Life Furniture Factory

Live Furniture Factory is a unique display of modern furniture production technologies - a place, where a furniture factory of the future and in operation can be admired.

This year's Live Furniture Factory is an event, which shows a furniture production process from the design, through the selection of technology and machines to the final product. Apart from box furniture (a dining room cabinet), also frame furniture (a table and a chair) will be produced. The basic raw material used for this purpose will be solid wood.

 Technical preparation

This year's event has a new feature - technical preparation of production. A design office and a product development department have been set up on the display platform. Both are supervised by Professor Jerzy Smardzewski from the Department of Furniture Design at the Poznań University of Life Sciences. In his opinion Research and development aim to quickly prepare detailed parameters for the design, structural and technological documentation in an integrated IT environment configured to programme concurrently, analyse the static parameters, rigidity and strength of the furniture that is designed as virtual models, control the quality of prototypes using scanning technology, including checking how the geometry and strength of concept models compare with those of the prototypes. In many cases the work of a factory office is limited to the preparation of 2D drawings, while the R&D unit at the University is concerned with rapid prototyping, which is ideal to create personalized (discreet, customized) products, made to individual customer orders. Reverse engineering systems help to prepare a numerical (virtual) model on the basis of absolute measurements of a three-dimensional object, complete design documentation (CAD), control the manufacturing process using CNC machines (CAM) or permit the use of rapid prototyping. The design employs methodologies of shape measurement and calibration of 3D objects, and conversion of a point cloud to a format compatible with CAD/CAE/CAM systems. The event features measurement and analysis of design errors for some of the furniture made. Virtual design and analysis of furniture structure, as well as the use of reverse engineering methodology, easily show that the designed furniture is safe.

 Form and function

The staff of the Poznań University of Life Sciences, in consultation with MTP's project coordinators, selected a furniture design, which combines the form based on modern design trends with ergonomics and the latest structural and technological solutions. It is the best design of Przemysław Myszkowski, a senior student of Furniture Design at the Poznań University of Life Sciences. My work is a combination of chance and inspiration. I was looking for an item of utility furniture, which conforms to the current design trends and at the same time can be flexibly used, says P. Myszkowski. Of course, the form, which catches the eye first, is not most important. To a large extent the design was determined by the functionality and ergonomics of the furniture item and the technology of its production.

Live Furniture Factory is an ideal place to observe the work of the machines and equipment in a modern effective production cycle and speak to experts. It offers the opportunity to thoroughly analyse all the production stages. Therefore, Live Furniture Factory can become a "mine" of practical information for its visitors.

Live Furniture Factory
31 March - 1 April, Poznań International Fair, Pavilion 3A

Organiser: MTP; expert partner: Centre of Furniture Innovation and Technology Transfer, University of Life Sciences in Poznań
Partners: AD System, Arkus, Becker Acroma, Drew-zet, Fida, Henkel, Hettich, Homag, Imac, ITA, ITA Polska, Jowat, Kleinert, Lentz, Penny Dobroszyce, Rexel, Schelling, SCM, sia Abresives, Smurfit Kappa, Tilia, Topsolution, Weining
Media Partner: Inwestor Publishing House