Organizers of the sixth Panel & Engineered Lumber International Conference & Expo (PELICE) announced the first wave of exhibitor sponsors for the event to be held April 13-14, 2018 again in the Grand Ballroom North of the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The 2016 PELICE set a record attendance of 450 industry professionals, including representatives from 32 wood products producer companies. They heard 50 presentations on new project development, production technologies, industry issues and forecasts.
PELICE, which is hosted by Panel World magazine, covers the veneer, plywood, OSB, MDF, particleboard and engineered wood products sectors. The 2016 event was supported by 80 equipment and technology exhibitor sponsors.
PELICE exhibitor sponsorships include Gold, Silver and Bronze packages.
The early Gold sponsors for 2018 include B&W MEGTEC, Hexion, Sandvik, Sigma Thermal-TSI, Dieffenbacher and Siempelkamp.
First wave of Silver sponsors includes: Argos Solutions, Atlantic Combustion, Baumer Inspection, Biele, Con-Vey, Electronic Wood Systems, Georgia-Pacific Chemicals, Globe Machine, Grenzebach, IMA Schelling, IMAL-PAL, Meinan Machinery Works, MoistTech, Pallmann Industries, Player Design Inc., Process Combustion Corp., SUGIMAT, Timber Products Inspection, Westmill Industries and Willamette Valley Co.
Early Bronze sponsors are Automation Industries, CMA Engineering, Flamex, Georgia Forestry Commission, GreCon, Steinemann Technology and Wechsler Engineering.
The 2018 event will continue a theme that was begun at the 2016 conference—New Plant Development and Construction. Several speakers in 2016 addressed ongoing projects, all of which will have started up by this PELICE.
PELICE 2018 will also feature several speakers addressing ongoing new plant development.
“The attendees seem to enjoy hearing about projects that are in the course of construction, and the different considerations that a producer company encountered from project inception to this point in time,” comments Rich Donnell, Co-Chairman of PELICE and editor-in-chief of Panel World magazine. “In addition to these presentations, we hope to have some speakers bring up to date new projects that were addressed at the last PELICE and which have started up—the question being, did project evolvement and startup go as planned?”
The conference features eight keynote speakers over the course of two days, and then the conference breaks into three meeting rooms, with each room featuring a series of technical presentations on new machinery and equipment technology development.
Conference speakers and agendas will be announced soon.
“PELICE 2018 will be our sixth one, and it’s also a 10-year anniversary since the first one in spring 2008,” Donnell observes. “It’s been a heck of a ride for the wood products industry, and our event, during those 10 years. We greatly appreciate the support of those who participate.”