IWF 2008 Seen as the Biggest Woodworking Machinery Show in the West

The International Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair (IWF) 2008 will be held in Atlanta, Georgia Aug. 20-23 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Held every other year at the same venue, IWF is the largest woodworking technology trade show in the Western Hemisphere and recognized worldwide as the preeminent event for introducing and selling manufacturing equipment, supplies, and innovative technology.

This year's fair will feature an expanded technical and business conference program, including a new symposium on the day before the show opens and 16 sessions during the show designed to provide buyers with the latest information on technology, manufacturing, and business techniques. Experts from a wide variety of industry segments will headline the program.

The program this year will focus on improving business management skills; implementing profitable, efficient, and safe production strategies; and providing information on new technologies, processes, and manufacturing techniques as well as industry and environmental standards and regulations. There will be an all-day symposium on the latest developments in wood finishing, along with technical and business sessions on such topics as the economic and logistical impacts of going green, how to create a winning factory, CNC processing, lean manufacturing, expanding into new market segments, improving the bottom line, and recruiting and retaining quality employees.

"Cutting edge technical and business sessions, and the latest technology on the show floor, will combine to make IWF 2008 the best opportunity for woodworking industry leaders worldwide to get the information and products they need for business success," says Charles R. Tomkins, chairman of IWF 2008 and president of Cresent Fine Furniture Company in Gallatin, Tennessee. "IWF 2008 will present more than 1,300 exhibits of machinery, supplies, and services for woodworking and related industries in more than 800,000 net square feet of floor space."

Wood & Wood Products magazine and the University of British Columbia will partner in presenting an all-day pre-show finishing symposium, entitled "Industrial Wood Finishing: From Green to Lean and in Between," on August 19. The program will kick off with a presentation by Carl Smith, CEO of Greenguard Environmental Institute, a non-profit organization that oversees the Greenguard Certification Program for establishing acceptable air standards for indoor products, environments, and buildings with the goal of improving public health and quality of life.

The program will also include several case studies of wood product industry leaders that are balancing environmental regulatory compliance with quality, productivity, and profitability. "Buyers will have the ability to gain the knowledge they need to improve their business at the Finishing Symposium and the expanded Technical Conference Sessions," Tomkins comments.

Exhibitors at IWF 2008 will include more than 200 international companies and over 140 first-time participants. More than 43,000 visitors from over 80 countries and all 50 states of the U.S., including 25,000 buyers, are expected to attend.

"We are all looking for new ways to improve our business, and the industry needs to make a decision to take the time away from their business to attend IWF 2008," Tomkins urges. "Innovation drives manufacturing, and putting your people in touch with the new technology and the innovative products they need to succeed is a sound business decision."

For more information about IWF 2008, please go online to www.iwfatlanta.com, or call 404-693-8333.