where do we get good ideas

one of the things that I need to do is continually improve our product in the eyes of the end user. How do I do that? By listening to my customers. I turn to my customers for any creativity in the cabinets, I let them drive the creative process. For that reason it is why I go out and do the installs myself, i want to see first hand how the cabinets are being used and what customers want. One of my side projects is a line of cabinetry called "hungry coyote". It is a bi-product of the economic climate, meaning the highest level of value added engineered cabinets. leaps and bounds more expensive then Ikea but also leaps and bounds higher quality. We have been building this type of cabinet for several years. Recently at a high level meeting with a client an improvement over how we deal with the light molding was suggested during a brainstorm session by a homeowner that I hadn't thought of. I continued to think this idea over because it just made so much sense. We are going to be implementing this new idea right away and probably be using this new way moving forward. this adds value to our clients. Collectively my clients are smarter than I, it's by actually listening to them and thinking over their ideas that we will become a more customer centered business.

interior shutter series 2

in "this is how we do it" below you will see photo 1 of the shutter series. in photo 2 just below this post the same pile of lumber has been processed once again to it's final dimension(it is deceiving to me, it looks like much more lumber). We also keep the lumber piled up separated for air circulation to prevent further warping. Since we did machine all four sides again today it is important to let all four sides breath equally. At this point all of the styles and rails plus some extra's have been milled on all four sides and are now ready to be mortised.

milling rought lumber

there is a photo that I hope will post here. It is a picture of wood half way through being milled. I was making shutters for a house interior, really nice shutters with solid 6/4 maple rails and styles with balsa wood louvers, I will try to find a picture of the finish product. The photo shows the 6/4 maple stacked up with sticks in between each layer. The reason for this is to let the wood dry out some more. I smoothed out three sides of each board and the next step is to rip these parts to near their finished dimension. before I rip them it is a good time to let them dry out for at least 24 hours. When I smooth out the sides I am exposing new wood cells to the air, when that happens the new cells absorb moisture and that can cause the wood to change shape again. Never try to mill stock like this all at once, if you do it will move slightly. Also when I rip these parts they will again move because of the changing tension within the board. So I will rip these parts in larger than what i need and we will mill them again to their finished sizes. this is one of the area where you can't rush the process, wood is an organic material and it requires patience when working with it.

variety

I forgot to mention that you can also see some mahogany doors to the right in that same photo. Door makers is another market that stands on it's own that we compete in. So I have just identified three totally separate markets that we can effectively compete in. These different markets utilize the same asset base and very similar operation processes. This is how I perceive KBWC a woodworking shop that serves the cause of woodworking in many different markets so we will therefore survive any economic climate. It is the goal of this company to get a market share in each of these markets.

variety

this photo below is one thing that we are striving for here at KBWC, this one way that we continue to challenge ourselves, by doing a variety of things. The wooden counter top is actually a whole other market that we compete in other than cabinets. The black kitchen panel is not only an unusual finish but also another market that we compete in, that being kitchen cabinets and kitchen designers.

pieces of art

that is what our client called each one of her doors. She said "each one of these is like a piece of art." she is referring to her cabinet doors. the pictures of what she is talking about is the cherry doors in the previous post. the pictures of the unfinished doors shows all of them together roughly 41 pieces. all solid cherry, a nice raised panel and an applied molding. We cut the the panel mold on the table saw, which actually worked out really well, Gagan said that we didn't have any burns, which we usually get when we make such a large cut in cherry. Also it expedited the sanding of the raise because we could use flat sanding block. the only complication is the applied molding needs an extra cut in it so it beds tight and evenly. you can see the applied molding in the second picture, it is really nice. The finish on these doors is top notch. it is very smooth and very consistent, it looks great in place, and the grain of the paneling is very active and has so much character, it is no wonder that the client thinks they are pieces of art. All the credit for these doors goes to Gagan, and Esteban, they made them and they finished them, and they are beautiful, nice work guys, Kidder Blaisdell would be no where with out you guys.

more meetings, better focus

we are now having brief staff meetings everyday. I think it will help us stay focused on the priorities. The once a week is good, but everyday is better. our priorities are in a constant state of change. Why? because job site conditions are in a constant state of change. our install is dependent on job site conditions. the everyday meeting gives me a chance to take stock on where the priorities stand and make adjustments.
Many of my clients have been telling me that my business model doesn't work. I can't blame them because we are late on some projects, not all but some. at times I think that my model doesn't work. Fact is my model as it is being executed doesn't work, but that is because we aren't executing it the way it needs too in order to work. It isn't working because we are over loaded with work right now and in a state of catch-up. I really need to hire another installer to help me with the install. the system that I am developing for my wood shop is going to work and will be the model for all other modern wood shops. it isn't complicated it is modeled after a restaurant basically. I need to extract myself from such a intense installation role. And spend more time actually running the company.

how we do it

the bottom photo's are of a library that we started installing this week. If you look at the picture of the panel laying flat you will see how I trim the panels to the correct length on the job using a festool skill saw. The tricky part is that the panel molding protrudes beyond the face of the panel so you can see how I used pads that the track of the skill saw ride on. then you can see how they look when they are attached to the wall. this is a mahogany frame with a African cherry burl veneer, it also has a red mahogany stain.

the next picture is of a tool box that I use for high rise condo jobs, where getting tools in and out of the job is very time consuming. So I leave my tools on site in a locked file cabinet that I have converted into a tool box. the whole thing is on casters so it can easily be moved around the site in and out of peoples way. it becomes sort of my site office, and it has many supplies that help not only me but anybody who may need them.

the top pictures are of a kitchen job. the point here is a technique that I am using for leveling the cabinets. You can see the leg levers under the cabinets. I can set the whole bank of lower cabinets that have the skirts applied at a height higher than they are going to go, I can then scribe them as a whole to an unleveled floor. I then take off the levelers and then screw on the plywood skids that the cabinet will ultimately sit on. the height of the shims is equal to the amount that I set the scribes too. it has worked very well.

a good monday for the team

we had our staff meeting today. We laid out the weekly goals and talked about the long range goals for the rest of the year. We have room for two more jobs that I am hoping to get this week, all my marketing activities of this past year have gotten our work in progress back up to normal levels. So unless these two jobs fall thru I will be sold out until January.

I have made some changes to the weekly goal sheet that I give out at the staff meeting. I started to lay-out a note taking format on the back side of the sheet. Everyone's phone number is now there. I show all the prospective work that we are bidding. And then I show all the current jobs in list format and in a cash flow graph. This way I can manage our responsibilities based on the payment forecast and make sure that they are aligned. The better jobs are the ones where clear production milestones are laid-out in advance and when they are met payment is made immediately. When that happens you have business harmony.

both Gagan and Esteban had some good ideas today. Gagan made a last minute decision to switch tasks with me so I could work on profile machine, instead of driving. quick thinking and observation on your feet gagan. Esteban suggested that we use a close color on the back side of the doors in order to stretch out what last color we have for a job. The back of the doors would be only a shade different. We have a few jobs moving thur the shop that are very close in color. Good thinking Esteban why waste material if we don't' have to.

new equipment

this coming week I've got some good things coming up. I will be looking at some more jobs and have new contacts to pursue and jobs to bid. WE have a Kaizen event this week. I got a new shaper this week, well new to me that is. It is nothing special but hopefully a solid work horse. It was built on Cape Cod by a machinist, it has 5/16" thick cast iron walls on the cabinet. All the fence movable parts are steel or cast iron, so it should remain true and work well for many years to come. It smaller than our other two shapers, less horse power and a smaller spindle. It has a 1" and 3/4" spindle, I could easily get a 1.25" spindle made so all are tooling fits, or we can use bushings. I do have one 1" bore head so I can use all of our custom blades without problem. I am hoping to set up some more overhead lights in the shop this week. We moved around some more machinery on Monday this past week as our Kiazen event. We moved our sanding machine about 10' in one direction and greatly increased the amount of space in the finish preparation area. Which we immediately filled with the cabinets of job 99. which are really starting to look amazing, I can't wait to start our install there.

