Manufacturing Solutions Show Features Many Returning Exhibitors

GREENVILLE, SC – The exhibitor slate for the upcoming Home Furnishings Manufacturing Solutions Expo in July offers a wide variety of companies, including a number of exhibitors returning from last year’s event..

The show, July 18-19 here at the TD Convention Center in Greenville, SC, is specifically designed for American producers of furniture and home furnishings products looking for the latest in manufacturing technology and services.  It is the second annual event for the show and represents the first time it will be held in the Carolinas, convenient to the industry manufacturing centers.

At the initial Expo last year, attendees saw a number of companies focused on upholstery furniture production and automated cutting machinery, in addition to other technologies for domestic production.  Show-goers were impressed. “We wanted to come and talk to the people we do business with here as well as see if there are other people we should be doing business with,” said a representative for the Woodhaven Furniture division of Aaron’s. “This is a positive market and one that’s needed since the others like it have gone away.”

One of the Expo exhibitors this year is Global Systems Group, which makes upholstery furniture and mattress machinery, according to David Eidson, vice president of sales for the Midwest and Southwest. The company is returning to the show for a second time based on the results of the first show.  This year it will show new fiber processing equipment as well as filling equipment.

Another returning exhibitor is Clarity Web Solutions, which produces cloud-based solutions for sales, marketing and customer management for home furnishings manufacturers.  Doug Cottrell, president, said the company’s decision to come back to the show was based on customer feedback.  “We hear from our clients that they have needed a single event to meet with their vendors and explore new connections,” he said.  “We feel this event is necessary, and will only contribute to benefiting the entire industry by bringing customers and vendors together.”

Among the introductions Clarity will be bringing to the Expo this year is an Interactive 3-D Visualization system for design-it-yourself custom furniture products, he said. Also there will be new features to the company’s Pricing Configurator.  Clarity’s products, he added, “launch quickly, reduce upfront expenses and offer the convenience of off-the-shelf software with the ‘perfect fit’ of custom software.”  Cottrell said he has seen an increase in furniture and home furnishings manufacturing activity in the U.S. and expects it to continue in 2018 and 2019?” Being located in Hickory, N.C., we see first-hand the resurgence of manufacturing activity at our clients and in the industry, as evidenced by the current shortage of skilled labor and the efforts by manufacturers to offer training to a new generation of craftsmen.”

Eidson of Global Systems Group said he is encouraged by what he’s seen in the industry so far this year.  “This year has started out promising based on the economy growth.”  Cottrell of Clarity agreed, saying he was “bullish” about business this year. “With the current economy and the growing number of people needing to furnish their new homes and apartments, I believe 2018 will be a great year.”