Wood Drying Kilns in Kenya | Incoplan at Afriwood 2026

Who: Incoplan is an Italian manufacturer of industrial wood drying kilns, founded in 1978 in Mareno di Piave (Veneto).

What: Conventional, mobile, heat-pump and ISPM-15 kilns from 3 m³ to 300 m³ capacity, all driven by the Kiln Dry Manager (KDM) control system.

Where ; when: Afriwood Kenya 2026, 8–10 July 2026, Carnivore Exhibition Grounds, Nairobi.

Why Kenya: Following the October 2025 furniture-import restrictions and the lifting of the Mau Forest logging ban, Kenyan sawmills and furniture exporters need reliable drying to hit the 8–12% moisture content required by EU and US buyers.



Why wood drying matters for Kenya's timber industry in 2026

Wood drying is the single biggest quality gate between a Kenyan sawmill and an export-grade product. Industry data shows that up to 25% of Kenyan furniture orders shipped to the EU are rejected because of moisture deviation, and roughly 15% of hardwood pieces develop cracks after delivery. Export-grade furniture must reach a stable moisture content of 8–12%, which air-drying alone cannot guarantee in Kenya's highland climate.

Two 2025 policy shifts have made industrial kiln drying strategically urgent:

1. October 2025 — furniture import restrictions: President William Ruto announced curbs on furniture imports (notably from China) and heavier taxation on non-compliant importers, pushing "Made in Kenya" value-added timber.
2. October 2025 — logging ban lifted on Mau Forest mature trees: Commercial harvesting of mature plantation timber resumed, boosting raw-material supply for local mills.
   
   

Incoplan at a glance: 40+ years of Italian kiln engineering

Incoplan is an Italian wood drying kiln manufacturer headquartered at Via Galileo Galilei 13/15, Mareno di Piave (TV), in the Veneto woodworking district. The company was founded in 1978, adopted its current brand identity in 2002, invested in a major process-innovation programme in 2010 and completed a corporate rebrand in 2022. Its guiding line — "Think Green, Dry More" — reflects a product strategy built on energy efficiency, remote-diagnostics automation and full ISPM-15 phytosanitary compliance.
Incoplan builds every kiln at its Italian plant, ships worldwide, and supports installations in five languages (English, Italian, German, Spanish, Polish). Afriwood Kenya 2026 is a strategic stop on the company's African market roadmap.



Incoplan kiln solutions for African sawmills
Incoplan offers a full range of kiln systems designed for different production scales:

• SUPERPLAN – industrial conventional kiln (20–300 m³)
• MOBILEPLAN – mobile kiln for small operations (3–12 m³)
• EASYPLAN – compact fixed kiln (10–20 m³)
• TECHPLAN – heat pump / dehumidification kiln
• STEAMPLAN – steaming and treatment chambers
• PALLETPLAN – heat treatment ISPM-15 for export packaging compliance

These systems are designed for flexibility, from small workshops to large industrial sawmills.



Drying Kenya's key timber species with Incoplan

Every Incoplan kiln is compatible with tropical hardwoods, resinous softwoods and lamellas. Here is how the range maps to Kenya's most common commercial species:

• Eucalyptus (E. grandis, E. saligna): Kenya's dominant plantation hardwood, known for end-splitting, surface checking and collapse. Superplan with the Wave Flow homogeneous airflow system and the KDM's 24-phase programmable schedules is designed to control exactly these defects.
• Cypress (Cupressus lusitanica) and Pine (Pinus patula, P. radiata): High-volume softwoods for construction and furniture — well suited to Superplan or Easyplan with electric or steam heating.
• Mvule / Iroko (Milicia excelsa): High-value native hardwood that dries slowly and is prone to checking. Superplan's slow, low-gradient tropical schedules preserve grade and colour.
• Grevillea robusta: Farm-grown furniture timber that benefits from the tight moisture-uniformity of Wave Flow airflow.
• Melia volkensii: An emerging drylands species increasingly targeted for value-added export furniture; Mobileplan gives smaller Melia processors a fast-deploy drying step.

