Rick Thaler, president of OGB Architectural Millwork, will share insights from operating a business that provides both residential cabinetry, and architectural millwork and interiors. His presentation is part of the Cabinet Track on April 11, at the Cabinets & Closets 2017 event in Schaumburg, Illinois.Thaler, a member of the Cabinet Makers Association, was introduced to woodworking as a teenager, doing framing and general construction work. He later learned cabinetry, and made his own custom furniture and cabinetry. Thaler was named at 2016 Wood Industry Market Leader, and so shared some of his background.
“I wandered into the Bradbury Stamm woodshop to use the widebelt sander. They were building a spiral staircase on one side of the shop and a big bank teller line on the other side and I knew right away that was the kind of work I wanted to do. I got a job there as an apprentice cabinetmaker and learned how to run a lot of machines, do layouts and cutting lists, and how to plan a project from start to finish.”
In 2000 I was able to buy the woodworking business and renamed it OGB Architectural Millwork, the initials of the founder Orville Grant Bradbury. Under Thaler’s leadership, the 28,000-square-foot shop has produced a variety of award-winning commercial and residential projects.
Thaler's session will be part of the Cabinet & Closets Conference on April 11. The day-long event precedes Cabinets & Closets Expo, which runs April 12 and 13 at the Renaissance Hotel & Convention Center in Schaumburg, Illinois - near Chicago. The conference includes two other tracks: one on closets business management, and another on lean production management. The Cabinet Track is developed in partnership with the Cabinet Makers Association.
Cabinets & Closets 2017
Gold Sponsor
JB Cutting
Attendees who register for any track are free to move among the conference sessions. With a dynamic opening keynote by Chris Stevens, adjunct professor at Notre Dame University's Mendoza School of Business, the Cabinet Track conference sessions include five business and productivity building sessions, followed by a plant tour at a nearby site sponsored by Stiles Machinery.
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