Why use wood in industry ?

26/04/2019

The use of wood and its products (energy, construction / rehabilitation, packaging, furnishings, floors, etc.) clashes with the dominant position of other materials and with normative or regulatory brakes.Nevertheless, many industrials make the choice to return to more noble materials such as wood.

Benefits of wood in industry


The sustainable development aspect of the wood material is unavoidable and fundamental in the perception of industrials. The short chain, which promotes regional know-how, is a factor influencing not only the choice of manufacturers but also the choice of consumers. Made in France is increasingly popular because French people want to support the national industry and contribute to respect for the environment.

Wood and new technologies

Wood regains its nobility and is now synonymous with modernity. It is appreciated by creators and is at the heart of current trends in various fields, including new technologies. Because concrete examples are better than fine speeches, you will find below some companies that have not hesitated to insert wood into their high-tech product.

Woodoo

Timothée Boitouzet, Architect by training was elected a few weeks ago, French innovator of the year by the MIT Technology Review, as part of the Innovators Under 35 competition for its patented technology that makes wood two to three times more rigid, imputrescible, waterproof, more resistant to fire, but also transparent or translucent depending on the essence used.
To provide wood with such properties, Timothée Boitouzet adopted a molecular reconstruction approach.
Based in Paris, his Start-up has already identified several possible applications. The first is furniture and interior design. Within two years, she plans to tackle the second work, that is to say the facades, floors and roofs.And within five years, Woodoo plans to enter the wood construction market. With classical wood, you can’t build very tall buildings.Beyond 12 levels, there are stability problems. But with our wood much more rigid, it will be possible to make wooden towers», assures Timothée Boitouzet.

Elan

The Slovenian manufacturer of high-end skis uses wood in the limited edition pair of skis with laminated wood veneer inlays.
The skis are made of veneers on which is applied a laminate finish layer offering a very high resistance to shocks, scratches and UV.
Thus skis, today jewels of technologies combining high-Techs materials, make a return to their origin, wood.

Faurecia

With the Italian Tabu, the automotive supplier Faurecia is developing a technology that enables premium vehicles to be upholstered with wood at a lower cost. The first model to benefit from it is the Citroën DS World Paris limited series.

Faurecia dresses the door panels, the base of the instrument visor and the wooden dashboard.Faurecia has developed a technology to cover large and complex surfaces in an industrial way, while eliminating the usual disadvantages of wood such as cost, weight and rigidity. In addition, it brings the unique touch of a natural material.

Critt Bois

Almost 200 years after its invention, the bike returns to its origins with the presentation by the Bois d'Epinal critt of a prototype whose open frame is made of wood.
The regional centre of innovation and technology transfer of the wood industries (critt Bois) of Epinal in the Vosges, following a request made in 2009 by the society of mixed economy (SEM) Epinal-Golbey, has in fact just presented the Vélibois, a prototype electric bike with an open wooden frame. Not necessarily a new concept, we saw bamboo bikes, but this time it was the subject of a real industrialization.


Cardineau has also opened its doors to the high-tech sector and, for the company Air Lab Industrie, produces components of their electronic scooters equipped with innovative technologies (solar charging) or elements of the Nino Robotics electric chair, a true jewel of technologies: onboard electronics allows to manage stability and changes of terrain, slope and the position of the body integrated LED display…

More recently, the start-up Monkey bidouille asked Cardineau to make the envelope of its PC design and Made in FrancebMB01 combining moulded wood, brushed aluminum and plexiglass backlit by LEDs. The company chose to use noble materials in order to give “the right balance between electronic products and art objects”.