APA-The Engineered Wood Association€¦ · APA th28 Japan Kenzai Fair August 2012 Scott Anderson page 2 Introduction The 28th Japan Kenzai Fair was held at the Tokyo International

APA-The Engineered Wood Association

Japan Kenzai Tradeshow

Benchmarking & Evaluation Report: August 2012

Submitted by: Scott Anderson

APA 28th Japan Kenzai Fair August 2012

Scott Anderson page 2

Introduction

The 28th Japan Kenzai Fair was held at the Tokyo International Exhibition Centre, or Tokyo Big

Sight, on August 24 and 25, 2012. The organizers of this show, Japan Kenzai Co., Ltd., are the

largest building products trading company in Japan. They promote their trade show as the largest

housing building products industry fair in Japan. The “JK Fair” is held twice a year – late August

and mid-March – and is different from other trade shows (such as the Japan Home Show) as it

allows suppliers (mainly companies and organizations that Japan Kenzai purchase from) to directly

meet with Japan Kenzai downstream customers, typically small builders. While these ‘end-users’

come from throughout Japan, the majority travel by bus from the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo.

The JK Fair was held in the East Exhibition Hall (No.1, 2 & 3) of the Big Sight, with the exhibition

halls divided into several zones, including:

Wood products

Raw materials (e.g. logs and lumber)

Areas in buildings with plumbing (products in kitchens, bathrooms, etc.)

Exterior materials

Electrical machinery (typically for housing)

Other building products

Japan Kenzai did not provide exact figures of the number of companies and organizations (e.g.

trade and industry associations) displaying at this show but a check of the floor map showed that

there were over 200 entities exhibiting. Throughout each day of the show seminars about housing

industry issues and building products were held at two sites in the hall.

The JK Fair was held from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm on Friday and 9:00 to 5:00 pm on Saturday.



Attendance/Results

The vast majority of visitors to the JK Fair are their customers who are invited to the show by the

Japan Kenzai sales offices located throughout Japan (the event is not open to the public). Most of

these customers are small to mid-size builders, with some architects and retailers also attending.

The organizers predicted a total of 22,000 visitors would attend this show. Final figures showed

23,651 people visited the show, up 3% over the last show in March.

For APA, participating in this show supports Japan Kenzai, an important strategic partner that is

one of the largest importers and distributors of Canadian OSB in Japan.

The number of visitors through the APA booth was fairly good throughout the show. This was

attributed to the good location of the booth, signage about the ministerial shear-wall approvals, and

the fact that there was a wall opening in the back of the booth to allow access to the adjacent

Canada Tsuga booth (see photo below). The Canada Tsuga booth is always popular, attracting many

visitors due to the various demonstrations they have during the show. This led to many architects

and builders that had visited the Canada Tsuga booth to freely flow through the hallway to visit the

APA booth. Many of these visitors were interested in learning more about the ministerial approvals

and using long-length OSB panels for wall applications, particularly in post and beam homes.



APA booth showing the wall opening allowing access to the Canada Tsuga booth

Another feature attracting many visitors to the booth was the display of a full 75 sheet bundle of 9

mm, 3x10 Canadian OSB that was placed to the side of the booth (see photo below). As in the last

JK Fair when this was first tried, this display caused quite an impact as it drew many builders and

architects into the booth to examine the product, creating a lot of serious interest in using

long-length OSB for wall applications. Pamphlets and samples were placed on top of the bundle,

which was at a very good height to effectively and comfortably promote discussions about OSB.

OSB bundle displayed beside the APA and Canada Tsuga booth

Before and after previous JK Fairs, Japan Kenzai would publish forecasted and actual sales for the

show but for some reason they did not do this for this show. Final results for the previous show in

March was JPY 44.13 billion or app. CAD $551 million.

Location

The APA booth was located within the Imported Plywood Section booth in Hall 3 of the Big Sight’s

East Hall. In one sense the booth was placed in a good location as it was on the corner of two main

aisles which allowed for a steady flow of visitors to the booth during the show. The photo below

shows the booth and both of the aisles that ran along both sides of it.



Besides the APA booth, Ainsworth Co. Ltd. also had a booth (see photo above) within the Imported

Plywood Section area. The whole APA, Canada Tsuga and Ainsworth area stood out due to the red

carpeting that was installed. The Ainsworth booth was staffed by personnel from their agent,

Interex.



The only issue that arose with the APA booth location at this show was the fact that the organizers

basically placed the domestic plywood manufacturer’s booth, including Seihoku Plywood, behind

the APA booth. This booth had no back wall so it appeared open and almost joined to the APA

booth (see photo below).

In previous years the domestic plywood booth was placed a fair distance from the imported

plywood section and according to the Canada Tsuga representative was not near the APA/Canada

Tsuga booths when discussions about the placement of the booths took place for this show.

Booth Staffing

The booth was managed throughout most of each day by the two local staff (Mr. Moritaka and Ms.

