The author, Mr. S. P. Bhasin is having 35 years of experience in Particle Board and wood based industry. He worked for 26 years with Novopan Industries Ltd and started with concept realization of Prelam Boards usage at the initial sales. He joined NOVOPAN in 1986 as an Area Manager and worked till 2011 as CEO of the company. He worked for 6 years with Associate Decor as President and launched the company in India and international markets. He also worked with Greenlam as Business Head for new projects for almost two years. Now he has promoted successfully own company named Novomark Consulting co. LLP to give valuable input to wood based Industry for product and new projects development.
It is the law of nature that with every slope from the top takes us to the valley of opportunities to achieve & aspire to reach higher goals. Hence, the difficulties and challenges of covid19 have surely hidden bagful of opportunities for the upcoming years, for many countries, but more for India. Post the covid19 era, we must follow and encourage our customers to follow the mantra “Buy Indian and export Made in India.” This is only possible when we strategically position India & Indian manufacturers, offer quality & economically viable products which are in line with the latest trend and standards into the international markets.
Another aspect to focus on is to produce within the country which we import at large as finished goods, raw material, and semifinished products to make a finished final product. This is equally important for our selfreliance and to reduce trade deficits.
Above is also very much relevant to our furniture and wood-based industry. Considering organised & un-organised sectors and import of furniture component & fixtures, this is a large segment and has a significant dependence on imports from China & other countries.
Below are some potential areas where we can strategies and encourage to produce in India:
Today, we mostly rely on imports for decorative design paper, decorative paper & base paper for printing various designs. We largely cater to our needs in this segment by importing mainly from China and Europe.
Flat line furniture made out of MFC (prelam chip boards) and MDF (Medium Density Fiber Boards) which is the backbone of the domestic & office furniture segment. We import a large quantity of these components from China and SAARC countries.
We also import a large quantity of furniture grade Plain Particle Boards as semi-finished products to make prelam boards. Plywood has major usage in making household furniture & niche office furniture. Manufacturing of products like plywood, block-board, and veneer are highly labour intensive and is a challenge in machining far large production- here again far raw material, especially face and decorative veneer, we are largely dependent on imports.
To overcome the above issues and to replace imports, ideal products to manufacture is Chip Boards, Pre-lam Boards (PPB and MFC) and Medium Destiny Fiber Boards (MDF). These are the ideal substitutes for costly products like Plywood and Block Boards. While it is heartening to note that we have recently built up reasonably good production capacity to produce MDF in our country but we lack in furniture grade PPB plants to offer Pre-lam Boards as ready to use the most economical and durable product.
Following are the advantages of making PPB on continuous press plants:
Valuable savings of Natural Timber since the chip board is made from an Agro waste raw material and sawn timber waste.
Product is eco friendly and economical.
The material is produced with an automatic process, and proper process control systems; thus ensuring safety and avoid a cluster of labour at one place. This means social distancing will become a part of the system.
The material produced will be safe, free from the release of hazardous chemicals like formaldehyde, which is harmful to humans.
Agro waste is produced on the boundaries of farming land and is a sustainable source of additional income for farmers.
Large generation of direct and indirect employment.
Such production facilities are ideal engine for growth to generate furniture units, transportation, related small ancillary units and facilities like restaurants and hotels.
There will be a valuable saving of foreign exchange and on the contrary part of production can generate exports.
Such a facility generates large production and revenue for the country. Consumption of raw materials in making particle boards will be least when calculated on per unit basis.
In line with the above, and considering the present circumstances we need to bring up particle boards plants in many places in our country, such facilities will be more viable when there is a reasonable distance from port to earn logistic benefits. Furniture grade particleboard will give a boost to the furniture industry and the woodworking machinery industry.
Encouragement and clearance of such products by Central and State Government will attract investments for the Made in India industry growth.