Surface & Panel - Q2 2020

Q2 • 2020

& U N I T I N G M AT E R I A L S , T E C H N O L O GY A N D D E S I G N

COVID IN THE INDUSTRY THE FUTURE OF POP-UP RETAIL TRENDS IN MATERIALS AND DESIGN HELPING CUSTOMERS KEEP THEIR PROMISES IWF PREVIEW

Blum has been in the US market for more than 40 years, and even in these uncertain times, our customers continue to inspire us. Though the past few months have been challenging, one thing remains the same: Our commitment to our employees and customers’ needs is our first priority. The people who use our products are the best in the business, which is why we feel it is important to support them with quick and easy access to our customer service and sales teams, and online support tools.

See how you inspire us at blum.com/inspiredbyyou

P R E S I D E N T

PATRICK S. ADAMS, PRESIDENT | 526 MEDIA GROUP PADAMS@526MEDIAGROUP.COM

F R O M

“Dad, do you have to work today? Can’t you play with us today instead?” That’s where it all started.

This is an interesting “experiment” that we find ourselves in.

During normal times, you would never be so “reckless” as to test what would happen if…. Let’s try all working from home. Let’s try not ever eating out and instead, all eating dinner as a family every night.

Let’s buy locally and support our local businesses. Let’s only engage with those closest to us whom we trust the most.

My kids in their young, innocent (see “manipulative and conniving”) way asked me to take the day off and play with them instead of working. This normally would have been an unreasonable request.

Aside from my responsibilities, the core of my foundation is hard work and trying to set an example. But, things feel different now. Less certain, but more grounded at the same time. Unpredictably grounded.

I smiled, chased them around the family room acting like I was crazy and asked them what they wanted for breakfast. “Chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream” was the response. I have gotten up at 4:00 am every morning since I was in my late teens and try to work out most of those days. But this morning as I shared in chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream, all I’m thinking about is this powerful flashback to my childhood when my grandparents surprised me one morning. They told my parents they were taking me to school but instead, took me the International House of Pancakes for breakfast where I had for the first time in my life, chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream. It took me right back there, with my grandparents. The surprise, the secrecy, the excitement and the amazing tastes and smells!

After breakfast, my kids asked, “What are we going to do now?”

Since the world has changed, one of the many changes are the local car washes are closed. In our “busy and important” lives, car washes are one of those things that I did the cost/time analysis and delegated to others a long time ago. I’m embarrassed that I can’t remember the last time I washed my own car, but today is a different day. “We’re washing my truck,” was my response. Their eyes lit up like I told them we were going to Disneyland. Having a 9- and 3- year old help wash a truck is akin to trying to wash it in a dust storm.

There were hose fights, buckets of suds thrown and perhaps the only clean thing at the end were my kids. But a funny thing happened. As I was drying the truck and wiping down the crevices, applying ArmorAll to the tires, it took me back to my younger days. There was a time for a few weeks when I had to live in my car, but I made sure it was always clean. I was beyond broke then when I met the girl who someday would be my wife. It was the day of what was going to be our first official date and I had literally starved that week saving up enough money to take her out. I spent a couple hours that day trying my best to polish up the jalopy I called a car that would pick her up.

T H E

Becoming A Kid Again

“We have a choice of how we view our current environment, what we learn from it and what we decide becomes our new ‘normal.’”

I remember my excitement about taking her out and even though it was a beat up mess, I felt pride in my job of cleaning up my own car.

The rest of the day was filled with things like building a cardboard fort in the backyard, planting vegetable seeds in the garden and then pushing them on the swing I hung from the backyard tree.

Each activity propelled me back to the story of my life as a kid and young man. I have to say it was an emotional day filled with a ton of laughter and things that hopefully someday, will be their own memories of their childhood.

This time away from the chaos has done something interesting.

I’ve thought about things from when I was young that I haven’t considered in years. I’ve grown to know my family at an even deeper level and have been reminded of the things that create true happiness and love. I’ve been reminded that Facebook does not measure who your “friends” are, but times of uncertainty do. I’ve thought a lot about things like perhaps, I’ve realized that when all of this restarts, maybe I want to restart it differently. Raise my kids differently. Love my family differently. Prioritize differently.

We have a choice of how we view our current environment, what we learn from it and what we decide becomes our new “normal.” We have to decide about the “scoreboard” that matters most in our lives and whether it includes things like promotions and bank accounts, or is it a collection of memories and experiences. Of course we all have responsibilities and the answer I hope is some version of “balance.”

But I am now praying for the strength to find that balance when we return to our normal lives and make sure that I keep only the things that truly are most important in this life.

More than ever before, I am grateful for the privilege of serving this great industry and that I can call many of you friends. Your calls and letters of support mean the world to us and it is why we do what we do! Take care of yourselves, your family and your team.

Patrick Adams, President | 526 Media Group, Inc. Send your thoughts and messages on this issue and article to Patrick at padams@526mediagroup.com

SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

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PRESIDENT

Patrick Adams PH: 714-486-2735

padams@526mediagroup.com

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From the President

PUBLISHER

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Helping Customers Keep Their Promises New technology helps problem solving organization serve more needs.

John Aufderhaar PH: 920-206-1766 john@bedfordfallsmedia.com

CONTENT

Stephanie Ornelas Editorial Director PH: 714-486-2735

ssornelas@526mediagroup.com

ADVERTISING

Nick Kosan Director of Sales PH: 714-485-2735 CELL: 949-697-8978 nkosan@526mediagroup.com

Daniel Davidson Sales & Marketing Specialist PH: 920-261-1947 ddavidson@526mediagroup.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Karen Leno kmldesigninc@gmail.com

Mitch Tanis mtanis@526mediagroup.com

C I R C U L AT I O N / S U B S C R I P T I O N S

Jody Bays PH: 714-486-2735

info@526mediagroup.com

NEWS info@526mediagroup.com

526 MEDIA GROUP 151 Kalmus Drive, Ste. E200 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 PH: 714-486-2735 B E D F O R D F A L L S C O M M U N I C AT I O N S 302 N. 3rd Street, Watertown, WI 53094 PH: 920-261-1945

14 What To Do When COVID-19 Comes To Your Workplace By establishing and communicating clear expectations and procedures now, you will help your employees know what to do to stay healthy and what to do if someone becomes sick.

18 Learn from My Lessons One California-based designer wants other small businesses to learn from his software experiences.

24 COVID in the Industry: In This Together How the materials and design industry is responding to COVID-19.

28 Students Show Their Skills with Another Round of #WilsonartChallenges Students design and build chairs for the 16th annual Wilsonart Challenges Student Chair Design Competition.

32 From Flooring to Furniture To learn more about BMK, Surface & Panel posed a series of questions to Dr. Stefan Woerl, head of R&D and quality assurance at BMK, and Robert Clausi, president of PurChem.

39 The Future of Pop-Up Retail As the physical retail footprint evolves, the future requires advanced development to virtual implementation and a deeper commitment to the omnichannel experience.

46 Sales Managers’ Most Common Mistake In most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company’s sales goals and the realization of those goals.

48 Designing the New Normal: What’s in Store for Materials and Design Businesses in all sectors, including architecture and design, are recalculating how to accommodate the “new normal.”

5 2 IWF Scheduled for Take-off The International Wood Working Fair is scheduled to take off in August as our nation and the industry continue to make progress in its all-out mission to contain and ultimately defeat COVID-19.

60 From the Publisher 62 Resource Products 64 Ad Index 66 From the Editor O N T H E C O V E R : the Dinner With a View restaurant at Liberty Station in San Diego.

Image courtesy of Dinner With a View. www.dinnerwithaview.ca

mtdsymposium.com

Surface & Panel is published quarterly by 526 Media Group, 151 Kalmus Drive, Ste. E200, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, telephone 714-486-2735.

Patrick Adams, President. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical without written permission from the publisher. Subscription policy: Individual subscriptions are available, without charge, to manufacturers who engage in panel processing, qualified service providers and suppliers. Publisher reserves the right to reject nonqualified subscribers. One year subscription to non-qualified individuals: U.S. $50, Canada/Mexico $75, all other countries $100, payable in U.S. funds. Single issues are $15, and must be prepaid. 526 Media Group does not assume and hereby disclaims any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident, or any other cause whatsoever.

Printed in the U.S.A. Postmaster: Send address changes to Surface & Panel, Jody Bays, 526 Media Group, 151 Kalmus Drive, Ste.E200, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Please direct all subscription questions to: Surface & Panel, 526 Media Group, 151 Kalmus Drive, Ste.E200, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 or e-mail Jody Bays at info@526mediagroup.com.

Introducing the Millennial Collection – a collaboration of 6 new designs created for today’s market needs. Each design is available in 3 colorations, perfect for any application. The complete package offers matching HPL and 3D films for all of your specification requirements.

Millennial Decor Collection Now available in anti-bacterial and anti-fingerprint

Matching anti-bacterial HPL available at:

Helping Customers Keep Their Promises

NEW TECHNOLOGY HELPS PROBLEM SOLVING ORGANIZATION SERVE MORE NEEDS

T

hey say that successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it. And for Laminate Works, investing in high-quality solutions has been worth the risk.

“We’re not starting with a product to sell. We’re a solutions-oriented company,” said Bert Clothier, Laminate Works president. “We start with finding out where the pain point is and how we can fix that. I think as humans it’s our nature is to respond with whatever we’re faced with. If our day is really full, our typical response is to just work more.

We’re trying to live by the adage, ‘work smarter, not harder,’” he said.

TOP: UNLIKE OTHER MATTE FINISHES, VELOUR IS COATED IN ACRYLIC AND UTILIZES NANOTECHNOLOGY FOR A SURFACE THAT’S SOFT LIKE VELVET. ABOVE: INVESTING IN HIGH-QUALITY MACHINERY WAS KEY FOR LW WHO WANTED TO PROVIDE SOLUTIONS TO THEIR CUSTOMERS, AND NOT JUST A PRODUCT.

DOUBLING DOWN ON INVESTMENT In 2017 Laminate Works (LW) was operating two identical facilities in Kansas City and Dallas. Both were laminating panels and converting them into component parts exclusively for OEMs. Owner Bert Clothier saw an opportunity to consolidate the company’s panel processing machinery to Kansas City and convert Dallas into a panels-only operation. Clothier felt this would help the company serve its customers better by having all the panel processing machinery in Kansas City, CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 ›

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AIRPLY IS A LIGHT WEIGHT, RIGID SUBSTRATE THAT’S WOODWORKING MACHINABLE AND MEETS INDUSTRY STANDARDS FOR STRENGTH AND SCREW HOLDING POWER.

LW NEEDED TO INVEST IN SOME LEVEL OF AUTOMATION ACROSS THE ENTIRE OPERATION.

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allowing them better meet spikes in production and provide redundancy to their machine centers.

He quickly realized the value of this decision based on customer needs, and what he was seeing in the industries they serve, and decided LW needed to invest heavily in new capabilities in the Kansas City facility. It became apparent that the best way to do that would be to sell the Dallas operation and reinvest the funds in Kansas City.

That idea quickly became part of a plan after selling the Dallas plant to Wilsonart in July of 2018.

PLANNING FOR GROWTH, MANAGING RISK In business to help their customers keep their promises, LW asks three questions when evaluating new solutions. What are customers already asking for? What future opportunities could they benefit from? How do new potential solutions align with their business strategy? After answering these questions, Clothier determined the company needed to invest in four main areas of manufacturing: PUR panel lamination, higher capacity panel processing, laser edgebanding and some level of automation across the entire operation. In addition, he decided to remodel the entire front office and put in a new ERP to modernize their complete operation.

