Congratulations to the winners of the IWF 2008
Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award®!

The purpose of the Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award ® is to encourage and promote the development of innovative new technology in the field of woodworking machinery, supplies, and services for the furniture, kitchen cabinets, architectural woodwork, store fixture, upholstery, or specialty and general wood product industries.   For IWF 2008 the competition had over 125 entries.  Following  are the 7 entries chosen by the judges as the most innovative for the industry. 

IWF 2008 Challengers Award Winners
Winners listed alphabetically

DUX Area, Inc.
DUX Advanced Laminar Airflow Technology

DUX Area, Inc. offers three revolutionary new spray guns utilizing patented Advanced Laminar Airflow Technology to dramatically reduce overspray and coatings waste.  The result is an average 15-40% coating savings and reduction in emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs).  DUX guns also produce an extremely high quality finish and operators appreciate their compact design and light weight.

DV-Systems / Delle Vedove USA Inc.
UV-X

Imagine a finishing system that cures perfectly the instant it's on!  DV-Systems' UV-X offers up to 30% more machine-up time, 80% less energy usage, mercury free lamps, reduced exhaust and virtually no fire risk to save both the environment and your money.

FS Tool Corporation / FS Cruing
Aerotech

100% Dust free nesting.  FS Cruing's Aerotech Nesting System provides extraction by creating a tornado like vortex that reaches down along the cutting head, lifting dust, debris and potentially corrosive residues up and away from the cutting head, through the fixed, machined propeller blades and into your CNC machine's dust extraction system. 

Giben International, SpA
Zero Active Drive Beam Saw

The Zero Active Drive Beam Saw is the world's only panel saw that does not require motors or electric cable and pneumatic hoses in chains on the saw carriage,  Giben "Zero Active Drive" is a vision into the future of panel sizing as it combines speed, efficiency, accuracy, economy, reliability, silence, safety and innovation into one ground breaking new package.

NAP GLADU
Next G Series Diamond & Carbide Inserts Cutting Tool

The Next G Series is the first to automatically position diamond or carbide profiled inserts in a single tool body.  Optimize the cutting edge, achieve higher precision and save time when changing knives.  The Next G Series is the next generation of tools.

Super Thin Saws
UltraCem-Coated Blades

UCT's patented UltraCem coating enables STS blades to run with incredibly slim tolerances, minimal friction, and limited deviation.  UltraCem allows manufacturers to re-shape sawblade geometry with an unsurpassed tip-to-blade clearance.  As a result, woodworkers can achieve thinnest kerfs possible, maximizing material utilization with every pass of the ultra-thin blade.

WoodEye / Innovative Vision AB
Automatic NHLA Grading of Hardwoods

WoodEye is proud to introduce the world's first production ready scanner capable of grading most hardwood species according to either NHLA or proprietary grading rules.  It offers the same easy-to-use interface as is common on all WoodEye scanners.