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Sunday, April 26, 2009

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.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

day in the life

 
a typical scene for me. those are my favorite drills (German). base cabinets here, full-overlay doors, awaiting stone tops.
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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.

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Friday, April 17, 2009

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.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

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.

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Thursday, April 9, 2009

picking up drawers

 
This is routine part of my life, picking up the drawer boxes at Eagle woodworking. I am very fortunate to have eagle so close where I can pick up the drawer boxes myself. Eagle woodworking is about a 20 minute drive. I really admire that business. I have never had a drawer go wrong or an order get dropped or a drawer get built the wrong dimension. Chris who owns and operates Eagle used to be in the cabinet business so he knows what companies like are up against. Anytime I go to eagle I can always get into a very good discussion with Chris or Patrick the manager about wood products manufacturing. They have been doing it longer than I and are running a successful business. As you can see from this photo I load the drawers against one another going across the truck this is important to keep the drawers from moving around while I drive back to the shop. On the left side over the wheel well I will put a heavy carpet mat there to put wright against the drawers and keep them from moving. The drawers are unfinished, we buy them like that, as Chris reminds me I am 1 out of 10 who chooses to finish the drawers themselves. I am not quite sure why that is, like other cabinet shops they must also have clear finises in the equipment ready to go at all times. The drawers come in to shop and get stacked up and then make there way thru the finishing department just as if we made them ourselves. We used to hardwood accenting on the top edge of the drawer. WE are not doing it now, it just seem that important to people today. It is better to keep the cost down unless the client expresses a desire for such extravagance. It is also important to note that with Eagle we pay as we pick up product, we do have an open account but we are choosing to pay as we go in an effort to better manage our cash, and also to show our respect for our vendors who also face slow cash flow. it is an initiative for my business to maintain as much solvency as possible, cash is king and when we need drawers fast eagle will respond to the one who is paying at time of delivery. We are trying to get that way with all our vendors, and the fact that it is so difficult is a telling sign that we are not charging enough for our products. Nothing stifles productivity more than a shortage of materials, due to shortage of cash, that is frustrating. So it is a preemptive action to maintain solvency.
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Monday, April 6, 2009

hungry coyote cabinets

Staff meeting today was difficult. the awkwardness of it still resonates among the team members. I think we really grew as a team though. it is the difficult meetings where the growth happens. the meeting was longer than normal, and there was more than normal participation. i suppose I demanded participation. By focusing on the negative I was able to get participation, that is my only hang-up with the meeting is that I focused on the negative. I tried to not get emotional, but it happened anyway. I want you guys to remember that when conflict happens it is a good thing and although awkward it is necessary. We need to have the confidence that we can call each other out on stupid unproductive behavior. Remember that conflict comes and ebbs and goes away, with out it we have artificial harmony. I give you guys that kind of feed back with the expectation that you will give me the same feed back back. this is professional conflict, not to spill over into personal life. We have a professional dependency on each other because we are an effect work group. And this dependency will yield conflict. conflict is good and we should heated discussions more often.
Do to a bear economy I am going to start a side project. So many people are asking for an economical solution to California closets, a slightly more pricey alternative to pottery barn cabinets, and an economical solution to wooden desk tops. We already have the clients and existing machinery, and we are investing in some new machinery to make all this possible. We are acquiring a beam saw which will increase our speed, accuracy, and safety of cutting panels. Also we are acquiring a machining center which will process the panels after they are cut. The plan is to introduce this line of cabinets to our existing clients and see what is possible from there. how will we compete in this price structure? for one the line of cabinets will be fixed, the client will have to give over all licensing to us relative to means and methods. with our skill set and knowledge of products we will bring the best at the best price by controlling means and methods. the product will speak for itself. We will have a predetermined material offering, a slight up charge for any color you want, slightly less for primer only, and offer the cabinets installed or delivered only. the side project is called hungry coyote cabinets, focused around 100% lean, where every fiber of the project is towards keeping cost down through value engineering. think about a hungry coyote, is it concerned with frills, no, just value, just function, it is not focal point cabinetry.

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Saturday, April 4, 2009

solid cherry

 
 
 
 
that is a whole lot of cherry. just flat sutff with clear finish. good quality shelving. the panels are all CD storage pull-outs
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new favorite

 
I love the look of this cabinet. Not quite sure why, maybe its the heavy top and bottom, and the width of the side walls.
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Wow the show stoppers

 
 
 
 
job 77 is finally coming togther. I really underestimated the time and energy required to fabricate these cabinet parts. We used vacuum bag technolgoy to make the curves, standard arch patterns to make the arches and then flexible trim which is an amazingly handy material to bend the moldings in compound curves. We can buy sqaure bar stock in flexible and then cut any profile to it. I see us doing more of that in the future. The whole day went with out a hitch. This is another example of how loads of shop time are installed in one day. What is most exciting about this day is that I have been thinking of it for months, trying to envision it. It is tricky to visualize compound curves. Gagan put these together in the shop, nice work Gagan, keep up the good work, you have a natural talent.
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Friday, April 3, 2009

diversity

 
This is what I love about the shop. The variartion of prodcut, in this picture we have to very different styles of work being produced at the same time. A tuscan kitchen, you can see the swooping arches and acanuthus leave moldings. A cherry library, that is the flat shelving that you see just solid cherry slabs with a clear finish. Also there are two arched top cabinet doors on the right. Product diversity is at the core of our beliefs, we serve the cause of woodworking in what ever shape it comes. We pride ourselves on being competent to handle different work at the same time, we do that by communicating with each other.
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