Fabric applications must meet codes

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Janice Kleinschmidt At one time, fabric—when it came to structures, anyway—amounted to little more than window dressing. With the advent of stronger, more durable textiles and advanced chemistry and manufacturing processes, fabric became a building material—one whose fluidity ap…
Read More
What green means for specialty fabrics customers

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Jamie Swedberg Environmentally friendly products aren’t flying off the shelves as quickly as they used to, what with customers’ newfound price sensitivity. But certain types of buyers will always want the greenest option. “This is just my opinion, but I don’t think sustain…
Read More
Color standards

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Janice Kleinschmidt Eight color-focused companies—including Adobe, Agfa, Apple, Kodak and Microsoft—joined forces in 1993 to develop and promote the standardization of identifying color across platforms. The International Color Consortium, based in Reston, Va., is already on version f…
Read More
Pairing the best substrate with the best ink

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Sigrid Tornquist Pairing the best substrate with the best ink is the pursuit of any savvy awning manufacturer and printer who plays a part in applying graphic applications to awnings. And though there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, there are some new developments worth considering, and so…
Read More
Making boating easy

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Derek Robinson John Anderson, CEO of Riviera Yachts, Australia’s largest luxury boat-builder, warns that the marine industry is in a period of rapid change and businesses need to constantly reinvent themselves. “In our market—luxury boats between 40 and 70 feet—we are movi…
Read More
Atkins project wins ACASPA award

January 1, 1970  |  News

Chris Atkins minimizes his company’s scope to maximize quality. By Sigrid Tornquist Chris Atkins doesn’t shy away from taking on large, complex projects—like a project his company completed for an installation at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Ariz. “The degree of diffi…
Read More
Specialty Fabrics Review interviews Chris Atkins, president of Atkins Fabrication

January 1, 1970  |  News

Interview by Sigrid Tornquist What is your industry prediction? The tensile structures market is going to keep growing. The stadiums around the world—the roofs are fabric. And schools, councils, shopping malls—they all need shade. What is your business philosophy? Quality is number one. …
Read More
Flying “pumpkins” fight fires

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Jamie Swedberg BWI Enterprises Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta, is manufacturing a product that has lifting straps like a bulk bag, but is designed to be picked up by a helicopter, not a forklift. “It’s for firefighting,” says president Brian Cook. “The helicopter picks the bag u…
Read More
Microproduction—in the short run

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Janice Kleinschmidt Patti Williams agrees that technology has altered the industrial landscape, but the consulting partner for IT Strategies, a digital printing consulting firm based in Hanover, Mass., eschews the “mass customization” label. “Over the last couple months, I&rsquo…
Read More
Working on the supply chain gang

January 1, 1970  |  News

By Janice Kleinschmidt According to Donal Reddington, founder of MadeForOne.com, lead time is the “crucial customer variant” for mass customization. “[A] customer is willing to pay 10 to 15 percent more for a mass-customized product over a standard product,” he says. “H…
Read More