AWNING NEWS JANUARY 2007

A NEW YEAR
We are looking forward to visiting with customers and showing off our new and expanded selection of awning products. At this time we would like to draw the following to your attention;

NEW PRODUCTS FOR 2007

GLEN RAVEN FIRESIST

We are pleased to announce the appointment of WRI as a distributor for Glen Raven's new Firesist product. Product is landing in our warehouse end of January.

DICKSON WOVEN - BRAND NEW COLLECTION - REDUCED PRICE

Wow, Dickson has a fantastic new acrylic awning collection - watch for new books coming out in early February. The new collection has great selection of new and trendy patterns - overall the swatch book has a much more North American feel. Much nicer presentation than the last book while still showing prints of how the material will look on an awning.

We are buying this material direct from France now. This allows us to avoid payment of double duties (U.S. and Canadian customs) and will make the new Dickson product very competitive with other comparable offerings.

SOMFY - WOW

Lots of new exciting things happening at Somfy. A 10% manufacturer price decrease, new wireless sun and wind controls that are going to greatly reduce the cost of installing systems, new remote that allows you to program multitude of awnings easily from the one unit, sleeker looking products and more. Watch for more on these changes soon.

3M PANAGRAPHICS III

This is a new wide and super wide width awning and flex face sign material available from 3M. Widths available are 54", 79" 10'6", 12', 13'9". We will be stocking most widths however due to handling issues related to superwide - we are not able to offer cuts on the 10'6" and wider.

Product is warranted for graphic adhesion with 3M films and has a 6 year warranty (5 years full replacement, last year pro-rata.

Product can also be direct digital imaged. This is THE product to consider for full colour imaged awnings. We also sell liquid uv overlaminate for protection of the image.

IFAI CANADA EXPO - MARKHAM - FEBRUARY 21, 22, 23

Mark your calendar for these dates. This years event will be the best ever with a ton to offer every company in the industrial fabric industry
- 70 U.S. and Canadian exhibitors (biggest show ever)
- Outstanding networking opportunities
- "Developing niche markets" seminar
- "Staff retention" seminar and guest speaker
- "Lightweight structures and their many uses" seminar
- Tour including signature tension structure application and visit to Pike Awning
- Great networking and social functions
- Keynote speech on how technology is changing the world around us
- On floor demonstrations including fabric welding, sewing machine repair and more
- Honours program and awards
- Plus much more

Exhibits are Thursday 1:00 - 4:00 and Friday 11:00 until 2:00.

A great opportunity for all business owners, managers and employees alike. Admission to trade show floor is FREE as are some functions. Full conference package for all functions and seminars is very affordable - visit ifaicanada.com for more info.

Appreciating how busy one can get - ask yourself how many hours you invest in networking, industry awareness, educational opportunities, chance to view honours program submissions, industry specific seminars????

Next years Expo slated for Montreal, following year Western Canada (Vancouver or Calgary likely).

PRICING

The short version

Prices are going up again - but not too badly.

The long version

With the increase in cost of petroleum costs over the past year we have seen increase in costs in petroleum based pvc products from our suppliers - this year is no exception. These costs have been compounded by increases in transportation costs and fuel surcharges. While there has been a recent easing in petroleum costs these have not translated into any relief.

There have been some offsets (such as the strength of the Canadian dollar) that are allowing us to moderate increases on products.

Some of the things which we are doing to reduce and control costs;
- implementing of on-line business centre for greater efficiency
- bulk purchase of materials for better pricing, freight economies
- discussion with suppliers on ways to decrease mutual costs without reducing margin
- manipulating of world currency markets to strengthen CDN dollar (just kidding)

We will continue to explore ways to provide you with the best values in high performance materials in the industry.

For the most part price increases will be in the 2% - 3% range.

Please watch for new price lists. New pricing in effect February 1. We will gladly protect pricing on quotes which you have tendered if submitted in writing with quantity colour and project name. Price protection will be until April 1

WRI ON-LINE BUSINESS CENTRE

As announced recently we have developed an on-line business centre for our customers. The intent of the business centre is to allow customers to;
- check pricing at any time of day or night
- view our complete product line
- access warranty statements, flame tests, specs, instruction bulletins, etc.
- order colour cards, samples
- place orders (if desired)
- access sale and clear out products
- get on-line newsletters and updates

The project has taken much longer than expected and customers have advised of some hiccups. Please note that we are working to correct these quickly and hope that customers will continue to utilize this tool.

To visit the buisiness centre go to www.wrisupply.com and enter your user name and password (these were sent to customers in November and December - if you do not have your please call).

NEW POLY LEN AWNING CLEANER

New pvc awning cleaning solutuion from makers of Awnmax. Cleaner is designed for all types of cleaning including deep stains. Cleaner penetrates deep stains and floats soil to surface. Product os envioronmentally friendly!!! Comes in 4 litre and 18 litre containers. Dilute 200 to 400% with water. In case of bad staining dilute 200%. Price is $84.00/4 litre and $233 for 18 litre. Feedback from early trial of this product has been very good.