Photos: Woodworking
More than 100 customers attended Felder Group's Open House and seminar series.
“We wanted to do something a little bit different this time,” says Felder Group’s Joseph Junker.
“And so we designed a series of seminars to help our customers improve on a common process and show them how - by adding PUR glue - they can improve their product. We want to help them to get the most out of their existing machinery.
“Of course we also want to sell machines, that’s what we do, but this series of seminars was aimed at providing objective information and remove uncertainty.”
Junker, who is Felder Group’s export manager Canada, Australia, New Zealand, says they are getting a lot of questions about PUR glue and better edges and so they made the decision to schedule a series of seminars to address them.
That’s why Felder teamed up with Jowat adhesives to hold seminars as part of their regular Open House event in Mississauga, Nov. 17-19, to provide the answers.
“PUR glue is a great thing, it can really improve your product,” Junker says, “and it’s really quite easy, there are just a few things you must know in order to use it properly.”
“We want to help our clients be successful, their success is good for everyone,” Junker says. “By showing them how they can use PUR glue with the machines they already own, we offer them a chance to improve their product and provide them with additional value. Using PUR they can, for example, offer a longer warranty or a better and more durable edge and be more competitive.”
For the seminars, Felder brought in its product managers Stephan Kuenzel and Tamara Felder from Austria and together with Jowat’s Tim Martin, sales manager for Ontario and Western Canada, they demonstrated the ease with which Jowat’s new PUR granulate glue can be incorporated into production, by any shop large and small.
“There are a couple of things you have to remember about PUR glue, but it’s not difficult at all and as long as you keep that in mind, it’s easy to incorporate that with your current production,” Junker says.
He added that Felder Group has had a very successful year in 2016 and they have seen particularly strong growth in the market for standard machines. For a few years now customers have focused on CNCs, but now some of that money is coming back to standard machines, he says.
“CNCs don’t replace a panel saw or a jointer planer and people are appreciative of Felder quality. Our machine are easy to use and people appreciate the fit and finish and the fact that they last for a very long time,” Junker says.
“People know Felder as a dependable partner in the business and we are in a position now where people focus on what we have and not who we are.”
Felder Group’s branch manager Andy Gombaez says they had well over 100 people come to their showroom over the three-day event and he received a lot of positive feedback about the seminars and how useful people thought they were.
“People really enjoyed the different approach,” he says. “We offered people the information and how to get the best product from their machine and they appreciated that.”
