Scratching the 'surfaces' in Las Vegas.

Two consecutive Thursday mornings last month found me jetting to Las Vegas. The back-to-back attractions that lured me there were "Solid Surface '99" and "Surfaces '99."

Though the two annual events have eerily similar-sounding names and share the same host city, they cater to completely different crowds. Yet, each is represented by products that rank among the hottest in the home improvement industry.

Solid Surface '99, held Jan. 21-23 at the Riviera Hotel, was a combination convention, trade show and conference attended by an estimated 5,000 people who mainly fabricate solid surface materials into countertops, desktops and other high-end products. Also on hand were several hundred representatives of companies that sell the materials or the equipment and supplies used by fabricators to ply their trade.

Surfaces '99, meanwhile, held Jan. 2830 at the Sands Expo Center, drew some 30,000 retailers, contractors and specifiers of floor coverings. Displays ranged from rugs and carpeting through hardwood flooring, linoleum and the industry's new darling, laminate flooring.

Solid as Gold

Solid Surface '99, hosted by the International Solid Surface Fabricators Assn., was nearly three times bigger in attendance and seven times larger in exhibit area than the first show held in 1998. The main factor behind these impressive jumps are mirrored by the market's solid growth. Mike Duggan, executive vice president of the 600-plus-member ISSFA, says the solid surface market reached $1.2 billion in 1998 and "continues to grow at a rate of 24% annually."

As the solid surface industry has grown, so has the level of its sophistication, especially in the area of automation. This fact was underscored by the more than half-dozen CNC routers that were displayed among the 40,000 square feet of exhibits that also included panel saws, V-groovers, feed-through sanders and industrial cutting tools. In addition, more than 250 attendees packed into an early-morning seminar titled, "Big Machines and High-Tech Production," to learn more about the possibilities of automating their operations.

The rapidly increasing interest among solid surface fabricators to integrate production woodworking equipment and ideas into a business still dominated by the skilled craftsman Melding portable power tools to do one countertop at a time, has caught the attention of woodworking machinery suppliers. As a result, look for automation to take some interesting twists and turns in its spiral upwards for an industry, whose material has long been cast at the material that looks like granite but cuts like wood.

Laminate Flooring Still Shines Bright

Like solid surfaces, laminate flooring is racking up strong growth figures in the United States. Since its introduction here five years ago, laminate flooring has gone from zero to approximately 3% share of the $15 billion-plus flooring covering market, with sales increasing by more than 30% annually.

Laminate flooring remained in the spotlight at Surfaces '99, sponsored by the World Floor Coverings Assn. Some three-dozen companies displayed laminate flooring products, including some of the biggest names in carpeting, who hedged their bets on their new-found competitor by adding off-branded laminate floor products to their mix.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of the laminate flooring's growth prospects lies in the plant expansions and new manufacturing facilities that are in the works. Perstorp, the world's biggest player, is adding onto its laminate flooring plant in Raleigh, NC. Mannington Mills Inc., one of the flooring industry's largest and most diversified players, is in the process of building its first laminate flooring plant in High Point, NC, and Witex, which up to now has manufactured products for Mannington's private label, is drawing up plans to build a new plant in the Carolinas.

We'll have more to say about the laminate flooring industry in a report from Surfaces '99 next month.