Synergy Thermal Foils

We’re slowly but surely catching our breath after participating at the best International Woodworking Fair in a decade.

What a whirlwind!

For four days – August 24-27 – the Georgia World Congress Center was a beehive of activity. The steady buzz created by the drone of machines cutting wood served as the backdrop for the more than 16,000 attendees who came to Atlanta searching for new products and ideas to improve their designs, production and bottom lines.

Synergy Thermal Foils entertained a steady stream of woodworkers who stopped by our booth in Hall B to view and ask questions about our family of rigid thermal foils (RTF). We were once again located across the aisle from Vac-U-Clamp, one of our strategic partners. Vac-U-Clamp’s who showcased our 3D laminates.

The buzz at our booth was the formal introduction of a new Match Program with our industry partners Formica, KML and Uniboard.  While we have always had RTF products to match selected TFL and HPL offerings from all of the industry’s major players, what makes this program launch special is that these RTF high-pressure laminate and edgebanding are all stocked in Florida and ready for immediate delivery throughout the country.

TFL Designer Matches

This is great news for our customers. Cabinet makers, for example, can value engineer an entire kitchen using matching TFL and edgebanding for boxes, HPL for counters, and Synergy RTF for doors and drawer fronts.
Development of our new stocking match program was driven by customer demand to more readily find matches of TFL and HPL with our RTF products. We were thrilled with how quickly our pilot program took off in Florida, leading us to a national launch that currently includes nine popular wood designs.

Laval, Quebec-based Uniboard’s newest additions to the program includes Barnwood, Silverwood and Smokewood TFL, all perfect matches with Synergy’s RTF products. These three oaks are among a dozen new designs featured in Uniboard’s 2016 TFL Collection. A fourth design match, Memento, was introduced by Uniboard last year.

It is very gratifying that Don Raymond, vice president of marketing and sales for Uniboard, refers to us as “an amazing partner” worthy of contributing matching RTF products with his company’s signature, upscale finishes.

KML of Tacoma, WA, now offers TFL for five of our Match Program RTFs:  Brown Pear, Grey Pear, Moderna Grigio, Riva and Zanno Wenge. KML is one of our oldest matching partners and we are extremely happy to have them on board with this new program.

This is only the beginning. Having nine wood designs with three great partners in Formica, KML and Uniboard reflect the high value and dynamic synergies that Synergy Thermal Foil aims to expand on in the years to come.

Click here to learn more about our matching TFL and HPL matching program.

STF is continuing the trend by adding yet another impeccable design: Aria. Going the extra Synergy mile, this new design is now stocked in two textures. Silk Teak has an wood tick finish and Aria TX has an deep emboss finish. The corresponding TFL is available from Arauco Prism (Flakeboard); Aria WF340. Be prepared to receive a standing ovation when using STF’s latest 3D laminate.

Silk Teak

Aria TX

Builder confidence in the market for newly built, single-family homes in September jumped six points to 65 from a revised August reading of 59. This marks the highest HMI level since October 2015 according to the National Association of Home Builders.

All three HMI components rose this month, with current sales conditions rising 6 points to 71 and sales expectations also climbing 5 points to 71. The third component measuring traffic of prospective buyers went up 4 points to 73.

Even with decrease in U.S. housing starts, builders in many markets are confident that the single-family housing market will continue the upward momentum to build throughout the remainder of the year and into 2017.

Derived from a monthly NAHB survey, the HMI gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months. Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good rather than poor.

For more information: NAHB

Municipalities issued building permits worth $6.5 billion in July, a 0.8% increase from the previous month. The advance was largely the result of higher construction for institutional and industrial buildings.
Residential building permits were down 2% to $4 billion in July, the fourth consecutive monthly decrease. In the non-residential sector, the value of building permits increases 5.6% to $2.4 billion. This gain followed two consecutive months of declines.

Positive economic signs for the woodworking industry has fueled this year’s International Woodworking Fair in Atlanta. With over 1,000 exhibitors from the woodworking industry, IWF is the largest woodworking event in North America.

Due to the IWF Fair on August 24-27, there will be limited warehouse staff for order fulfillment. To ensure that your inventory needs are met please check stock and place any new orders as soon as possible.  For any urgent requests, please add an additional day for processing the week of August 22^nd.  Thank you for your understanding and we truly hope to see everyone in Atlanta.  If you require tickets, please do not hesitate to ask by emailing: promotions@synergythermofoils.com.

“America’s Top States for Business 2016,” compiled by CNBC, ranks the best work states, with the Top 10 in order of: Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina, Washington, Michigan, Georgia, Iowa and Florida. CNBC compiled its list based on 10 categories of competitiveness: Workforce, Cost of Doing Business, Infrastructure, Economy, Quality of Life, Technology & Innovation, Education, Business Friendliness, Cost of Living and Access to Capital.

