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Fire retardancy in shade structures: requirements and solutions
October 4th, 2019
David Dean, director of research and development at Glen Raven/Sunbrella, led the campfire session, “Fire Retardancy in Shade Structures: Requirements and Solutions” during Expo 2019 in Orlando, Fla., According to Dean, in the U.S. there are currently no federally-mandated fire retardancy (FR) regulations for shade structures. The few regulations that have been passed include those […]
Sales success with a dose of passive aggression
October 4th, 2019
Chris Semonelli, vice president, sales and marketing, E Squared, and president of Coated Technical Solutions, says he has “a philosophy of being assertive with passive aggression” when it comes to sales. “You need to have a deadline with customers and R&D, and make frequent visits. Emails and faxes are great, but you can’t look customers […]
Award breakfast transforms into a networking event
October 4th, 2019
Keynote speaker Thom Singer hosted IFAI’s annual award ceremony October 3 at Expo 2019, continuing his message to “see people.” As Expo exhibitors and attendees entered the breakfast event, Singer encouraged people to separate from familiar colleagues and sit with new people. This year’s award ceremony was infused with an additional goal—that of networking with […]
Industry 4.0 and what it means for your small business
October 4th, 2019
Jonathan Palmer, CEO of Autometrix, presented the education session “Industry 4.0 for Small Businesses” at IFAI Expo 2019 in Orlando, Fla. Industry 4.0 is a German initiative that began in 2011. The loose definition focuses on four main areas: interconnection (sensors, machines and devices), information (free-flowing info), assistance (robots/technology making a worker’s job easier and […]
Don’t overlook overhead
October 4th, 2019
Gary Westlund, of Awning Tracker, knows what he’s talking about when he says, “Overhead is a real cost. Unless you properly account for overhead on job bids, you are just guessing.” Westlund gave a straight-talk presentation on Oct. 3 at Expo 2019, telling attendees he owned and operated his own awning business for 25 years, […]
Solar encompasses endless possibilities
October 4th, 2019
“The building block is fabric, but there are a million possibilities to utilize solar,” says Pvilion founder and CEO Colin Touhey. Touhey gave an introductory presentation October 3 at Expo 2019 on cases for energy generation in fabric products. One of his first projects using solar cells in fabric was architectural in nature when he […]
Textile dyes market projections released
October 4th, 2019
A new report published by MarketsandMarkets indicates that the low cost of manufacturing in countries, such as China, and the high demand for textile dyes in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region as a whole are the key factors driving the demand for textile dyes. The textile dyes market is projected to be worth $10.9 billion by […]
Removing toxic dyes from wastewater
October 4th, 2019
A team of Texas Tech University researchers working in advanced textiles has found a new way to remove toxic dye pollutants from wastewater, and their approach is safer, cheaper and easier than traditional methods. Their results are described in the upcoming cover article of the online journal Particle & Particle Systems Characterization.
The technology behind shade sails
October 3rd, 2019
The technology behind shade sails is often misunderstood and underestimated, and this causes many shade sails to fail long before their normal life expectancy. This was the message from Alan Stewart, vice president of MPanel Software Solutions LLC, and Timothy Akes, software representative, during a highly-detailed classroom education session at Expo 2019 in Orlando, Fla. […]
2019 Show Stoppers at IFAI Expo
October 3rd, 2019
All the best from Florida: Thursday morning, Oct. 3, at IFAI Expo led off with lists of winners for the year, including the most popular products on the show floor. The eighth annual Show Stopper competition was designed to showcase the best of the best in the industry, from fabrics, equipment and chemicals to services […]