| Laminate flooring - Direct printing as a strategic core product |
| 13/10/2007 - 16:41 |
 The marketing manager and sales manager of Egger explained in detail the strategic meaning of the laminate flooring produced with the direct printing method. The press has been invited to Brilon at the end of September. The Egger Group is going to gear to the sales area of laminated flooring in a lot of ways. Even the newly started building of the saw mill in Brilon and the laminated flooring production are connected.
Direct printing – competitors follow
The Egger Group is quite proud of the new machine in Brilon. They belong to the pioneers of direct printing together with Meister.  The decision to invest in this field of technology is being confirmed by through the orders of the competitors like Kaindl and Yildiz Entegre. The machine at Eggers can produce furniture parts as well as laminated flooring. This possibility is seen as a safety net though. The main aim is to produce laminate flooring.
Focus on DIY markets
 Compared to their competitors Egger has already got the experience of 6 mill. sqm of direct printed laminate flooring since they stared the production in autumn 2006. The goal at the machine from Hymmen are a yearly output of 30 mill sqm. Even though a few journalists doubted on the press conference at the 27th September in Brilon if the production costs with direct printing are really lower than in the usual DPL process because of the high costs of the printing one is sure at Egger to be on the right way. The flooring called “direct print” (DPR) at Egger is clearly placed in the range of the end user price of +/- 10€/sqm. The collections are very much orientated to the Do-it-yourself chains (assortment “Spirit”) although the wholesale trade is delivered with the “DPR laminated flooring collection” as well. One moves around the lower middle class with a thickness of 7 mm of class 31 and nine different types of wood (Merbau, 2 x oak, 2 x nut, cherry, and 3 x beech). A main argument for selling is the ecofriendliness. The ecobalance is going to be published shortly. The improved surface feel and sound-proofing are also supposed to convince the consumer.
Aim is 20% of the market
 One notices the importance of the direct printing flooring by looking at Eggers overall strategy in the laminate flooring production. The aim for 2010 is 80 mill. sqm. Egger wants to gain a part of 20% of the European laminated flooring market. One produces nothing but direct printing in Brilon and in Wismar one is going to concentrate on the “classical” DPL flooring (50 mill. sqm/year). At the press conference Stefan Pletzer, Egger Retail Manager was convinced that “both technologies are going to have their place on the market”.
Prices for laminated flooring are getting under pressure
 Egger, like the competitors, adapts itself to the division of the laminated flooring market: growth in the cheaper areas up to 10 € and above 15 €/sqm consumer price. Another way of reacting to the fall in the middle price areas and the price pressure 10 – 15 €/sqm is besides the direct printing the foil coating (Kronoswiss, BHK, Classen, EPI). Eggers points to the falling selling curve of laminated flooring in western Europe since 2005. The West European laminate flooring market grows only very slowly. The years of rapid growth are at an end (Western Europe 2006: + 4% up to 285 mill. sqm, East Europe + 9% up to 88mill. sqm).The export to Asia has long ceased to be an option to accommodate the European production of 468 mill. sqm (2006). In the US-Export the times of the high increases are gone as well and not only since the crisis of the housing market (2006: - 20% down to 68 mill. sqm).
Advantage of integration from the saw mill to the laminated flooring
Egger counts on the new saw mill in order to lower the production costs. The cut of 800,000 cbm round wood is going to cover 50% the saw dust demand. One thing that has to be considered is the annual requirement of 184,000 cbm of saw dust for the laminate plant. Another point is the ability to drive the saw mill according to the MDF/HDF-necessities. Looking back on the experience of 6 mill. sqm which Egger has with direct printing one can say that the HDF-Quality is more important than ever.
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| (IHB Fehrle Fotos: Egger, Bürkle, EPLF) |
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