Woodworking: 100 Ideas That Matter

By Bill Esler

August 15, 2011 | 2:09 pm CDT

Astounding stories of the rebirth of the wood manufacturing and woodworking businesses have been reaching our editors lately. Some come from woodworking firms, others are passed along by suppliers who are almost in awe of what their determined-to-succeed customers are doing.

*This year we expand the WOOD100,* *to celebrate both those who have grown,* *and those who have* grown better.
*Enter the 21st annual WOOD100>>*

From two-man woodshops, to 20-employee architectural millworks, all the way up and beyond to multi-million dollar cabinetry plants and billion-dollar-plus multinational case goods manufacturies - all sizes and shapes of firms are bringing us stories of how they are changing their businesses to thrive:

Thirty-employee architectural millworks in Michigan and Colorado: growing steadily, rebuilding their materials handling and quality controls to rival the big firms, tapping suppliers and government to aid expansion.
An Indiana casegoods giant: patenting a production process, cutting waste and energy consumption, and using internal lab testing both to verify quality, and to optimize production processes.
A Pennsylvania cabinetry firm: relocating to a state-of-the-art facility.
A 20-man California shop: finishing five unbroken years of growth as it completes installation of a two-year project.
Firms adding woodwork barcoding systems for managing wood inventory, work-in-progress, and operations.

There are many many more stories like these. What do these firms have in common?

A strong dedication to working with wood;
The common sense to know that if they must abandon business as usual;
And usually at least one very good idea.

Bits of these stories fill the pages of Wood & Wood Products and Custom Woodworking Business magazines and our online news reports and blogs.

But once a year we assemble all those anecdotes and leaven it with stats to present the WOOD100. One hundred great ideas from 100 companies: WOOD100

While the WOOD100 lists the fastest growing companies in the wood manufacturing industries, this year we expand the definition, embracing and celebrating not only those who have grown. . .but also those who have grown better.

If you have not yet considered submitting the form - I urge you to do so.

While it includes a simple declaration of how your business did in 2009, more important is how you plan to do better this year. We think this will be a "must read," and we will draw on it throughout the year as a foundation for stories about our industries' best and its brightest.

By sharing your best practices and expertise, you also help educate a workforce from which will be drawing as you grow.

And industry suppliers: if you have a candidate for the WOOD100, send them this link, or write us and we'll contact them to be sure they are covered in the next WOOD100.>>

The WOOD100 will be published in the September issue of Wood & Wood Products. The WOOD 100 profiles companies based on growth, not size, making participation open to all North American secondary wood products companies. Questions: Write me, Bill Esler>>

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