Before the very first Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo, the organizers wrote: “We hope your participation provides you inspiration and education, as well as some relief if your markets are slumping. But no matter the market condition, the show must go on, education must continue, and when the tide turns for the better, you will have taken full advantage. There is no better place at this moment in time to obtain a true collective understanding of the many segments of the panel industry.”

That was in the spring of 2008. We’re of course now in the spring of 2026. Many of those earlier written words ring true again today, but in reality the economy was a lot worse at that time, and getting “worser” by the day (hello subprime mortgage crisis). Probably the only time it got even worse was during COVID, but that didn’t last too long, and then the post-COVID boom knocked everyone’s socks off. Through it all, today, there is still no better place, than PELICE, to gain a “collective understanding” of the current state of the panel industry.

And that’s always been the intention of PELICE—to provide the latest snapshots of the economy and building markets, the latest in mill projects, the latest developments in equipment and technologies, the latest trends in producer company cultures, and much more. And indeed the show has gone on through these years, more specifically every other year, through four presidents no less, and here we suddenly land at the 10th PELICE.

Sure it’s a major milestone, but then again there are producer and vendor companies involved in this PELICE who have been around 80-90-100 years and more. In that context, PELICE is still but a youngster.

In its nearly 20 years duration, PELICE has been a positive contributor to the panel and engineered wood products industry. That’s really what it set out to be.

See you in Atlanta.