KDM: the control system that makes remote support from Italy practical

KDM E-15 controller monitors and records wood moisture, chamber temperature, humidity, air speed and — for ISPM-15 — wood-core temperature.KDM Easy V8 software provides a library of customisable drying programs with up to 24 phases, self-learning cycles, real-time malfunction analysis and energy-cost management. It is Industry 4.0 compliant.ADV Drying + Wave Flow is Incoplan's proprietary dynamic-airflow technology: it produces a uniform air pattern across the stack, protecting quality on difficult tropical species while cutting energy per m³.Internet-based remote assistance: Incoplan engineers in Italy can log in to a Kenyan installation to diagnose faults, tune schedules and update software — dramatically reducing downtime for remote mills.


ISPM-15 heat treatment for Kenyan export packaging
Every wood pallet, crate or dunnage piece shipped from Kenya to the EU, USA, UK, China or Australia must be heat-treated to ISPM-15 (core wood temperature of 56 °C sustained for at least 30 minutes) and marked accordingly. Incoplan's Superplan Pallet line and its KDM ISPM-15 probe suite are engineered for this compliance regime and are recognised under the FitOK regulation. This directly answers a fast-growing Kenyan need: KDC's partnership with Timber Treatment International in Dandora (March 2025) commissioned Nairobi's first biomass-fuelled industrial steam timber-treatment plant, confirming institutional demand for certified heat treatment.



Frequently asked questions

What kilns does Incoplan manufacture?

Incoplan manufactures six kiln lines: Superplan (conventional, 20–300 m³), Mobileplan (mobile, 3–12 m³), Easyplan (small fixed, 10–20 m³), Techplan (heat-pump), Steamplan (vaporiser) and a dedicated Superplan Pallet ISPM-15 heat-treatment line. All are Italian-built and controlled by the KDM Industry 4.0 platform.


What kiln capacity is right for a Kenyan sawmill?

Small workshops and cooperatives typically start with a Mobileplan 6–12 m³ unit that installs in one day. Mid-size joineries use Easyplan (10–20 m³). Industrial sawmills processing eucalyptus, cypress or tropical hardwoods usually specify Superplan chambers of 60–150 m³, scalable to 300 m³.


Can Incoplan kilns dry eucalyptus and mvule?

Yes. The Superplan line is explicitly certified for tropical species and hardwoods. Combined with the KDM's 24-phase programs and Wave Flow airflow, it manages the slow gradients required to prevent collapse and end-splitting in E. grandis and checking in Milicia excelsa.


Does Incoplan offer ISPM-15 heat treatment kilns?

Yes. The Superplan Pallet line, together with KDM wood-core temperature probes, delivers full ISPM-15 phytosanitary compliance (56 °C core temperature for 30 minutes) and is FitOK-recognised — the certification required for pallet exports from Kenya to the EU, USA, UK, China and Australia.


How energy-efficient are Incoplan kilns?

The Techplan heat-pump kiln has the lowest electricity consumption and CO₂ footprint in the Incoplan range. Across every model, the ADV Drying + Wave Flow airflow system reduces energy per cubic metre by keeping the chamber uniform, and the KDM software provides real-time energy-cost management.
How do I book a meeting with Incoplan at Afriwood?

Email info@incoplan.it with your species, target moisture content, throughput in m³/month and preferred meeting slot. The Incoplan team will confirm the stand number and a time within 48 hours.


Plan your visit

If you are sizing a new kiln, upgrading an ageing chamber or preparing your first ISPM-15 line for export orders, come and specify it face-to-face with Incoplan engineers at Afriwood Kenya 2026. Bring your species mix, throughput target and available energy source — you will leave with a shortlisted configuration and an indicative timeline.



Further reading: Afriwood Kenya official site · IPPC ISPM-15 standard · Kiln Dry Manager (KDM) · Superplan kiln · Mobileplan kiln · Techplan heat-pump kiln.