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Twenty-two AHFA Supplier Division members are exhibiting at the International Woodworking Fair August 25-28 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Registration is just $10 and includes access to more than 900 resources for machinery, materials, supplies and services for the woodworking and furniture manufacturing industries.

Special events during the 2010 fair include an Upholstery Symposium sponsored by AHFA and the Franklin Furniture Institute on Tuesday, August 24. In addition, a Technical Conference will offer 23 seminars throughout the fair covering six key topics, among them business management, production strategy, manufacturing techniques, environmental initiatives, business development and non-wood manufacturing.

Between taking advantage of these educational opportunities, be sure to stop by and visit with the following AHFA Supplier Division members:

iLevel by Weyerhaeuser, the leader in the structural frame products, software and services market, is now partnering with CMPC to distribute Selex Radiata Pine plywood and beaded paneling across the United States. The distribution partnership enhances iLevel’s expansive range of wood product offerings and helps meet the needs of specialty furniture manufacturers.

Selex Radiata Pine plywood is sanded to a fine, smooth finish. The A-grade faces of the panels have an outstanding appearance free of knots and holes, while the C-grade faces have only minimal natural defects (not greater than 40 mm wide). Their exceptional appearance makes the panels suitable for furniture. Selex Radiata Pine plywood is also lightweight and easy to handle. All Selex plywood is manufactured from Radiata Pine and grown on managed plantations that are third-party certified for sustainability to the internationally recognized Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification standard. iLevel has achieved 100 percent certification of its lumber and engineered wood products to the Sustainable Forestry Initiative standard, designation of its products as Green Approved by the National Association of Home Builders Resource Center, and received product listings under the ICC-ES® Sustainable Attributes Verification and Evaluation™ Program.

In addition to opening the new distribution center, CORY Home Delivery recently celebrated its 75 anniversary. It was the height of the Great Depression in 1934 when Joseph Cory drove his first truck onto the streets of Brooklyn, New York, to deliver a stove. With little opportunity for formal education, the first-generation Italian-American had left school after eighth grade to join his brother in supporting the family. A very hard worker and an excellent salesman, it was clear early on that he had tremendous vision for growing his business.

From left: Keith Curran, northeast regional manager; Bob Alter, chief operating     officer; Bill Danek, Melville delivery coordinator; Lou Greco, regional manager;     Mike Turturro, Melville assistant delivery coordinator; and Patrick Cory,     managing partner.

Now, 75 years later, the third-generation family-owned and operated business has a client list that includes many of the top 100 furniture, appliance and electronics retailers in the nation. Most recent additions include Stickley Furniture and Thomasville Furniture Connecticut. Now headed by sons Joe and Jim and managed by grandsons Kevin and Patrick, the company has taken on many new initiatives to maintain its competitive edge, including state-of-the-art routing programs to help reduce fuel costs, smart phones on delivery vehicles to track orders, and a demountable warehouse-on-wheels program for retailers to cover wide delivery areas.

“As my grandfather would often say, in our business there are only two things of importance,” says Patrick Cory. “One is the customer, and the other is the furniture. If you take care of customers, they come back. If you take care of the furniture, it doesn’t. It’s just that simple — and just that difficult.” The Secaucus, N.J.-based company now has more than 1,200 dedicated team members and delivery professionals and a modern fleet of 500 customized vehicles delivering more than $2.1 billion in consumer products to more than 1.6 million consumers annually.

“Coming out of the recession, we were looking for technology that would help us do more with our current resources,” explained King Hickory President John Palmer. “TPO was chosen to help us automate manual tasks such as fabric nesting and roll-selection, as well as plywood nesting and router programming, while seamlessly driving our Lectra fabric cutters and CNC routers.” Palmer added that the TPO’s approach to nesting allows King Hickory to deal with its growing number of custom orders while increasing material yield and keeping the number of remnants in stock to a manageable level.

Plataine’s TPO solutions include NESTERwood for plywood nesting and cut-path optimization and FabricPLANNER for real-time nesting, roll-picking and cut-planning optimization of upholstery fabric. Both solutions are integrated to the manufacturer’s ERP/MRP and CAD systems and create ready-to-cut production plans by automatically selecting the optimal materials to use and generating optimal nests for each order.