Technology to the Rescue – Then and NowWayne Hefner
Technology then….
Facing a shortage of skilled labor for band sawing and boring, we bought our first Shoda router in 1995. It proved to be a good investment. We increased production, producing upholstery frames that use a combination of plywood and lumber. Soon, we began producing plywood parts for other companies who followed our lead with combination plywood/lumber frames.
In 1998, we again turned to new technology (especially for a frame shop) by installing a Dimter Optimizing cut-off saw, replacing four chop saws. As production needs grew, we purchased our second Shoda router in 2000.
Overtime, we started realizing that our production needs were not only growing, but that the industry was undergoing a fundamental change. While the overall volume of business continued to increase, customers were no longer submitting large batch orders. Instead, they were sending many more orders for small quantities.
The practice of cutting additional parts to eliminate wasting unused plywood sheets became problematic, as our customers were no longer willing to take these excess pieces. While the routers were helping us increase productivity, we needed a new way to respond to the changes in customer requirements.
Technology came to the rescue again. By using NESTERwood’s Rolling Nest, we are able to group customer orders together, increasing material efficiency and machine productivity while maintaining the flexibility to cut only what our customers want.
As the industry continues to move towards more customized and personalized products, the need for flexible production is growing. Today, we cut over fifteen different kinds of plywood and lumber, and have over a thousand SKU’s just for one customer. As customers continue pushing for quicker turnaround times, we ship many of our orders within less than three days.
The changes keep coming. To satisfy the growing demand for “green” products, we now have a part of our production certified with the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI), adding another layer of complexity to the process. Now again we’re looking to new technology to help us address these challenges.
This time, it’s a solution that will help us manage and streamline our production. Scheduling so many small orders with these many variables is currently a nightmare. We do it with a small office staff, but it doesn’t leave much time for anything else.
Our ultimate goal is a paperless plant environment, complete from the routers and cut-off saw to assembly, shipping, and invoicing. With all the information captured real-time in a single system, we will have complete visibility into the status of each order at each workstation at any given time.
One thing we know for sure is that the pace of change is not slowing down anytime soon. By now, we have learned to expect new challenges. We will continue to lean on new technologies to help us step up to these challenges and remain competitive. |
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