ATLANTA — July 11, 2017 – Exposition Development Company Inc. (EDC) and Progressive Business Media (PBM) announced today the relocation of Home Furnishings Manufacturing Solutions Expo (HFMSE). The second edition will now take place July 18-19, 2018, at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, S.C.

The decision to move the event, which had its first edition June 7-8, 2017 at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, was primarily due to a high demand from exhibitors and attendees alike requesting the expo be held within the Carolinas.

With further discussions among industry leaders, the consensus is that moving to Greenville will allow for easier event access for the furniture manufacturing industry and significant growth in both exhibitor and attendee numbers. Additional benefits such as free parking, and free Wi-Fi also contributed to the decision.

“We had great support from the industry’s leaders for the first edition of the event, but there is still a significant audience that we are not getting to the show. The industry continues to tell us that moving the show into the Carolinas will bring a larger draw of attendees, due to the proximity that Greenville provides to those located in South and North Carolina.  After listening to the industry, we are making the decision to move the event to enable Home Furnishings Manufacturing Solutions Expo to grow to the size and scope we know it can be,” commented Stephanie Everett, Partner & COO, Exposition Development Company Inc.

Posted July 11, 2017

Source: Exposition Development Company, Inc.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — July 11, 2017 — Presenters providing unique insights into linen, uniform and facility services trends plus two informative and entertaining keynote speakers from outside the industry will educate attendees of the upcoming 2017 TRSA Annual Conference, Sept. 12-14 in Miami Beach.

The agenda appeals to the complete range of industry management professionals: owner-operators, executives, directors, general managers and other laundry-based department heads. All will benefit from education sessions and personal interaction with other TRSA members to discover big-picture ideas to improve their workplaces.

In addition, by attending a TRSA committee meeting at the conference, participants share ideas on specific issues and markets and drive TRSA to foster improvement of industry best practices.

Chief among industry-specific presentations will be a panel of top executives from international linen, uniform and facility services companies, including two European operations. This interactive information-sharing forum, “What Would You Ask Industry CEOs?” will take place on Thursday, Sept. 14, as the conference’s final business session.  Facilitated by TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci, the panel will discuss issues and concerns facing the industry and share their personal insights and perspectives. When registering for the conference, each attendee will submit a question to the panelists as if they were seeking a position with the questioner’s company. Other opportunities to question panelists will follow as well.

Companies scheduled to be represented on the panel — Alsco Inc., Aramark Corp., Bardusch GmbH & Co. KG, Cintas Corp. and Lindström Group— are multiplant operations that all have a presence outside North America, although most are better recognized as U.S. market-share leaders.

Breakout sessions include:

• How to increase revenue with top notch customer service
• Succession strategies to protect and perpetuate your business
• Trials, tribulations and best practices regarding employment law
• Linen, uniform and facility services industry bottom-line performance

The first keynote speaker at the conference, Rich Karlgaard of Forbes Magazine, is a futurist, entrepreneur and author. He will highlight the most important economic trends affecting your company as he describes how the business and technology world is likely to unfold over the next two to 10 years. The other conference keynoter is Dave Barry, the Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist. This newspaper columnist and best-selling author uses humor to present fresh insights into even the most serious concerns. He offers a wacky point of view on relationships, work, kids, technology and more.

Another conference highlight will be the Chairman’s Reception and Awards Dinner, honoring individuals and companies for their exceptional service to TRSA and the industry. Members are nominating their colleagues or companies for one of 10 of these high industry honors. Learn more at TRSA.org/awards. The dinner is just one of a variety of social opportunities at the conference including the opening welcome reception and optional recreational activities and tours.

Posted July 11, 2017

Source: TRSA

ATLANTA — July 11, 2017 — Syncron^™, a provider of cloud-based after-sales service solutions focused on empowering the world’s manufacturers to maximize product uptime and deliver exceptional customer experiences, today announced Brother Industries Ltd. — a multinational manufacturer of print and imaging equipment, machine tools and industrial and home sewing machines — has selected Syncron to improve product uptime around the world through optimized service parts management. Choosing Syncron Inventory^™ for its ease-of-use and ROI potential, Brother’s Machinery Business division aims to eliminate manual processes and improve the overall service experience.

