On 21 May, over 50 stakeholders in the EPLF Association gathered for the Annual General Meeting in the Wart district of Altensteig in the Black Forest, at the invitation of extraordinary member Homag Holzverarbeitungssysteme AG. The EPLF Technical and Markets and Image expert groups had already met the previous day to carry out intensive project work. This was followed by a joint tour of the Homag head office.
After two days of intense discussion within the working groups, some interesting specialist presentations and extensive networking at the meeting, the Association was able to make a positive summary of this year’s Members’ Meeting. EPLF President Ludger Schindler re-emphasised to members the Association’s claim to high quality: “European laminate is – and will remain – the superior laminate. And we wish to continue defending our leading role on the world markets.”
At the meeting, Eberhard Herrmann, Chairman of the Technical Working Group, reported on the projects his group is currently handling: The official handover of the new generic EPD (Environmental Product Declaration) on 11 June at the Members’ Meeting of the Institut Bauen und Umwelt (Institute for Construction and the Environment) in Berlin, marks the completion of a tough piece of work and sets a clear new standard for the ecological quality of laminate flooring. In connection with the new EPDs for laminate flooring, he indicated that, from 2017, these declarations will become mandatory in France for all construction products.
Further progress has been made on international standardisation. In this context, Mr Herrmann sincerely thanked Dr Theo Smet for his exemplary work in running the ISO/TC219 WG3 meeting and the WG9 and WG 10 meetings at CEN level. At the meeting in Wart, Mr Herrmann praised the IHD Wood Technology Institute in Dresden – in particular Dr Rico Emmler – for the advances made by the EPLF in its “Deeply structured Surfaces” project. Suitable methods for measuring and evaluating the “shine effect”, e.g. in busy walkway areas, are also to be established in a collaborative trial. During the working meeting, Dr Emmler proposed a three-tier classification system for this.
Members unanimously approved Max von Tippelskirch, Deputy Chairman of the EPLF Executive Committee, as Chairman of the Markets and Image Working Group. One of the key issues at the Members’ Meeting was to look at the economic situation of the laminate flooring sector in Europe. The market for laminate flooring produced by European member companies showed a slight decline in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same period the previous year. The individual markets developed quite differently, however: Eastern Europe and Asia showed an increase, whereas in Western Europe and North and South America, sales were slightly down. Mr von Tippelskirch announced that the EPLF will play a more active role in international communication.