Vaidyanathan Hariharan

As the world witnesses rapid disruptions across all sectors of economic & manufacturing activities, the plywood and panel industries sector is also not immune to upcoming disruptions. With the introduction of high quality panels such as HDHMR MDF (High Density High Moisture Resistant), Flexi veneers and Flexi ply, smooth surface calibrated boards etc, the relevance of ordinary general purpose plywood is something which has to be reconsidered.

That the Indian consumer is getting more and more aware of materials that they use, is visible in the extent of market share being captured by the better quality, better consistency and better durability products during recent times.

Continuous bombardment of false durability, treatment and quality claims along with inability to satisfactorily respond to complaints and questions from the market – are costing the normal plywood manufacturers heavily.

It is imperative for the plywood sector to consider, appreciate and contemplate over facts & realities, and to face them straightaway. The following points may be observed to be critical in analysing the reasons behind current market situations for general purpose plywood manufacturing in India (which is also causing excessive misuse of wood resources, inability to become export competitive, and loss of market share to alternative panel products):
1) Our plywood industry and their regional associations have never ever thought about generating and maintaining sustainable, certified wood resources. We (individual manufacturers) have always been outsmarting and outwitting each other for wood purchases and cost adjustments. Example: Let’s look at how standardised & quality-oriented the paper industry sector became, by developing their own R&D for clones and cultured plantations over the last 25 years. It was a consolidated and comprehensive sector effort.

2) Our plywood industry has never thought about sharing the ‘relevance’ of plywood to the market. We have always been defined by – gurjan, brown colour, dipping green colour, fancy make-ups etc. The majority of us continue to survive in these lines even today. We sell plywood based on colour and weight even in 2021, when plywood as low as 36 kg a sheet have been tested for structural and heavy construction applications elsewhere (funniest reality is – most of the manufacturers travel worldwide and are already aware of all these).

3) We have learnt to generate a fascination for Chinese machinery and so-called manufacturing ‘technology’, by consistently avoiding development of machinery and tools in our own country for our own factory conditions and needs. Evasive, escapist and temporary-winning attitudes, obviously.

4) We are yet to officially realise that plywood – as a product, has totally lost its Trust and Faith among our consumers. All this leads to fast acceptance of consistent, smooth, easily manoeuvrable product like MDF where nobody is bothered about its colour, weight, dipping, hardness etc. They only need it to be easily workable and uniform. That’s all about it.

Because of all these, plywood is inevitably losing its Trust and Faith in an ever disruptive market. These issues can only be realised and corrected from the manufacturing side, not from administration or governance side. Let every manufacturer realise the cause of the situation and act uniformly, if at all there is real intention to retain the little balance of relevance which plywood has in the panel market.

Composite Wood Products (MDF, Foam boards, hard boards, biomass based boards) are set to reach 35% of market by 2025, and 45% of market by 2030. Time to rethink plywood relevance and quality consistency.

General purpose plywood – is something that should be made with the most workable (cutting, nailing, screwing, grooving, routing, edge works, flatness etc) wood species – not with the darkest, heaviest, hardest timber. Softer the timber, better the plywood quality, workability & treatability. And, there is no plantation wood on earth which does not require treatments to incorporate durability.

By establishing a better log/core veneer processing, as well as innovating on tools and equipments to convert narrow/short core veneers into whole size core layers, India can go a long way ahead in generating good quality plywood.

Vaidyanathan Hariharan (Vaidya) is a process, economy, production and product development expert in the plywood industry. He is involved in LFE (low formaldehyde emission) Resins, process & quality development, No Added Formaldehyde (NAF) adhesives & plywood manufacturing, treatments and R&D.

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