Wood & Panel

Christian Pfeiffer

Christian Pfeiffer

Just a few hours before LIGNA 2019 drew to a successful close, our Editor in Chief, Apratim Ghoshal got a chance to speak to Christian Pfeiffer, Deutsche Messe’s Global Director LIGNA & Woodworking Events and indulge in a face to face to conversation on the show, integrated woodworking, the digital age, Deutsche Messe’s expansion of portfolio to Southeast Asia and lot more. Excerpts.

woodandpaneleurope Congratulations Mr. Pfeiffer. We see satisfied and happy note in the halls and aisles of LIGNA. Everything went well, in this edition of LIGNA?
 

Thank you, yes we had a very smooth moving of one and half thousand companies, and we did not face any significant problems. We are developing the show, we are developing the infrastructure, and, so far after 2017 where we had a complete new structure and infrastructure and the new layout was very well received by the exhibitors and visitors and everyone really adapted to the new layout of LIGNA. That was one of the big reasons for a very smooth, getting into the halls and infrastructure was very good.
woodandpaneleurope The industry has embraced integrated woodworking, so how do you see the future?
Well, we saw a lot of trends and news in the past LIGNAs already since 2015. Industry 4.0, connecting and interconnecting machines and systems and lot of automation a large number of applications were visible. But this LIGNA is visibly the first LIGNA, we saw sellable or buyable possibilities of next steps of not only automation but also integration and the clever use of data in the woodworking for different applications be it in a workshop or in an international corporation manufacturing furniture on an industrial level.
woodandpaneleurope In terms of social media marketing, this LIGNA was very much prominent, where we have seen a lot of marketing and promotion from both the LIGNA team and exhibitors. How you see social media in terms of promoting a particular show, even for the exhibitors point of view?
It is indeed very important. As a trade show organizer, we are the ones who are responsible for bringing people together, and interconnect exhibitors and visitors. Social media is the perfect possibility for us to entice visitors with great information about the innovations in the woodworking being shown at LIGNA in May every second year. This is what we really use to reach out in the world, to people who are interested in the woodworking sector and explore what the exhibitors are showing.
woodandpaneleurope We appreciate WOW- women in woodworking, the networking event for woodworking women, by woodworking women. What is your take on this event?
It’s a good step, in fact, taking a look at my team LIGNA by far alone; in my team majority is female and also taking a look every day in our office I always sees trong women of woodworking so it’s just a consequent step putting this outside from LIGNA using this network as well as helping people again to interconnect using networks, and helping to build networks that was the idea.What I got so far from the meeting that was yesterday that everyone was very happy, we had a very nice base of people who interconnected. I feel this is a very nice step from LIGNA and this should be supported throughout the world. We are very happy to build the base for that here in LIGNA.
woodandpaneleurope Deutsche Messe is further expanding its portfolio of international shows by joining forces with Indonesia’s leading event for woodworking machinery and components, the IFMAC show in Jakarta. Congratulations on this new venture. Can you share your strategy behind organizing this SoutheastAsian show?
Yes, firstly as you said, we are going to Southeast Asia in October this year with Wakeni where they are present already with IFMAC. We are focusing on developing formats and interesting aspects for the visitors from this region. We see Southeast Asia as a strong region where we have huge nations that are developing the middle class. We also see a big market for the furniture in this region and our next step could be Malaysia.
woodandpaneleurope Do you consider IFMAC as an international show or is it more of regional show?
Well, taking a look at Indonesia, there are more than 260 million people living there. It is the third biggest democracy in the world and with a huge market in itself. So this as a regional market is extremely large. We will see how the interconnection could be happened.

Read Magazine Online

Subscribe to our Newsletters

I want to receive wood industry news and event update from Wood & Panel. I have read Wood & Panel Privacy Notice.

Our Partners

LINKEDIN