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AHFA Announces Program for 2013 Manufacturing Summit
February 7,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Special Events on February 8, 2013
The American Home Furnishings Alliance will examine key issues impacting home furnishings manufacturing in the first of two Manufacturing Summits this year.
The March 27 Summit will be held at the Franklin Furniture Institute on the campus of Mississippi State University, Starkville, Miss. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant has been invited to open the summit with a brief overview of the state of manufacturing in Mississippi.
Registration for the 8:50 a.m.-4 p.m. summit is $99 for AHFA members and $139 for non-members. It includes a light breakfast, as well as lunch.
AHFA Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Bill Perdue will offer an important update on key regulatory issues. Details of the revised California flammability standard, TB 117, are on Perdues agenda, as well as an update on how the industry is responding to the recent spate of California Proposition 65 notices targeting upholstery products that allegedly contain the flame retardant TDCPP.
Obamacare: Implementation and Concerns is the topic of a panel discussion that will be moderated by Jay Moon, president of the Mississippi Manufacturers Association. Panelists include Mike Chaney, Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Mississippi; Rusty Berryhill, president of Kevin Charles Furniture; Jim Taylor, corporate vice president of benefits and compensation for Huntington Ingalls Inds.; and Pepper Crutcher, a partner in Balch & Bingham, LLP.
Additional presenters include Nicole Ponder, professor of marketing in the MSU College of Business, who will present results of a consumer buying attitudes and behavior study; Jack McDougle, senior vice president of the Mississippi Council on Competitiveness, who will present, Lessons Learned in the Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index"; and Bill Renick, workforce investment area director for Three Rivers Planning and Development District, who will address Solutions for Surviving the Skilled Labor Shortage.
Summit sponsor CertiPur-US also will provide a brief overview of the certified foam program.
Attendees requiring overnight accommodations should contact the Hilton Garden Inn in Starkville at 662.615.9664. A group rate of $111 is available through March 12.
AHFAs second Manufacturing Summit is slated for August 22 at the Greensboro, N.C., Airport Embassy Suites. Program details will be announced at a later date.