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The Cutting Edge^™ February 2005

Industry Information

Accurately forecasting the future of your business is critical to maximizing your bottom line performance. In an effort to give members a competitive advantage, WMMA has once again partnered with the Institute for Trend Research (ITR) to provide members with the tools to stay at least one-half business cycle ahead in your business planning process. This glimpse into the future will enable you to appropriately plan for the ups and downs in the marketplace.

As an added bonus, Alan Beaulieu, the leading economist from ITR, will be present at the 2005 Woodworking Industry Conference (WIC) in Destin, Florida for Contact Table appointments for WMMA members only. Those members who sign up for the ITR service in advance of the WIC can sit down with Alan for a one-on-one consultation about your company's trends and forecasts. Bring your sales data for a personal analysis.

If you want to learn more about the forecasting service from Alan personally before you sign up, schedule an appointment with him to learn about the available tools for your business. Don't let the valuable face-to-face time pass you by at the 2004 WIC.

Click here for the latest quarterly report from ITR, December 2004.

ACT NOW!
To schedule an appointment with Alan during the WIC Contact Table hours, contact Bill Norton at bnorton@fernley.com and he will coordinate a time that works for you. Space is limited - contact Bill early to guarantee your meeting with Alan.

Forecasting tools include:

1. The WMMA Quarterly Economic Outlook Report - These Reports are FREE to all Members and are issued quarterly through The Cutting Edge. The Reports have been expanded to include more useful information and designed to make them easier to follow and understand. To view the Reports issued in 2004 visit - http://www.wmma.org/members/economic_freports.htm.
2. Company Specific Analysis - For a minimal fee ($400), you can have a professional economist provide you with forecasting information that matches up with your unique business. How can you pass up this customized company analysis? If you would like to speak with a member who is already using this service to see what impact it is having, please contact Bill Norton at 215-564-3484, ext 2235.

How the Company Specific Analysis service works:
When you sign up for the Company Specific Analysis, ITR's expert economists will confidentially compare your company to a variety of leading indicators and trends. They will review your sales for the past five years and identify which leading indicators relate best to your company's own business cycle highs and lows and then assist you in keeping your charts up to date through their website - www.ecotrends.org.

The Company Specific Analysis service is provided to WMMA members for the one-time discounted rate of $400.00. (That's more than 50% off the normal rate because you are a member of the WMMA!). The fee includes charts and analysis pertaining to one measure of your company's business, i.e. Sales. WMMA members who elect to take advantage of this opportunity, will be billed directly from ITR and gain access to the ITR website: www.ecotrends.org.

Note: If you want ITR to analyze both your Bookings and Sales, the fee would be $400.00 for Booking and $400.00 for Sales, for a total fee of $800.00.

• An Excel workbook including the past two years of data for all 44 data series that are presented each month in EcoTrends.
• A Technical Reference Guide to assist the members with the information presented in both the quarterly WMMA report and any Company Specific Analysis.
• Key Leading Indicators: Corporate Bond Prices, PMI, ITR Leading Indicator and the USLI, which are updated within 24 hours of the data being released every month. Charts, Excel files, as well as, analysis are all available to be downloaded at your convenience.

Contact Erin Hennigar at erin@ecotrends.org to sign up for the Company Specific Analysis service and receive your username and password. Be sure to identify yourself as a WMMA Member. Proceed to the secure subscriber area of the website. Enter your username and password. You will see the following page:

• Subscriber download page
• Leading Indicators
• Data Files for EcoTrends Series
  Technical Reference Manual
• When you select Leading Indicators, the list of leading indicators provided below will appear. To access the most current data, simply click a link from the following list:
• Corporate Bond Prices Data
  Data for LIS
  ITR Leading Indicator Data
  Purchasing Managers Index Data
  US Leading Indicator Data
  

Table of Contents
2005 Public Policy Fly-In a Huge Success; Keep the Momentum Going!
CAN-SPAM
Changing Woodworking Industry Demographics
Improve Your Sales and Business Forecasting Practices
NAM's Manufacturing Week Includes "Avoiding the Mistakes that Cost You in Court" - March 10-11
Cameron Holdings Corporation Acquires North American Products Corporation
Tom Onsrud Named WMMA Treasurer
2005 WIC Early Bird Registration Deadline March 4th!