Inside IWF 2026

Hey, everybody.

Welcome back to Verify Enfield.

Today, I am diving into IWF 2026.

I just got back from IWF in Atlanta last week.

And here's the thing that stuck with me.

The big software players are gobbling each other up.

Microvellum, Emose, Cabinet Vision all now sit under three giants.

There's kind of the big three of engineering software and creating vertical integration in their platforms.

But at the same time, for the first time, I've seen more genuine innovation from small players and individual shop owners than I have in years.

That tension and that kind of dichotomy and what's coming is what this whole episode is about.

So I'm going to give you my take on the show, the overall vibe, some products and software that caught my eye and talk about really what's happening with what I consider democratization and kind of commoditization of software development.

So last week for me, for you, probably a couple of weeks ago, IWF Atlanta was August 25th through 28th at Georgia World Congress Center.

For those that don't know, Probably not many of you guys.

You guys are my listeners and everybody here in the millwork industry knows this is America's biggest woodworking show.

Thousand plus exhibitors.

And this was the first year that I felt like it was like back since COVID.

Like really, really back.

Every year it's been getting bigger and bigger again.

But it truly felt like... fully there again, Tuesday, Wednesday were packed even Thursday and Friday.

We saw a lot of people there, you know, duck works.

We had a booth there in the BC hall.

So where I spent the majority of my time, I did get to walk around a little bit, a couple of the days and get a feel for the show, but tons and tons and tons of people there.

So a lot of times there's, you know, some tire kickers, people looking to see what's out there and just make sure they're not missing anything.

But almost everybody I talked to was either, buying software, buying machines, definitely learning new stuff, and it was busy.

I saw loads and loads of people that I hadn't seen in years, that I'd worked with, that I'd met before.

Hey, everybody.

Welcome back to Verify Enfield.

Today, I am diving into IWF 2026.

I just got back from IWF in Atlanta last week.

And here's the thing that stuck with me.

The big software players are gobbling each other up.

Microvellum, Emose, Cabinet Vision all now sit under three giants.

There's kind of the big three of engineering software and creating vertical integration in their platforms.

But at the same time, for the first time, I've seen more genuine innovation from small players and individual shop owners than I have in years.

That tension and that kind of dichotomy and what's coming is what this whole episode is about.

So I'm going to give you my take on the show, the overall vibe, some products and software that caught my eye and talk about really what's happening with what I consider democratization and kind of commoditization of software development.

So last week for me, for you, probably a couple of weeks ago, IWF Atlanta was August 25th through 28th at Georgia World Congress Center.

For those that don't know, Probably not many of you guys.

You guys are my listeners and everybody here in the millwork industry knows this is America's biggest woodworking show.

Thousand plus exhibitors.

And this was the first year that I felt like it was like back since COVID.

Like really, really back.

Every year it's been getting bigger and bigger again.

But it truly felt like... fully there again, Tuesday, Wednesday were packed even Thursday and Friday.

We saw a lot of people there, you know, duck works.

We had a booth there in the BC hall.

So where I spent the majority of my time, I did get to walk around a little bit, a couple of the days and get a feel for the show, but tons and tons and tons of people there.

So a lot of times there's, you know, some tire kickers, people looking to see what's out there and just make sure they're not missing anything.

But almost everybody I talked to was either, buying software, buying machines, definitely learning new stuff, and it was busy.

I saw loads and loads of people that I hadn't seen in years, that I'd worked with, that I'd met before.