new web site concept

It is Monday and that means staff meeting at KBWC. In my opinion the staff meeting is the only time that we grow as a team, it is the only time that we are all together, well that is not entirely true, there are only four of us so every day we are all together. But the staff meeting is where the finger pointing goes on. We talk about the goals of the past and present week, everyones schedule, and any supplies that we need. This meeting keeps us focused on our jobs and the many details of the jobs. It isn't a fancy meeting we hold it out in the shop at any of the work benches. this week we discussed the progress of job 99, and what remains to be done, we went over a few little things that need to be done for job 115. we are going to build a cherry counter top this week that will go in a cabinet show room. this is good for us, we are trying to get more wood counter top work. So any customers that see this wood top at this showroom will be directed to us for bidding. This is just the kind of thing I am interested in. Woodwork for the trades. In this case it's Carol Industries, they are a supplier of cabinets, windows and doors, and many other fixtures, they are located hear in Woburn and have a very impressive showroom.

I was on Dodds Woodworking web site recently and I have to say that is one of the most impressive sites I have seen by a woodworker. What made it different is that they have a video, so the viewer can sit back and watch, no clicking involved, no reading just watching. excellent work Dodds.

keeping our platform wide

below is a photo of some Shoji doors that Gagan made, beautiful work Gagan. this work was done for FH Perry, one of our most prestigious clients. Below that is a very nice cabinet, single piece we were fortune it enough that when the toe kick was not there we could angle it through a double door.

kitchen design

I have been doing loads of design work lately. designing 2 kitchens at the same time, job #124 and job #122. things are going very well, I have to attribute much of my success to my association with NKBA. there is so much that I learned from attending a study group. I am also planning to attend another seminar at Clark next week. Clark has got an incredible showroom, they are the distributor for Wolf and sub-zero. We have had some trouble getting this special veneer for job 119. the vendor sent out the wrong the veneer. They took it back and are sending out the correct stuff, however the problem is that now I look incompetent in the eyes of the client.

new team member

we have a new member on our team. His name is Marlo. he is 24 and doesn't know anything about what we do. We will train him. The primary advantages he brings is a drivers license, good English skills, fluent in Spanish, and skip to his step. Those are very basic but necessary for a laborer. My goal is to leverage my own time by having Marlo do some goffering that is running around picking things up. I want to also slowly train him in installation and finishing work. When it comes to new employees attitude is the most important thing to me. If the personality doesn't fit then it can bring the whole team down.

new book

I have started reading a very good book it is called "the goal". it is about manufacturing. The premise is eliminating constraints, and increasing throughput. I really like it so far and have a hard time putting it down, I think it will have a profound impact on how I view my business. I have been thinking more about the wood shop lately and what markets we compete in. So far we do a little bit of everything, which is great in this economy because I have always said that whoever is trained in the most platforms will survive. Other than general survival now I am focused on specializing in providing kitchen cabinets hence my membership and involvement in NKBA, in providing custom furniture to Interior designers, and providing GC's with general mill work. all of these area's I am "not" interested in a public name for myself but wish to sell to the trades and fly under the radar, and in affect help the individual trades make a better name for themselves. KBWC is a job shop that works with wood and similar products I am trying to market to different segments that use woodwork.

job site realities

the other day I went to do a final install at a small job, just one cabinet. MY final install is where we install the doors and drawers and any shelves, it is the last time I will come into contact with the product. I checked twice to make sure that the job site would be open and I could do my job. When I got to the job the cabinet was covered in plastic all taped up and the painters where preparing to spray all the trim in the house. This happens more than I would like to admit. It's not that it is bad management it's just that the job is managing itself and my clearance comes from people who are not always in touch with the day to day conditions or schedule of the site. So I have to chose how am I going to react, I can leave and chose to come back, or I can try to find out what the real needs are of the painters. In this case I found that had about 2 hours of time before they needed to spray, just enough time for me peel back there plastic and install the fronts and drawer boxes and put the tape back over the cabinet. It added about 20 minutes to my job that day, not that big of a deal.

shop re-org phase 2

here we have two shots of the shop. each from one end of the main production area. It is a room 24' wide by 124' long. with the idea being that hardwood gets processed on one end and panels get processed on the other end. the two different processes meet in the middle and get assembled and then put into another area for finish prep. We have moved the shop around plenty, it never gets easy. First you have to move the machines , second you have move the electrical supply, third you move the air supply if needed, and fourth you have to move the duct for the dust collection. We find that it is best if we shut down production and do the move all at one time. In this case we started on Friday and then finished late saturday afternoon.

pedestals

below are a few pictures showing how we set pedestals. This is a new system that I have adopted. What is new is the use of the leveler legs. The beginning photo is the pedestal sitting on the tiled floor. Next is the pedestal sitting at its correct height. After that you will see the pedestal with the support cleats screwed to the pedestal holding it at it's correct height. We remove the leveler legs and re-use them. the pedestal is screwed to the wall at sides and back. The toe kick is then screwed from the back of the pedestal. This is the best most efficient way I have for installing this type of pedestal. We shellac the bottom edge of the toe kick to seal it, and we use 3/4" thick material. One of my goals with the pedestals is to systematize the process of building them as well. Currently we build them at the time we build the boxes and it is done by the crafter who builds the box. I want to build these myself just prior to the install. They are always built the same way and only change in there height. with the right system in place they could be built moments before they are installed it. that would increase our productivity and allow us to offer more competitive pricing.

NKBA

I don't think I have mentioned this but I really should. I joined the NKBA national kitchen and bath Association this year. with in that group I have begun to pursue a certificate, known as Certified kitchen Designer CKD for short. I have come to have a great deal of respect for the association, at first I was really depressed at how much I didn't know after 12 years of being in business and a lifetime of woodworking. The first test that I am preparing for is for an Associate desinger certificate, it a 200 question test based on 10 books that the NKBA writes. I have been studying these 10 books over the past 2 months, with the hope of being able to take this test in March. I know that is a long time away but I am not the academic type and I learn slow. The info that I have been learning has been so useful to me and I apply it almost everyday. It is so funny to me how the things that I struggle with relative to design are articulated and explained in these books. My purpose for doing this is to help my clients when designing their kitchen and baths.

the long view

the other day I was talking to a friend of mine, Joe Kuhn. He is a house painter, out of Lexington, and has a great business. One of the best house painters in the area. I started out doing freelance carpentry for his clients as he was painting their homes, that is home repair. When we were talking he was telling me about conversations that he has had with prospectives clients. He said at one time "I have been doing this for fifty years". That made me think, wow fifty years he must really know his business. I know it's true because he painted my grandparents house with Lead back in the fifties. I really admire anybody who has 50 years of being in business. I have only 12 years now so just 38 years more to go. I know that it is only a matter of time for me.

cleints are always different

Last week I met with FH Perry builders to talk about the FHP Home devision. Perry is one of the top builders in the area, so it was a huge honor for me to talk with them. When I walked into the conference room I had a few minutes alone at first. I read some left over notes on their white board from a staff meeting of some sort, and what I saw was very impressive. One of the things that really resonated with me was a point about how what is important to one customer will not necessarily be important to another customer. That is something that I struggle with all the time. Just recently I spent much time and money making a beautiful sample door panel for a client. custom design, custom knife, custom finish work the whole bit. Come to find out that the client didn't like it and that the panel design was not that important to them all they wanted was something really simple. A few months later a different client has had me making a dozen different panels, all custom, custom knives, custom panels the whole bit. I never know what my clients are going to perseverate on. It is one of the hardest things to do in my business, we are always trying to anticipate what is important to the client but there is no consistency to it, people are different. I guess now that I should work on trying to read people during the first stages of meeting them to determine where there interest are.

catching mistakes

we are working on 99 and 113 currently, as well as I am installing 77. I have come across a mistake with the cabinets for 99. Only two of them were made to deep, luckily it is a easy fix and we will do that here in the shop. I feel good about it, what is important is that we caught the mistake early and can fix, at all cost we want to avoid having to change things out in the field during install. It is difficult and doesn't look good in the eyes of the client or anyone else that is watching.

