Member News – Indonesia Flooring Expedition 2023
During the Shanghai Domotex visit of 2023, I was invited to Indonesia by Mr Mark Poole, of Klumpp Coatings Indonesia.
Klumpp Coatings is an industrial floor and furniture coating manufacturer specialising in industrial UV cured lacquer systems.
An excerpt from their website states the following:
Today, all modern productions for pre-finished hardwood flooring rely on ecologically friendly, VOC-free, radiationcuring coating systems. Well over 90% of the coating systems used are UV-radiation-curing; Occasionally, electron-beamcurable coating materials (EBH) are also used. A technological innovation is the energy-saving LED-UV-radiation technology.
In the industrial production of pre-finished hardwood flooring, a multilayer structure is used. A specific function is assigned to every single paint layer (UV-Primer, UV-Putty, UV-Sealers and UV-Top Coats). In this way, surface properties like adhesion, abrasion resistance, indentation hardness and scratch resistance can be customised for the most diverse customer needs and therefore increase the individual added value.
I landed in Jakarta and met with Mark and his Partner Laura to attend the Woodworking and Machinery Expo. Indonesia has a very healthy trade in solid wood furniture, currently taking about 20% of the global market. “Working with wood is big business in Indonesia”, I said to myself, but compared to Domotex Shanghai, the expo overall was a lot smaller.
Many Chinese tool and machinery manufacturers were in attendance; one example machine was on show that will process wood dust to make wood pellets that can then be used for fuel to run boilers in factories. I had some great conversations about many machines.
Mark Poole, who previously worked for Miratone, had an industrial coating line laboratory set up in Semarang, central Java and that is where we went next.
The man is a gentleman, very knowledgeable and technically informed about UV curing technology.
We did some testing, colour matching and wear (abrasion) resistance work. The results were impressive; we will use Klumpp coatings in the future.
Mark is well known in Semarang and I met some of his contacts in wood flooring and decking there.
This was my first time to Indonesia, and it was a fascinating journey full of interesting and varied history, customs and wood flooring.
The largest flooring factory I have seen is located in Central Java, Indonesia. The Indonesian engineered flooring system is different. Made with layers of local wood (Hevea) with an Oak top-layer, I was shocked and impressed with the sheer size and organisation of the factory.
I also visited a decking manufacturer in Semarang, the largest solid timber decking setup I’ve seen, processing whole logs (the one pictured is sourced in Borneo). After all this activity, it was time to make the journey home.
Flying from Jakarta to Sydney, you fly directly across the whole of the country, taking in some amazing vistas of the continent, and beautiful views of the red soil of Central Australia. Next month, I will travel to Belgium to do training with Ciranova Coatings, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Have you got an international flooring story to tell? Send us an email at ATFA!
Ivan Kirton
We Love Parquet