Mizushima) and myself (a Japanese-speaking marketing consultant), hired to assist OSB marketing

efforts at the fair and evaluate the effectiveness and importance of APA participation in this show.

While it was sometimes difficult to get responses, all three surveyed booth visitors to gauge their

knowledge of OSB and gather information such as what type of company they were from. After the

show finished, these surveys were compiled by APA staff and included in their separate show report.

This data was used to provide benchmarking and evaluation reporting about this show as referenced

in the section at the end of this report.



Promotional Handouts

Various APA produced (FII and NR Can funded) Japanese language handouts were made available

to the visitors to the APA booth. These included:

Canadian OSB’s Ministerial Approved Higher Shear-wall Multiplier Factors for More

Seismic-Resistant Post & Beam and Platform-frame Construction

FAQ’s about Canadian OSB

Manual for the Use of Thick OSB in Joist-less Post & Beam Floor Systems

Structural Insulated Panels for Residential Construction

FPAC’s “Sustainable Forest Management”

Use of OSB in Non-Residential Wood Construction Applications

A total of 746 pieces of Japanese language literature promoting Canadian OSB and engineered wood

products were distributed to attendees at the show.

Due to the ongoing impact of the March 2011 disaster in Tohoku, the housing market has continued

to have high concerns about the structural strength and earthquake resistance of housing. Due to

these concerns, builders visiting the show were very interested in Canadian OSB applications to

achieve the ministerial approved shear-wall multiplier factor of 4.1 for Post and Beam construction

and 3.6 for Platform-Frame construction. This interest showed as the first pamphlet listed above

was particularly well received by booth visitors. Also, with the drop in overall housing starts

compared to the year 2008 and prior and concurrent with the rise in interest in building wooden

structures for the non-residential market, there was a lot of interest in the pamphlet showing OSB

used in non-residential applications.

APA Booth as a Marketing Tool

The APA booth is 2 floors high and takes up two trade show booth spaces. The 1st floor has displays

of wall sheathing in various thicknesses and sanded appearance grade OSB, along with 28 mm OSB

installed as floor sheathing. Above the desk area on the 1st floor are 2

nd floor joist made of I-joists

produced with OSB web stock. The OSB stairs lead to the 2nd

floor, providing visitors a good high

level view of the trade show.



Also on the 1st floor is a display (as shown on the left side of the first photo on p. 3 above) that

shows two open wall cross sections that display OSB applied in both platform frame and post &

beam type houses. These displays created interest amongst many visitors to the booth, particularly

the post & beam section, as some believe OSB is only used in platform frame construction.

The photo below shows the shear-wall ministerial approval display and copies of the three approval

certificates. Due to the trends noted above, this display attracted a lot of attention, leading many to

stop to inquire about this and creating many positive discussions about Canadian OSB.

Overall, the APA booth is used to promote that Canadian OSB is a high quality, cost competitive

sheathing material for post & beam and platform frame construction, as well as interior

applications. Other points that are promoted include that Canadian OSB is consistently stable in

quality and supply and is an environmentally friendly product.

Most visitors to the APA booth enjoy the display as it shows the various thicknesses and

applications of Canadian OSB. In particular visitors like the Ministerial shear-wall approval display

as well as the wall cross section showing OSB used in both post & beam and platform frame

applications.

After being used many times for about 6 years, the booth is still useable and provides a good

vehicle to market Canadian OSB products to the Japanese market. Some parts of the booth are

getting a little worn, however, and APA and the Canadian OSB industry might want to consider a



major renovation or new booth for FY 2013-2014. A few suggestions to further improve the overall

effectiveness of the APA booth are offered in the section below.

Recommendations

Participating in the 28th Japan Kenzai Fair was an effective marketing tool for APA to showcase to

a large number of builders the various Canadian OSB products, their sizes and thicknesses, benefits

of their use, including the fact that these products are environmentally friendly. As well, the show

was a good venue to educate both present and potential panel product specifiers about the positive

attributes of Canadian OSB (even for those who had never heard of OSB) and correct installation

details. Further, since there are thousands of industry people attending the two-day show, it was a

very effective and efficient method to gain up to date market information from various regions of

Japan as well as receive feedback from customers that are presently using OSB as well as other

panel products.

As these fairs are felt to be quite effective for APA to market Canadian OSB in the Japanese market

it is recommended that they continue to participate in the Japan Kenzai Fairs that are held in Tokyo

twice a year. This will allow APA and Canadian OSB manufacturer’s representatives to meet and

talk with present and potential customers to market the attributes of Canadian OSB with the goal of

increasing imports of Canadian OSB into Japan.

Location

While we felt that the location and layout of the APA booth at the Japan Kenzai Fair this year were

good and an effective venue to attract visitors in order to promote Canadian OSB, there were

concerns about the close proximity of the domestic plywood manufacturer’s booth. To put it simply

this booth was encroaching on our area as part of their display was on the red carpet of the imported

plywood area. We were also worried about visitors confusing the booths as they seemed to be

joined. We did briefly discuss this issue with the person in charge at the imported plywood section

but did not get a clear answer as to why they set this up like this.