113 is a number of Shoji doors for one of our most prestigious clients FH Perry Builders. We are very stressed out right now trying to make sure that these doors come absolutely perfect.

new rules at staff meeting today

Now we are at about half capacity of work load. The staff is having to work smaller weeks some down to three days and others limited to 40 no over time. Which is unusual for us, typically we all work 50 plus hours per week. I still work 50 plus. When the guys are in times like these it is hard to create a sense of urgency in the everyday work. I tried to explain today at the staff meeting that we need the same work done in less time. Truthfully, that is what the market demands of us for survival. Something else that i mentioned at the staff meeting today is that from now on Kaizen events will be mandatory for continued employment. I will chose the topics and assign them ahead of time. Being slow for me has its advantages, although I am worried about where the money is going to come from I don't feel overwhelmed by work. I give so much to my work that I over book myself, that has to change. Now I am not overbooked and I feel great about my daily life, I am not playing catch-up, I am caught up. We have made some great advance of our infrastructure in the recent weeks. I will put up some photo's of Gagan's home made vacuum lamination table. Also I re-built the interior of the van, to which I love, and wish I had done sooner.

As for jobs 119, is most anticipated job of any recent time a room 14' x 16' built into a mahogany library, with fire place and shelving, floor to ceiling paneling, the works!!!!! We haven't done a room like this in I think 6 or 7 years. I feel like my life's work will be accumulated here, I am doing the design as well.

Job 99 is taking shape in the shop, a large kitchen, also I feel like my life's work is accumulated here. This is being designed by Whalen Interiors in Winchester Ma. Highly desinged piece of cabinetry coming here, just the base boxes are impressive.

Job 77 is winding down, I can now see the end. I really do hope to do more work at job 77 even after these two areas are complete. It is very important as in all jobs to leave on a note where I exceeded expectations.

beatiful work here

the pictures of the awning are of last week. I installed the awning, Gagan made the parts from shop drawings that I made. WE used okoume marine grade plywood for the brackets, which are mortised together and then bolted to the walls. You can see a notch in the bracket where the ceiling panel(also made at that shop) slides into the bracket greatly reducing the amount of install time. The roof was framed up of 2x4 fir, built in place.

The next photo is of our most recently completed kitchen. I took a photo of this same cabinet sometime ago. title "my favorite cabinet". I still feel that way, there is something special about this cabinet that makes me really like it. Not to mention how the whole kitchen came out. on arched top doors like this we cannot use concealed hinges because of the pivot point of concealed hinges. the door binds at the arch because the door pivots inside the face frame. So we are forced to use barrel hinges, I like the added look of elegance. not to mention the quality, they out perform the concealed hinges. concealed hinges have some advantages that need to be mentioned, they self close, and also have soft close mechanics. barrel hinges like these require a magnet to hold them in closed.

getting radical

I have some great new ideas on setting up the interior of my van. When I get back from vacation I will be doing the next Kaizen event on that topic. It should take about 2 days. Yesterday I installed a small door awning. I had to do it alone because the staff is busy with their own projects. Gagan asked me if it was faster to do it with two people. It always is faster with two people, but we have to remain spread out now covering more work. The other thing that is balanced is how professional we have to look in the eye's of the customer. This job was directly for a homeowner who has no concern for how we install this awning. Had this been for a high end GC we would have gone out with two people, just look more competent and assure the GC that we don't need extra management. The other thing Gagan is that we have to allow ourselves to get radical. Especially in economical times like these, in any time if a single business wishes to separate itself from the others than it has to allow itself to get radical.

hand-made

Life at the shop has under gone some changes lately. There has been a little shake-out, and reorganization. We are currently at half capacity in terms of work load. I have mixed emotions about it, a positive is that we have more time now to work on assets and infrastructure. both of which have suffered recently because we have so busy we haven't been able to look at either of those. As far as our assets go I want to aggressively maintain and repair any assets to extend their lives. With infrastructure I want to improve work flow, by looking more closely at how we do what we do. Starting out with the paper flow(information flow), raw material flow, finish product flow, and personal flow(this refers to in the shop) Outside of the shop installation that is is a different thing totally. Although outside the shop cannot be forgotten. How the trucks are maintained is very important as well, And I will be spending time with the van, I am actually thinking of revamping the inside of the van totally. New shelving, smaller more effective shelving, it also involves some new portable tool boxes that I need to make. Hand made tool boxes are really the way to go, they will be more effective at holding what you need, and they will last much longer.

life of an artist

I have been looking at my almost finished grape trellis in my back yard. I have been building this for the past several months when I get a chance usually on Sundays. It is a whimsical piece. As I look at it I see all the mistakes I made, that is the trouble with being the creative type, our creativity is our best friend and also our worst enemy. It is a free form piece and the lumber I am using is very limited in size and quantity, I have had the lumber for years that I bought for a song, so the material is very limiting. It makes me think about how can I be creative for other people if I am not creative for myself. What I see is how the second step I took in making this trellis was very wrong and I regret it. That makes me think about how any great painter will say that the first stroke they make in a painting is wrong. I have said this before about installing cabinets that usually when I make a mistake in an installation it is with the first or second move. I have had people in my industry in other shops say that mistakes are for amateurs, and that really affects me because I make so many mistakes, is that to say that I will never be any but an amateur. I don't know.....well for now I believe that if you aren't making mistakes than you aren't pushing yourself forward. If you aren't willing to make mistakes than you will stifle your growth. I prefer to find creative ways to recover from making mistakes. In the mistake with my trellis I can't go fix this mistake I have to live it, look at it everyday. being a builder is in some ways a dismal life because we are constantly reminded of our mistakes. Look at the builder of the leaning tower of Pizzas, until his death he faced his errors everyday he looked at his achievements.

electrical penetrations

This picture below shows how I cut in a single gang box. This cut out is designed to accept what we call an old work box. I like the metal boxes the best, they have little flanges that go one the ends and it slides from the front into this opening and then the flanges are screwed to the surface. I have made so many of these cuts that I don't have to measure the box anymore I can draw it directly on the mill work. Then I drill with a 3/8" bit at the corners and in the center where the receptacle screw goes. After that it is just a couple of cuts with the jig saw. I usually ride the jig saw on a protective surface so it doesn't mark the mill work.

kaizen event week 20, 09

The two carts in the photo are a result of the last kaizen event. They are a storage place for all the supplies that we use to wrap up the finish products. Having these products in one place neatly organized will expedite the time spent preparing for an install. Also it will insure that the finish goods are not damaged as they are moved from the shop to the job site.

new ideas

in the photo below you will see a height adjustment device screwed to the pedestal of this cabinet. I did not build or install this cabinet. I am repairing the bottom panel that was damaged from a leaky sink faucet. What is interesting about this is that I have had this very thought myself. As I do the installing one of things that is always tricky is leveling the pedestal, but using the leveling leg make it's much easier. the only thing is that it is an added expense. So my thought is to still use my technique of securing the pedestal at it's height by screwing a board to the inside of the pedestal and then removing the leveling leg and using it again for only the purpose of leveling. Each one of these leveling legs is about $5. I want to buy good ones so they'll hold the weight of the cabinet over the years, so that adds $20 to each pedestal. I like the idea of re-using, and still having the strength of the current method of the plywood screwed to the side of the pedestal. I am going to buy a small supply of levelers and give this a try. I will keep them in the same box as the shims it should be an easy thing to try.