After formulating a strategy, the next step was to go shopping. A small team attended IWF in 2018 to check out machinery and determine the best fit for each capability and start determining how they ONE OF LW’S IMA CONTOUR EDGEBANDERS PROCESSING A BOOTH END FOR THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY

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would all fit together. In the end they had a plan they could execute.

When the company was prompted to invest in a laser edgebander, there were a combination of things McElhany and Clothier considered. “The fact that it's seamless makes it a very attractive solution, especially for lighter colored surfaces where a glue-line shows more,” said McElhany. But just like with every investment, there were risks involved.

Looking back 15 years ago, Clothier recalls a time the company bought its first contour edgebander, a similar risk he was ready to take. “That’s the thing that’s kind of funny about life, how the risks keep getting less. I remember it was about $400,000-500,000 we were spending, and I just thought I was off my range spending that much on a single machine to do contour edgebanding, something that specialized.”

But customer demand led the way. “We had a lot of customers that were trying to figure out a better way to contour-band parts.

When I went into different shops, I saw them applying it by hand. So in the back of my head I was thinking, I know if I put one of these in and I looked at the sum of all my customers, I could keep that machine busy,” said Clothier. And that’s exactly what he did. The company now has two machines running most of the year, several shifts a day. “You take risks and you see how they pay off.”

But when it comes to laser edgebanding, that was going to be a little more of a challenge. Clothier explained that while there’s so much information on laser in the U.S., one major challenge is the fact that there isn’t a whole lot of raw material available.

“You can’t buy it the same way you would with normal PVC edgebanding where you buy one roll at a time. It doesn’t work that way with laser. And it’s different for the big guys. For them it’s not quite as big a deal to order large quantities of a specific edgebanding color to match a specific laminate so they can introduce laser. But for everybody smaller than those guys, it is a big deal.”

The goal for LW was to be able to offer this new solution customers who would want a seamless edge in their offering but don’t have the recourses to make their own investment. And according to McElhany, the customer response is optimistic.

“We’re running a lot of different campaigns right now and laser edgebanding is the thing we’re getting the most response from and the most activity on. People are responding really positively to it,” said McElhany.

A SUPERIOR BOND The PUR lamination line they chose is a custom designed, fully automated, double sided panel lamination line that uses Burkle laminating equipment. The line also includes four Wandres panel cleaners and two separate dual 55-gallon drum Nordson glue management systems.

The automation solution begins with a large robot introducing the substrate into a clean room. In the clean room the panels are bonded on one side, flipped and bonded on the second side. As the panels leave the clean room they are flipped, trimmed, cleaned and stacked.

The biggest advantage with the new line is that it improves the surface fidelity, whereas in batch laminating you might get some telegraphing of the substrate or glue. “The laminates we get to choose today are light years ahead of the laminates we chose 15 years ago.

It has a lot to do with the printers obviously. They can print laminates with no repeat, make press plates that have incredibly realistic woodgrains, stone patterns and textures. So, when you look at the finishes and the printing capabilities, laminate is much more of a high-fidelity product than it ever was,” Clothier explained.

In addition, the new line allows them to increase capacity by producing nearly 120 panels an hour depending on the size. One challenge they face is that since they don’t make anything for themselves, every job is different, and the line needed to be able to adjust in real-time as jobs flow through the shop. To make sure their new line could maintain the flexibility their customers needed, servos were installed on all the machinery to allow bar codes to automatically adjust the thickness and pressure to give the line a near batch-size-one capability.

In business to help their customers keep their promises, LW asks three questions when evaluating new solutions.

What are customers already asking for? What future opportunities could they benefit from? How do new solutions align with their business strategy?

ONE CAPABILITY LW KNEW THEIR CUSTOMERS COULD BENEFIT FROM IMMEDIATELY WAS SEAMLESS EDGEBANDING. THE TECHNOLOGY MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN THE AESTHETICS AND OVERALL QUALITY.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 ›

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SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

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TABLE LEG FINISHED PRODUCT.

REVERSE KNIFE EDGE TOP.

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FASTER PANEL PROCESSING If you’re going to produce a panel every 24 seconds, you’d better be prepared to process it just as fast. For this reason, LW decided to completely redesign its manufacturing floor, add an automated rear load IMA Schelling FH6 saw, a BIESSE Vektor 15, an IMA Performance One Laser Edgebander, and introduce bar code scanning to every machine center downstream from the PUR line.

Panel stacks are still taken to the saw on transfer carts by a human, but once they’re loaded, the IMA saw takes over and parts aren’t touched again until they come out of the front cut and are ready to move to the next step. This blend of automation and human interaction became the best solution for the company to achieve the greatest efficiency in their operation. This is mainly because every job they do is unique and every day their production schedule changes.

Another new machine added was the BIESSE Brema Vektor 15. LW makes a high-volume of elevator panels and this machine does a great job boring thin panels with accuracy. Unlike most boring machines, this one processes parts vertically and has rollers on either side of the aggregates to hold the panel flat, which can be an issue with other machines.

A SEAMLESS, NO GLUE-LINE EDGE One capability LW knew their customers could benefit from immediately was seamless edgebanding. This technology really makes a difference in the aesthetics and overall quality of the edge and is something many of their customers were already using or asking for. They explored options for hot air and laser and ultimately decided on a combination PUR and Laser edgebander from IMA, the Performance One. Their custom-built solution, much like all their machinery, needed to able to seamlessly handle parts from around 4 inches wide to 10 feet long without skipping a beat. It includes a fully automated return with bar code scanning and 24 material feed slots, making it both fast and flexible to handle the wide range of jobs that come through their shop on a given day. Laser edgebanding is a significant investment, especially at this level, and now that it’s implemented, their customers have access to this new capability without having to make the investment themselves.

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BRINGING NEW PRODUCTS TO NEW MARKET In the process of developing their new capabilities, Clothier and his team started dreaming about what their customers would do with them, as they now had solutions to several gaps in the industries they serve. They also realized they now had an opportunity to bring actual products to market, which is something the company has never done before. For the last 20 years, they always made exactly what a customer asked for.

To help manage this new direction, the leadership team determined they need someone to head up this effort, and so they looked for and hired an expert in bringing new products to market, Vice President David Stetler.

Stetler’s job was to work with the entire team to identify opportunities, evaluate their scope and potential, evaluate partners and ultimately execute a plan to bring chosen products to market. The first product he identified would become known as LW Surface Solutions.

The vision for these Surface Solutions would be to recognize best-inclass materials within a category, starting with high-gloss and super matte, and build a program to give their customers the ability to add them to their component parts with a seamless no glue-line edge.

All materials would be in-stock or quickly available and ready to start production immediately. The vision is to continue finding surfaces to add to the offering based on customer demand and the ability to find the right material partners. Panolam is another company that partners with LW on a regular basis with its Nevamar and Pionite product lines. The two companies have a solid relationship as they work to meet customer specifications.

“First we identify an opportunity in the category from our market research and customer feedback, then our team reaches out to our network of suppliers to identify the best solution in the category,” said Stetler.

LESS IS MORE When it comes to customer demand, Stetler agreed that something customers are really asking for is a lightweight product. “We constantly see people try to figure out how to take weight out of something,” said Stetler. It turns out they had the machinery and the capabilities to produce a lightweight panel that had superior screw holding power and edge-banding capabilities. They would call it Airply Utlra Light Core.

The new product line of specialty substrates is up to 76% lighter than particle board and MDF and meets the requirements for strength and screw holding power in applications from worksurfaces, tabletops, cabinet doors, wall panels and more.

POLYURETHANE REACTIVE LAMINATE PANELS (PRL PANELS) The final product Stetler and team developed in their first round is 100% driven by their sheet based, double sided PUR lamination line.

They determined that the process was different enough from cold pressed panels that they needed a name just for the panels. LW chose the name REACT PRL Panels and wanted to define them as being bonded with PUR adhesive, inside a clean room, both sides at a time, trimmed and ready to start production. REACT panels have a flawless face and nearly unbreakable bond. Because they’re bonded with PUR adhesive, they can be made with a nearly unlimited variety of surfaces substrates. This includes composite woods, plywoods, wood veneers, stone veneers, plastics, foams, linoleums, metals and more.

MANAGING COVID-19 In light of the novel coronavirus pandemic at hand, companies are trying to come up with creative solutions to not only keep business in operation, but to also help battle the spread of the virus. Being in such an essential industry, it’s a priority for LW to keep their team safe and support one another, but it’s also a priority to rise to the challenge.

“Thanks to the laser edgeband there’s less place for bacteria to form and it’s extremely beneficial for lab-type environments,” said Clothier. “We’re definitely promoting those things as much as we can.

The other thing is that we’re also promoting pretty heavily that we’re in operation, given the fact that we exist because our customers have made promises to theirs. Today’s a time where people potentially need us now more than ever.”

Stetler reinforced the value of the company’s new product Velour Super Matte with FENIX NTM, explaining that although it’s not antimicrobial because it doesn’t kill anything, it resists the growth of virus, bacteria and fungus on it.

“Velour is also chemical resistant, which means it can be cleaned with hospital grade cleaners without deteriorating the surface. Due to the laser edgebanding, nothing can grow on it and nothing gets trapped in the glue,” he said, adding that the product lends itself to be easy to clean and therefore more sanitary.

Crystal High Gloss is another surface solution Stetler echoed, as it can be cleaned with the same kind of chemicals. “Both surface solutions are pretty timely in terms of their sanitary factors and what can be done with them in a restaurant or medical environment,” he said.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE Now that their new capabilities are in production, the team at LW is thinking about where to go next, already exploring several new products and new markets, most being driven by customer requests and identifying opportunities in the market. With the PUR line now running, it opens huge areas of opportunities in industries they’ve never been able to serve before.

"We're constantly watching for new materials, technologies and applications for them that align our strategy with what our customers are asking for,” added Stetler. “Each new offering opens up new markets for us to explore, it all builds on top of each another."

In addition, now that LW has defined products, the company is able to talk to the A&D community to get their specs written into a project from the start. This is also something LW has never done before.

In the end, all these new machines, capabilities and products haven’t changed who LW is or their purpose. The company exists to help customers keep their promises to their own clients, and they have no plans to sell direct to an end user or compete for their business. s&p MORE ABOUT LW ON PAGE 12 ›

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SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

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Laminate Works’ new line of surface solutions were developed in response to the growing trends in materials requested by its customers, including hard-to-bond surfaces and materials with finishes such as high-gloss that benefit from PUR lamination to achieve its desired look.

After completing an eighteen month, five-million-dollar overhaul of its manufacturing floor, the company now has the required technology and supplier partnerships to offer new solutions to their customers.

Every component part made with LW Surface Solutions starts with a REACT PRL PANEL that’s PUR bonded using its advanced PUR lamination line. The process is completely automated inside a dust-free clean room using polyurethane reactive adhesive with a perfectly thin and even layer of hot melt glue. This creates a flawless face with zero telegraphing and a nearly unbreakable bond. “Aesthetics, quality, supply chain logistics and overall value for our customer drive our decision making process,” said David Stetler, Vice President of New Markets at Laminate Works.

