Analysis of Plywood Related Patents

Plywood has always been a leading product in my country's engineered wood products industry, mainly used in decoration, furniture manufacturing, packaging, and construction formwork. The main products are 3-layer and 5-layer urea-formaldehyde resin plywood. With the decreasing demand for large-diameter plywood, Chinese plywood companies have contributed to enriching plywood resources and increasing the supply of tropical plywood by using thinner veneer technology and developing blends of plantation timber and imported tropical timber. my country's plywood production has significantly improved timber utilization through technologies such as rotary-cut veneer edge banding, thinner veneer, core board splicing, chuckless rotary cutting, in-house glue preparation, and secondary assembly and gluing. Product standards primarily reference ISO series standards and also incorporate Japanese standards. Product quality has continuously improved, and production and exports have increased year by year, giving China an important position in the international market.

This article analyzes and studies global plywood patents, aiming to grasp its technological development trends, major competitors, patent layout, and key patent technologies from a global perspective, and to provide some reference for plywood-related research in my country.

1. Data sources and analysis tools

Data retrieval and analysis were performed using the PatSnap patent analysis system, with a search date of February 5, 2018. The search query for this study was: title=(plywood or veneer). The search results showed 10,066 patent applications related to plywood globally. By legal status, 1,512 patents were granted; by patent type, there were 3,865 invention applications, 3,214 granted inventions, 2,037 utility model applications, and 950 design patents. This paper primarily analyzes the 9,116 patents excluding design patents.

2. Development Trend Analysis

3. Regional analysis

4. Analysis of the main applicants

Statistical analysis of the major applicants for plywood patents shows that among the top eight applicants, two are from Japan, four from China, and two from Finland. The top eight applicants are: Minami Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (Japan, 168 patents); Matsushita Electric Works Ltd. (Japan, 78 patents); Fujian Wuping Yunhe Wood Industry Co., Ltd. (China, 78 patents); Nanjing Forestry University (China, 47 patents); UPM-KYMMENE WOOD OY (Finland, 41 patents); RAUTE OYJ (Finland, 38 patents); China International Marine Containers (Group) Co., Ltd. (China, 37 patents); and the Wood Industry Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Forestry (China, 31 patents).

Minami Manufacturing Co., Ltd. and Panasonic Electric Works Co., Ltd. attach great importance to the patent layout of plywood technology and have filed patent applications in major international plywood markets. In contrast, the four Chinese plywood patent holders have only filed patent applications in China.

5. Analysis of high-value patents

According to the patent value assessment of the PatSnap database, the top 9 plywood patents mainly involve plywood composite components, dimensional stability improvement, anti-warping and delamination, plywood veneer connection methods, stacking devices, etc. (Table 1).

Table 1 Ranking of Plywood Patent Value

6. Text clustering analysis

Text clustering analysis of global plywood-related patents reveals that the main technical topics covered by plywood patents include: decorative plywood, high-strength plywood, fastening connections, bamboo plywood, plywood hot presses, veneered plywood, flame-retardant plywood, plywood for container flooring, environmentally friendly plywood, and waterproof plywood. (Fan Shengming)

Source: Intellectual Property Research Center of the State Forestry Administration