If APA decides to continue to exhibit at this show, they should let them know of their displeasure

with the way the booths were laid out. Further, they need to strive for more open communication



with the Japan Kenzai Fair organizing group to make sure this doesn’t happen again and continue to

secure a good location for the booth.

Booth

Some parts of the booth are getting worn due to damage and need replacing. These include some

breakage of the T&G on several of the 3x6 panels in the display of various panel thicknesses, and a

hole in the OSB wall sheathing that is located on the outside of the booth (beside the two open wall

cross sections) among other things.

Promotional Literature

As in past shows, both the “Ministerial Shear-Wall Approvals for Canadian OSB” and “FAQ’s

about Canadian OSB” pamphlets were popular with visitors to the APA booth. Further, at this show

the new APA pamphlet “Use of OSB in Non-Residential Wood Construction Applications”

also proved to be quite popular and led to some positive discussions.

The Canadian OSB industry and APA need to continue to strongly promote these pamphlets at trade

shows because of the increased consciousness amongst housing industry professionals and

consumers about earthquake resistance and structural strength, as well as the growing interest in

wood construction for commercial buildings.

As was recommended in the past, since promoting long length OSB panels (an area of relative

competitive strength versus Japanese softwood plywood), is one of the main planks in APA’s

strategy to grow OSB use in Japan, it would be useful to have some type of 1-page leaflet

promoting these sizes, applications and the benefits of their use.



The 29th

Japan Kenzai Fair

While the dates for the next Japan Kenzai Fair have not yet been officially announced, it is expected

to be in mid March of 2013. This will most likely be March 15-16 (Friday and Saturday) at the East

Exhibition Hall (No.1, 2 & 3) of the Tokyo Big Sight.

Summary of Evaluation of Specifier Meetings and Benchmarking Surveys

The following provides a breakdown of responses to survey questions by visitors to the APA booth.

These were given to evaluate and benchmark the effectiveness of participating at this show.

Over the 2-day period, forty-two (42) visitors to the booth responded to the survey. It would have

been more useful to receive a higher number of respondents, but many visitors did not want to

participate because of lack of time or they preferred not to discuss themselves or their company. A

breakdown as to what types of companies these personnel work for is provided below:

About 43% of these people worked for companies that are involved in constructing houses, either

builders or housing makers. Others were involved in material distribution (17%), purchasing (21%)

and sales (7%). Architects, a key target for the APA Canadian POSB program, made up only 12%

of respondents. This can be attributed to the fact that this show mainly targets builders and

distributors. With these points in mind, this show was a good venue to promote OSB to these two

Builders

36%

Housing Makers

7%

Architects

12%

Distributors

17% Sales

7%

Material

Purchasing

21%

Survey Respondents by Type of Company



segments (building and distribution) with the goal of having the builders use OSB in the homes they

construct and distributors carry OSB inventory to supply the builders.

When asked about what construction method they use (multiple answers permitted), respondents

(there were only 30 replies) gave the following:

1. Post and Beam: 21

2. Platform-Frame: 5

3. Others: 4

These figures show that this fair is an excellent venue to help APA with its strategy of

promoting long-length OSB to companies building post and beam homes.

When they were asked if they had heard of OSB before, almost 65% said that they had. The

remainder (over 1/3) had not heard of OSB before, strong evidence that shows that a lot of

work is still required before OSB is widely known in the market as a panel product.

Forty percent (40%) of those people surveyed said that they have used OSB before.

Respondents that have used OSB before indicated the used it for the following: 8 used it for

wall, roof or floor sheathing, 3 used it for panels for houses, and 5 used it in interior

(non-structural) finishing applications.

64%

36%

Heard of OSB Before

Yes No



Of those who answered “no,” the following reasons were given (only 13 of 24 gave

reasons):

1. Using Plywood: 3

2. Do not know about the quality: 4

3. Using bracing or solid lumber: 3

4. Other reasons: 2

5. Do not know where to buy: 1

When asked about their impressions of OSB (multiple answers were allowed), we received

a variety of answers as shown below. It was positive that almost 1/3 of the people felt hat

OSB is strong and good for sheathing use; however it is imperative that APA continue to

push the quality of Canadian OSB so that more people understand that the quality of this

product is stable.

40%

60%

Have Used OSB Before

Yes No



When asked if they would like to use OSB in the future, almost 80% of the respondents

answered “yes,” which is positive news for future Canadian OSB sales in Japan.

OSB is strong;

Good for sheathing

31%

Variety of sizes

5%

Stable Quality

11%

Looks warm

and soft

3%

No waste;

Environmentally

friendly

16%

Good surface

quality

13%

Others

13%

Impressions of OSB

78%

7%

15%

Would Like to Use OSB in the Future

Yes No Don't know

Documents

APA-The Engineered Wood Association€¦ · APA th28 Japan Kenzai Fair August 2012 Scott Anderson page 2 Introduction The 28th Japan Kenzai Fair was held at the Tokyo International