Velour Super Matte Velour allows customers to add the soft-touch and anti-fingerprint properties of Fenix NTM to their component parts with a matching laser edgeband to create a visually stunning, seamless edge experience for their customers. Unlike other matte finishes, Velour is coated in acrylic and utilizes nanotechnology for a surface that’s soft like velvet, yet impact-resistant, scratch-resistant and repels oils and grease from fingerprints.

Available in fifteen solid colors and four patterns with matching 1mm and 2mm edgebanding.

COMMON APPLICATIONS: • worksurfaces • tabletops • shelving • casework • cabinet doors • wall panels ... and more

Crystal High Gloss Crystal takes Senosan acrylic sheet and pairs it with an edgeband that matches perfectly in color and finish. The most visually stunning aspect of Crystal is its nearly perfect, glass-like reflection. It’s a difference you have to see for yourself when compared to other high gloss materials like HPL or PET. In addition, unlike most high gloss finishes that are known for being easy to scratch, Crystal is coated with a lacquered film for a surface that’s infinitely superior in scratch resistance to standard acrylics, HPL and PET. It’s the perfect surface for whiteboard applications, leaving no “ghosting” with dry erase markers and can even be used with permanent markers.

Available in fifteen colors with 1mm and 2mm edgebanding.

COMMON APPLICATIONS: • residential cabinets • table tops • student “whiteboard” desktops • markerboards • commercial casework ... and more

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What To Do

When COVID-19 Comes to Your Workplace

BY PAIGE MCALLISTER

W

ith the number of coronavirus cases across the country, most companies can expect to have at least one of their employees diagnosed with COVID-19, if they haven’t already. By establishing and communicating clear expectations and procedures now, you will help your employees know what to do to stay healthy and what to do if someone becomes sick.

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If an employee is sick outside of work, require them to stay home.

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If an employee arrives at work with symptoms, including a fever, send them home immediately.

Common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of smell or taste, and/or gastrointestinal issues. Employees with a combination of these symptoms should contact their personal health care provider and, if possible, use the CDC’s Self Checker.

Require documentation from the employee’s health care provider whenever possible, including leave time needed and release back to work. If they can get tested, request the results as soon as possible.

Advise employees they must stay at home until they are fever-free for 72 hours without medication and at least seven days from the onset of symptoms, and/or until given a release to work by their health care provider.

Provide employees leave (paid or unpaid) as required under Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, state paid time off and disability laws, and your company policies.

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©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/TATIANAZAETS

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If an employee with symptoms and/or having been diagnosed with COVID-19 has worked recently: Notify other employees as soon as you know of a possibility of exposure; do not wait for a confirmed test result, which may never come. Inform employees, especially those who had regular and sustained contact.

Advise employees of where the sick employee was and on what date so they can determine their risk of exposure and, if necessary, self-quarantine for 14 days to see if they exhibit symptoms.

You must keep the sick employee’s confidentiality, but you can state: “We have been notified that an employee who worked in [our facility/ xxx department/etc.] on [date] [has symptoms of/has been diagnosed with/is being tested for] COVID-19. We are taking the proper precautions and will notify you of any updates as they become available.

Anyone who displays symptoms and who may have had regular and sustained contact in this area at the same time should contact [title of contact] immediately.”

•

If the sick employee was in the workplace within seven days: Close off areas used by the sick person; open outside doors and windows to increase air circulation in the area for at least 24 hours or as long as possible.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 16 ›

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Clean and disinfect all areas used by the sick person, such as offices, bathrooms, common areas, shared electronic equipment like tablets, touch screens, keyboards, remote controls, and ATM machines.

• require employees to eat at their desks, outside or in their vehicles; • limit number of people in the restroom at one time; and • prohibit scheduled or impromptu gatherings or minimize number with a gathered group to allow room for proper distancing.

When cleaning an area where a sick employee was: • Wear disposable gloves and gowns for all tasks in the cleaning process, including handling trash.

Regularly clean and disinfect surfaces with company-provided products: • Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.

Use gloves when cleaning.

• Gloves and gowns should be removed carefully to avoid contamination of the wearer and the surrounding area.

• Wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds immediately after removing gloves and after contact with a sick employee.

• If surfaces are dirty, clean them using detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection. Clean soft surfaces such as carpeted floors, rugs, and drapes using soap and water or with cleaners appropriate for use on those surfaces.

If it has been more than seven days since the sick person visited or used the facility, additional cleaning and disinfection is not necessary, but continue routine cleaning and disinfection. Follow the same protocols if you learn that a sick vendor or customer recently visited your workplace.

• Disinfect with an EPA-registered disinfectant or use alcoholbased wipes or sprays containing at least 70% alcohol and dry surface thoroughly.

•

Practice prevention now to minimize possible spread of germs through contact with sick employees, vendors, and customers later.

Encourage employees to wash their hands and use hand sanitizer regularly and to avoid touching their eyes, nose, and mouth.

Observe social distancing, avoiding close contact with other employees, customers, and vendors.

• maintain at least 6 feet of distance at all times;

Prohibit unnecessary visitors until further notice. Designate open area for necessary visitors including vendors, delivery people, or customers. Post notifications of procedures to be followed by vendors, customers, visitors, or delivery people.

•

Continue to follow guidance provided by the experts at CDC, OSHA and WHO.

• hold meetings in open-door, open-air rooms; • allow employees to work remotely when possible; • provide for staggered schedules or minimize employees in the workplace at the same time; • limit or restrict business travel; • implement video conferencing when possible; • close common areas such as break rooms and lunch rooms; 16

SURFACEANDPANEL.COM

PAIGE McALLISTER, SPHR HR Compliance Affinity HR Group contact@affinityhrgroup.com

Q. We have an employee whose daughter tested positive for COVID-19. Her daughter is now feeling better and my employee would like to come back to work, but I want to make sure she is not carrying the virus. What do you advise?

A. That’s wonderful news that her daughter is fully recovered.

That said, your employee could still have acquired COVID-19 and may not be showing symptoms yet. The CDC states that, to be safe, an employee should be quarantined for 14 days from the date of exposure to ensure she isn’t infected and contagious. I would check with your daughter’s doctor to determine the date when she would no longer be contagious. The CDC recommends two negative COVID-19 tests taken no less than 24 hours apart to confirm an individual is no longer contagious. The best bet is to start your employee’s 14 day quarantine from the estimated date that the employee’s daughter was last contagious. If possible, have her work at home in the meantime and wear protective gear (masks, gloves) when in public. As always, keep checking the CDC site as their recommendations are changing as they learn more about the virus. Stay healthy!

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Learn from My Lessons HOW ONE CALIFORNIA-BASED DESIGNER WANTS OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES TO LEARN FROM HIS SOFTWARE EXPERIENCES

I

BY STEPHANIE ORNELAS

f longtime kitchen and cabinet designer Carl Reed, owner of Carl Reed Designs, Sacramento, CA., could tell professionals like himself one thing, it would be to learn from what he’s learned. As a 27-year professional in residential kitchen remodeling with a focus on cabinetry, Reed spent months (and thousands of dollars) trying to find the right solution to his software needs so he could be successful in CNC (computer numerical control).

“I started with an interest in construction when I was a child.

Touring neighborhoods, I joined construction teams as a kid and I developed an interest in it. But I knew when it came to software, I would have to be trained and it would require a lot of patience,” Reed said.

After completing his first cabinet job out of his garage in Minnesota as a basement build out, Reed discovered he had a passion for this type of design, and set up his own cabinet shop in Columbus, OH., within a construction company.

He worked with lumberyards to provide specialty products. “They came to me for specialized items because they only made things for the housing boom at the time, big time production,” he said.

“I developed a way to make round mouldings which wasn’t the easiest way to do it, it’s easier to buy a machine, but I put it together

18

and was doing 4-inch diameter round pieces that lumberyards ordered for these different projects.” The biggest one was a nursing home that needed two miles of handrail.

“I bought a moulder and started producing architectural millwork.

I dove in and spent a quarter of a million dollars on the machinery, something I had never done before.” And though it seemed like a risky move at the time, it helped Reed obtain the biggest contractor in Columbus.

It was soon time for Reed to leave Ohio after realizing more opportunity in Sacramento. “The problem I had in Columbus was that the lumberyards had the same capability as I did. As the economy slowed down, I didn't get those jobs anymore. So it made more sense for me to move to Sacramento and fund a shop with my brother. Together we were able to do the work of a small team. We could do any project on our own.” And that’s when he began to consider CNC. Reed sealed his first cabinet job in Maui, where he designed and built the whole kitchen in his Sacramento shop. “I would build the cabinets in my head. It’s something I’ve grown up doing and the Maui kitchen fit perfectly,” Reed explained.

“I wanted to be shop-based and I was also ready to dive into tiny homebuilding. My brother was ready to move his career in this CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 ›

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direction and we were getting remodels where we could provide the cabinets. Before we knew it, one job led to another.”

After completing several jobs and simultaneously being introduced to the tiny-home industry, Reed was ready to take his business to the next level—CNC and software design.

“I dreamed about it for years and I wanted to save my body from working on the table saw. I was tired of the inaccuracies and the dangers of it,” Reed explained.

So he invested in a CNC machine. “We initially thought we’d have too much overhead, but I knew we could make it happen.” And that’s when Reed looked to Laguna Tools.

“We went with Laguna because they are an introductory level machine. They were my first choice. Laguna was really good on their installations. They’ve been there the whole time for any little problems and learning curves. I have a good relationship with them because they want their customers to succeed,” he said.

But finding the right machinery was only half the battle. Reed now needed to find the right software system to tie it all together. Laguna Tool initially came with a six-month subscription to one software service that came with the machine. But he would eventually go with KCD Software. And the road to finding them would not be easy.

“When you buy a software program, you’re using that for dimensions of the room, to place cabinets, etc. You take that approved kitchen and you show that to your customers. It’s a sales tool. And it’s very important. KCD made it extremely easy for my business. I had only wished I had gone with them sooner,” Reed said.

He went on to explain the many challenges he experienced with other companies, four others to be exact. “They were confusing and not easy to learn at all.”

“When you get into a venture like this it’s a whole new learning curve and I really don’t have the best computer skills. So dealing with a software company that is patient with a good training program is important,” he explained.

When Reed began the three-month subscription, the training was simply not where it needed to be. After getting together with his brother and young nephew, “a whiz-kid,” the three began watching the training video and he realized they were going to need more help getting started.

“I basically told them that I’d be more comfortable if they sent out a professional to train us. It was $2,200 a day, which I paid, and

SMART SHOP II BY LAGUNA TOOLS PLAYED A VITAL ROLE FOR CARL REED DESIGNS WHEN IT CAME TO BUILDING KITCHENS AND CABINETS.

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even the rep couldn’t figure it out. The training was frankly, quite terrible,” he added.

Reed went on to give three more software systems a try, one which would cost $11,000 upfront that was still just as confusing as the first, and another service that Reed “didn’t even make it past the website” due to its presentation and inefficiency.

“Software is very complicated. You have to care for it in a specific way and if you don’t, it’s not going to work. So it’s really important to find a service that you are 100% comfortable with. You need great customer service and the right kind of training,” said Reed. “The pitfalls are out there.”

Reed got to a fourth software company that not only had great sales professionals, but affordable training. However, “there were little glitches that kept coming up and they didn’t want to do in-person training. They charged for customer support, but at the same time they were not responsive. It just always felt like they didn’t have any answers and it’s little red flags like that that you really have to pay attention to.”

With a lot of wasted time and money, and potential loss of business because Reed now had several cabinet jobs booked, he needed to find a software system that would really work for him. “These lessons I’ve learned show how non-functional companies actually operate. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through these pitfalls I went through,” he added.

