Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia, August 11—-Ekowood International Bhd, a company involved in engineered hardwood flooring, plans to use more Malaysian timber species for its products, it was announced in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, according to the Business Times.
It currently uses local species such as rubberwood, merbau and kempas. "We recently introduced a bamboo range," said Datuk Kelvin Tan, group managing director of TSH Resources Bhd, the parent company of Ekowood.
Among the foreign timber species that it uses are white oak, red oak, Tasmanian oak, maple, ash, cherry, beech, walnut and teak.
Ekowood yesterday received an award from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for product innovation in conjunction with Commodities Week.
"The award is in recognition of Ekowood’s culture of continuous improvement and innovation, and is the result of the hard work put in by the management and staff," said Tan.
He said Ekowood became the first company in the world to use Malaysian timber for a glue-less mechanical locking system for solid hardwood engineered flooring.
The glue-less mechanical locking system makes installation three times faster than before and enables the flooring to be taken out and re-installed as well.
Tan explained that the mechanical locking system was introduced in Europe recently but Ekowood adapted and enhanced the system for Malaysian timber by making its locking system 1.8 times stronger. "It has the best strength in the market place," he said.
Tan said Ekowood had won many accolades in the past, including Best Engineered Solid Hardwood Flooring in the UK and Ireland for three consecutive years (2000-2002) and the Malaysia Book of Records for the Biggest Range of Solid Hardwood Flooring.
