Grand Rapids, Mich.—Stiles Machinery—a supplier of equipment integration, financial services, education, service and parts to the flooring industry—kicked off an event-filled week for North American flooring manufacturers on April 26 with its Flooring Day 2016 event in the company’s High Point, N.C., showroom and finishing lab. The event showcased the latest emerging trends and technologies for engineered flooring and solid wood processing manufacturers who later attended the nearby National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA) Wood Flooring Expo in Charlotte, N.C., April 27-30.
Close to 60 flooring manufacturers attended Stiles’ Flooring Day, gaining knowledge on worldwide industry trends and techniques in flooring production. Industry experts from Stiles and its global partners shared insight on new, innovative technologies for optimizing lumber, automating through-feed processes and efficient packaging solutions in both small and high-production manufacturing facilities.
Presentations and live demonstrations gave attendees an up-close look at cutting-edge technologies from manufacturers Homag and Kentwood that included solid wood processing applications such as moulding, ripping, end-matching and automated hand-scraping practices. Attendees were also introduced to new, state-of-the-art sanding and finishing technologies for achieving ideal surface qualities for engineered wood flooring. Each production process showcased automation and software to illustrate the impact smart manufacturing can have on any size company for attaining increased efficiency and productivity.
Onsite vendors provided a multitude of tooling expertise, advice on surface qualities and coatings, software and packaging solutions all geared toward LVT and engineered wood flooring manufacturers.