The plywood city of India, Yamuanangar witnessed a very high profile gathering at the Event IIR, which was launched by Surfaces Reporter & Ply Reporter to provide a platform to the industry where the manufacturers, seller and end users all can come together and discuss the opportunities, challenges and future of the products. SRPR made this event historical by organizing in Plywood hub of the country, the agenda was “MARKETACCEPTANCE OF NEW FACE VENEER & FUTURE OF PLYWOOD INDUSTRY”. The seminar witnessed full house packed attended by around 200 plus Plywood, Board and door manufacturers, retailers, Architects, interior designers and Industry professionals.

Mr Rajesh Mittal, Managing Director, Green ply Industries Ltd was key note speaker for the session who addressed the audience speaking about the need of change in present practices and efficiency . He stressed upon growing need of sustainable specie of face veneer which at present is none other than Okoume because of its abundance availability at much lower price than Gurjan.

The meeting at Yamunanagar was inaugurated with lamp lighting ceremony by Mr Rajesh Mittal , Managing Director , GreenPly Industries Ltd; Mr Devendra Chawla, President (AIPMA) Prof. S.K. Agarwal, Chairman of Globe Panel Industries, Mr Ajay Maniktala,( ex President HPMA) and Mr Pragat Dvivedi.

Mr Pragat Dvivedi (founder editor, The Ply Reporter) briefed about the objective of the event on Face Veneer and said, ‘After GST, face veneer is another turning point for the plywood Industry’. He added that there is no point using a face veneer of Gurjan which is triple the cost of present available specie Okoume specially when it actually add no strength to plywood. Just for the market pressure which is illogical, The Ply Reporter’s initiatives aimed to support the industry and trade to spread awareness on savings and to make people aware about technical points for adopting Okoume face in factories.

The Ply reporter published its first special issue proposing Okoume as a promising specie way back in 2005 but people did not acknowledge. Today we all know that Okoume can be a sustainable substitute for face veneer if one and all accept it altogether and overcome our confusions and technical hurdles in manufacturing plywood.

The key Note speaker, Mr Rajesh Mittal, MD, Green ply Industries said, “The demand for plywood will definitely grow in line with infrastructure growth, economical developments, boost in prices for iron & steel etc, but there will be challenges too with increasing competition.” Mr Mittal added, “The vital factor is to control the production cost without compromising quality whether a manufacturer is small or big, organized or unorganized, everyone has to take this as challenge.”

Following the speech session there was a technical presentation by technocrats from Greenply who shared the technical knowledge and formulations to use Okoume face Veneers that will prevent a ply manufacturers from problems like mica delamination or color variation etc. This technical presentation enlightened the end users and sellers also.