America’s top States for Business 2016 list has been announced with the top 10 (in order): Utah, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina, Washington, Michigan, Georgia, Iowa, and Florida. Compiled by CNBC, the rankings are based on 10 categories of competitiveness: Workforce, Cost of Doing Business, Infrastructure, Economy, Quality of Life, Technology & Innovation, Education, Business Friendliness, Cost of Living and Access to Capital.

However, CNBC’s ranking does not include some prime states for woodworking. Utilizing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the following is a list of the top 10 woodworking states for furniture, cabinetry and millwork.

Residential furniture and cabinetry top 5 states are: California (with 1,419 shops), Florida (1,074), New York (684), Texas (663), and North Carolina (632). However, based on workforce size the ranking is as follows: North Carolina, California, Mississippi, Texas, and Ohio. Looking at just wood kitchen cabinet and countertop manufacturing facilities California comes in on top with 791 shops, followed by Florida (752), Texas (404), New York (345) and Georgia (341).

For office furniture, fixtures, and millwork shops California yet again ranks number one with 396 shops, followed by New York (279), Illinois (223), North Carolina (199) and Florida (195). Examining the 1,290 architectural woodwork and millwork shops New York ranks number one with 130 shops, followed closely by California (106), Florida (87), Illinois (83) and Texas (76).

Following the 2008 housing bubble burst, many thought the housing market would never fully recover. However, all signs are pointing towards continued growth and expansion within the U.S. housing market.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau construction spending during the first six months of this year amounted to $539.8 billion, a 6.2% increase over the same time period in 2015. During June 2016, construction spending was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1,133.5 billion where spending on residential construction was at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $445.8 billion in June.

In addition to an increase in residential construction spending, sales of new single-family houses in June 2016 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000, 3.5% above the revised may rate of 572,000 and 25.4% above the June 2015 estimate of 472,000.

U.S lumber production through May totaled 13.450 billion board feet, a 2.5% increase from the January-May 2015 total according to the Western Wood Products Association. The South had the highest increase in production, up 3.0% over the same time frame in 2015.

In Canada, lumber production in May totaled of 2.378 billion board feet, a 9% increase above the May 2015 number. The year-to-date output is 9% ahead of the 2015 year-to-date pace. Quebec had the highest increase in production with a 16% increase over last year’s pace.

Synergy Thermal Foils is on fire with addition of over 20 new, remarkable designs within the past six months. This month’s latest addition is yet another exceptional design, Verismo. A corresponding TFL match is offered by Arauco (Flakeboard).  Our latest 3D laminate is bound to leave everyone impressed by its flawless design.

Verismo

Nearly nine years later, the housing U.S. housing market is finally making its comeback. As a bright spot for the U.S economy, the housing market has led to increased employment, investment and overall economic growth. Although some areas such as sales of existing homes have been on a rapid rise other aspects of the housing market has yet to catch up to historical norms.

While May saw the highest level of sales for existing homes in the past nine years, the sales of new single-family houses decreased 6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 551,000. Investment in private, residential construction has also been below historical norms while private spending on multi-family housing has surpassed pre-bubble era.

Another drastic change to the housing market seen over the past 15 years has been the overall size of homes. New single-family houses are now increasingly larger because builders have been focusing on larger homes with more amenities. About 31% of new constructed houses are over 3,000 square feet in 2015 compared to only 17% in 1999.

The U.S Housing market has made a slow recovery but it is not done yet. Signs are pointing to continued growth within the housing market at demand for housing increases as unemployment decreases and wages increase.

U.S. industrial output rose in June at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.6%, according to the Federal Reserve. The last time it jumped at that rate was in July 2015 and economists are forecasting another increase during the fourth quarter of 2016.

With signs pointing to economic growth within industrial production, manufacturing has also received positive growth on the Institute for Supply Management index (ISM). Activity was gauged at a 53.2* on the ISM index during June, a 1.9 increase compared to the previous month. This is the fourth consecutive month in which manufacturing production increased with notable growth in both orders and production and exports hitting the highest level since November 2014.

These encouraging signs indicate that the U.S. industrial and manufacturing industries are on the mend following recent periods of contraction.

For more information please visit ISM and The Federal Reserve

*On the Institute for Supply Management index a reading above 50 indicated that the factory activity is expanding and a reading below 50 signals contraction.

For the ninth consecutive year, investment in residential construction increased year-over year. In the first quarter, total investment in residential construction rose 2.1% to $26.1 billion compared with the same quarter in 2015. Higher investment in apartment and apartment-condominium building construction, up 21.2% to $4.1 billion, was responsible for the advance at the national level.

The latest data from April shows that new residential construction increased 8.4%, totaling $4.2 billion, compared to the same month in 2015. Continuing the trend, increase was driven by the higher investment levels in apartment and apartment-condominium building.

While investment within the past few months has increased at a fast rate, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) projects housing starts to slow down for the remainder of 2016 and going into 2017. Annual housing starts are expected to range from 181,000 units to 192,000 units in 2016 and from 172,000 units to 183,000 units in 2017. The forecast for the housing market will have strong regional variations due to slower growth in oil-producing provinces.