Enter KCD Software, a cabinet and closet design software system based in Cataumet, MA. “The first phone call I made was amazing. The representative was attentive and even though she was new on the job, if she didn’t have an answer, she would find it, added Reed.”

The time difference was a concern for Reed at first. With customer care closing earlier in the day, he was worried that providing the support he thought he needed would be a challenge. “They spent an hour on the phone breaking everything down for me and eventually they offered me a trial for $99.”

“I sat down for 20 minutes before calling and signing up for the full version,” said Reed. “The training was clear and their reps have the patience so that I can be in a hurry. I can’t tell you how important that is.”

After sitting down, once again, with his nephew and brother, Reed had his next project designed and ready to go in 45 minutes.

Something he found very beneficial is that everyone in the company does tech support. “They are all tech professionals and I think that’s one of the reasons why they are so successful,” he said.

“They just had it together. From their communication, to their attention to detail and customer service. I want my company to be modeled after those values.

“It took me little to no time to get up to speed with this system, versus others that would take 30 days and you’d have to pay a yearly fee just to have customer support. You can also rent this program, which was very helpful for me getting started.”

With his software issues finally behind him, Reed is looking forward to tackling more challenging projects and using the latest trends to meet customer demand.

“The simplicity now is shaker-style doors. People want basic. It used to be raised panels, knotty alder and stain, but what people have gone to, and what I’ve been doing the last couple of years, is they spray all the cabinets with paint and they don’t want raised panels anymore.”

Reed also explained how a big trend now is to be more mild.

“People are more mild on their designs. We've also seen a lot of MDF doors and prefinished plywood interiors.”

Another huge trend which shouldn’t be surprising is a desire for more non-toxic products, explained Reed. “I always try to use anything non-toxic. That trend is not going to go away, especially as the world becomes more environmentally conscious."

While Reed personally prefers the artistic nature you can go into with grain-matching and stain grade, he’s noticing a lot more color being incorporated. “Since people are painting more, we’re starting to CONTINUED ON PAGE 22 ›

SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

21

‹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

see things like one color inside and a different color outside, and the customer gets what the customer wants,” he laughed.

Despite the trial and error in the beginning, Reed emphasised that he’s thankful for the lessons, as it gives him a chance to share his story and hopefully help someone in the same situation.

“I can’t say it enough. I would not want anyone to go through the pitfalls that I went through, especially as a novice in CNC.” With nearly $160,000 lost in just time, and paying a lease on a machine that was doing nothing, Reed was ready to just go back to

22

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the old-fashioned way. “Thankfully my customers understood and they were patient,” he explained.

“No one should have to have to go through even a tenth of what I did just to go over to CNC. It was challenging and even though I wasn’t funded heavily enough to do it, I made it happen.”

“I never had, but I always made, and that's the drive that leads to business. If you can get the formality of business down, figuring out what to charge and how to treat your customers, you’ll have a prosperous business.” s&p

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SAFESPACE24 RECENTLY DEVELOPED A PATIENT MONITORING MODULE (PMM) CALLED THE WATCHPOD FOR HOSPITALS AND EMERGENCY SERVICES. THE SYSTEM IS MADE FROM UNIBOARD PRODUCTS.

In This Together HOW THE MATERIALS AND DESIGN INDUSTRY IS RESPONDING TO COVID-19

A

s the world continues to evolve due to the COVID-19 pandemic, companies in the industry are taking extra precautions to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. What’s more, a number of companies are working to develop new innovations to combat the virus.

Safespace24, developer of patient monitoring systems, recently developed a patient monitoring module (PMM) called the Watchpod for hospitals and emergency services. The system, made from Uniboard products, assembles in 10 minutes and is designed to ensure smooth implementation and utilization. It’s also designed with surfaces that can be disinfected quickly.

Genesis Products is working to offer solutions for healthcare facilities and systems that respect social distancing, especially in the workplace. In addition to heavily promoting its laminate solutions for healthcare, the company’s PET wall systems are great for those who are beginning to return to the office. The privacy screens are built with sound barriers that are great for open office environments.

“Companies everywhere are looking for new and different ways to make the working world safer,” said Joe Arcadi, VP of sales and marketing, Genesis Products.

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“We are working closely with our sites to take the appropriate protective measures and we are, of course, closely following all legislatively-mandated travel directives in the various countries where we operate.”

©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MARUCO

GEORGE KNIGHT, ACTING CEO OF HEXION

Other companies are using their resources to develop products and solutions designed to directly combat the spread of germs.

Chemical company Hexion made plans for their New Zealand and Australia teams to manufacture World Health Organization-approved formulas for hand sanitizer to supply to their community. As a result of COVID-19, certain key consumer products, such as hand sanitizer, have been in short supply across Australia and New Zealand.

To alleviate this issue and speed re-stocking, both governments in Australia and New Zealand have adjusted the legislation regarding the qualification/introduction of therapeutic materials, including hand sanitizer. In response to this development, and the need, Hexion ANZ has tested the formulations in their laboratories and have prepared the relevant MOC process to cover this introduction to its sites.

Being a part of an essential industry, several operations have remained open but with safety precautions while others have shifted their employees to work out of their homes.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 ›

“During this time, our goal is to minimize any impact upon our mutual business while keeping the health and safety of all people as the top priority. In this uncertain period, I have every confidence in our business communities’ ability to pull together with care and concern for the common good.”

KURT PALMER, PRESIDENT AND CEO OF BURKLE NORTH AMERICA

YOUR DIGITAL SYMPOSIUM

Never Stop Asking Questions.

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HEXION'S NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA TEAMS ARE CURRENTLY MANUFACTURING WHO-APPROVED FORMULAS FOR HAND SANITIZER TO SUPPLY TO THE COMMUNITY.

‹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

“We’ve received multiple letters and notifications from our customers who supply the Department of Defense and Aerospace facilities worldwide, who have said that they are essential businesses and are required to keep their facilities operational. These are the Tier 1 suppliers,” said CEO of Kings Mountain International, Steve Wagenknight. “As we dissect the supply chain, KMI is referred to as a Tier 3 supplier. We are a very vital link to Tier 1 in the supply chain.

We have been notified to keep our facility in operation and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

Companies like Kings Mountain International, Panel Processing, Burkle and Blum are all taking precautions like EPA-approved cleaning kits in all departments, cancelling/postponing business travel 26

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“Companies everywhere are looking for new and different ways to make the working world safer.”

JOE ARCADI, VP OF SALES AND MARKETING GENESIS PRODUCTS

and outside meetings, and having all office personnel work remotely.

In addition, facilities are installing plexiglass shields at all points of contact in the shipping and receiving areas and preparing for the ability to run operations on a skeletal basis.

“The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us personally as well as our businesses. This situation will be resolved; in the meantime, business will not be as usual,” said Kurt Palmer, president and CEO of Burkle North America. “During this time, our goal is to minimize any impact upon our mutual business while keeping the health and safety of all people as the top priority. In this uncertain period, I have every confidence in our business communities’ ability to pull together with care and concern for the common good.”

As designers, fabricators and technology professionals work to keep the industry (and the economy) afloat, other companies are working to lend a helping hand. Uniboard, for example, donated 360 masks to Mont-Laurier Hospital and Hexion’s Brazil team provided food and hand sanitizer to their local communities. Hexion associates in Pernis, Netherlands also donated personal protective equipment to a local hospital in response to the shortage.

At the end of April, Hexion announced that chairman and chief executive officer Craig Rogerson would remain on medical leave due to a condition consistent with COVID-19. Tests confirmed that Rogerson

“We are a very vital link to Tier 1 in the supply chain. We have been notified to keep our facility in operation and that’s exactly what we’ve done.”

STEVE WAGENKNIGHT, CEO OF KINGS MOUNTAIN INTERNATIONAL

contracted the virus. After treatment, subsequent tests have returned negative, but he remains under medical care as he recovers. To ensure that the company is fully functioning at this time, George Knight will serve as acting CEO during Rogerson’s medical leave.

“As we’ve previously communicated, as a company, we are taking various precautionary measures in place to keep the balance of our associates safe and healthy, while minimizing impact to our operations so that we can continue to support our customers,” said Knight.

“We are following guidance from public health officials and government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). We are working closely with our sites to take the appropriate protective measures and we are, of course, closely following all legislatively-mandated travel directives in the various countries where we operate.”

There have been increasing precautions taken at several facilities in our industry across the globe. And while some precautions may look slightly different for certain offices and manufacturing facilities, the goal of preventing the spread of disease remains the same and the desire to find better solutions remains evident. s&p

TO SUPPORT THE ESSENTIAL NEEDS OF ITS CUSTOMERS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST THE CORONAVIRUS, UNIBOARD HAS KEPT ITS SAYABEC PARTICLEBOARD AND THERMALLY FUSED LAMINATE FACILITY OPERATING AT LIMITED CAPACITY AND UNDER A STRICT SANITATION PROTOCOL TO FULFILL ESSENTIAL ORDERS.

“Our facilities are operating under strict COVID-19 guidelines with reduced manpower to ensure the health and well-being of our employees, our customers, our suppliers and the communities in which we live.”

JAMES HOGG, UNIBOARD'S PRESIDENT AND CEO

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Students Show Their Skills

with Another Round of #WilsonartChallenges

P

rinciples of Contemporary Art was the theme that inspired students at Ryerson School of Interior Design, Toronto, Ontario., to design and build chairs for the 16th annual Wilsonart Challenges Student Chair Design Competition. Beyond basic form and function, each design was also informed by how students used expressive and stylistic contemporary elements such as movement, proportion, contrast, or balance. Using patterns from the Wilsonart Laminate Collection, students designed their own pieces, with the best design taking first place, following five runner ups. The students were set to exhibit their designs at booth #1839 at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, until the event was cancelled due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, Wilsonart worked with The Ryerson School of Interior Design and with the University’s Creative Technology Lab at FCAD, an advanced technologybased workshop that supports creative research, specialized curriculum and entrepreneurship activities across all nine FCAD Schools and Ryerson Zones.

Amy Yan took home first place with her design “The Not Loveseat.” The chair is a playful commentary on the dualistic nature of both human relationships and architectural volumes. The two curved seat backs appear to be under significant tension as though the chair is being stretched apart by the sheer volume that make up the two seats. The resulting image could be a heart or viewed as a peace

STUDENT: CHAIR:

Amy Yan

The Not Loveseat

yanamy6@gmail.com @amy.j.yan

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symbol suggesting that the chair embraces the dualities of love and peace along with the notions of splitting and separation.

“The purpose of design is to elicit an emotional response,” Yan noted. “Design conveys a narrative, and then in turn, that narrative is able to shape the way we see the world.”

Amy’s chair poses a fundamental question: can these seemingly opposing notions exist together? Going a step further, can they even exist without each other as conflicting as they may seem? Judges noted that Amy’s chair was the perfect dialogue between art and design.

Wilsonart created Wilsonart Challenges, which is both a sponsored class and a competition. During the year-long program, students learn how to design and build a one-ofa-kind chair, as well as how to prepare for a major trade show. Introducing the program more than a decade ago, Wilsonart Challenges is the longest-running sponsored student design class in North America.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30 ›

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‹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

STUDENT: CHAIR:

Brittany Boudreau

WILD

britt.j.e.boudreau@gmail.com @brittany_boudreau_design WILD is a contemporary twist on the toad stool; it explores the contrasting relationship between life and death. When a tree dies, a new life begins in the form of wild mushrooms. Similarly, laminate is mostly made of paper; hence, a tree dies and is reborn as laminate. The mushrooms are made out of circles because circles represent life, while the one and only linear line in this piece, the front edge of the tree stump, is meant to represent death. The death of a tree is the birth of something else.

