Stiles Hosts Window & Door Benchmarking Tour

Stiles Machinery is pleased to have had the pleasure of hosting window and door manufacturers on a benchmarking tour in Germany and Switzerland. The tour was held March 17-24, 2012 and was presented in conjunction with Stiles partners at the Homag Group in Germany. The US-based tour participants visited European window & door manufacturers who have embraced new manufacturing processed to expand their capabilities, reduce waste, and improve quality. The group also attended Fensterbau/Frontale, the international trade fair for window, door and façade technologies, to see the latest European trends in the industry. Stephan Waltman, vice president of marketing for Stiles and a WDMA board member was one of the hosts from Stiles. He believes the benchmarking tour provides an opportunity to gain an understanding of “what’s next” in the global industry “With the introduction of new materials, advanced quality standards, and emphasis on green manufacturing, the window and door industry is experiencing rapid change,” he stated. “More manufacturers are relying on the precision of automated technology to deliver the variety of custom design need to remain competitive.” Waltman hopes tour participants will use the knowledge learned to make their business more competitive. Stiles will be hosting their first tour of finishing technology May 18-26, which will explore finishing techniques, applications and technology used in Europe for a wide spectrum of materials. This is an opportunity to explore trends related to green initiatives and learn what’s new in the industry. The company’s annual fall tour of technology will be held September 21-29 and will focus on high technology panel processing and high variation, batch-size production and interrelation of machinery and data. The tour will begin in Hamburg, Germany and will visit some of the most efficient and effective woodworking companies in the world. For more information and to register, visit www.stilesmachinery.com/events