good for marketing bad for production

tomorrow Gagan and I will be doing a job that we normally wouldn't do. This job is our first job with the Classic Group, and premier construction company in New England. I have been prospecting them for over a year and finally have been awarded a job. Small all be it but non the less a job, where we can show the PM what KBWC is all about. I have a feeling that one of the principles will be there as well on and off tomorrow. So I shoudl have a good chance to build my relationship with him. Also we will be building our relationship with the PM, because that is a very good person to sell our services to. This job is bad for production (it is only one day and it uses up company assets, and prohibits us from working on our current jobs, but the men in the shop will be carrying on with that) but it is good for marketing purposes, my hope is that it leads into a life long relationship with a very prestigious builder.

how we do it

We have been working very hard this past week on job 77. Again we are modeling a restaurant. Here is how, I as the lead installer am in the roll of waiter, I am taking orders for cabinet parts based on designs and site conditions. I write them by hand on a prepared work order sheet in the same format every time, where all the info is and the bench man knows where to find it. I then take a digital photo of the work order for my records and then I give it to the bench man. the bench man like a line cook will produce the part, using as many prepared parts as possible made by a prep. cook or in my case a prep, woodworker. The finishing instructions are on the work order as well and the work order moves thrugh the shop with the part. This is working very well. before I used to try to identify every single part on a shop drawing or virtual model of the job. This became so intense with huge parts list. The job site is ever changing, in my metaphor the site is the table where I interact with the patrons me the waiter. The needs of the site change due to physical changes in the structure and scheduling changes. Our biggest growth challenges lie in the waiter area. To do what I do requires a good personality, and a true artistic ability, very hard working, and a very good understanding of how kidder blaisdell executes it's work orders.

modeling a restaurant

staff meeting is really the most important thing to me each week. that is where the rubber meets the road. The staff doesn't realize that, but it's true. I think that we will also being having a production meeting on Wednesday or Thursday morning just to review progress. we will also discuss production needs material and tooling. Now the guys look to me for leadership and inspiration, but the ideal team will use the staff meetings not for inspiration but for help and direction and to offer what they observed during the past week and how we can improve that.

Job 107 is going beautifully, we fell slightly behind this week, but otherwise it is going well. I am taking many pictures of this job and will be posting them soon. Not because they are very glamorous but instead for teaching purposes in house. 107 is in many ways using everything that Hungry Coyote cabinets is all about. the thing that sets 107 apart from hungry coyote is the finish. But the technique of how we are executing the job is hungry coyote, for example it is all full overlay cabinets. but what is more is how we are executing the job. We are modeling a restaurant. we are using standard techniques and modifying the dimensions. SO instead of me giving the bench man huge elaborate shop drawings that they need to decipher I am giving just what they need as I need the parts, I write the parts as the job is progressing during the install giving us last minute ability to make changes, in both production and install sequence. install sequence is huge because the job site is always changing, as well as the schedule. the shop is the kitchen and I am the waiter, the job site is the table. I take the order during the install and client meetings I give the order to the bench man and install the work when the client needs it, many times the client is unaware of how I facilitate the job by bringing in only what they need when they need it. in the shop we are doing prep work as well as line cooking. prep work is where we build parts A and B that turn in to part C when they are assembled. We build parts A and B at different times in production mode with different staff, ideally the farm team is doing prep work.

team members

WE had a very good staff meeting this week. We had some good feedback, I asked everyone to share with the group what their strengths are. Normally I get blank stares, but we are slowly developing as a team and we are recognizing where and how we fit into a team. This is great progress. I think it empowers other team members to hear what the other guys strengths are, even if they know it already, it is different when somebody proclaims a strength. that is something that I try to teach, that responsibility is taken or earned not given. And if you are good at something then take ownership of it and make it yours. So by stating these things in front your peers it gives it a more real feeling, and you start to live your strength. the other team members will recognize that and start to use it to the teams advantage and know how to que you up for action like a perfect pass across the front of the net in soccer or hockey. the credit goes not to the one who makes the goal but to the unknown team members that make it all possible.

competition is fierce

I added more names to my competition list last week than ever before in one week. There are many woodworkers out there. All sizes of companies, ones where you need a golf cart to get around the shop to ones that are single proprietor run. All of them we compete against, in one way or another. If it is a small job than they can take the whole project away from us. If it is a large job than they compete for wallet share. We are relatively new to the market just over 10 years so we are johnny come lately's, and we have to price our work competitively to secure work. How do we combat this? We remaine able to do a wide platform of work. We don't limit ourselves to specializing in one thing, like those who make those parts in the last blog entry. We make many different things. The specialist will have a hard time surviving in the new economy, because of market saturation. Where as those who make different things, doors, windows, planters, gates, exterior trash bins, vaulted canopies, cabinets of different styles and types, mantles, closets, what ever is asked for, from raw materials will remain busy.

more improvements

Another great day in the shop and the field. Productivity is again up and moral is up as well. I have made yet another advance in the weekly goal sheet. I have inserted monetary values to the jobs so that the staff can see what size payment is coming in and from who so they can better decide what job to work on if there is any confusion about what job to work on. I think it will eliminate an excel file that look at and work on frequently, the cash flow sheet. Now my cash flow will be visible on the goal sheet and I will only be working on one sheet and not flipping back and fourth. this is will add value to the client, more time and effort spent on value added things.

We had another Kaizen event on saterday. I had to lead that one up myself. Esteban helped me some what. I completed the new rack that goes under the sand paper shelf. this new rack will hold work that is in progress, like doors that have been built but are not being painted. It holds the parts off the floor and away from the wall and in an orderly fashion where they are easy to see and easy to pull from and put back.

essence of the effective team

productivity has been sizzling the past two days in the shop. I have at the last staff meeting put out on the weekly goal sheet the gant chart showing all the active and inactive jobs. So the staff can see at a glance all the jobs we have and also what stage they are in. the jobs are either P for production, F for finish or I for install, we call the PFI chart. also on the chart is a time line that we measure by week number in the year, currently we are in week 10. My next step is combine the cash flow chart on the PFI chart, so at a glance we can see what needs to get paid, or better yet the staff can see how important a job is to complete by knowing the monetary value of the completed job. On this chart I highlight where we are now so we can see what needs to be done. This is the essence of the effective team. When the team simply knows what to do without direction.

advantages of being on the cuff

busy times for KBWC. I am installing at job 104 now Julio and I that is. doing an install is similar to making a painting, or a drawing for that matter. the first line is always wrong. the first thing that I install is always in the wrong place. I was talking to a super high end cabinet builder with in a huge company that has loads of work and employees, he said "no that is not true, mistakes are for amateurs". Maybe he feels that because he is in a big company that has resources to handle all aspects of the job, engineering, production, scheduling, sales. Down here at cuff cabinets things are different, we have to rely on instincts, and team work, patience, and understanding. I don't consider myself an amateur, far from that, not a master either. But every single job that install it seems that where ever I draw the first line on the job it is in the wrong place, there comes something that I didn't consider, so we have to be able to change our game plan and react to the new circumstances. This gives us strength, instead of blaming each other about why it happened we simply move on to the solution. At KBWC we know that problems are going to happen, we focus on handling them quickly. this has trained us well, to the point where the customer can really benefit if they want to change something mid way we can handle that to.

new goal sheet

this morning we had our weekly staff meeting. I have changed the format of how I share the goals. I am using a gant chart that I make in AutoCad, and I have broken down the job into P for production and F for finish and I for install. it is called the "PFI" schedule. The time is measured in weeks. it is a view of not all the jobs but the smaller ones that we are working on currently in between the larger jobs. The idea is that at a glance the staff can look at the gant chart and know what needs to be done. This is also the premise of an effective work group, it doesn't need instructions it just knows what to do. We are a long way off from that but I am trying to create the culture now.

