Tenth PELICE Takes Shape

Article by Rich Donnell, Editor-In-Chief, Panel WorldThe Panel & Engineered Lumber

International Conference & Expo, better known as PELICE, celebrates its 10th event April 16-17 at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta. Given that PELICE is held every other year, this means we were all 20 years younger when the first one was held in 2008 at the same location. Does it also mean we are now 20 years the wiser?

You could say that one of the reasons behind the original formation of PELICE was to offer people in the industry an opportunity to become a little wiser, through a combination of project-oriented presentations provided by mill producers and technology suppliers, complemented by small exhibits in the Grand Ballroom North. Another course PELICE has never strayed from is its appeal to both the structural and non-structural wood products sectors. Some years have obviously leaned heavier one way or the other, depending on which way the wind was blowing, and the organizers have always let those winds guide them to the planning of the next one.

PELICE could not have persevered without the numerous presentations delivered by representatives in the vendor community, but the headline acts have always been the keynote talks from executives and managers of mill producer companies. Do you recognize any of these names?

Fito Salman, Mike Rehwinkel, Lynn Michaelis, Darrell Keeling, John Godfrey, Daniel Cromie, Brian Luoma, John Murphy Sr., Scott Weatherford, Curt Stevens, Grady Mulbery, Joe Andrews, Kelly Shotbolt, Jonathan Martin, Steve Swanson, Kurt Liebich, Brian Carlson, Luis Tejado, Roy O. Martin III, Jim Salchenberg, Erik Christensen, Norm Voss, Ashlee Cribb, Steve Carroll, Mark Lindquist, Luciano Tiburzi, Terry Secrest, Jerry Uhland, Scott Poole, Jake Elston, Wedig Graf Grote, Johannes Eder, Doug Pauze, Stuart Gray, Matthew O’Malia, Nick Milestone. Many of them are still going strong.

The first keynote talk delivered at PELICE in 2008 was by a representative of Georgia-Pacific, so there’s a certain symmetry that this, the 10th PELICE, will lead off with a presentation by David Neal, executive vice president of Building Products at Georgia-Pacific.

Hey, but there’s more in this issue of Panel World than the PELICE preview. The cover story is on Richply, the longtime plywood producer in British Columbia, and always a unique company in many ways, but especially in its ownership structure.

And there’s tons of news, which always seems to happen as soft markets turn into strong markets. So enjoy this issue, and we hope you come to Atlanta to enjoy the show. pelice-expo.com