For others at i4F, who were unable to visit China for a few years, the opportunity to meet licensees in person again, talk business and catch up on new technologies proved invaluable.
We used Domotex Asia as the platform to announce some important new partnerships, coinciding with the introduction of some new and exciting technologies in the areas of outdoor decking installation and advanced deep pore protection for wooden surfaces. At the same time, we showcased all our innovations in the areas of drop-lock, surface finishing, digital printing, process, wall and ceiling and board composition technologies.

One to highlight was our recently rebranded CeraGrout technologies (see logo attached) offering the beauty of modern ‘rectified’ ceramics with a grout without the inconvenience linked to real ceramics. Recently, Huali Group companies signed license agreements for CeraGrout and i4F drop-lock technologies. For the US market, Huali will combine the technologies on several product lines to deliver superior, imitation ceramic tiles, featuring an integrated grout that are much easier to install. End products will look incredibly real while removing the inconvenience linked to the installation and maintenance of traditional ceramics. (see attached news release).

i4F’s CeraGrout technology enables much easier installation and replacements, delivering realistic, visible joints via integrated grout lines for both flooring and wall panels, in any color. Tiles and planks featuring i4F CeraGrout enhance visual aesthetics compared to a normal v-groove as well as deliver superior resistance to wear and tear, stains and chemical household agents. CeraGrout also enables the milling of an additional grout line in the middle of a tile or plank allowing two tile patterns on a single panel. This greatly facilitates the creation of staggered or straight patterns while halving installation time.

The demand for our Digital Printing technologies continues to surge. Recently, Barlinek signed an i4F digital printing technologies cluster license agreement for the use of Hymmen digital printing and digital embossing equipment. Barlinek is installing the Hymmen digital printing line at its facility in Poland, and is expected to begin SPC production in Q4-2023. Production capacity is estimated to exceed ten million square meters per year (see attached news release).

Domotex Asia marked i4F’s entry into Outdoor Decking, a market projected to reach at least 20B USD by 2027. Thanks to our new partnership with Exterpark we are now offering a game-changing installation system called the Magnet (see attached news release). We also announced a partnership with Hesse-Lignal, giving i4F exclusive licensing rights for a unique technology delivering deep pore protection on wooden surfaces (see attached news release).

There were mainly Asian visitors - this time not only from mainland China but also from Vietnam, Thailand and some from Japan and Taiwan. Also there were some visitors from Europe. Also, some manufacturers, retailers and distributors from South America and Australia. Mainly sourcing offices from US companies participated. Overall, there was a much wider variety of represented companies than at the last Domotex Asia in Shenzhen.

Organizer, VNU already indicated that the overall visitor flow this year exceeded that of 2019. In 2019, there were some 1500 exhibitors with an overall flow of 66,000 visitors (see their wrap-up post in 2019: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ql9DhSSBjjA0SFJVelUutA).
This was the first show with global attendance (albeit a smaller presence from the US). People were genuinely happy to connect. It was a friendly and focused atmosphere, with a lot of attention to innovations and new value-adding technologies like i4F CeraGrout and i4F AquaProtect.

i4F AquaProtect is a patented high precision, resource-saving impregnation technology that protects laminate-core HDF boards from water surface swell by up to 75%, thus increasing dramatically their overall water resistance. Laminate treated with AquaProtect meets all recognized international laminate water-resistance standards and tests, including NALFA and ISO 4760. AquaProtect is exclusively available via an i4F license and is the company’s latest addition to its highly advanced process technologies for flooring manufacturers.AquaProtect is a unique proposition as for a relatively low investment enables laminate manufacturers to significantly upgrade their offering by transforming standard laminate-core HDF boards into highly water-resistant products. AquaProtect also saves on core materials as it allows use of standard HDF boards to obtain the same moisture-resistance performance as HDF with a 20% higher resin content.