| Sarawak Furniture Manufacturers Face Shortage Of Hardwood Timber | | Posted Monday, January 29, 2007 12:58:14 PM by Blog57 Team | | KUCHING, Jan 29 (Bernama) -- Sarawak's over 250 small- and medium-scale furniture industry players face a shortage of hardwood timber, Assistant Industrial Development Minister, Larry Sng, said Monday. He said previously the timber for the furniture industry in the state came from Indonesia, Philippines and Sabah but for the last two years, Indonesia had reduced its export. "Sarawak, although a top timber-exporting state in the country, faces a shortage of hardwood timber for the downstream industry as most of them are exported," he told reporters after visiting a furniture factory, Chuan Ming Sdn Bhd, at Demak Laut Industrial Park near here, Monday. Sng said a lot of the furniture manufacturers faced difficulties sourcing for hardwood timber. "As a result, some have downsized and reduced their workforces," he said.... | |
| |
| | | Universal to unveil Vegas showroom | | Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007 2:58:20 PM by Blog57 Team | | Universal Furniture International will unveil its 38,000-square-foot showroom in the World Market Center when the next Las Vegas Market opens Jan. 29. The High Point-based manufacturer of bedroom, dining room, occasional and upholstered furniture also displays at the High Point Market, where it has a stand-alone showroom on Uwharrie Road. .... | |
| |
| | | EGGER commences production of lightweight boards | | Posted Wednesday, November 15, 2006 12:58:28 PM by Blog57 Team | | Huge interest in Eurolight within the furniture industry Europes leading wood-based panels manufacturer, Egger has commenced large-scale production of its first Eurolight lightweight boards ahead of schedule. Based on an innovative construction method, the Eurolight boards open up fresh dimensions for furniture construction and the interior fittings markets. Combining a lightweight honeycomb centre, sandwiched between slim high-density boards, the Eurolight panels offer a low weight yet stable product solution which frees designers from the restrictions associated with traditional panels. Production began in August and following a further optimisation stage, full acceptance testing has now been carried out. Michael Egger said: With major investments in both time and money, we have delivered the worlds first large-scale industrial production plant for lightweight building boards ahead of schedule at the companys St.... | |
| |
| | | Cool blue furniture is red-hot | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 7:16:37 AM by Blog57 Team | | Twice a year, furniture manufacturers, retailers and magazine editors gather in High Point, N.C., to see what's in the pipeline for the upcoming season. From across the 12 million square feet of showrooms comes a wealth of new trends, color directions and insider chatter. What will the best-dressed rooms be wearing next spring? Some clues follow. Blue may be the new green. Manufacturers showed sofas and tables in pale shades ranging from robin's egg to Tiffany. It struck many as a fresh alternative to the sheaf of greens that have been lingering so long in fashion and home decor. At Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, light blue has already been a winner. Chalky blue is one of the company's best-selling upholstery colors this year in denim, linen and leather.... | |
| |
| | | Insider look at interior design trends for '07 | | Posted Saturday, November 11, 2006 7:10:59 AM by Blog57 Team | | Twice a year, furniture manufacturers, retailers and magazine editors gather in High Point, N.C., to see what's in the pipeline for the coming season. From across the 12 million square feet of showrooms comes a wealth of new trends, color directions, and insider chatter. What will the best-dressed rooms be wearing next spring? Some clues follow. Blue may be the new green. Manufacturers showed sofas and tables in pale shades ranging from robin's egg to Tiffany. It struck many as a fresh alternative to the sheaf of greens that have been lingering so long in fashion and home decor. At Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, light blue has already been a winner. Chalky blue is one of the company's best-selling upholstery colors this year in denim, linen and leather.... | |
| |
| | | Al Aqili Furnishings bolsters relationship with USD 6.5 billion Shaw Industries | | Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2006 2:58:45 AM by Blog57 Team | | Al Aqili Furnishings, the UAE-headquartered complete interior solutions provider, has agreed to a landmark deal to become the Middle East's sole marketing agent and distributor for the contract and hospitality ranges of flooring for Shaw Industries - the privately held, USD6.5 billion US-based floorings giant, which comes under the umbrella of the Berkshire Hathaway Company owned by Warren Buffet. .... | |
