Furniture

PROGRAMME


Are we still going to be an attractive partner for foreign recipients of Polish timber products? How to prepare for the forthcoming changes? How to survive the period of economic downturn? Where to look for savings? The idea behind the 3rd Economic Forum of the Polish Wood and Furniture Industry Polwood 2009 will be to find answers to these questions.
Only once a year, managers of the largest enterprises in the woodworking and furniture industries in Poland, directors of State Forests, researchers, economists and policy makers meet in Poznań to take part in the debate of the Polwood Economic Forum. A few hundred guests invited by the Forum organisers all watch a matter-of-fact discussion among experts, supported with the latest research and analyses as well as case studies. The choice of the most up-to-date, yet often difficult and controversial topics, as well as opinions expressed in the discussion tend to stir a lot of emotions. However, Polwood does not serve to prove the point made by any party, to support any specific solutions or promote businesses operating in this market, but to fulfil a mission being a strive to develop the Polish wood and furniture industries through identification of opportunities and threats that may be out there in the future, and to present various concepts to seize or mitigate those, as appropriate.
This year, Polwood will be attended by 430 participants and, like in previous editions, will comprise three parts.



The speakers of Panel I devoted to timber cost savings will include: Norbert Dowejko (Barlinek Inwestycje), Tomasz Wójcik (State Forests) or Jacek Kulis (Mondi Świecie). Polwood 2009 experts will discuss the following:



- what will be the supply of raw material in Poland and all over the world, how will its price develop?
- how to streamline timber use?
- which legal solutions hamper cost competitiveness in terms of raw material?
- what solutions for raw material cost savings used in the world could be transferred to the Polish wood and furniture industries?



Panel II will gather experts on energy cost saving. They will among others discuss the following:



- what are the energy costs generated by a woodworking company in Poland?
- what technologies are conducive to energy savings in the wood and furniture industries?
- is wood waste a source of energy or a raw material for production?
- how will the wood industry benefit from the EU promotion of energy savings in construction?

The experts will include Ludwik Olczyk, who implemented solutions conducive to energy cost savings in his sawmill and invested in a pellet production line. Panel II will also include a presentation of a movie from a woodworking plant that is utilizing wind power. The topic of energy savings in window and door joinery will be discussed by Jarosław Mikos (Stolarka S.A.).

In Panel III, Polwood experts are going to discuss changes in the profile of an ideal employee in the woodworking industry. The advantage of low labour costs has been so far one of the main factors attracting foreign investment to Poland. Only in the first half of 2008, the average wage in the industry in Poland has increased by 24 per cent to approach wages in the Western European countries. This is yet another growing cost item that has an impact on the final price of the Polish timber product. Just like in the case of a product: if an employee cannot be cheaper than an employee in the Ukraine or in Lithuania, they must be better: more flexible and better educated. Panel III experts will among others address the following:



- how much can we save on automated production?
- can you replace humans with robots in the woodworking industry?
- how much can you save on moving production to countries with cheaper labour force?



It has already become a tradition that Forum presents a Polwood award for the Investment of the Year. The 2008 nominees include primary wood processing plants and furniture manufacturers, window and door joinery producers or manufacturers of wood packaging, as well as representatives of the board and plywood sector. Among the winners of previous editions of the contest there were Igvar Kamprad (Ikea) and Ludwik Olczyk (Tartak Olczyk).

Venue: Pavilion 11
Time: 1 April 2009, 11.00 am - 3.00 pm
Organisers: Inwestor Publishing House, Poznań International Fair
Expert partner: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Partners: Polish Economic Chamber of Wood Industry, Polish Chamber of Commerce for Furniture Manufacturers, Wood Based Panels Producers Association of Poland, Woodworking Club, EPAL National Committee.
Media patronage: Rzeczpospolita, TVP Poznań, Gazeta Przemysłu Drzewnego, Meblarstwo Komponenty i Technologie, Drewno Technika