The Eplf is turning 20 years old!

The positive market figures for the first quarter of 2014 went one step further: At the general Eplf meeting in Bad Oeynhausen, the atmosphere was one of joyful celebration. Around a hundred current and former members, friends and patrons enjoyed an impressive ceremony to celebrate the Eplf’s 20th birthday. For Ulrich Windmöller (from the company Windmöller), the “founding father” and honorary president of the association, it was a matter of personal importance to invite members to his home town for the occasion. A witty speech delivered by the incumbent Eplf president Ludger Schindler, a welcoming address by Dr Jürgen Köckler from Deutsche Messe AG, and a speech by keynote speaker Elmar Brok (Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs), along with a diverse, top-class variety show, ensured that guests were in the ideal frame of mind to enjoy a cheerful evening of celebration.

The regular board elections were scheduled to take place during the meeting of ordinary members held the next day, where Ludger Schindler (Meisterwerke) was confirmed in office for an additional two-year term as president.In addition to Max von Tippelskirch (Kronotex), who was confirmed in office as deputy president, the members elected Paul De Cock (Unilin, Belgium) as deputy board member. Volkmar Halbe (Parador) remains chairman of the Markets and Image Committee. Dr Theo Smet (Unilin), who is stepping down as chairman of the Technical Committee after 12 years of service due to age-related reasons, received a standing ovation. The members elected Eberhard Herrmann (Egger) as his successor. Georg Kruse (Wpt) was also confirmed in office as the association’s accounts auditor.

The main topics covered at the meeting of members included the statement concerning the economic situation of the European laminate flooring sector. Compared with the same period in the previous year, the market for laminate flooring produced in Europe by member firms was stable with a slight upward trend in the 1st quarter of 2014, although there were differences in the individual sales markets: eastern Europe, Asia, North America and South America recorded gains, while sales in western Europe saw a slight decline. Germany proved consistent as the largest single market, yet Eplf producers observed clear losses in the Turkish market, which is attributed to Western Europe, compared with the previous year. The Eplf considers that the negative development of the exchange rate of the Turkish lira may potentially be the reason for this, and that it may also reflect the initial consequences of Turkey’s current anti-dumping procedure against German laminate flooring producers.

Eplf members have continued to battle against widespread counterfeiting in Russia’s growing yet very fragmented market. The association’s “Russia task force” is currently preparing appropriate measures for a consistent quality drive in this region.

Following the considerable success of the second Wood Flooring Summit in Hanover earlier this year, the Eplf shall also contribute to the planning preparations for the next event to be held in 2016, in collaboration with the Deutsche Messe AG. 
The international standardisation projects undertaken by the Eplf’s Technical Committee remain highly diverse. For the last time, chairman Theo Smet presented the most significant results of the past few months. As previously announced, the new EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) for laminate flooring shall be published at the end of 2014. Good further progress has been made on work to revise EN 14041 for elastic, textile flooring and laminate floors. The first draft of the revision of EN 13329 shall be presented at the Cent/TS 134 meeting, to be held in Winterthur in June. A separate working group on the topic of “Mixed Products” is to be created within the Cen/TS 134. At the ISO/TC 219 meeting held in Atlanta (Usa) in April, the revised version of the ISO/DIS 24338 (“wear resistance”) was unanimously adopted, meaning that this standard can now be published. An equally unanimous conclusion at this event was the vote for the revised ISO/24334 (“locking strength”). Dr Smet also announced that, following on from its technical data sheet, the Eplf has now published a two-page information leaflet on the topic of underlay materials, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Eplf website.

The next meeting of Eplf members will take place from 20 to 21 May 2015 upon the invitation of the associate member company Homag AG (Schopfloch, Germany).