Schattdecor invited customers and leaders in the North American surface and panel industry to their facility in St. Louis, Mo. for its first Solutions Forum in February 2017. The event began with a get together at the St. Louis City Museum, a 600,000 sq ft art installation and playground made up of recycled bits and pieces of the city itself. On February 16, a day-long informational session took place at the Schattdecor facility in Maryland Heights.

Presenters explored a variety of topics and inspired guests with information to help drive innovation and improve workflow. Roland Heeger, chief technical officer of Schattdecor, introduced several new products, including digital printing, Proflex Floor and Decolay Real. Stephanie Richardson, design manager for Schattdecor, gave a trend report covering first quarter 2017 observations from the January trade fair season. Claudia Küchen, head of design and marketing for Schattdecor AG, presented global trends and future forecasts, focusing on the idea of “multi-dimensional lifestyles.”

Guest speaker, Marcus Wehner from Lightweight Solutions, introduced his company’s product, Lisocore. Todd Bracher from the Todd Bracher Studio, gave the keynote address. Bracher is an award-winning industrial designer and design strategist who was the recently selected as the first American to create a contemporary living space for IMM Cologne’s “Das Haus” installation. During his address, he highlighted many of the challenges facing businesses today and how those challenges can be addressed through good design. He gave real world examples of “what is good design” and how a company can use design for strategic differentiation in order to be successful in today’s economy.

“Through the presentations at the Solutions Forum, Schattdecor has shown that it is not just a decor paper printer, but a true business and solutions partner for the wood based panel and surface industry,” said Flavio Nunes, managing director of Schattdecor. “Customers can rely on us, now and in the future, to support and expand their businesses.”

For more information, visit www.schattdecor.de.