STUDENT: CHAIR:

Alice Sills

BALANCING ACT aliceksills@gmail.com @aliceatrs

Bold and fun, BALANCING ACT is a playful composition of three colorful shapes that interact in a peaceful and balanced way. As one walks around the chair, these forms cheerfully change and play together. Viewed from the front, the forms create the large seat and armrest of the chair, while the side profile affords a clean-lined, geometric composition, with an angled profile that offers a sightline through the chair itself.

STUDENT:

Meredith Davis

CHAIR:

STANCE

meredithdavis@sympatico.ca @made.by.mere Meredith Davis wanted to make a stationary chair that appears dynamic, and the playful yet profoundly elegant STANCE is her solution. STANCE succeeds in bringing life to a flat material without bending the plane. The form of the chair is inspired by a four-legged animal and is designed to create a natural sense of movement. The chair is composed of only three pieces, creating a visual balance of solids and voids by playing with curves and straight edges. Despite the chair only having flat members, the thin planes look as if they are moving or flowing. Depending on how it is observed, the chair appears to be running away from or approaching its observer.

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STUDENT:

Monica Beckett

CHAIR:

PARADOX

@monicajanebeckett The name PARADOX refers to the fact that this chair has no one upright state, yet it can be used right-side up and upside down. One side is a 32" bar height, and the other is a 16" standard dining chair height; used either way, the chair still works. The shape of the chair and its 2:1 ration was inspired by a cocktail jigger. This measurement, or comparison of quantities, creates a tension of opposites, which is represented through the bold opposing colors assigned to each orientation.

STUDENT: CHAIR:

Ryan Anning

FRENCH KISS

ryan.lee.anning@gmail @ryan.lee.anning FRENCH KISS is a playful commentary on the history of art and design. The French curve is the artistic tool which made the Baroque, Rococo and Art Nouveau styles possible. In an homage to the great pop artist Claes Oldenburg, the tool itself becomes the subject matter in monumental scale. The S-curve form of the French curve is a play on the classic tête-à-tête chaise—upended and used unexpectedly. The exuberant turquoise color gives a cheeky camp aesthetic making the piece even more joyful.

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SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

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FROM FLOORING TO FURNITURE BMK Group Promotes SilentTouch as Game-Changer in Panel Industry Based in Gaildorf-Broeckingen, Germany, the BMK Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of surface-coated and impregnated films. BMK recently partnered with PurChem Systems of Canada to offer an innovative single-layer decor, SilentTouch, featuring an anti-fingerprint, soft-touch surface. To learn more about BMK, SilentTouch and the company’s plans for North America, Surface & Panel posed a series of questions to Dr. Stefan Woerl, head of R&D and quality assurance at BMK, and Robert Clausi, president of PurChem.

DR. STEFAN WOERL

ROBERT CLAUSI

BMK IS LOCATED IN GAILDORFBROECKINGEN, GERMANY.

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DEKOR-KUNSTSTOFFE, OR DKB, IS IS LOCATED IN ERNDTEBRUECK-SCHAMEDER, GERMANY.

Q. What is the mission of the BMK Group?

A. Established in 1972, BMK is a family-owned company and one of today’s leading suppliers of surface- coated and impregnated films. The BMK Group consists of BMK, DekorKunststoffe, Interprint Samara and BMK Americas. The BMK Group continually enhances its market leadership position, extending its geographic reach and adding manufacturing capabilities that enable the company to service global markets.

Our mission is to build on our history of product excellence and technology innovation to provide the highest-quality and most reliable products and services to our worldwide customers, enabling them to build better products.

We continue to work with innovative companies and invest strongly in R&D. BMK offers technical products that are, in many cases, customer-specific, as well as providing strong and reliable technical support. We try to offer solutions that can open up new markets for our customers.

BMK is family owned and managed, which allows us to make decisions quickly and implement changes throughout the company immediately when needed. This allows BMK to be competitive and respond to customer needs in the shortest possible time.

Q. What does BMK manufacture

at its four production facilities?

A. BMK is located in Gaildorf-Broeckingen, Germany, and has four impregnation lines specializing in melamine and elasticresin impregnated products for the laminate flooring and panel industry. It is also the central research and development facility. BMK-Gaildorf focuses on overlay films and specialty products such as the SilentTouch overlay and SilentTouch decor anti-fingerprint film products.

Dekor-Kunststoffe, or DKB, is a well-known brand in the impregnation industry. The plant is located in ErndtebrueckSchameder, Germany, and has five impregnation lines specializing in melamine impregnated products for the laminate and furniture industry. DKB specializes in pigmented white and decor papers for the furniture industry.

Interprint Samara is a joint venture with Interprint located in Smyshlyaevka, Russia. It has four impregnation lines with an internal resin production facility specializing in melamine films for MDF and particleboard, CPL and HPL and films for laminate flooring. The facility serves markets in Russia and neighboring countries.

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BMK AMERICAS IS LOCATED IN LEXINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA.

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Other special products include deep-texture decors for furniture or the use of functional additives for antimicrobial surfaces.

BMK Group can offer these products as synchronized papers (registered embossing) for furniture and laminate flooring.

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BMK Americas is located in Lexington, North Carolina, and has three impregnating lines serving the North American market in melamine films for TFL, pigmented white for furniture and laminate flooring. BMK Americas is the fastest-growing plant and will be expanded in the future. This facility can supply large and small run orders to our North American customers.

Q. How large is BMK in terms of size and output?

A. BMK has more than 300 dedicated employees worldwide.

Current annual global production capacity for treated paper films is more than 2.7 billion square feet or 250 million square meters.

Q. Your primary products are decor paper, impregnated

paper and overlay films for the furniture and flooring industries. How have your top lines evolved and what sets them apart in the marketplace.

A. BMK is the largest independent supplier of impregnated papers for the flooring industry. We are always driven to reach the technical limits that are available. We offer a broad range of standard overlay films from AC3 to AC6, as well as specialty overlay films for high impact resistance, high scratch resistance, deep embossed structures and protection against scuffs and mars.

We use the newest catalyst systems available to reach short press cycles down to 8 seconds, and we ensure that our overlays work with all new upcoming press plates with the most difficult structures.

For our flooring customers, BMK offers a flooring package consisting of overlay films, with corresponding decor papers and backer films for panel balancing.

DKB is well known in the furniture industry for high quality pigmented white papers. DKB is working closely with its suppliers to achieve the maximum needed opacities by combining the latest paper technology with modern impregnation additives.

With these impregnated papers, we also offer technical service to customers worldwide with specialized products like cleaning films.

Other special products include deep-texture decors for furniture or the use of functional additives for antimicrobial surfaces.

BMK Group can offer these products as synchronized papers (registered embossing) for furniture and laminate flooring.

As one of the largest independent paper treating companies, BMK has a huge advantage by being able to offer printed decors from all printing companies in the market, as well as to use different resin and paper suppliers. We use the best material combinations available to satisfy customer needs.

Q. What percentage of your business is flooring and what percentage is furniture?

A. Treated films for the panel business represent approximately 45% of the BMK Group’s business, leaving laminate flooring with 50% and HPL products with 5%.

Q. Your company was founded in Germany and remains

headquartered there. When and how did you enter the North American market and why? What is your strategy for competing in North America and gaining greater market share?

A. BMK and DKB have always supplied containers of overlay, backer and furniture white to their North American customers.

The customers demand high flexibility and short lead times for the flooring designs, and to import them from overseas takes about four to six weeks—too much time. The demands for overlay, backer and TFL papers can be well planned in advance, but décor papers need a shorter lead time.

Therefore, it was a must to have production in the U.S. closer to our North American customers.

In 2018, the BMK Group acquired a treating facility in Lexington, North Carolina, from one of the largest flooring producers in the U.S. to supply the North and South American markets.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36 ›

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Since acquiring the facility, we have improved the technical capabilities by installing an additional treating line that enables us to treat small runs. These enhancements give the Lexington facility maximum flexibility for our customers.

Our sales and technical support for North and South America is now based at our BMK Americas facility in Lexington, as well.

Q. Laminate products have been dominant in Europe for

• Closed, easy-to-clean surface • Anti-fingerprint surface • Flexible, elastic surface • Soft-touch haptic that feels like natural wood and wood veneer • Surface that feels warm to the touch

many years, and now they are gaining a larger market share in North America. What is your outlook for the growth of laminate products in North America?

• Patented sound-absorbing elastic surface

A. Laminate panel products have been dominant in Europe

• Less wear on press plates, cutting and milling equipment

because they are less expensive and more efficient to produce and more environmentally friendly than traditional wood veneer panels with particleboard or MDF cores.

• Deep embossing for natural wood-panel look

Printed decor papers, which can be made from recycled paper, offer a virtually unlimited range of designs and solid colors, are treated on impregnation lines and produced in exact-sized sheets or rolls. These technical papers are treated with heatactivated resins that bond to the core panels during the pressing process and do not require additional adhesive layers. The pressed panel surface can be register embossed (EIR) for realistic looking panels.

Q. What developments or innovations in laminate products are you most excited about? Which hold the greatest potential to advance laminates in sales and market share?

A. SilentTouch technology is a significant step above traditional impregnation resins like melamine and urea.

PurChem Systems, our friends in Canada, developed and produces the proprietary resins and additives, which are available worldwide. SilentTouch resins are designed to work with transparent overlay paper, printed and solid-color decor papers, and further technical papers using standard impregnation lines.

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SILENTTOUCH DECOR FEATURES INCLUDE:

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• Elastic high impact surface

• Consistent pressing parameters • Long-treated film shelf life • No plasticizers or other harmful substances The environmental and health aspects are two of the many advantages of SilentTouch products. Since they are elastic and warm underfoot, they are perfect for children’s rooms. They have no unpleasant vapors or odor pollution, and they offer cozy warmth. Straightforward cleaning and care lead to a high degree of durability.

SilentTouch-treated films in roll or sheet form will be competitively priced compared to natural veneer panels and cost significantly less to produce on short cycle or continuous press lines.

Q. Please discuss the origins of SilentTouch

and explain exactly what it is and the properties that make it special.

A. Originally developed for the flooring industry, the SilentTouch resin was designed to be tough and elastic and completely compatible with standard impregnation equipment and short-cycle press equipment and milling lines for click-type panel joining systems.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 38 ›

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Flooring products made with SilentTouch technology were originally developed to improve the acoustic properties of laminate floors and make the floor surfaces sound and feel like traditional wood floors. Today, after further improvements, it is positioned and competing against plastic films in the flooring industry, with the advantage of using short-cycle press technology and with the features offered by press plate technologies.

The first SilentTouch laminated flooring product was developed and launched in 2014 by premium flooring producer MeisterWerke in Germany and launched at the DOMOTEX international floor show, where the product won the Innovation Award for Best New Product.

Q. As SilentTouch moves from flooring to furniture, how do you expect it to be received and possibly change the game in the laminate furniture industry?

A. This will be a real game-changer for the panel industry.

With the experience gained from the development of a flooring product first, we expect an easy transition to laminated furniture and HPL industries.

