2nd Networking Meeting a Great Success.

Forty people turned up at the Walkerton Clean Water Centre on September 29th for the 2nd Networking Meeting of the Bluewater Wood Alliance. Read on.

Forty people turned up at the Walkerton Clean Water Centre on September 29th for the 2nd Networking Meeting of the Bluewater Wood Alliance. Held in the state-of-the-art meeting facility, the meeting was a tremendous opportunity to meet other members of the wood products manufacturing industry in the region, as well as having a chance to speak to suppliers of machinery, hardware, software and lumber. The networking went on before the presentations, at the break and for quite some time after the meeting was terminated. Rumour has it that a number of the participants also repaired to the local watering hole to continue the discussions over a beer.

The theme presentation of this meeting was tooling, with representatives from three major tooling companies giving presentations on diamond tooling and innovations in tool design that are increasing productivity. There was also a good deal of basic tool talk, helping members to understand some of the rules that apply to feeds and speeds, as well as tips on how to get the most out of tool life. The presentations are available on this website.

The keynote speaker was Jason Koivisto, Manager of Forestry Innovation and Market Development at the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry. He spoke of government programs to help companies coordinate efforts to market Ontario wood products domestically and internationally. His ministry manages the Wood Promotion Program in Ontario, which has just introduced the Ontario Wood visual identifier that can be used on Ontario furniture products. They have a number of export assistance programs that can be accessed to participate in trade missions or at trade shows in other parts of the world. His presentation is available by clicking here.

Watch this website for updates and for an indication of when the next networking meeting will be held. You won’t want to miss it.