MEGATEX 2006

Stacey Frederick and Holli Nelson
TATM Graduate Students

Atlanta, Georgia hosted MEGATEX 2006, a new collaborative textile show from October 31^st to November 3^rd. The trade show featured two co-anchor exhibitions, ATME-I 2006 (American Textile Machine Exhibition International 2006) and IFAI Expo 2006 (Industrial Fabrics Association International Expo 2006), co-located with AATCC IC&E 2006 (American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists International Conference and Exhibition 2006). The synergistic package was designed to appeal to U.S. and international textile companies spanning a full spectrum of industry segments.

MEGATEX provided the textile industry with a complete representation of textiles in its most traditional sense, as well as the application of textiles in nano, medical, structural, and architectural end-uses. The event in Atlanta was designed to meet the needs of a newly re-charged industry.

As textile graduate students, we were very lucky to have the opportunity to attend the show. Much of our week was spent interviewing the 96 North Carolina companies presenting at the show. With so many companies in such a confined area, we had the opportunity to obtain phenomenal research data, as well as compliment our research interests with those of the industry.

We supplemented our company interviews with breakout sessions and educational tracks. We attended a lecture entitles, The State of the Manufactured Fiber Industry, presented by Frank J. Horn. The lecture focused on the current strengths and weaknesses of the fiber industry, as well as, opportunities for this industry. Mr. Horn presented his thoughts on the trends of the next decade in the manufactured fiber industry. A quota free environment, trade preference arrangements, the industrial and floor covering flywheel, and global overcapacity were all trend factors according to Mr. Horn.

We also attended a lecture presented by Dr. Peter Kilduff. The focus of his lecture was “The Relationship Between Business Environment Characteristics, Competitive Priorities, Supply Chain Structure, and Business Performance in the US Industrial Textile Industry.” Dr. Kilduff examined current factors and trends in the ever changing industrial supply chain. He found that business environment characteristics influence both choice of company competitive priorities and the design of supply chain structure.

Much of our time was also spent learning about the DR-CAFTA trade agreement. Information sessions on this topic were held numerous days at MEGATEX. Not only did we learn about the dynamics of the trade agreement, but we were also able to talk directly with DR-CAFTA representatives. We worked with the U.S. Commercial Service and the delegations they hosted from the DR-CAFTA region to discuss trade opportunities in each country. In fact, we helped schedule the Domincan Republic trade mission to North Carolina in May.

MEGATEX 2006, not only was a successful trade show, but a unique opportunity for us to interface with industry and government leaders. We were very thankful for the chance to attend and have used the information collected at the show throughout our research activities this semester.

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Last Site Revision:
February 2, 2006