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Attendance up at Win-door

Continuing its reputation of listening
and acting upon feedback from exhibitors and visitors to the Win-door
North America show, organizers returned to the North Building of the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) after an overwhelming number of
show participants gave it ‘two thumbs up’.

Continuing its reputation of listening and acting upon feedback from exhibitors and visitors to the Win-door North America show, organizers returned to the North Building of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) after an overwhelming number of show participants gave it ‘two thumbs up’. In 2005, show organizers moved the event to the North Building from its previous location in the South Building only for that year. However, the new facility appealed to show participants who asked for a return to the same venue in 2006.

The Canadian Window and Door Manufacturers Association (CWDMA) held its annual trade show, Win-door North America, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) North Building from November 14 to 16.

“Several people indicated they would like the show to return to the North Building. Everybody had their own reason why they liked it better, but whatever the reasons we didn’t want to mess with a good thing,” says 2006 show chairperson Ron Vanden Brink, adding that this has been the key to the show’s success over the last decade: listening to feedback from exhibitors and then acting upon them.

“This is why the show has been successful for so long and it has been growing,” he says. “Win-door has been running for 12 consecutive years and it’s getting bigger, stronger and more effective.”

Owned by the Canadian Window and Door Manufacturers Association (CWDMA), the show was held from November 14 to 16 and was supported by more than 165 exhibiting companies featuring all the latest computer hardware, software, doors, door lites, hardware, machinery, sealants, weatherseals, testing services, wood products and systems for the fenestration and door industries.

“Win-door North America is truly a complete fenestration industry package,” says CWDMA president Robert Latour. “Everything that I have heard from all the exhibitors indicates we had excellent quality in traffic in all booths at the show,” he says, adding trade attendance was more than 3000, up over 10 percent from the 2005 show.

For years, organizers have billed the show as a highly focussed manufacturers’ show known for its quality of visitors rather than sheer number of attendees. Sherry Graves-Morrison, from Natural Resources Canada who was promoting the Energy Star Program agrees. “This show allows us to maintain our association with window manufacturers who are on-board with the Energy Star program and answer their questions. It’s a tremendous advantage to be on-hand to explain the program to newcomers face-to-face,” she says, adding that this venue specifically caters to her audience which is the window and door industry.

Lothar Witte from Lothar Industrial Sales says exhibitors need to evaluate the success of this show differently than similar shows in the US. “The Canadian show is about getting together in an easy and relaxed atmosphere. It attracts a lot of people from Quebec and it’s not as expensive to exhibit here compared to shows in the US, but I would like to see the show move around a little, perhaps to Montreal,” he says.

Michael Durham from Sika Canada was enjoying the attention his company’s new product, the Sikaflex AT Connection, was getting at his booth. The high quality one-part joint sealant for window and door perimeter joints is based on a new type of hybrid polymer that combines silicone and polyurethane technology that adheres to different substrates. “The show seems slower compared to last year, but the sales leads we generated this year are of a better quality,” he says, acknowledging that Win-door is known for this. “While a lot of other shows get more ‘tire-kickers’, I like the leads we get here because they’re more valid and this is a perfect venue to showcase our new product.”

GlassBuild America held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in September 2006, saw a 50 percent increase in international attendance with 115 international exhibitors.

Brian Hall from ODL says it is hard to judge the success of this show strictly on the numbers because it only takes a few people to stop by your booth to make exhibiting here worthwhile. “This show is needed but I’m not sure it is needed every year, especially considering the cost cutting taking place by a lot of firms. The theme organizers emphasize is ‘quality’ not ‘quantity’… I think this is more true this year than other years,” says Hall, excusing himself to speak with a customer before continuing the interview. “I just got an order… it’s a great show!” -end-

GlassBuild hits record number
GlassBuild America: The Glass, Window and Door Expo hit the mark in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a record 10,000 glass, window and door industry professionals participating in the three-day event.

Organized by the National Glass Association (NGA), the event took place September 19 to 21 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, featuring a full slate of educational opportunities. The 2006 event attracted 489 exhibiting companies on the trade show floor: the highest number in the NGA’s history.

The show hosted 115 international exhibitors, with 43 from Canada and 35 from China. Also included were companies from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Norway, South Korea, Spain and Taiwan. The 2006 event also saw a 50 percent increase in international attendance compared to the show held a year before.

An appearance by NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace, sponsored by MyGlassClass.com, was one of the
highlights of the event. In 2007, GlassBuild America will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from September 10 to 12. -end-

Glasstec 2006 held in Dusseldorf, Germany, attracted more than 1300 companies and more than 54,000 visitors from 46 countries.

A global event
Glasstec 2006, the International Trade Fair held in Düsseldorf, Germany, attracted more than 1300 companies, associations and research institutes from 46 countries to showcase the latest products and trends in the glass industry, in glass machinery and equipment as well as in the glazier trades. More than 54,000 visitors attended, up slightly from 53,752 attendees at Glasstec 2004.

Glasstec is the only trade fair worldwide to showcase the entire spectrum of the glass industry with a focus on the innovative potential of glass as a construction material and the operational excellence of manufacturers, finishers and machinery manufacturers. According to show organizers, 60 percent of the visitors were interested in forward-looking categories such as thin special glass, insulating glass, laser technology, photovoltaics and solar thermal systems.

Approximately 60 percent of the attendees came from outside of Germany and more than 70 percent of these visitors were executives with decision-making authority. The majority of the non-German exhibitors at Glasstec 2006 were from Italy (198), followed by China (97), the US (68), the Netherlands (63), Great Britain (55) and France (41).

An event called Glass Technology Live featured a live symposium on a topic called ‘Houses of the Future’ that highlighted a variety of glass applications, including coloured thin-film cells, switchable glass and the world’s largest free-span all-glass staircase.

The next Glasstec will be held in Düsseldorf October 21 to 25, 2008. -end-

Milestone celebrated
2006 was a milestone year for Edgetech IG in Cambridge, Ohio, as it celebrated its one billionth foot of spacer manufacturing. The company was filling an order for Oregon based, Jeld-Wen Windows & Doors, an Edgetech partner for more than eight years, that has installed two fully automated Super Spacer lines. From the left: Mike Hovan, president of Edgetech, helps Dale Foland, chairman of the board for Lauren International, cut the one billionth foot of Edgetech’s Super Spacer in the presence of Gerhard Reichert, vice-president of business development for Edgetech, co-designer of the Super Spacer and Larry Johnson, executive vice-president.