The 44th annual NeoCon, the National Exposition of Contract Furnishings, will take place at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart from June 11-13.
NeoCon features the latest furniture design trends, products, and concepts in office, healthcare, hospitality, residential, institutional and government interior environments from more than 700 showrooms and exhibitors. NeoCon will also feature more than 120 CEU-accredited seminars, industry association forums and keynote presentations. Conferences will cover a wide range of subjects and topics on educational tracks including:Office Design: Dealer Strategies; Environmental Design; Facilities Construction & Renovation; Facilities Technology; Facilities Management; Healthcare Design; Hospitality Design; Institutional Design; Lighting Design; Professional Development; Residential Design and Senior Housing.
Registration for NeoCon will be available in March. For more information, please visit www.neocon.com, or call 800.677.6278  .

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected furniture and wall systems manufacturer KI as the 2011 WasteWise Packaging Reduction Gold Achievement Award winner.
KI says its sustainability program recycled and reduced 1,580,494 pounds of industrial waste through material diversion and prevention in 2011 by focusing on reducing content in product design, using recycled materials, preventing waste during manufacturing processes and diverting material from landfills. 
“We’re honored to be recognized with this prestigious award from the EPA,” said Tim Heyrman, engineering manager, KI. “Our packaging reduction program and similar initiatives are important to our customers, who emphasize good stewardship of the environment and want to do business with companies that share that commitment.”
To learn more about KI’s sustainability efforts, please go to http://ki.com/green. 

Stiles Machinery will host a CNC technology workshop on Thursday, February 16, to demonstrate how Stiles’ CNC machinery can help manufacturers reduce their footprint and achieve production goals.
The free event will include CNC machine demonstrations and provide insight into various production applications. The event will be held at Stiles Machinery’s location in Grand Rapids, Mich. For more information or to register, please go to www.stilesmachinery.com/events/lunch-learn-comparing-compact-cnc-solutions.

After a slow start, home improvement spending is expected to trend up in 2012, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, recently released by the Remodeling Futures Program at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.
According to the report, remodeling activity is on course to end on a positive note in 2012, if momentum continues to grow in this segment.
“We’re beginning to see some hopeful signs in the economy, and the housing market is finally starting its slow recovery,” says Eric S. Belsky, managing director of the Joint Center. “That should prove helpful for home improvement spending as the year progresses.”
“Sales of existing homes have been increasing in recent months, offering more opportunities for home improvement projects,” says Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center. “As lending institutions become less fearful of the real estate sector, financing will become more readily available to owners looking to undertake remodeling.”
To read more about the LIRA, visit www.jchs.harvard.edu/lira-glimmers-hope-remodeling-2012.

Stiles Machinery will be expanding its 2012 Executive Briefing Conference with the “featured presenter” to allow manufacturing executives to learn even more about new technologies and business concepts, with the goal of discovering “What’s Now, What’s New, and What’s Next.” 
The 2012 Executive Briefing Conference will be held in Charlotte, N.C.,focusing on tactical ways to match the speed-to-market while staying ahead of the speed at which the market is changing. The “featured presenter” expansion will provide a “world-class presenter to discuss topics of universal significance.”
The 2012 conference “featured presenter” will be Dr. Jeffrey Karrenbauer, former logistics staff officer for the United States Air Force and president of Insight, a supply chain solutions and consulting services provider. Dr. Karrenbauer will illustrate how to apply optimization and simulation to improve supply chains. His presentation will address the following challenges: strategic sourcing and outsourcing, unification of marketing, supply chain risk management, and the green movement.
For more information or to register, visit www.stilesmachinery.com/ebc.

Woodcraft Supply LLC posted a new online video for potential franchise owners to view and learn more about owning their own Woodcraft woodworking tool store.
By visiting http://www.woodcraft.com/enewsletter/franchiseletter.aspx, potential franchise owners can hear current Woodcraft franchise owners from around the country talking about how they got involved with Woodcraft, what it takes to successfully manage a store and how the experience has changed their lives for the better. 
“In an effort to give would-be franchise store owners information from an owner’s viewpoint, Woodcraft has produced a video that tells the stories of retail store owners in seven states,” said Gary Lombard, vice president – retail/franchise development, Woodcraft Franchise LLC.

Grizzly Industrial Inc. machinery company announced the dates for its 2012 woodworking machinery tent sales.
The tent sales will be held in Muncy, Pa., on May 19; in Springfield, Mo., on June 9; in Bellingham, Wash., on June 23; and in Muncy, Pa., on Sept. 22. For more information, please go to www.grizzly.com.

"Motion Chair" from Alan Kaniarz won first place in the "Art of ApplePly" design competition.

Alan Kaniarz of A.K. Services Inc. in Detroit was awarded grand prize in States Industries’ “Art of ApplePly” design competition.
Kaniarz’s entry, “Motion Chair,” was the choice of States’ three-judge panel of design professionals. “Motion Chair” and other Kaniarz furniture designs are available at www.akservicesinc.com.
Other designers honored include Marcy Wong of Berkeley, Calif., David Michael Max of Sunland, Calif., and Mounir El-Koussa of San Luis Obispo, Calif., first place winners in the Professional, Amateur and Student categories, respectively. All entries may be seen at www.ApplePly.com.

KI was named the preferred educational product furniture supplier by Conract magazine readers.

KI ranked as the preferred furniture supplier for educational products, according to Contract magazine’s 2011 brand report survey.
This is the eighth year in a row that KI has earned the top ranking in the survey, which polls 433 random readers to identify their preferred suppliers in various product categories. KI ranked first for educational products as well as training tables and stacking/ganging seating. KI also ranked in the top ten for other categories, including movable walls, computer support furniture, furniture systems, ergonomic seating, healthcare furniture, healthcare textiles for Pallas Textiles, and storage and filing.
“We’re excited to see architects and designers recognizing the design, quality and value of the KI product portfolio,” said Dick Resch, CEO of KI. “While this has consistently been the case for KI’s educational solutions, it’s great to see it carrying over into our other product categories.”
For more on KI’s furniture and wall systems, visit www.ki.com.

The Institute for Supply Management, which surveys American manufacturers, reported that its employment index for December 2011 was 55.1, the highest it has been since June 2011, indicating that more manufacturing companies say they are hiring rather than cutting employment. In addition, the New York Times reported that for the second year a in a row, manufacturing companies will have created jobs in 2011.
This is positive for the manufacturing industry, which prior to 2010 had not seen rising employment in any month since 1997. The U.S. Labor Department said the overall job climate was improving with 11.8 million manufacturing workers in 2011, though still below the 1979 peak of 19.6 million manufacturing workers. Since the U.S. employment low in February 2010, the economy added 2.4 million jobs through November 2011, of which 302,000 were manufacturing.
According to the New York Times, the value of American manufactured exports over a 12-month period rose from its low of $800 billion to $1.074 trillion in 2011, unadjusted for inflation. The United States is especially strong in in exports of machinery, chemicals and transportation equipment, which account for almost half of total U.S. exports.