One of the jobs in the shop now is a cherry library. We are using solid wood, it is becoming a problem, not only is it expensive but very labor intensive. the wood is very active, moving around alot. In the future we will be using our new vacuum presses to glue veneer to sub-straights and then using the panels for the cabinets, and only using solid wood where it really matters like the moldings.

We recieved some island corbels today from "Art for Everyday". they are gorgeous. I was shocked at how fast they came. For job 77 we are starting to get all the final pieces together and it is very exciting it will be one of our most impressive cabinet creations to date. I really need to start posting some photos of this amazing job.

the classic group

I ws invited to bid some work this past week for the classic group. They are a premier builder in the area, they even go out of this area as well into other states. Their projects are typically enormouus and are for the high end of the high end. So it is a great opurtunity for me to bid out work for them. I forst contacted them last April at the RDC show in Boston, and then over the next 10 months, through a consistent and respectful manner was able to meet one of the Pm's and then be asked to bid some work. It goes to show that buisnesses are built over time, relationships between client and vendors are built over time.

made to measure

I have been installing at 77. One of the things that I did at 77 different from before was to install a pedestal at the ceiling at the beginning of the install. It has proven to be very useful and I think a smart technique, I am continuing to think about the similarities of the pedestal at the floor and a pedestal at the ceiling.

I have been thinking of the similarities between my business and the closet industry. One thing i would like to do is offer my clients a closet system that is priced competitively with California closets. I think the skill set that I have and the shop that I have can produce a very nice closet system of high quality.

In this new economy it is important for my business to consider other markets to compete in using the tools that I have. I am already in the face of the potential market that being my current customers, so the marketing is already done so to speak.

Right now the plan is to utilize another brands basic system. But I will make my own vertical petitions and shelves. then to use what I have learned about pedestals on the ceiling to give the system a real built in look. All the insides like drawers and tie pull outs and pant pull-outs hampers is all after market stuff easily obtainable from the suppliers in incremental widths of 2". "Made to measure" is what they call it like men's clothing.

new dynaimc at kaizen event

Our first Kaizen event of 09 was Monday. the topic was installing moldings on panels. We used some current work for the event. I was a huge success, on our former employees was present and he had much to say, most of the guys are pretty closed mouth at the events. But this new person added a dynamic that has never really been there before. He made sure himself that everyone understood what we were talking about, and when that happens we are really growing as a team. the men will just yes me death, I am the boss and they don't want to seem stupid. I have to make sure this guy is around at the next event. this other guy his name is Pedro works for another woodworking called Caliper. They seem like a decent company I went to the web site, they do mostly commercial work. One of the problems we are having with the molding is that the glue is not being properly spread, so the moldings some times break away from the panel, generally this happens when they are near heat generating appliances and the such. Also we aren't happy with the amount of time it takes to fill the nail holes and sand, also we have been able to see the nail holes thru the paint. So these issues get addressed at the events and we make sure that the new guys know how we want things done. When we are all together sometimes some new tricks and techniques can be passed around.


I have started to add the drawer box dimensions to the shop drawings, that is very useful when it comes to making the drawer box order. by doing that I have already thought about the drawer box in it's entirety since I have drawn it and it eliminates mistakes. also it makes it easier to create the drawer box because I only have to get the width dimension the height and depth are already calculated. We buy are drawer boxes from Eagle Woodworking in Lawrence Ma. a great business.

I have found a new place to buy 1x6 poplar. We were getting that at the local lumber yard, but I found it for less at Highland Hardwoods. It just goes to show that as a business we have always got to be making sure that we are getting the best price for our raw materials. The longer you do business with a vendor the more foggy it gets about who is getting the best deal. So we are always shopping out when it comes to routine materials. We use the 1x6 poplar for small moldings since it is already s4s it is faster, we can go directly into molding no jointing planing etc.

been awhile

I have since lifted the 50 hour work minimum, We can't seem to get are work done in that time. It never works, I have tried it before.

I stopped posting because we were petal to the metal since my last post. I was faced with some of my biggest professional challenges ever, I don't recall working that hard since the days of remodeling my own house.

I am now out of the forest and able to focus on the jobs that I have on my plate. One thing that me and my crew have learned is that we can turn out boat loads of work if we focus on things. We have been focused on several jobs and now we are going to focus on one or two jobs at a time and increase there completion speed.

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about how we got into the production bottle neck of q4 08. I want to learn as much as I can about how it happened so I can avoid it in the future, I will be sharing my thoughts later.

We have our annual meeting coming up next week with the staff. I will be going over the new concepts and strategies in the next few days. 09 will be our best laid out year yet.

First and foremost I will be changing the lettering system that precedes the job number. All jobs now will only a number that is it. The number being A B or C will determine the priority level in the production schedule, so it will change depending on the client needs. This will add value to the customer by enabling us to better focus on the current priorities. Jobs will still have three different categories: General contractor driven, Home owner driven, or interior designer driven.

I serve the cause, it serves me

I tried to lay out the weekly goals as best I could. I had to do the staff meeting later than normal at 10am. Because of a prior commitment I made with a client at 8am. never do that again, not on a staff meeting day. It through of the rythym of the meeting. By 10am at my business we are in full swing and ended up just being rushed. My mind was fully occupied and it was hard to concentrate, I forgot much of the ad-lib and jumped right into the goals so the meeting was more like a lecture. Also the farm team was present, that was a new dynamic. These staff meetings are very fickle and sensitive, even the smallest things have an impact negative or positive.

I think maybe my clients feel like I am not there. Nothing could be further from the truth. We may be behind schedule. I and my people work from passion, not logic. That is why we will always be here. we are the heartbeat of the woodworking industry. We are the front lines of keeping the industry moving forward as we know it. You couldn't work for me if you thought otherwise. The job here is very demanding, because we are willing to do things for the customer, contractor or homeowner. We will push our selves further than any other woodworking company, that I know of.
As a client you want your woodworker to work from passion. We are the ones walking around the neighbor looking for ideas to use on your project. We are the ones who are thinking about your job at night when we are falling asleep, or waking up. Just today Gagan came to me with a current magazine that he bought today and said look Jeff here is an article about this current issue we are having with stain blocheness.
All og the guys here work 50 hours a week and at a moments notice would work twice that. Not because they have to but because they work from passion. They are passionate about working within a team that is aware of it's goals, aware of it's clients' needs, and aware of the need to satisfy to survive.

We held are staff meeting today on the finishing room. So we could talk about the cabinets that were in there. We could discuss the strengths and weaknesses of those cabinets. We could easily see what needed to get installed today, tomorrow, and everyday of this week.

I met with my client today at 8am, to go over some door knob options. I didn't have to do that. It is not in my contract to that(maybe it should be), I felt that it was nesseccary to get the best knob for this cabinet and I wanted them to get the best service possible. In the end my cabinet serves it's client the best. Because of my passion I add value unknowingly to the client.

pratice day

I have a big week planned ahead. I asked my farm team to come in and a work a full week. We have a kaizen event planned for this coming week, we will do it on Saterday.
Unless someone stands up and does the kaizen event we will be further moving things around in the prep and finish area.

I was in practice all day today. I installed my own frig cabinet in my house. It was quite a job.(Today is Sunday for any of the clients who are wondering why I wasn't at their house). I had to first pull the frig, second pull the dishwasher out, remove the temporary frig panel and install the new one. What I learned and will bring with me when I work on the clients homes is exercising patience. What I do as far as installing cabinets requires great patience. Often I forget that try to take short cuts.

ordinary post

This past week was pretty crazy. Our schedule is very fluid. It doesn't feel like my schedule we are actually on the clients schedule. We are trying to react to the needs of the client. For example last night Gagan and I worked till 9:30 pm. We couldn't start until 6:30 because we had wait for the admins to leave, we were working in an office building on some desks units that we installed a few weeks back.