In June 2019, Christoph Menier (managing partner of BMK Group) visited PurChem in Toronto to discuss the possibility of developing an anti-fingerprint surface for the architectural surface and panel industries. Soon after that meeting,

PurChem and BMK started to develop several new products together, including SilentTouch decor (anti-fingerprint single layer printed or solid decor paper for the panel industry) and new developments to the standard SilentTouch overlay.

After six months of production trials at BMK facilities in Germany and production press tests in flooring plants across Europe, North and South America, we were finally ready for the launch of this exciting technology.

In December 2019, we (Woerl and Clausi) made a presentation in San Diego to an audience of architects, designers, panel and HPL producers, and others. There was a huge interest in the SilentTouch decor product after we circulated pressedpanel and HPL samples to our audience that had perfect transparency and did not leave any fingerprints.

We also look forward to using the SilentTouch decor on new panel substrates such as plywood that are now evolving in the market.

Q. If you would be willing to share, please tell us the

names of some of your top North American customers.

A. BMK group currently supplies some treated film products to nearly every panel producer in North and South America. As such we plan to introduce the SilentTouch decor treated films to all of our customers. s&p

AS THE POP-UP TREND CONTINUES TO GROW IN RETAIL SPACES, WE’RE STARTING TO SEE MORE OF IT IN LARGER CITIES LIKE LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK CITY.

The Future of Pop-Up Retail As the physical retail footprint evolves, the future requires advanced development to virtual implementation and a deeper commitment to the omnichannel experience.

T

BY SARAH DUQUETTE

he term “Retail Apocalypse,” coined around 2010 during a period of rampant closures of numerous North American brick-and-mortar retail stores, especially large chains, threatened to change the face of shopping malls forever. In 2017, the expression “Amazon Effect,” introduced by Business Insider, depicted how the online mega-retailer was generating greater than 50% of the growth of retail sales, seeming to further hammer the nail into the coffin of physical retail. Now, retail is facing a new challenge with COVID-19, although the physical retail environment was already undergoing a major evolution before the pandemic forced many stores and businesses to close shop, some temporarily and others permanently.

Over the past decade or so, changing consumer needs and generational shopping habits including the rise of the Millennial and Gen Z cohort, coupled with the growth of e-commerce and social media, as well as other external factors, have led to the reimagining of the “Retail Experience.” From transforming a big-box shopping center to a live-work-play destination and designing stores with a smaller footprint to short-term pop-up activations and the shop-in-shop concept, these changes have led to an insatiable appetite for unique brand interactions. What impact will the post-COVID world have on the future of retail?

CONTINUED ON PAGE 40 ›

SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

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Retailers will be looking for materials that are more conducive to providing safe, clean environments for consumers when they are ready to have hands-on shopping experiences again. This could mean a wider use of synthetic building materials as opposed to natural wood, for example, which is porous and requires specific cleaning products and may be damaged by harsh sanitizers.

‹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 39

No one can say for sure, but one thing is certain; the physical retail store can only continue to play an important role in the customer journey if it is enhanced by technology and personalization, to draw in-person presence and create a truly omnichannel shopping experiences.

The rise of experiential retail as its new driving force is most evident in the evolution of the physical retail environment, which has been stripped down of bulky fixtures and excess inventory, allowing for more of these “moments” to take place. In an effort to appeal to next generation shoppers, digital displays and “Instagrammable” features have replaced rows of shelving and cluttered stands,

creating modern spaces with the intent to influence how consumers perceive and experience the retail environment. This transformative value proposition provides a sense of community, a shared experience, something to engage with.

This new retail philosophy places brand trust at the forefront, paying close attention to what customers want to get in return for their time and money. No longer is it acceptable for retailers to simply open a physical location and hope to capture the attention of shoppers. Brands cannot grow or remain competitive without an innovative approach to enhancing the physical experience of their CONTINUED ON PAGE 42 ›

THE NEW GUCCI POP-UP STORE DEBUTED IN CHICAGO’S WEST LOOP NEIGHBORHOOD IN FEBRUARY.

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brick-and-mortar store through digital touch points. In response to COVID-19, the shift to virtual retail is, for many brands, a necessary pivot as they take a broader approach to reaching consumers, while repositioning their product and service offerings to meet a wide variety of consumer needs during this time.

One format of brick-and-mortar retail, which is inherently about utilizing technology and the digital world to drive engaging consumer experiences both online and offline, is pop-up retail. Implicit in the strategy of a pop-up is the physical manifestation of a marketing execution, but also a digital campaign that integrates touch points across social, online, and traditional in-store channels. “It’s this multichannel optimization that has allowed pop-up retail to become more prominent in recent years as brands, of all types and sizes, recognize the benefits of experiential marketing to offer carefully curated experiences that both drive foot traffic and provide unique brand interaction,” said Linda Farha, industry expert and founder of pop-up go.

True, there are many advantages to pop-up retail, as an ephemeral and captivating approach to testing a new product or service, reaching a new market segment, or bolstering sales to name a few.

While pop-ups of the past have always focused on creating a physical presence, augmented by complimentary digital and virtual initiatives,

pop-ups of the future will need to respect COVID-19-related social distancing measures, while adapting to the new era of physical retail.

According to Farha, “COVID-19 has expedited trends which were already beginning to have an impact on the retail industry. For example, rationalization of department store and large chain presence and the increasing demand for smaller, more controlled retail environments.” Larger stores may have a harder time adapting to the postCOVID retail environment, if not simply because of the increased cost in overall operations due to new health and safety screening measures and managing social distancing orders.

Small format stores, including pop-ups, are better positioned to adapt quickly and will find it easer to move to, or augment, their digital footprint. Opportunity connector and pop-up facilitator popup go, is helping brands and retailers who may have been interested in executing a physical pop-up activation before the pandemic, to do so entirely online, while they wait for the brick-and-mortar retail world to reopen. “We’re launching a digital division called projeX to help our clients extend their physical brands, by providing an online marketplace where they can execute their pop-up activation virtually. This can be to increase or create brand awareness, launch a new product, reward loyal customers, gain insights, increase CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 ›

AS RETAIL SPACES BEGIN TO RE-OPEN, WE CAN EXPECT TO SEE MORE SOCIAL DISTANCING AND LOWER CUSTOMER CAPACITY.

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RETAIL ISN'T THE ONLY INDUSTRY GETTING IN ON THE POP-UP SCENE. DINNER WITH A VIEW HAS OPENED DOME-STYLE FINE DINING RESTAURANTS ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY. PICTURED HERE IS THEIR RESTAURANT IN SAN DIEGO.

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products and may be damaged by harsh sanitizers. In addition, compact, modular and multi-purpose fixtures may become more popular since they are simpler and faster to install and reconfigure, depending on the needs of the retailer. Furthermore, since pop-ups typically have a small footprint and open concept, it makes sense that, as far as physical retail goes, pop-up stores may be approved to reopen sooner than shopping malls and large-format retailers because they can more effectively meet the health and safety and physical distancing requirements that are likely to remain in place for months to come.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made it abundantly clear that e-commerce capability is an essential sales platform for many businesses, now and in the future. Furthermore, the current interruption of normal business sales practices presents a good opportunity for businesses to turn their attention to creating or updating their e-commerce capabilities while they prepare for the eventual return to some form of normalcy. In the meantime, understand that physical retail is certainly not dead, but it is undergoing a significant transformation, further exacerbated by the current pandemic. Consumers are human after all, and as humans we crave physical interaction— we want to browse, touch, taste, and smell before making some purchasing decisions. Almost certainly, physical retail stores will remain as a primary point of contact with consumers, taking on a renewed, more crucial role in the customer journey. s&p Sarah Duquette is a Senior Account Manager at Zenergy Communications.

Her current responsibilities include campaign management, media and public relations, developing strategies and content for social media, influencer marketing, and overseeing the creative design team.

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customer database, and much more,” explains Farha. Some businesses have already started jumping onto this new trend, including Newcastleiwho hosted a virtual pop-up indoor plant sale and Toronto women’s intimates brand Knix who transitioned its “warehouse sale” online and saw an increase in sales.

Long-term, pop-up stores may become the dominant format of the physical retail environment. More brands will continue to embrace e-commerce channels, while using specialized pop-ups for things like new product launches, promotional sales, and for creating exclusive experiences that are largely missing from traditional retail stores. The advantages for retailers are obvious – reduced risk and expenditures associated with permanent stores, as well as the ability to reach several markets at once. For landlords too, the opportunity to lease space on a short-term basis that might otherwise sit vacant, to reduce carrying costs, and expose new business ventures, makes pop-ups appealing as a viable marketing strategy for their properties.

The temporary nature of pop-up stores means the physical space needs to be designed to be highly customizable and easy to change quickly. Therefore, the need for supporting businesses, those that manufacture and construct custom buildouts, furniture, interior displays, and the like, will increase. It is also likely that the materials themselves used in brick-and-mortar retail construction will change.

Retailers will be looking for materials that are more conducive to providing safe, clean environments for consumers when they are ready to have hands-on shopping experiences again. This could mean a wider use of synthetic building materials as opposed to natural wood, for example, which is porous and requires specific cleaning

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Sales Managers’ Most Common Mistake

BY DAVE K AHLE

I

n most organizations, sales managers are the essential bridge between the company’s sales goals and the realization of those goals. The gritty day-to-day interactions between the salespeople and their customers are frequently filtered through the perspective of the sales manager on their way up the ladder. The aspirations and strategies of the company’s management must be imprinted by the realism of the sales manager as they come down from above.

Sales managers are the conductors who carefully orchestrate the entanglement of the salespeople with management.

It’s an incredibly important and difficult job. Unfortunately, it is often the most under-trained job in the entire organization. Instead of providing information on the best practices and processes of the

job, most companies hope their sales managers will have learned enough during their days as a field sales person to provide some roadmap as to how to do this job well.

Alas, only a small percentage of untrained sales managers ever really figure it out, arriving by trial and error and after hours of study at the best practices of an effective sales manager. The overwhelming majority find themselves caught up in the urgencies of the moment, the tempting details of all the transactions, and the continuing onslaught of crises, and are never able to set in place a systematic blueprint for their success.

The net result? Few salespeople are effectively managed. All parties—executive management, sales manager, and salespeople— bounce from one frustration to another. Company objectives are met frequently by happenstance, sales people are not developed to their fullest potential and sales managers lurch from one crisis to another.

Certain common mistakes often arise out of this unhealthy situation, chief among them: lack of an organized training and development system. No profession in the world expects the serious practitioners of that profession to figure it out by themselves. Quite the contrary. Every profession has determined some minimal acceptable course of study, and typically has some event which signals the entry into that profession. It is for this reason that teachers, EMTs and ministers are licensed, and why attorneys must pass the bar exam, accountants must pass their certification exam, etc.

Unfortunately, that is rarely true of salespeople. In only the leading companies is there some required course of study for entry level salespeople, and some event which signifies the successful completion of that study and their entry into the profession. To even think this way is so

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outside of the reality of most sales managers that I can almost hear half of the readers of this article snickering over their coffee. “Some standard for allowing people into the job?” Incredible thought. But if you don’t insist on it, you’ll continue to labor with a hit-or-miss sales force where every hire is ultimately a shot in the dark.

No profession in the world expects that, once someone has become qualified to enter the profession, they then no longer need to invest in their own development. And every profession has expectations of the practitioners’ regular need to systematically improve himself or herself. Can you imagine a teacher who never attends an in-service training? A nurse who never invests in continuing development? A minister who never goes back to school? A doctor who never attends a conference?

Even if such lackadaisical professionals could keep their jobs, you would not want them to have anything to do with your family.

