Challenge
There are multiple ways to join pieces of wood: screwing, nailing, gluing. These processes are well known and widely distributed, but they haven't evolved much over the past decades, and they come with pain points. Gluing is inaccurate, needs clamps and other tools, and is time-consuming. Nailing and screwing give an instant connection but have aesthetic drawbacks and add weight. So we challenged ourselves to find a substitute for traditional fixation. WoodWelding® technology was the result.
Solution
WoodWelding uses ultrasonic energy and thermoplastics to form a bond in porous materials. The only requirements are a porous surface and the ability to withstand a certain degree of pressure. We spent about five years developing it as a proactive incubation project - basic research, development, and proof of principle across many applications. In 2000, Creaholic joined with GPI SA to found WoodWelding SA to refine and commercialise it. The process has been tested successfully in solid wood, fibreboard, plywood, hollow core board, metal foam, asphalt, paper, foamed concrete, textiles and foamed glass. Once proven on wood, a breakthrough insight extended the technology into the medical field - fixation into bone.
Results
WoodWelding SA has commercialised the technology across several industrial fields, including furniture manufacturing, and pursued it in medical and healthcare applications. IKEA licensed WoodWelding to enable their snap-together assembly system. In hindsight there were many technical challenges, but the biggest was breaking through established tradition and institutional inertia, especially in the wood industries. More than 60 worldwide patent families now relate to the core technology and its improvements - and we are still looking for new applications.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2000, with GPI SA
- Patent families
- 60+ worldwide
- Awards
- Swiss Technology Award 1999 · Swiss Economic Award 2006
- Notable licensee
- IKEA - snap-together assembly system
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