We did accomplish most of the goals for the week. Job 89 didn't get started until Friday but that is alright.

We delivered the proto type for job 97 for examination. That went ok. The client was embarrassed because the quality was not what they expected. We delivered a proto type and we were focused on the proportions and such and the client was focused on the details and started harping about how the miters weren't sanded and the was some chips here and there. In my mind we built a proto type to analyze the process of construction.

I did some profiling this week, made three sets of knives, I am getting much better at it, but still burn the steel. It is really great that we have this capability in house, it saves a lot if time and expense. and helps us to create proprietary moldings.

week 45

At this weeks staff meeting we talked about the cost of having Kaizen events. And the fact that they cost us money give them important's.

We talked about how lately all the kaizen events have been focus around the production side of the shop. Finishing is half of what we do. And now we are going to focus the next few kaizen events at the finishing area. How we can we expect Ventura to think that his job is important if we don't ever focus on his area for a place to improve.

We talked about why other people need to step up and start leading the kaizen events. Mainly because I have so many other things to do. I pointed out that before work even gets to the shop floor it has to be sold and engineered by me. If I am putting my time into kaizen events than I am not putting it into those two areas. Gagan pointed out that this opportunity cost.

We talked about how in this upcoming week we had repair a job that we did several months ago job b80 I think. We had to go there and stain a few boards in a door so they would match the other boards in the door. The time spent doing the repair not only cost in time but also in opportunity cost of doing other things.

In the past few weeks I have seen a really strong team spirit in the shop. I have seen the staff work together with a focus on results and not on who does what. It has made me very proud and very assured. Most of the time we are doing are own thing, each of us at the shop. And we need to talk to another to make sure the big picture goals are being achieved. And it is this communication that I have seen happening.

Building a team culture has not happened over night. It takes years and constant work. We are now seeing the results of that. This communication and focus on big picture goals is it. We will never stop talking about the core values of uildng a team, dependency, structure and order, inclusiveness, constructive conflict.

Tomorrow evening Gagan and I are going into job c86 which was completed weeks ago to do another repair. The repair is completely my fault. Against the better judgment of my staff we cut of a scribe, at my request in the factory. Gagan told me that we shouldn't and I said just do it, so he and Esteban did so reluctantly. If they had been just a little more forceful than I would have said fine we'll cut it on the job. This is constructive conflict. Gagan and Esteban don't be afraid to challenge me, that is part of constructive conflict and we need to go through with it. It may be uncomfortable but what do we say about disagreements? They are surfaced dealt with and dismissed.

More on kaizen

When ever I see pictures of other shops or get the chance to walk through another shop, one of things I am looking at is how there tools are stored. Even the smallest improvement in tool storage can have big impacts on productivity. This is how we now store our saw blades and table saw accessories. This table saw is very common in everyones shop, just a standard cabinet saw with the 50" fence. I had been wanting to build this cabinet for years, so I have had lots of time to think about it.

We figured that saw blades have two main categories, in and out. All out going blades meaning going to the sharpening shop, in are case Atlantic Carbide great business in Somerville. The in bound blades then get categorized by machine and purpose. The drawers are for blade changing tools and safety tools. This particular saw is in the center of our shop, and now will also store all the table saw blades for the whole shop. You can see that the drawers are more like pull out trays with a specific location for everything. The theory here is that everything has it place and everything is in its place.

What's best about this cabinet is that it is the result of a Kaizen event that we had on Saterday afternoon. It was difficult to get the event going, it is hard to motivate guys to get into the event. The events start out by us talking about the problem we want to improve. We are a quiet bunch, creative types and introverted. It is the kaizen events leader to get the conversation going. I think that is the stumbling point, and what we need to overcome to improve our events.

its about time

job shop. that is what we are. Never are two jobs the same, we may do the same things to each job but they are always different from one another. Built to order, we can't inventory anything everything is built to order when the customer needs it. It is similar to a restaurant that way. A restaurant would never cook 100 steaks at once if they new they were going to sell 100 steaks in a month. Each customer wants their steak cook differently and with different garnishes. Each customer wants their steak to be cooked fresh for them when they want it too. Similarly I can't make everyone's woodwork once at the beginning of each month. We build it is as it is ordered. Nothing wrong with that it is how every job shop in the world operates. It is though a big difference than traditional manufacturing that involves assembly line production. Job shops are very common their are millions of them in America, in all types of industries. I keep a running list of the ones that are in my industry, it is actually quite depressing to see how many competitors their are out there. What really makes us different than one another? Nothing earth shattering here Quality, Price, and Service. those three things have been the deciding factor for customers for ever. But say we are competing with a company that offers the same thing we do in these three areas, than what gives us a competitive edge. Time that is what, how we use it and how we squander it.

wall cabinets

below you can see the bottom of a wall cabinet. This is a full overlay style cabinet mind you so what I talk about here will 100% apply to a face frame cabinet. What I want to point out is how we finish the bottom of a wall cabinet. First thing to notice is the kleat at the wall which the cabinet actually sits on, this holds the weight of the cabinet. The sheer strength of the screws holding the kleat to the wall do the work. Next we install a part called the light molding, in this senario it is simply a 3/4" by 1.25" piece of square material that is cut to fit in between the l scribe parts. After that I fit in a 1/4" panel to go to at the bottom of the cabinet. Then we put on a part called the kleat cap. which covers the kleat itself. All these parts are nailed on with a pin nailer creating a nice clean finish. The two screw holes that you see in the interior of the cabinet will covered by the hinge.

what I love

We started off with our weekly staff meeting today. IT was better than normal. It lasted about 45min which is longer than usual. I talked about what I learned in Atlanta at the IWF conference. I got some good feed back from Gagan about how everyone was stressed out last week by the deadlines. feed back is not always easy to get. We have some intense deadlines right now. We are beginning to slip behind, I start to get freakish and it goes down the line. I keep trying to remember that it is only woodwork and nothing to get worked up about. What Gagan said is that he had deadlines and wanted help from the other team members, but they had their own deadlines. This is where the constructive conflict will arise. Conflict is so necessary for an effective work group. We cannot avoid conflict it must be met and dealt with. Especially conflict over priorities. We are trying to please our costumers most off the time it is easy, but sometimes the shop can get really intense and loaded with work. Every one is working 50-60 hours a week, which seems to be what we all want.
There was a lot of talk about working over 40 hours a week in the Atlanta show. People where saying that it is ineffective to work over 40 hours a week. I say that if the competition is working over 40 weeks then how are yoiu going to pull ahead if you don't?
After our staff meeting we went straight into a kaizen event. An over due Kaizen event. We had no choice but to use it to clean and reorganize the shop, our silent team member.
I heard someone say that they wanted to lead the next kaizen event. $200.00 cash bonus to anyone who leads a kaizen event in my shop that is a standing offer.

It reminded me of a time when an old employee of mine shouted out into the shop of four or five guys and said "ALRIGHT EVERYBODY LETS GET GOING" I had never seen that kind of leadership in this person or anyone since. Sondu that was you.
Well I took part in the event and it felt great. Their is nothing more that i love than being in my shop with my team mates cleaning and prepping our shop for business.