You would never put your health in the hands of a doctor who hadn’t updated himself since med school. You would not want your children taught by the teacher who hadn’t learned anything since graduation.

You would never put your lawsuit in the hands of an attorney who had never bothered to keep current. The examples can go on and on. But you get the idea. Professionals who don’t regularly invest in their own development are relegated to the dregs of the market.

So, why is it that the overwhelming majority of sales managers do not require regular and systematic involvement in continuous

TREME

“Professionals who don’t regularly invest in their own development are relegated to the dregs of the market.” development events for their charges? It may be that they don’t see their salespeople (or themselves) as professionals. Or, it may be that they have never thought about it that way.

Regardless of the reason, the reality of this malady is that the quality of the sales force is not nearly what it could be, if only the sales managers required some minimum standard for their entrylevel people, and then regular and continuous development of those who were on the inside. The wise sales manager will assemble a system for the education and development of his salespeople.

Address this miscue and you’ll be well on your way to outstanding success in sales management. s&p – Dave Kahle is a sales consultant, presenter author of 12 books, including How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime (www.davekahle.com).

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Designing the New Normal: What’s in Store for Materials and Design

BY BILL ESLER

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMILY GILBERT

B

usinesses in all sectors, including architecture and design, are recalculating how to accommodate the “new normal.” Undoubtedly the configuration of interior spaces will change and along with that the materials being used to fabricate them.

In the initial weeks, as more people began working from home, the shortcomings of makeshift office spaces became readily apparent, and not just for those at home, but for those viewing their colleagues from similar settings: bad lighting, noise and clutter in the background.

When it comes to trends in materials, analyst Ken Busch, founder of Material Intelligence, shared a list of trends likely to endure in the post-pandemic environment. Busch will also moderate a symposium on Materials in Design at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta on August 26.

“Seamless surfaces with fewer voids are an obvious solution, as are materials that can withstand rigorous cleaning, with sometimes harsh compounds,” he said. “The jury is out on the real-world effectiveness on antimicrobial surfaces, which of course still need to be cleaned. There are nano textures that are resistant to bacterial growth, but we aren’t hearing much about them in furniture yet.”

Busch also touched on the importance of biophilic design and how there’s a growing interest in what might best be called “climate and human health,” both in commercial purchases and A&D specification.

“Biophilic design has been linked to higher productivity, lower stress, less fatigue and happier people. The U.S. EPA discovered that working within one meter of a living plant increases productivity by 15%.”

Busch continued, “Biophilic design encompasses anything that evokes nature. This includes use of color (blue ceilings, green walls), woods, woodgrain laminates, prints with natural themes, etc.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 50 ›

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SUGGESTIONS FOR BOOSTING MOOD, PROMOTING COMFORT, AND ENHANCING CONCENTRATION IN HOME WORK SPACES

your workspace to the way • Tailor you work the desk or worktable to your way • Size of working.

Set the work surface off-center in the room • (not facing a wall just to save space).

• Use light, soothing palettes.

• Employ natural elements and colors.

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Here’s something interesting: Researchers surveyed people placed in curtained-off areas in two different rooms, one with wood walls, one with concrete walls. People felt calmer and had lower blood pressure in the room with wood walls. So, there might be more to biophilic design than meets the eye. Literally!”

Given the immediacy of the work-at-home imperative, individuals have been making their own room arrangements. But designer Daun Curry offers some practical advice rooted in contemporary office design trends.

The biophilic design trend of the past decade, which promotes natural lighting and natural materials in interiors “is here to stay,” according to Curry. Indeed, two arbiters of biophilic design have quickly moved to incorporate the effects of the pandemic in their initiatives. The International Living Building Institute, managers of the Declare Label, have reset many programs to address COVID19. And the WELL Building Institute just created a Task Force on Coronavirus that it expects will “create enhancements to the WELL Building Standard itself.”

“Your workspace should be tailored to the way you work,” she said. According to Curry, who last year was named the Andrew Martin Interior Designer of the Year, “many of us find ourselves working in utilitarian or makeshift spaces that forego comfort, function, and livability—but without these elements, people are hard-pressed to truly be able to get into the zone.”

Curry suggests the same guidance she would offer in planning professionally, advising those working from home to add “elements I regularly employ to boost mood, promote comfort, and enhance concentration when I get to work. The more positive the energy around you, the more inclined you are to be productive.”

“Biophilic design encompasses anything that evokes nature. This includes use of color (blue ceilings, green walls), woods, woodgrain laminates, prints with natural themes, etc.”

KENN BUSCH, MATERIAL INTELLIGENCE

MATERIALS, LIGHTING, ACOUSTICS WILL PLAY KEY ROLES.

Designers will use them to support mental health through interior environments.

So what exactly will this “new normal” look like? Some experts will say that almost everything will change within the workplace, but others might ask if the traditional cubicle setting will still be around.

“As they’ve been romanticized in every movie ever made about Silicon Valley, yes,” said Busch. “But we may not be herded back into cubicles right away. There will be more separation of work areas, more planned social distancing, more use of screens and dividers, and more furniture solutions that are easy to reconfigure and achieve the previous points.” s&p

Among her suggestions: size the desk or worktable to your way of working, then set that work surface off-center in the room (not facing a wall just to save space). Instead, put the side against the wall, and face the worktable into the center of the room. Use light, soothing palettes, and employ natural elements and colors.

Although the work-at-home phenomenon was already on the rise even before the pandemic arose, it’s something Formica design guru Renee Hytry Derrington calls the “resimercial” design aesthetic.

“The definition of ‘home’ is changing, as humans are blurring their time between work, home and play,” Hytry Derrington said. “The concept of ‘resimercial’ is now the new norm for bridging between public and private life.” The changes accompanying the business lockdown gave millions of people a rapid immersion in that transition.

Leading Toronto designer Stanley Sun of Mason Studio seconds Hytry Derrington’s view driven by the need for social distancing and staying in place. Sun offered these additional emerging trends he’s seeing in the indsutry: VIRTUAL AND PHYSICAL PLACES ARE MERGING. With

homes doubling as workspaces and video studios where we collaborate, lighting and background settings must now be part of the planning for the home office.

Milesi presents:

New waterborne impregnators for exteriors, specific for decking and exterior furniture.

Available in a choice of 12 tinted colors from the Milesi Collection (XWT510x Series Color).

Milesi Distributors can produce any tinted color desired using clear base (XWC5AA1) in combination with pigmented pastes.

They feature excellent foot traffic resistance, and unparalleled protection against weather conditions, mildew, fungi and UV exposure threats.

As children often play on decks and pool decks, these impregnators have been formulated to comply with EN71/3 European regulation related to toy safety.

Ideal to be used on softwoods, exotic woods and thermotreated wood, can be applied by brush, manual roller and automatic impregnator.

Coated surfaces can be maintained using the same products, without sanding.

PUBLIC INTERIORS PROVIDE NATURAL “BUBBLES” FOR GROUP DISTANCING. Hotel lobbies and restaurants will accommodate

small groups staying together, but apart from each other. In retail, product displays will be further apart, so people won’t be crowded.

COMMON AREAS IN MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENCES WILL ALLOW GROUPS TO BE SEPARATE. Passageways between such spaces will allow movement, but at more of a distance from others.

For more details on this solution visit www.milesi.com Reserved Area.

SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

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IWF Scheduled for Take-off

T

he International Wood Working Fair is scheduled to take off in August as our nation and the industry continue to make progress in their all-out missions to contain and ultimately defeat COVID-19.

The trade show and conference, considered the country’s largest woodworking event, will take place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA., August 25-28. In line with other large trade events occurring in late summer, officials of Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America and Woodworking Machinery Industry Association are keeping a close eye as events unfold almost daily and specific protocol is being taken to ensure attendee safety.

“We are taking action to create a safe and secure show experience. That action comes in collaboration with the Georgia World Congress Center, a state entity with extraordinary depth of knowledge on how to maintain a safe and secure trade show environment and with direct access to the most up-to-date state guidance,” officials emphasized. Both hosting associations (WMMA and WMIA) have undertaken careful study in collaboration with partners, owners, and industry leaders who unanimously support the intent to proceed with IWF in late August. ©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/SEANPAVONE

CONTINUED ON PAGE 54 ›

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While every event is different, officials are closely monitoring what other shows are doing in terms of postponement, cancellation, and best practices. Several upcoming events are scheduled at the venue, including Atlanta Comic Con, 2020 Energy Exchange and Nike Tournament of Champions.

Working under the guidance of trusted authorities like Georgia Department of Public Health, the state of Georgia and Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the show’s close collaboration extends to show partners and vendors, all of whom are expected to follow a rigorous safety regimen.

Attendees and exhibitors will have access to over 150 hand washing stations in high traffic areas. In addition, there will be increased housekeeping, cleaning and disinfecting frequencies with cleaning procedures aligned to CDC recommendations and increased hand sanitizer locations by 200%. When it comes to registration and badge pickup, areas are being redesigned to ensure a 6-foot distance between registration stations and in queue lines and there is adequate space in both Hall A3 and Building C/Northside Drive Entrance to allow for social distancing prior to entering the hall.

In April, Governor Brian P. Kemp announced that part of the Georgia World Congress Center would be transformed into an alternative care facility for COVID-19 patients if the need arose. The 200bed facility would be anchored in partnership with Grady Health System and provide treatment to non-critical patients. But, it was recently announced that the makeshift hospital is winding down

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immensely as state health officials confirmed the number of cases wasn’t nearly as high as anticipated.

As things are changing almost weekly it seems, attendees and vendors who are interested in updates about COVID-19 and the show can visit “We Want You to Know" on www.iwfatlanta.com. “We Want You To Know: Information you need about IWF 2020 and COVID-19” is a weekly update providing current information on show preparedness. Attendees and vendors are encouraged to read this information carefully for the latest developments on Coronavirus and COVID-19 policies and procedures in place across the IWF 2020 show experience—on site and off. All information is based on current conditions.

In addition to prominent keynote speakers and a robust tradeshow, the event will have a number seminars dedicated to education in all aspects of the woodworking industry.

Officials will continue to adjust the show plan over the next four months as new guidance comes out, while continuing to work toward producing a show focused on a new and brighter future. n

“For the entire woodworking community—from small shops to major manufacturers—IWF is where the woodworking business does business.”

IWF 2020 SCHEDULE MONDAY, AUGUST 24 9:00 am–5:00 pm Establishing a More Profitable

Closets & Storage Operation ALL-DAY SYMPOSIUM

9:00 am–5:00 pm Wood Flooring Symposium ALL-DAY SYMPOSIUM

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2 5 9:00 am–10:30 am Site Finishing, Overcoming the Challenges MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

9:00 am–10:30 am Failure May Be the Best Option—

Encouraging Innovation at All Levels of Your Business MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

9:00 am–10:30 am Successfully Growing, Preserving and

Transitioning Your Company and Wealth MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

9:00 am–11:00 am When to Consider Outsourcing BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

10:00 am–12:00 pm Intellectual Property 101 for the Woodworking

Professional: Protecting Your IP MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

11:00 am–12:00 pm A Smarter Approach to Factory Air WORKFORCE MAINTENANCE & ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

11:00 am–12:00 pm Managing and Motivating Millennials—

Plus Are You Ready for Gen Z?!

WORKFORCE MAINTENANCE & ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

11:00 am–12:30 pm Maximizing your Business Information BUSINESS MANAGEMENT CONTINUED ON PAGE 56 ›

SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

55

‹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 55

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2 5 11:30 am–1:30 pm

CONTINUED

Working with Architects & Designers on Transitional Projects MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

1:00 am–2:30 pm

You Made a Profit But Can You Live with the Cash Flow?

