Panels & Furniture Asia January/February 2024

IN PERSON
wants to start a plywood mill with
Chinglun’s help, Lee said that they
are confident in providing what
the customer wants “from A to Z”,
tailored to their requirements.
“First, we meet up with the customer
and ask them what they need, to
understand, for example, their target
capacity, what kinds of products
they are manufacturing, or what
their working hours are like, because
different factories have different
working hours. Like in Indonesia,
most factories are doing 10 hours
a shift, with two shifts a day and 25
days per month. Then we write up a
proposal. Sometimes we ask them
for a layout of their existing plan or
factory, and we propose to them how
it would be installed, so their flow of
work would turn out smooth. Once
everything is confirmed and after
receiving the down payment, we
will assign technicians to start the
plant manufacturing and install the
machines.”
“DIFFERENT MARKETS REQUIRE
DIFFERENT PROCESSING TECHNIQUES”
Chinglun’s commitment to quality
is evident from what goes into the
production of their equipment.
According to Lee, their presses and
sanders are at least 30% heavier
than other Chinese brands because
of the good-quality spare parts they
used in their sanders and presses —
which accounts for their costliness.
Although the company wants to
convince the world of their quality
Chinese-made machines, it is more
than just that; Chinglun strives to
keep improving their machinery to
meet the ever-changing demands
of the global market, and to keep
improving their after-sales service
and help their customers meet their
production targets and quality.
Lee pointed out, for example, that
back when Chinglun first entered
China, their presses and sanders
sold to Chinese manufacturers were
different from to South East Asian or
European manufacturers. That was
because the raw material in China
in the past was much smaller than
the hardwood in South East Asian
or European countries, where the
diameter of the lumber there could
be taller than an average person.
Sanders to China were therefore more
heavy-duty and a lot more precise
to compensate for the deficiency in
the raw materials, while sanders to
other countries were less heavy duty,
since their raw material needed less
processing.
“Back in the day, for Chinese
manufacturers to produce a
controlled level or flatness of their
panels — since their raw material was
not that good — we needed a machine
that was really efficient in getting the
panel flat,” he said. “And that was how
we gradually increased our rollers and
our whole system of actually sanding
it for these raw materials to become
a final good product.” He added that
the integrity and strength of today’s
plywood is sturdier than before, and
they are now providing a stronger and
evenly distributed pressure in their
press machines.
Now things have changed, Lee said.
Raw materials across the world, and
not just China, has become smaller
because they are plantation trees, which
means Chinglun has to make all their
machinery heavy duty.
Chinglun tries to be sensitive to each
region’s needs and culture. Take
automation, for example. Automation
has been touted as a megatrend in
every manufacturing industry, but it is
not exactly favoured in every region.
Whether it is accepted depends on
variables like the raw material, the
workers, the habits and customs
of plywood production, or even the
technical specs of the plywood itself.
“Different markets require different
processing techniques, or as we call
it, recipes. So, when you actually see a
plywood equipment or production line
from maybe Russia, or even Australia,
Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, the
process of production and the plywood
construction itself differs greatly from
one another.” Lee said.
For example, Chinglun is now developing
a fully automatic film laminating press
machine for a Russian company. Lee
explained that Russian manpower is
expensive, so plywood manufacturers
prefer to tap into fully or semi-automatic
machines. The same goes for Mexico —
or in general Western countries — where
there is a culture of “give-or-take money
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26 PANELS & FURNITURE ASIA | JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2024