I love okoume

here is a shop picture. It is a good example of the wide variety of jobs that we will take on. Our client needed this part very quickly. We delivered this piece with in three days primed twice with thick exterior oil based primer. This rafter and a few other smaller ones. We built this out of Okoume marine grade plywood. Which I bought at Boulter Plywood. I was in Boulter Plywood today for some more okoume this picture is about 6 weeks old, and some 8/4 poplar that we needed for b90 interior doors. As expected I was brought out into full laughter, we all laughed together as they told me that they would give me net 120 days with a 2% discouunt. Just for the record I am COD with Boulter but is sure was funny as I think we both thought about the slow paying customers that we have. And how they treat you, like you owe them more favors.
Today I installed the next phase of b76 which was built while I was away. It fit like a glove, to my happiness. It was hard work, and very humid today. I will return tomorrow with more stuff to install.

more thoughts on IWF conference

Yes buy a cheaper machine and do what I can with it. Actually I will be buying no machines until late first quarter 09. It is a company initiative to build up cash reserves. We are going to focus more on how we do what we do. I know that i have talked about that much. But the one thing that stands out the most for me from all the classroom time I spent in Atlanta which was about 10 hours is that good systems with old and tired machines will out perform bad systems with the best machines. So we don't really need anything machinery wise now. We can get along just fine with what we have. We need most importantly to do our kaizen events, develop our lean material tags, and make a maintenance schedule that we can actually work.
We need to focus on working as a team, and taking on more responsibility as team members. We need to focus on following our plans(shop drawings) which means I need to put more time in on them. many of the mistakes we make now are because the shop drawings are incomplete(my fault) and that the staff doesn't study them enough(staff's fault). And I am not trying to place blame every one makes mistakes, and we will always make mistakes and we will always look at why we make mistakes so we can limit them and learn how to catch them before we waste more of company assets.
I am going to be working more closely with Ventura, our finisher. He is about to go one year with the company which was a goal for 08. As the finisher, he is one of our best quality control guys. I need to spend more time with him and teach him to catch costly mistakes, I want him to do that, and I want to increase his pay in return.

One of things I am starting to realize about this industry as a whole from my latest trip to the IWF convention is that the industry marketers are influencing the business owners. Most of the seminars are sponsored by associations, and trade journals. They are picking and choosing the speakers, most of the speakers are talking heads and they are laying out the facts of any given topic. But business owners don't need facts they need specific steps of what to do. The industry marketers have all these softwares and machines to do different tasks. And they make it appear that business owners can't do it with out their goods. The thing is is that everyones business is different. The software and machines are so broad trying to be marketed to a wide selection of people. You can't take a broad usage and apply it to all these different types of buisnesses it just doesn't work. The business owner needs to be smarter than that. They need to look at their own business and decide how they can compete successfully. I mean it is a no brainer, if we all have the same software and machines than what makes us any different from one another. It is the same for out sourcing doors and drawer fronts. If everyone has the same fronts for their cabinets than what makes any different than everyone else. Not to mention that out sourced fronts all look like massed produced garbage.
I really liked the seimnars and the marketing tactics that it allowed for those involved.
I will always go to the seminars, I feel like I could have gained more from them, I should have taken better notes, not on topic matter(that was 90% useless) but on who the speakers where and what each of them had to say specifically so I could walk away with notes that have the speakers name, contact info, and there comments that primarily conflicted with my own. I figure that if they conflicted with my own thoughts than they were probably worth considering.
IWF is all about the seminars and who is speaking. The show is fill in of the seminars. Any one should able to keep up on the new machines, the show is also good to see the machines in person and take them apart to see how they are made. It is also a good time to buy machines because there will be good discounts on the demo models. The sales people are completely useless and annoying actually, they don't know anything about running a business and many of them can't even talk knowledgeably about their respective industry. I would say that 20% of the sales people have use.
At this show there were about 30 software companies, with exhibits. I hope they have other plans because our industry doesn't need that many and I think that in the near future we will see many of those companies fall by the way side. Design, machine, and code software will all be combined within the next two years and who ever is the first to do it will succeed. As for me I am going to focus on AutoCad and Solidworks, with an emphasis on solidworks as being the choice software for design and machining.
Gero from the cabinet makers association had the best advice for software he said use excel. A simple spread sheet that individual's design for their own purpose will help them out much more than some one stop shopping software solution made and supported from some dude in India that will do everything for you. All you have to do is sit back and watch. Not.

conference comments

The show is over and now i am contemplating all that I learned. I looked at many different machines that I am interested. I looked at every different type of multi head molder that was there, It does seem obvious to me that the best name in molders is Weinig, a German company, they are also the most expensive. One thing that I learned and it contrary to my beliefs thus far in machines is that good systems with bad machinery will out perform bad systems with good machinery. Now I also believed that a machinery purchase was for life and it was prudent to buy the absolute best on the market. I am starting to change my position on that. The Weinig machine is twice as expensive as the cheapest machine. The quality of he weining is apparent by the naked eye, the casting are larger, the whole thing is more refined. Same thing with Martin shapers. Ether the Weinig molder or the Martin shaper is 60k. And both will last me the life of my business, which is important to remember. There are many other things that I need to consider, like I don't need to use these machines they way they are designed for. these machine could run all day everyday. Fact is that I will use my machines maybe 15% of that, maybe I don't need the best because my business doesn't demand the best. Also for many businesses like mine I would need to borrow the money. Also for many buisnesses like mine loaned out money becomes a 500 lb. gorilla that will stifle my growth. The cheap machines are built in China. I don't know if that is a problem or not especially when I need parts done the road. The market seems to shy away from chines e machines, I think they are just feeling threatened. The weak dollar is also hurting the European machine makers. But fact is that I am looking at this from a pragmatic stand point, I need function and cost that is it. I don't want to waste my money simply because the industry feels threatened by China's machines. Nor would be happy about marrying myself to a European company, I would prefer to buy an American made machine, but I didn't see any at the IWF. I am not going to compromise all my available funds into one machine. So we are competing, and it is survival of the fittest I think it will be best for me to buy a cheaper machine and do what I can with it. will post more later.

first thoghts at conference

This week I am at Atlanta Ga IWF convention. It is the woodworking convention to be at. All of the latest machinery and supplies are in one place. There are lots of learning seminars as well. I am attending 6 of the 13 seminars. Much of what they are talking about in the seminars I am already doing. Especially the things related to high profit companies. Which I am not, sadly, but we are on our way. Open book management, training sessions, and kaizen events, and fun events. The biggest thing that they point out that high profit companies do is: doing a little bit better at everything that they do, which adds up to double profit, and they talking 5%-10% profit margins. They are saying that material cost are seriously escalating, and not showing any signs of going down.

profile grinding

I have been profiling like crazy lately. We got our profile machine tuned up. The most important advancement in the machine is that I can now dress the wheel to match the stylelous which is the pin that the template rides against. This ensure precision, we are now measuring the grinding wheel to the nearest thousandth. I am finishing my knives by taking only 2 or 3 thousandths off at a time. I am still burning the knives on the plunge cut that removes the majority of the stock. The problem that I am having now is that I can't figure out the correct speed of the cutting wheel to eliminate the burning. The are so many factors that come into play with grinding that it is very hard to know what to do with out experience. I have found a book that I have learned so much from, and a mechanic with some expereince came by my shop and showed me a few things, that was very helpful. Pat Farmer is his name and he is very knowledgeable about profile grinding for the woodworking industry.

I am working on the knives for job b76. Today I made my best knives ever. Yesterday I made the knives for a base cap for job b58, they came out really good and they are totally proprietary, making my work very unique.

on the cuff

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. He said "Jeff you are working on the cuff, you are trying to do everything, sales, managing, book keeping, etc. People won't take you seriously because you are working on the cuff. It takes a lot of money to run a legitimate business. You are succeeding because you are working on the cuff."

Truth is he is right. I am working on the cuff. It doesn't effect the work, we are still producing quality cabinets, just look at any of them that are out there in the shop right now. I don't know how else to do it. We couldn't afford to hire an office person. Sure businesses that are much older than mine have office people, but they also must have bigger jobs perhaps they are more profitable because of how and what they do. For the early years they probably worked on the cuff as well.

