USA – On August 21, the winners of the Challengers Award 2018 edition were announced.

These awards are given during the IWF Atlanta, held from August 22 to 25 and its objective is to promote the development of new and innovative technologies in machinery, supplies and services for the furniture industry, kitchen cabinets, architectural carpentry, furniture stores, upholstery or specialized industries and wood products in general.

This year 76 products competed, of which 23 finalists were shortlisted. Of the latter, the jury chose the 7 winners of 2018:

Doucet Machineries was awarded by ALYX, an automated clamp loading system that presents many advantages for high volume edge bonding applications.

Eagle Machinery and Supply won with the EagleEye Talon Vision saw. This saw combines the function of scanning defects on both sides with the function of sectioning in a single machine.

Beck Fastener Group and Fasco America were awarded for their LignoLoc wood nails. This development had already been distinguished for its innovative qualities at the Ligna 2017 fair in Germany.

Felder Group USA won for its CNC Format 4-Creator 950. This compact vertical machining center only requires a space of 5 m2 to operate.

RSA Solutions won the Challengers Award for its Production Coach, a scalable production manager that uses a centralized SQL database that connects the office and the factory with real-time data.

SCM was awarded for morbidelli p200 CNC router with HE-POD Technology which can machine any type of edge in any situation. It features five independent and interpolating axes with continuous 360 degree rotation and a numerical control Z axis that allows for adjustment of the lower projection of the edge.

Finally, among this select group is Sharper Origins of Sharper Tools, the manual CNC router that is guided through a screen the size of a cell phone.