CANADIAN WOOD SPECIES:
WELL PRICED ALTERNATIVES FOR HIGH-VALUE SOLID WOOD FURNITURE
MANUFACTURER PROFILE
Ekbote Furniture has been in business for over 50 years and has a well-earned reputation for fine quality wooden furniture. They use a variety of sustainable hardwoods and softwoods mainly sourced from Europe.The company has a state-of-art manufacturing plant, pan-India retail presence, and online e-commerce.
They come with an immense understanding of the Indian furniture market and are currently using steamed Beech, German spruce, and European pine.
CHALLENGE
From the consumer’s standpoint, the beauty of design, functionality, appearance, and strength are paramount. Manufacturers of furniture for the Indian market have a long tradition of working with wood to create highly crafted pieces that are passed down through generations. Today’s modern customers want to have the same high-quality wood furniture in sleek and contemporary designs for quick installations.
Ekbote procures imported logs which are sawn into flitches and then are air dried or dried in the seasoning chamber. This is a cumbersome and time-consuming process. Ekbote was looking to circumvent this process.
OPPORTUNITY
Providing a suitable alternative, FII India* sent test samples of two species most suitable for the intended application.
*Market development agency for Canadian Wood from British Columbia.
The species selected for trials were yellow cedar and western hemlock from British Columbia (B.C.), Canada. To reduce the long drawn process of producing suitable raw material, sawn lumber from B.C. is the answer.It is seasoned to the correct moisture content and graded to suit the needs of the manufacturer. The lumber delivered to Ekbote was seasoned to 10% moisture content and graded to a quality suited to their end use requirements.
Another critical aspect is that whenever there is logging/harvest activity, there is disturbance to the environment. However, B.C., Canada manages this by having forest management laws and voluntary certification that consider all aspects of the environment which strives for the least disturbance possible.Given such advantages plus attractive pricing, trials were initiated to test the suitability of yellow cedar and western hemlock.
PRODUCT TRIALS
As Canadian sawn lumber is sized, seasoned, and machine ready, they were able to very quickly incorporate the wood into their system and within a week had produced the following: Mr. Govind Ekbote, Ekbote Furniture, owner said, “Both species were easy to work and finished very well. Hemlock took stains a little more easily than yellow cedar. Either species could easily be used to manufacture my high-end line of products.”
KEY TAKEOUTS
Improved manufacturing efficiency
Bringing in seasoned, sawn lumber graded to your needs entirely circumvents the cumbersome process of using logs and dealing with handling, waste and the enormous amount of time needed to season the product and bring it into a ‘user-friendly’ form.
Canadian Wood can be used to replace European Beech and other European softwoods
The production team was delighted with the working properties of the wood and the ease with which it took stains and coatings.Most of the wood species from B.C., Canada are light in color when compared to traditionally used species. Therefore, they have high versatility as they can be given clear or light lacquers to maintain their lustrous sheen, or stained darker to mimic hardwoods.
B.C. coastal species like western hemlock and yellow cedar are a good fit for use in India for solid wood furniture manufacturing. The manufacturer only needs to be flexible enough to adapt to the specific needs of each species in the application for a given end use.
For technical or procurement assistance free of cost, meet the team of wood experts at MumbaiWood
2017 or write to FII India at info@canadianwood.in
call on +91 22 49221600.