I like the cuff. I think that working on the cuff is my edge, it will allow me to break ahead of the competition. Working on the cuff is where we do our best work, we are a grass roots company, we started with nothing and now we have a permanent position in the market, all that because of the cuff and our ability to navigate through the cuff. I have seen bigger and better shops, and I see that they are above the cuff but they have also lost there mojo. You have to be very careful when you leave the cuff that you don't get content to sit back on your laurels. When operating on the cuff you are the market aggressor. And I always want to be the market aggressor. That is a key part of how I plan on being a dynasty company, by remaining the market aggressor. And threatening companies that are above the cuff with all there overhead and over paid staff wasting time and company resources. I want to stay in the cuff indefinetly, long live the cuff. It is where we dwell.

another day in the work shop

We are in the middle of a very hectic week. Mainly we are trying to wrap things up at job b80, it is taking longer than I would like. Then we will try to install c83 on Friday, we will try to make phase one a one day install.
Then right away next week we need to install a cabinet in the bathroom at b67 so the contractor can template his tub slab, I am nervous about that because the cabinet could get damaged during the rest of construction.
job b58 will be coming into completion but I still have much to do. The molding is ready for pick-up and then we can paint it, once it is painted we can install and possibly be finished with the kitchen cabinets.

spying the competitors

I saw one of my competitors installations today. I am not going to say who it was but let's just say that they have much more time in the market than I do, and henceforth have a stronger name in the industry. All of their cabinetry that I saw today was primed only and being installed by a sub-contractor. The primed material was primed once and sanded once. So there was lots of sand thru, and it will require another coat of primer by the site painters.
There was a lack of a scribe where the base cabinet met the floor and now they will be forced to install some kind of a molding. The mill work was very unorganized, there were parts all over the place. Doors here, shelves over there, misc. parts lying about. Obviously they don't use the phases of the install that I do. I mean really does the client care when the shelves and the doors are delivered? No, so why bring them to the job they will just get in the way and likely to get damaged. When a sub-contractor installs the work you are bound to have confusion unless the sub has had ample time to study the plan and not only that but study the install syntax. Very seldom have I ever seen an install syntax. And that is why I use the install lists. Even I who have designed the cabinets from the start need a list, imagine just handing my cabinet plans over to an installer and saying you figure it out.
Anyways, the cabinets didn't look any better than mine, I don't know why they are so liked by this client, it tells me that the client just doesn't know who I am yet

work in progress

At todays staff meeting we discussed in depth the 50k foot view of the company. It is important that the team knows what i know about the company. Without that information we simply cannot execute as an effective work group.
We went over the important jobs that are coming up this week. We have two new "a" clients that must be executed flawlessly. These are the first jobs of some of the areas best builders, and we need to be putting our best foot forward, it will call for extreme ways in quality inspections. The jobs are not big, but they are important.
I want to tell about the latest job I just bid to Halsey Builders, What is interesting here is that I met Halsey at Raybern of Somerville. I have said this before, but Raybern is a great place to meet new contacts, and if I ever don't want to go there because it is boring and I feel like I have more important things to do then all I need to do is remember that I can meet new clients there.
the a61 benches are coming along good, a76 is under construction, b80 install is starting today, we have a busy week full of installs and design work. I have a lot of work for the farm team and will be relying on them to bring it on home this week.

manufacturing

It is hard to grasp all of the work that we have going on in one moment.
Esteban is still working on b76, we had to have make some sample doors, and now do a rush a job for FH Perry. Fh Perry is one of the premier builders in the area, we are willing to oblige. Gagan is still working on the teak benches. The benches remind me of when I was working on the schooner Larinda about 15 years ago. They are very difficult pieces made from solid wood. Nowadays most everything we build is an assembly of wood boards 1-2" thick and plywood and MDF. The benches are solid wood all the way through.
We are having trouble with our air compressor, it continues to fill up with water and the drain at the bottom is plugged up. I bought some new dynabride sanders and went to plug them in to the air line and got sprayed with water. This is very unnerving because water in the air lines will damage all the machines that we have in the shop.
I unbolted the compressor from the floor and as we were jacking it up to replace the drain we snapped of the regulator at the tank leaving the threaded pipe sheared off flush with tank still in place. After a couple hours and two trips to the hardware store we were able to get the pipe out and reassemble the regulator, put on a new drain and get the compressor up and running again. Without the compressor we are dead in the water, I was in panic mode during this repair. I should have done the repair on sunday when we are closed, only problem is that the local hardware store is closed. It takes a fraction of the time to go to the local hardware store than it does to go to lowes or home cheapo or something.

work in progress

This week we will be starting some new projects. The ceiling panels for a82 will be completed and ready for painting. Gagan will move into building the latest project for a61 two teak benches. He will spend most of the week doing that. When he is done with that part we will ring one of our former employees Andre', who is an excellent wood carver. Andre will be carving these teak benches so that they look like fabric that is rolled from a spool. These benches will be suspended by hidden brackets and will have the look of being made from cloth. These benches will go in two outdoor pavilion buildings as part of a landscape project.
Once Gagan has finished with that we will start building c77. Which is the next big job to move through the shop. It includes a kitchen and master bath vanity. The style is a Tuscan Mediterranean, a welcome different style. I have extremely high expectations for c77 think it is going to be a beautiful set of cabinets.
Esteban is working on b76 and has the base cabinets completed, he will start to work on the frig enclosure next and afterwards the wall cabinets and the oven cabinets. We should have the paint sample defined by the end of this week, or early next week at the latest.

how not what

We have a couple of cabinet jobs that we are working on currently that I am going to try a different approach. One of things I learned on the install of b58 was a difficulty in keeping the tops of the cabinets in plan with one another. I have always worked from the bottom up. I am going to build now from top down. I will be installing the soffit first then the upper cabinets. and then the base cabinets. It will require more pre-planning on the site, and I will have to change around what goes on the install list. But I am pretty excited about the prospects, for example it will be easier to install the crown and upper cabinets before all base cabinets. This could really have an effect on the speed of the install. It is how we do what we do that will give us a competitive edge.

50,000 foot view

How did I determine to start the farm team up again? I took a look at the fifty thousand foot view of the company, relative to work load. We have 13 live projects
four of them are "a" clients, 5 of them are "b" clients, and four of them are "c" clients. The "b" clients account for 60% of the volume alone. We have 6 potential new projects in the pipeline. We have two potential "a" clients that we are pursuing to get projects to bid on. On top of that I am committed to spend 4 hours a week on finding new "a" clients to bid with. Q3 08 is going to be a very busy quarter. I am concerned with Q4 and Q1 09. As those quarters have been historically slow for me, I am looking to keep things steady all year now.

return of the farm team

At todays weekly staff meeting I announced that the farm team has been started up again. We have two new members in the farm. Dan and Julio, Dan will be working more often than Julio. Dan will work many afternoons and Saturdays, where as Julio is solely a Saturday. It is exciting for me to start the farm team up again because it is an indicator of our work load, it means we are getting busy again.
The farm team is a pillar of the dynasty corporation that I am trying to build. It is where we do our hiring from. Everybody has to start on the farm team, at the starting pay and slowly work way his way through the ranks. Usually they start with cleaning and sanding, then we will try to train them when we can to increase their skill set.
This is where we do our hiring from, If someone goes down to injury or something of the such we theoretically have a replacement. We can manage different size jobs easier by shifting our available employees. We also try to have the farm team do the mundane tasks, such as making some of the common parts that are used in the cabinetry over and over again.
The over all idea is that we are cultivating our own leadership, I may not know the names of the tomorrows managers but i know who they are. They are on my farm team today.