Michael Weinig of Germany, a leading manufacturer of solid wood processing machines, has successfully grown its sales in the Middle East, particularly in Turkey, where it established its office in Istanbul several years ago.

The Weinig group offers a wide range of solid wood processing machinery that includes the new-technology Weinig moulders, Dimter optimising cross-cut and defecting saws, Grecon finger jointing machines, and Raimann multi rip saws to various wood processing factories of the region.
One of its most recent installations in Turkey has been for the Riyadh-headquartered Middle East Metal and Wood Industries Company (Metalco), which manufactures doors for the local market and is planning to boost its sales figures with the help of these machines. Metalco has purchased a new Weinig Unimat 500 six-spindle moulder with a universal head, and also a Raimann KST 310 ProfiRip saw.
“We are very pleased with the performance of the Weinig machines and hope to achieve our sales objectives with these reliable, quality, flexible machines,” says Alfred Mefragata, production supervisor of the wood division of Metalco.
Ali Ben Meherzi, CEO of Technologia Middle East, is Weinig’s sales partner who received the order from Metalco. He is the sales agent for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey is an important industrial market for Weinig, which have built up a good reputation and successfully grown its sales figures through the supply of sophisticated solid wood processing machines that can perform a variety of jobs. Responsibility for the Turkish and Middle East market has been the responsibility of Lothar Doering, who was sales manager of Weinig, based in Germany. To get closer to the market, Doering has been appointed as the managing director of the Turkish office and has moved to Istanbul. The appointment shows Weinig’s determination in boosting its business further.
“Weinig is encouraged by the enquiries and increase in demands for its high quality products. Doering has substantial knowledge of the Middle East market and has been directly responsible for the success that Weinig have had. His new appointment will increase awareness in the market of Weinig products, and more authority and decisive local management,” says a spokesman for Weinig.
Weinig’s policy is to keep ahead in technology in its specialised field of solid wood machinery. Last November, it launched a new machine called the Variomat, an innovative solid wood system that is designed for the small-sized factories which need to both mould and tenon on a single machine.
“The machine gives them a great opportunity to move directly into advanced and profitable technology – at a stroke,” the spokesman points out.
He continues: “The Variomat needs only a minimum of capital outlay because the machine is built in modules, so that features can be added retrospectively when required. The customer need only buy the new-technology moulder initially, which is pre-prepared for adding three modules for retrofitting – a memory system, PowerLock HSK tooling and a full tenoning package. This allows profiling and tenoning to be performed on one machine, by one operator, to produce virtually all the joinery work usually manufactured in a joinery shop, with maximum efficiency and productivity.
“The Variomat moulder has many advantages over traditional machines since it is more than 10 times more productive and guarantees both accuracy and quality. These moulders incorporate the latest technology for machining any linear profile to the highest quality finish and is easy to use and quick to set up. It accommodates conventional cutter blocks and also Weinig’s unique PowerLock HSK tooling. The memory system enables the operator to recall any existing settings at the press of a button, so repeat runs are produced without virtually any downtime and setting up is almost as easy, with the first piece through ‘spot on’.”
The tenoner package comprises a multi-function table and all the necessary related equipment to produce any longitudinal or end-tenon, all on this one machine. This gives a major advantage in making windows, solid doors and door-frames, cabinet doors and meeting bespoke orders joinery quickly and easily.
Weinig offers a wide range of other machines to the Middle East markets including:
“The Weinig Unimat 500 moulder, which has a memory system that dramatically simplifies the set-up of the moulder. Once produced and installed, a profile can be retrieved at any time and produced again, with maximum precision and minimal effort.  Six spindle configurations are available to meet all requirements, whether simple or complex, particularly with the last universal spindle.
“The Raimann ProfiRip KST 310, a highly flexible high-quality rip saw, which requires minimal set-up time and provides top-quality production at an affordable price. Raimann machines give operator-friendly, efficient and versatile ripping with their patented ‘Quickfix’ arbour system for minimum set-up times. Its continuous high performance and yield provides fast return on investment, says the spokesman.
“A big advantage in dealing with Weinig is the guarantee of operator training and prompt engineering back-up,” says the spokesman.
With manufacturing facilities in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and the US and sales and service companies located on all continents along with a large mobile team of service technicians, Weinig is currently a major player in the global solid wood processing industry. It works in partnership with its customers to ensure a profitable investment, by providing technical advice and solutions to production problems as they arise.