to 31 May 2019, is the world's leading trade fair for machinery, plant and tools for the woodworking and timber processing industry.

The first topic: Integrated Woodworking – Customized Solutions, refers to digitization, integration and automation. These three major trends and the efficiencies they bring to the wood industry and woodworking trades will be evident at the next LIGNA. The show's exhibitors will focus on new wood-industry applications for smart technologies, new developments and customized solutions for intelligent production across all areas of the wood value chain. Exhibitions will include augmented reality, virtual reality, digitization, customer-specific tailoring and safety, not to mention the growing pressure on manufacturers to deliver precision, flexibility and fast throughput. Together, the exhibitors will showcase the many opportunities of batch-size-one production – the ultimate in integration and customization.

Next on LIGNA’s 2019 agenda is Smart Surface Technologies. This Main Topic was featured in LIGNA 2017 and displayed for the first time as a category of its own. Customer demand for product individualization has driven growth for digital printing, adhesives, liquid coatings and lacquers that with 3D printing technologies will be highlighted in the 2019 show.

The Wood Industry Summit closes the lineup of LIGNA’s 2019 Main Topics. Next year the Summit is running under the byline “Access to Resources and Technology”. The themes covered include digitization in forestry, data protection and data integrity, forest firefighting, forestry infrastructure, road networks and logistics, all topics and issues of importance to the international forestry and wood industry.

“It's still early in the game, but one thing is for sure: Next year's LIGNA will be particularly strong on innovative, high-tech solutions for woodworking,” said Christian Pfeiffer, Deutsche Messe's Global Director for LIGNA and Woodworking Events.