IWF '98 is one for the books.

More people and more products than ever mark this year's big woodworking show.

IWF '98 is destined to go down as the Western Hemisphere's largest woodworking event of the millennium.

The record-setting International Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair drew a pre-verified total of 53,744 participants to Atlanta's Georgia World Congress Center Aug. 20-24. The attendance was split about 60 percent visitors and 40 percent exhibit personnel. Even after pre-registered no-shows and badge duplications are deducted from the final count through a merge and purge, IWF officials said it will be well above the previous record 44,612 attendance set at IWF '94.

Already verified as a record is the 699,485 net square feet of exhibit space that necessitated the use of the neighboring Georgia Dome for the first time. Ironically this record space was utilized by 1,206 exhibit companies, 48 fewer than in 1996, when 646,000 square feet of display space was contracted.

At any rate, the numbers achieved this year will serve as new goals for IWF to aim for in 2000. Potentially another major addition to the Georgia World Congress Center will be in place for IWF '02.

Traffic Pleases Exhibitors

The vast majority of exhibitors interviewed by Wood & Wood Products at the show were pleased with the traffic at their booths. They were especially happy to see attendance rebound after dipping somewhat in 1996, when IWF opened shortly after the conclusion of the Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Peter Perez, president of Grand Rapids, MI-based Carter Products, said he personally filled out 300 orders and leads forms. A spokesman for another exhibitor, Timesavers Inc. of Minneapolis, MN, said his company wrote up several six-figure orders during the four-day show.

The show's biggest exhibitor, Stiles Machinery Inc. of Grand Rapids, MI, had a banner IWF. By the afternoon of the second day of the show, the company said it had generated as many information and sales leads at its booth as it had in all of 1996.

Peter Kleinschmidt, president of Stiles Machinery and chairman of IWF '92, said, "The show has been excellent. The numbers and quality of people so far has been extremely high. The people coming to our booth are better educated. They are looking for specific solutions to improving their business and not just inquiring about price. We are very happy with the show."

"It's fantastic," said Richard Byrnes founder of Richard T. Byrnes Inc. of West Chester, PA, and a founding member of the Wood Machinery Industry Assn., whose group helped bring IWF to Atlanta by staging the World Wood Expo in 1980. "It's hard to believe how far this show has come in terms of size, attendance and technology," he said.

Cliff Crawford of Thermwood Corp., Dale, IN, said, "I think there's been a lot of enthusiasm in the attendees I've seen. We're seeing a lot of upper management from larger furniture manufacturers, when previously we only saw the engineering teams come in."

"The show has actually been very good," said Jan Fitzpatrick of Grass America, Kernersville, NC. "We've been very busy - busier than the past few IWFs. This is probably due to the economy. Companies are busy, and they are in a buying mood. It seems like all the booths are busy, and that's truly a good sign."

Why Bassett Came in Force

John Bassett III, president of Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Co., Galax, VA, and a member of the IWF '98 Board of Directors, said his company sent 30 people to IWF "to scour the whole show looking for ways to increase productivity" to better compete with off-shore competition, particularly those from Asia.

Speaking at a press luncheon during IWF, Bassett said, "They have a number of advantages. Their labor costs are less, the taxes they pay are lower or non-existent and the the environmental restrictions are a lot less. The fourth and perhaps most devastating advantage is the valuation of the American currency and the devaluation of their currencies.

"There are ways to beat them," Bassett added. "We can out-design them, at least until they copy the designs. We can offer better service being nearer to our customers." Most of all, Bassett said, U.S. furniture manufacturers "must be more efficient. This is why IWF is so important.

"Like I tell the guys in my shop. In Desert Storm, they (Iraq) had 2 million soldiers and we had 200,000 but still won the war. We won with precision and we won with know-how."

George Delaney, president of Powermatic, McMinville, TN, and chairman of IWF 2000, responded to Bassett, "We are here to meet your challenge."

Much More IWF '98 Coverage on iswonline.com

Much of the information and more contained in Wood & Wood Products' IWF '98 report was available on our Web site - iswonline.com - within a week after the show concluded. Much more was added to our Web pages in subsequent updates. Coverage includes:

* Challengers Awards winners;

* IWF '98 Student Design Emphasis winners;

* Press conference reports;

* Man-on-the Street interviews with IWF '98 visitors and exhibitors;

* Exclusive reports from the Eclectic Woodworking Journalist, including a step-by-step account of rookie assistant editor/Web editor Sam Gazdziak's 34-mile trek through the halls of the Georgia World Congress Center.

Larry Adams, Tom Caestecker, Beverly Dunne, Sam Gazdziak, Barrett Kilmer, Karen Koenig & Helen Kuhl contributed to this report.