Have You Registered And Booked Your Room

For PFA Spring 2024 Meeting?

After securing three expansions of our room block, the Vinoy Autograph, the hotel has notified us that additional requests for rooms (if approved) will be at a higher rate. That rate has not yet been specified, but the Vinoy is currently advertising rooms for $480 and $500 that week. So, we strongly recommend that you register and make your room reservations soon.

If you can't get a room at the Vinoy Autograph, please contact Kay Wright in our offices (kwright@pfa.org) to get suggestions for accommodations nearby..

Visit our meeting web page, where you can stay up to date on the program and schedule, reserve your rooms and register for the conference: https://www.pfa.org/2024-spring-meeting.

Tuesday, May 21, 6-7 pm

Be sure to arrive in time to attend Tuesday evening's Opening Reception, sponsored by CertiPUR-US®. This has become a highlight of our meetings, and it's a perfect way to network, renew acquaintances, and meet new people, with good music, good food, and good drink. (Don't forget to RSVP.)

Highlighted Speakers

Industry Issues Session

Mattress Antidumping Cases and "Made In USA" Claims

Yohai Baisburd

Partner Cassidy Levy Kent

Yohai Baisburd has represented companies in the mattress industry for a number of years, including on multiple rounds of trade remedy litigation. He will update you on the U.S. Department of Commerce's recent decision on below value “dumping” of bedding products by specified producers in foreign countries. That decision has already resulted in collection of duties on imported mattresses at U.S. ports.

In another trade-related topic, he will discuss what factors allow producers of bedding and similar consumer products to label their products as "Made In USA." Such labeling must meet specific criteria, regulated by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). These criteria are stricter than those used by Customs officials to establish Country of Origin, which largely rely on where final assembly of the product took place. In contrast, the FTC requires that products labeled as "Made in USA" be "entirely or virtually entirely" manufactured in the U.S.

Jack E. Davis

University of Florida

Jack E. Davis is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and a distinguished professor of history and the Rothman Family Chair in the Humanities at the University of Florida. After earning a PhD in history from Brandeis University in 1994, he taught at Eckerd College (1994-1997) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (1997-2003) before moving to the University of Florida, where he has taught for twenty years.

From 2002-2003, he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Jordan in Amman. He has had residential fellowships at Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, and McDowell in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where he worked on his book The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea.

Published by Liveright/W.W. Norton, The Gulf won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in history and the Kirkus Prize in nonfiction. The New York Times Book Review described The Gulf as a “beautiful homage to a neglected sea. The Gulf was a New York Times Notable Book for 2017 and made several “best of” lists for the year, including those of the Washington Post, NPR, Forbes, and the Tampa Bay Times.

In 2019, Davis was one of thirty-two recipients nationwide of an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, awarded to support the writing of his The Bald Eagle: The Improbable Journey of America’s Bird. Published by Liveright in 2022, The Bald Eagle was chosen as a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, a Los Angeles Times top-five nonfiction book of 2022, and an Amazon and Apple best book of 2022. The author or editor of ten books, including the award-winning An Everglades Providence: Marjory Stoneman Douglas and the American Environmental Century, Davis has written for the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Orion, Saturday Evening Post, and Smithsonian.

Currently, he is writing a new book on the American seacoast. He divides his time between Gainesville, Florida, and Harrisville, New Hampshire.

Dr. Davis will bring a selection of his books for sale and signing.

Technical Program

Update: CO2-Based Polyols for Polyurethane Applications

Liz Manning, Econic Technologies

Consumers, brands and manufacturers are seeking to adopt sustainable materials and practices. Within polyurethane, we have seen three types of sustainable polyol emerge; chemically recycled, bio-based and polyols from captured CO2. Econic Technology’s catalyst and energy-efficient process transform waste CO2 into a key ingredient that replaces oil-based epoxides in polyether polyols. The Econic catalyst allows for the amount of CO2 to be tuned, along with the molecular weight and functionality of the polyols.

In 2023 Econic presented an overview of the properties seen in comfort foams prepared with these polyols. Since then, Econic has expanded the application data to viscoelastic and combustion modified foams. This data will be shared along with an overview of how molecular weight and CO­2 content in the polyol, impacts on foam properties. Finally, an update on the commercial production of these polyols by our USA licensee, Monument Chemical, will be shared and key learnings on scaling of a sustainable technology for polyurethane applications.

Closing Cocktail Reception

Thursday, May 23, 6 pm

Celebrate a successful PFA meeting with good food and drink, networking, and an opportunity to catch up with industry colleagues.(Be sure to RSVP on our Meeting Page.)

During the reception, we’ll also announce the Herman Stone Technical Excellence Award, voted on during the Technical Program. 

Has your company considered sponsoring a segment of the conference and highlighting its leadership role in the industry? In the last several years, Huntsman, Dow, Siltech Corp. and Microban Interenational have done so. To learn more, contact Russ Batson: rbatson@pfa.org.