Lanshan wood industry moves from volume to quality with formaldehyde-free glue and smart lines

The wood industry in Lanshan district, Linyi, East China's Shandong province, is shifting from scale expansion to quality and innovation, with 3,500 wood and related companies recording 52.37 billion yuan ($7.38 billion) in output from enterprises above designated size in 2025.

Xingang Group developed a bio-inspired formaldehyde-free adhesive based on the natural adhesion mechanisms of fish and shellfish, working through an academician workstation. The resulting ultra-thin fiberboard won the first Geneva International Invention Exhibition gold medal in the global wood sector and a 2025 first prize from the Shandong science and technology awards, the first time a panel company led a provincial first prize. The company has kept research spending above 100 million yuan ($14.1 million) a year for the adhesive.

Shengchang New Materials built the world's first fully automated continuous flat-press line for face-veneered plywood, raising efficiency fourfold and cutting overall costs by 25 percent. Qianshan Group has extended from panels to whole-house customization, while Qingyuan Wood runs an integrated system from log sourcing to floor machining and supplies core brands, and Huan'ge Decoration built a northern benchmark ultra-thin fiberboard line with imported German and Swiss equipment.

Lanshan has 33 municipal and 10 provincial innovation platforms in wood, the country's first dual-academician workstation in the sector, more than 230 patents, two China well-known trademarks and one Good Products of Shandong certification.

The district has built a 6,500-mu (433-hectare) wood industry upgrading zone focused on smart manufacturing and finished home furnishing, and a task force for the high-end panel and green smart home chain runs industry maps and investment targeting.

"World panels look to China, and China's panels look to Lanshan," the industry saying goes, and the district's shift from one panel to one chain is giving the phrase a quality and brand dimension.

Editor：韩蒙蒙