| |
| | | Furniture scaled back to fit tighter spaces | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 3:11:23 AM by Blog57 Team | | One of the big trends in today's furniture is small. Sofas are shorter and chairs are armless. Console tables that fit snugly in hallways or behind couches open up to seat eight for dinner. Beds are being shown with headboards but no footboards, or resting atop storage units. Major furniture chains are promoting lines with names such as Small Spaces and Loft 21 to catch the latest home decor wave. "We absolutely, positively have scale-sensitive furniture," says Dixon Bartlett, senior vice president of Atlanta-based Storehouse, which just launched a collection designed specifically "with smaller spaces in mind. Even in the suburbs, there is always that extra small room." And what's not getting smaller is getting more versatile: pieces designed to work as a kitchen island or a desk; wine storage units that open into buffets; ottomans, which already double as cocktail tables when closed, flip open to reveal a mattress for sleeping or empty space for storage.... | |
| |
| | | 70 percent of furniture used in the country imported | | Posted Monday, October 30, 2006 3:08:49 AM by Blog57 Team | | Although Tanzania in endowed with quality tropical wood and timber, more raw logs are exported instead of producing value added furniture for the export market. The sad news is contained in the latest Diagnostic Trade Integration Study by the Ministry of Industry and Trade which testifies that over seventy percent of furniture used in the country was imported. The major consumers are hotels, restaurants, offices and tour operators. Procurement was normally done through direct importation rather than through furniture houses. The study indicates that though imported furniture was expensive, and freight costs as much USD210 per sofa set, poor quality of local timber suffocates their market value and acceptance. The study, however, indicates that a few large manufactures are planning to improve and to increase local production, which would result in increased share of local furniture use in tourist businesses, to as much as 50 percent.... | |
| |
| | | MP demands answers after power cut | | Posted Sunday, October 29, 2006 1:07:14 PM by Blog57 Team | | An MP has demanded answers after businesses in Diss had their power cut off for most of the day - with the whole town centre without electricity for more than an hour.Richard Bacon, MP for South Norfolk, said the electricity company EDF Energy was “failing" its customers in the area after power went off at 11.12am.About 2,100 properties in Diss were affected, with all but 136 having power restored 32 minutes later.But shops and businesses in the town centre remained without electricity until 12.25pm - before twice again losing power for 10-minute periods in the early afternoon.And EDF Energy reported that a further 400 homes until then unaffected lost electricity as engineers grappled to fix the problem.Last night a spokesman said that the cause of the fault was still being investigated but engineers on the ground said that the problem was caused by a major power cable being damaged in Dickleburgh, three miles north of Diss.About 200 customers were still without electricity yesterday evening.Andrew Thurston, who runs school and office furniture manufacturers Lyndale, said the powercut had cost his business thousands of pounds.He said: “If our machines shut down in the middle of cutting it is very difficult to get them started up again - and here it's happened twice in a day.“Most of our workers have gone home - it's pitch black in here, the telephones and franking machine aren't working, it's costing us a fortune and customers aren't going to return."Mr Bacon told the EDP: “EDF is failing customers in Diss.... | |
| |
| | | Canadian Factories Expect Reduced Output This Quarter (Update2) | | Posted Friday, October 27, 2006 2:56:37 AM by Blog57 Team | | Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian manufacturers expect their production will shrink this quarter, led by the biggest drop in prospects for new orders since the start of 2001, a government survey showed. The percentage of managers predicting higher production between October and December fell to 16 percent from 20 percent in the last survey in July, Statistics Canada reported today in Ottawa, based on a survey of 4,000 managers. The percentage expecting lower output rose 1 point to 21 percent. Canada's economic growth is slowing because of a high dollar and weaker U.S. demand for manufactured goods such as automobiles, lumber and furniture, Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge said yesterday. Factory managers have fired about 70,000 workers in the 12 months ending in September, as they struggled with a currency that's risen 40 percent since 2002.... | |
| |
| |
|
|
