After a rough year for the overall forest products industry, preliminary activity coming from the 31st East Coast Sawmill and Logging Equipment Exposition was surprisingly positive. Commonly known as the Richmond Show, the expo has become the best pallet machinery show in North America.
Held May 16-17 in Richmond, Va., the show included over 250 exhibitors. The show appeals to a wide variety of attendees, including logging, sawmill, wood processing and pallet companies.
A number of exhibitors brought new machines and products for visitors to see. There were more technological advancements and unique twists than I can remember from the past few Richmond shows. Major trends included: making maintenance easier, automating custom fabrication, improving fuel/energy efficiency, automating steps in the production process, enhanced safety features, improved materials handling efficiency, remote/hands-free controls, and environmentally friendly products.
Find out more about all the latest technological innovations by reading the equipment and service reviews starting on page 24.
Our editorial crews were out in full force to detail new products and industry news. This year we added video capabilities to our reporting efforts. More information will be available about these new resources in the coming months. Make sure to keep a look out for these new video resources.
Looking back at the show, it was surprising how good the turnout was considering that the forecast called for rain. But isn’t that true of almost every Richmond show?
Friday brought rain, but it also resulted in a pretty good turnout of truly interested people. The crowd was not up to some past years, but the quality of visitors was never better. The exhibitor corps appeared to be down probably about 50 exhibit booths, but Friday went into the books as a good day according to most exhibitors we asked. While the weather was better on Saturday, most people had already decided to come on Friday, and the Saturday turnout was down a little.
The final result was a Richmond Show that had most-pallet related exhibitors leaving happy with the results. Many pallet industry suppliers left with an impressive list of interested people and potential customers. A significant amount of machinery was either sold at the show or pre-sold before it.
One reason may have been the tax incentives that President Bush recently signed into law as part of the economic stimulus package developed by Congress. The package provides significant tax incentives aimed at encouraging businesses to invest in capital equipment in 2008. Incentives include enhanced expensing and bonus depreciation, which can dramatically lower taxes.
Businesses are eligible for 50% bonus depreciation for new capital expenditures, such as machine tools ordered into service in 2008. Second, write-offs for purchases of new and used equipment in 2008 were increased. This gives businesses an extra one-year increase in how much they can deduct for capital expenditures like equipment that normally would depreciate over time. The new law in effect creates a 43% greater tax deduction for a new 2008 machine.