Because of the long lifecycle of industrial equipment — oftentimes more than 20 years — and the variations in downtime severity, manufacturers within the industry need to ensure service parts are available when and where they are most in demand to ensure product uptime. With the understanding that industrial machinery is critical to manufacturing, as any downtime could halt production lines, Brother wanted to automate its service parts inventory management. This allows Brother to avoid excess and obsolete inventory – consistently ensuring service parts are immediately available when and where a repair is needed.

Takashi Yamada, general manager, Machine Tools CS Planning Department, Machinery Business Division at Brother stated: “Everything we do is based on improving and maximizing product uptime, and with more than 70 percent of machines sold outside of Japan, we sought a truly global solution that would allow us to manage service parts inventory around the world from a central interface. At Brother, our focus on service is always top of mind, and we are thrilled to better serve our loyal customers via exceptional service experiences. The Syncron solution will scale with us as we grow, eliminating our current manual processes and ultimately improving customer satisfaction.”

Prior to selecting Syncron, it was a time-consuming, manual process for Brother to forecast and plan service parts inventory for its products. In addition to eliminating these cumbersome processes, Brother also aims to improve visibility into excess and obsolete service parts inventory via advanced analytics.

“Today’s most forward-thinking companies realize maximizing product uptime is a key competitive differentiator and revenue-driver,” said Johan Stakeberg, Head of Global Sales at Syncron. “We are thrilled to have Brother join our impressive customer base, and are excited to work with them to enhance the customer experience through quick and reliable service repairs, as well as improve margins and revenue.”

Brother will initially roll out Syncron among its Machinery Business Division in Japan and China, with the expectation of implementing in additional regions, and in other business units in the near future — guaranteeing satisfied customers around the globe.

Posted July 11, 2017

Source: Brother Industries Ltd.

WASHINGTON — July 10, 2017 — July and August should be two of the busiest months ever seen for imports at the nation’s major retail container ports, possibly setting a new record as merchants enter the back-to-school season and begin to stock up for the holiday season that will follow, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“We’re expecting retailers to import some of the largest volumes of merchandise ever,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “That’s a good indicator of what could be ahead for consumer demand and retail sales, and it’s a sign that retail is going strong despite what you might read in the headlines.”

Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.72 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units in May, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 7.3 percent from April and up 6.2 percent from May 2016. One TEU is one 20-foot-long cargo container or its equivalent.

June was estimated at 1.66 million TEU, up 5.3 percent from the same time last year. July is forecast at 1.71 million TEU, up 5.1 percent from last year; August at 1.75 million TEU, up 2.2 percent; September at 1.66 million TEU, up 4.3 percent; October at 1.71 million TEU, up 2.2 percent, and November at 1.6 million TEU, down 2.7 percent from last year.

The August figure would be the highest monthly volume recorded since NRF began tracking imports in 2000, topping the 1.73 million TEU seen in March 2015. The 1.7 million-plus numbers seen in May, July, August and October represent four of the six busiest months in the report’s history.

The first half of 2017 is expected to total 9.63 million TEU, up 7.1 percent from the first half of 2016. Cargo volume for 2016 totaled 18.8 million TEU, up 3.1 percent from 2015, which had grown 5.4 percent from 2014.

NRF has forecast that 2017 retail sales — excluding automobiles, gasoline and restaurants — will increase between 3.7 and 4.2 percent over 2016, driven by job and income growth coupled with low debt. Cargo volume does not correlate directly with sales because only the number of containers is counted, not the value of the cargo inside, but nonetheless provides a barometer of retailers’ expectations.

Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett, an internationally known economist who prepares Global Port Tracker for NRF, said the increases in imports have come despite threats by the Trump administration to impose new limits on international trade.

“Some actions to date appear to have alienated traditional allies and are causing them to work more closely together, leaving the United States on the sidelines,” Hackett wrote in his monthly editorial comment in the report. “ ‘America First’ may well result in protectionist actions that will cut the United States off from the benefits of the global value chain and economic growth for U.S. importers and exporters.”

Global Port Tracker, which is produced for NRF by the consulting firm Hackett Associates, covers the U.S. ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma on the West Coast; New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades and Miami on the East Coast, and Houston on the Gulf Coast.

Posted July 10, 2017

Source: NRF — National Retail Federation