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

2:00 pm–3:30 pm Building Winning Teams WORKFORCE MAINTENANCE & ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

2:30 pm–3:30 pm

Powering Up for Prosperity— A Program For Women in Leadership BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

2:30 pm–4:30 pm Lean Strategies for ALL Shops…

Big or Small MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

3:00 pm–5:00 pm Know Your OSHA Inspection Rights BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

4:00 pm–5:00 pm Robotic Applications in Woodworking MANUFACTURING & DESIGN CONTINUED ON PAGE 58 ›

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‹ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 56

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26 9:00 am–5:00 pm Materials in Design ALL-DAY SYMPOSIUM

9:00 am–10:00 am Business Has Changed—

What Needs to Change in Your Business?

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

9:00 am–11:00 am Financing 101: The Basics BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

11:00 am–12:00 pm Growing your Business

with Equipment Financing and Social Media MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

11:30 am–1:00 pm

Employee Benefits: How to Attract and Retain Employees WORKFORCE MAINTENANCE & ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

1:00 pm–2:00 pm

Sustainability: Vacuum Centralization for CNC Routers MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

1:00 pm–2:30 pm

The Urban Wood Movement: Expanding from Coast to Coast NEW BUSINESS SECTOR

1:30 pm–3:00 pm

Job Costing: A Systematic Approach to Comparing Estimated to Actual Costs BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

3:00 pm–4:30 pm Pricing vs Costing—Dive into a

Contribution Margin Understanding BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

3:00 pm–5:00 pm Intellectual Property 201:

Patenting Process and Strategies MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

3:45 pm–5:00 pm Identifying New Export Markets

and Customers MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

THUR SDAY, AUGUST 27 9:00 am–10:00 am You Can’t Powder Coat Wood… Or Can You? MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

9:00am - 10:30am Beyond the ADA—Creating Spaces

that Everyone Can Live With MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

9:00 am–10:30 am Leapfrog from Laminate

to High-End Concrete NEW BUSINESS SECTOR

9:00 am–11:00 am Benchtop CNC: A Good Investment for Me? MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

9:00 am–11:00 am Diversifying Your Business:

Think Outside the (Cabinet) Box BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

58

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THUR SDAY, AUGUST 27

CONTINUED

9:00 am–11:00 am YIKES! What I Thought I Knew About

Proper Sanding Turns Out to Be Just Costing Me $$ Money

1:00 pm–2:30 pm

MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

1:30 pm–3:00 pm

MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

11:00 am–12:00 pm Industrial Digital Printing–

The Future of Decentralized Production of Decorative Surfaces

Leveraging Social Media Cyber Security: What You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

2:30 pm–3:30 pm

NEW BUSINESS SECTOR

Certification Programs for Kitchen & Vanity Cabinets MANUFACTURING & DESIGN

11:00 am–12:00 pm Trade Finance: Getting the Funding You

Need and Managing Risk for Exporters 11:30 am–1:00 pm

MARKETING & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

INFORMATION YOU NEED ABOUT IWF 2020 AND COVID-19

Running a One or Two Person Shop: How to Make It All Work

One Piece Flow in Your Millwork Facility

WE WANT YOU TO KNOW is your weekly update providing current information on IWF 2020 Show Preparedness. Please read this information carefully for the latest developments on Coronavirus and COVID-19 policies and procedures in place across the IWF 2020 show experience—on site and off. All information is based on current conditions. Included are links to various IWF vendor, city and state government, and travel and hotel partner websites. Access these sites for vital information regarding your IWF 2020 attendance.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

www.iwfatlanta.com

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

1:00 pm–2:00 pm

Using Measurable Data to Get Maximum Employee Performance WORKFORCE MAINTENANCE & ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE

1:00 pm–2:30 pm

THE FUTURE’S

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SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

59

JOHN AUFDERHAAR | PUBLISHER | SURFACE & PANEL MAGAZINE JOHN@BEDFORDFALLSMEDIA.COM

In Harm’s Way John Aufderhaar, publisher of Surface & Panel, shines a light on the everyday heroes that many of us know and care about. These heroes put their lives and well-being in the way so we can stay safe— the least we can do is be grateful.

No one needs to tell you that we face unprecedented times. COVID-19 hit us like a bus in the street. This global war, on something which can only be seen with an electron microscope, is a war we must win. It will take coordinated ingenuity and courage from healthcare professionals from around the world. We didn’t start it, but since we’re in it, America will spearhead the effort.

No matter how long it will take us to overcome this terrible invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. Sound familiar? Yes, FDR said those words in 1941. And they have pertinence today. The war on COVID-19 and WWII have a great deal in common. How? Simply this…ordinary men and women will perform extraordinary feats of heroism, placing themselves in harm’s way to fight this war on our behalf. It will be a great struggle. Many of them will make the ultimate sacrifice on the altar of freedom.

I salute the EMT’s, first responders, nurses, doctors and all medical professionals on the front line in this great battle. This is our D-Day invasion.

My sister is an RN. My daughter-in-law is an RN. My daughter is a clinical healthcare professional. My son-in law is a doctor.

When this war is over… these modern-day heroes, like all true heroes will say, “I was just doing

©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/FEVERPITCHED

my job.” God bless them all.

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SURFACEANDPANEL.COM

Stay tuned for the newest episode of Surface & Panel Podcast, where John Aufderhaar sits down with Bert Clothier, president of Laminate Works. Together they’ll discuss the future of surfaces and laminates.

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QUICK-SET QUICK-SET is a simple and efficient 2-part dowel. With its glue-less design, the threaded stud and plastic sleeve firmly lock into place. RTA cabinets and closet systems are put together on or off-site quickly and easily. QUICK-SET is processed the same as a conventional wooden dowel – but in a much shorter time, as gluing and clamping is not a factor. In addition to its main area of application as a modern cabinet connector, the QUICK-SET can also be used for drawer boxes, shelving, and bookcases.

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Ligno-Scanner SDM moisture meter Lignomat manufactures a unique pinless dual-depth moisture meter for panel products. The selectable measuring depth allows measuring panels of different thicknesses and materials. With the Ligno-Scanner SDM moisture meter, different layers of materials within the same board are measured. The meter can be easily set to measure cementitious panels or panels made from wood or laminates.

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2020 —

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LEGRABOX drawer systems LEGRABOX drawer systems by Blum allow for a functional space without sacrificing style. Offered in multiple colors, these metal systems offer beautiful, slim sides and allow you to add your own fronts to further customize your look, giving you a variety of design options throughout the home.

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ShopBot PRSalpha with Automatic Tool Changer Increase your CNC productivity without adding additional manpower. With an ATC, your ShopBot PRSalpha CNC becomes a full machining center allowing you to rough cut, carve, drill, and finish pass without having to handle material or bits in-between operations. Take full advantage of the efficiency that digital fabrication technology provides with a ShopBot PRSalpha with ATC. SHOPBOTTOOLS.COM

SURFACE & PANEL • Q2 2020

63

A D V E R T I S E R S

PAGE

PAGE

www.bainbridgemfg.com

Lignomat 21 800.227.2105 www.lignomat.com

Blum

Bainbridge Manufacturing

63 509.745.9555

2 704.827.1345

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BMK Group

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www.melamine-papers.com Burkle 7 714.379.5090

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Maine DECD

45 207.624.7448

www.maine.gov/decd/home Milesi 51 +39 0384 2544.1 www.milesi.com

Omnova Solutions

57 866.332.5226

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Panel Processing

Collins

56 800.433.7142

15 800.329.1219

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Daubert Chemical Company, Inc.

53 866.368.3983

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Evergreen Engineering

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Genesis Products

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Panolam 13 203.925.1556 www.panolam.com

Premier Eurocase

67 303.373.9718

www.premiereurocase.com Purchem 35 519.754.1678 www.purchem.com Riken 31 248.513.3511 www.riken-usa.com Salice 61 800.222.9652 www.saliceamerica.com

37 336.996.4041

Shopbot 9 888.680.4466 www.shopbottools.com Hexion www.grassusa.com

29 888.443.9466

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surfaceandpanel.com/readhardware

11 919.544.0430

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59 877.882.3472

Tafisa Canada

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19 508.760.1140

Timber Products Company

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68 800.547.9520

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King Plastic

27 800.780.5502

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Kings Mountain International

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Laguna Tools

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www.timberproducts.com Ultrapan 43 754.702.2632 www.ultrapan.net

Uniboard 41 800.263.5240 www.uniboard.com

Union Tool Corporation

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A New Way to Read

SurfaceAndPanel.com/ReadHardware

Coming Soon

R E

E

D

I

T

O

SPONSORED BY:

F

R

O

M

T

H

We’re in some interesting times right now.

If I had a dollar for every time I said the words, “We’re in some interesting times right now.” The truth is that we are, and this issue reflects that. As the world grapples with what some may call “our new normal,” the designers, architects, builders and fabricators of the world are working hard to find solutions to combat the situation we find ourselves in. Throughout the issue, you’ll come across stories of how companies like Laminate Works and Uniboard are developing solutions for a safer, healthier environment.

Analyst Kenn Busch, founder of Material Intelligence, shared a list of trends likely to endure in the post-pandemic environment in an article on page 48. Offering his observations about possible directions for materials, he noted that seamless surfaces with fewer voids are an obvious solution, as are materials that can withstand rigorous cleaning with sometimes harsh compounds. He also touched on the importance of biophilic design and how there’s a growing interest in what might best be called “climate and human health,” both in commercial STEPHANIE ORNELAS | EDITOR | SURFACE & PANEL MAGAZINE SORNELAS@525MEDIAGROUP.COM | 714-486-2735

purchases and A&D specification.

Busch is also scheduled to moderate a symposium on Materials in Design at the International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta on August 26. The show is slated to run at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta August 25-28, and while concerns about large event gatherings have been a focal point of the pandemic, show officials have been working dili-

“It’s obvious that when it comes to this industry, something like COVID-19 won’t hold back the most passionate of people. It will simply encourage them to work harder to find more solutions.”

gently to enforce rigorous protocol to ensure vendor and attendee safety. Officials of Wood Machinery Manufacturers of America and Woodworking Machinery Industry Association are working under the guidance of Georgia Department of Public Health, the state of Georgia and Center for Disease Control and Prevention to assure safety for guests of the venue. You can read all about it on page 52.

Meanwhile, the students of Ryerson School of Interior Design in Toronto aren’t letting the pandemic stop their passion for design. Using Wilsonart’s Laminate Collection, students competed in a chair design competition for the annual #WilsonartChallenges program. Although the International Contemporary Furniture Fair was cancelled and students were unable to showcase their work, they were still acknowledged for outstanding designs. The company picked student Amy Yan and five runner ups.

So it’s obvious that when it comes to this industry, something like COVID-19 won’t hold back the most passionate of people. It will simply encourage them to work harder to find more solutions.

Steve Killgore, president of Timber Products, hit the nail on the head when he said, “Resilient people take stock in the situation, look for opportunities to change, make adjustments, and come out the other side ready to face a new reality.”

And that’s exactly what many companies featured in this issue are doing—working towards a healthier and brighter future. Because the truth is, nothing lasts forever. This too shall pass.

And when we do come out the other side, we will be better for it and we’ll have more solutions to fight the next big fight.

Stephanie Ornelas, Editor

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