Onsite was started by brothers Ralph and Mark Peterson in Loves Park, IL, in 1976. It started as a construction company, but the Petersons quickly realized there was a need for quality architectural millwork. The company's first client was the local bank that gave them the loan to purchase their first woodworking machinery, Ralph Peterson recalls.

"The original contract was for $50,000 worth of work," he says, "and before we ever left that building, we had done over $1 million worth of work. They took a big risk, and it worked well for both of us."> The bulk of the company's work now is corporate headquarters and law firm offices, which range "from Florida up through the Charlotte-Raleigh area," says Herbert Meldahl, marketing and sales manager. Its list of corporate clients includes UPS, CNN, Bell South, Hewlett Packard and R.R. Donnelly.

Onsite made its Atlanta connection from a designer the company knew who moved there from Chicago. He invited Onsite to bid on a woodwork project there, which led to more and more work. The company would fill a truck with product, drive the truck down to Atlanta, install until the truck was empty and drive back while the shop continued to produce.

The shape of this reception desk mirrors the wall behind it. The veneer used is quartered American sycamore.>

"We ship two semi loads of materials a week," Ralph explains. "There are trucks that leave here Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon every week."

The Southeast office used to account for almost all of Onsite's volume. But Meldahl was brought aboard to help the company look elsewhere and not be so reliant on that market. Twenty percent of the volume is now to be generated out of Loves Park.

Onsite's projects can vary wildly in size. On the large end, the company provided about 200,000 board feet of solid mahogany for trim in the headquarters of UPS. It also provided a great deal of custom furniture for that project, including two large boardroom tables, display tables and many rows of desks for a computerized training facility.

Meldahl has made the most of the company's contacts through the Architectural Woodwork Institute. "We do a growing amount of work for other AWI companies, where they get a big job on a short time frame, and they are looking for high-end work that will reinforce their reputation. Or, it may require specialty work," he says, adding that the company is especially known for its curved products and its veneer layup.

"Architects walking into a building in Atlanta and looking at the veneer work will know if it's ours or not," he adds. "We lay up our veneer for maximum appearance, not maximum yield."

Onsite has developed a method for creating bent wood by building a form and laminating the exterior surface to a bending stock. Several layers of stock and a hard board are glued together using a special mix, and the entire sandwich (about 3/4-inch thick) is formed into the shape it needs to be. "It's not going to change shape over the years, it's not going to put outside stress on the veneer, and it's not going to give if someone bumps it," Meldahl says of the solid construction.

Four Shifts, No Waiting
All six of the Peterson siblings work or have worked for the company. Ralph is the president and Mark, as executive vice president, oversees the Atlanta office. Sister Joy is part owner as well, having been with Onsite since 1983. She serves as secretary/treasurer. Carl, who lives in Milwaukee, WI, does occasional computer consulting, and Carol Larson flies from her home in Texas to do corporate training at both locations. Jack Peterson, who died last year, also worked in Georgia and oversaw the engineering and drafting department.

Onsite's work at the UPS world headquarters included two custom board tables. This one is teardrop shaped, but the two ends can swing out on stainless steel posts that act as a hinge to create a 24-foot-long table.>

Six years ago, Onsite instituted a four-shift operation, which Peterson says has worked well to reduce the number of hours people work. The shifts are called "Blue," "Yellow," "Orange" and "Green." Peterson explains that by numbering the shifts one through four, it leaves the connotation that the first shift is the best. Peterson says with the color designations, "everybody thinks they're on the best shift, so it works well."

Blue Shift is the standard five-day-a-week shift, working eight hours a day. Yellow Shift works Monday through Wednesday, 11 hours a day. They work part time on Thursday to get their 40 hours in. Orange Shift is the night shift, working 10-hour days from Monday through Thursday. Green Shift works 11 hours on Wednesday through Friday and leaves at noon on Saturday. If people have to work overtime, they can fit it in on the days they are normally off.

Except for a few hours in the early morning, Onsite's 50,000-square-foot facility is open from Monday at 5:30 a.m. until noon on Saturday (or 6:00 p.m. when overtime is needed). Peterson says the four-shift format has dramatically improved the company's scheduling. "We can utilize our equipment better, we can utilize our space better," he adds. "It's helped us meet the demands that keep getting tighter and tighter all the time."

"I'll look at something in the afternoon, and it's just being formed," Meldahl adds. "It may be through the finishing department by the time I get in the next morning."

Surprisingly, Peterson says that when the workers were asked to sign up for the different shifts, there were enough employees to cover each shift without a lot of schedule juggling. Management does its best to accommodate people who wish to change schedules, and the only thing that's mandatory when employees join Onsite is that they must commit to working one year on the Orange Shift, typically the most difficult to fill.

Seamless Production
Despite the marketing and production offices being some 800 miles apart, the two offices are able to stay in constant contact thanks to faxes, a T1 line and Nextel walkie-talkie cell phones.

The manufacturing end is as smooth as the communication. Peterson says Onsite is a firm believer in equipment and technology. While a few original machines from 1982 are still in occasional use, the majority of the machinery is only a couple of years old or less and is upgraded regularly. The newest pieces are a Raimann gang ripsaw and a point-to-point and edgebander, both from Biesse Group America.

While the majority of Onsite's work is commercial millwork, it occasionally does very high-end residential work, such as this home office with Claro walnut veneer.>

The software works with several modules to create the machine code. The Analyzer module determines how much machining will be done to each part, based on Onsite's construction methods. Hops software generates the G-code that goes to the Biesse Rover CNC point-to-point. Ardis from Eurosoft Inc. does the optimizing and creates the labels that are attached to parts after they are run through a Schelling CNC panel saw.

Onsite also has a Heeseman three-head sander, a Weinig moulder, Koch dowel inserter and a couple of Hoffmann machines for creating bow-tie joints. All the lineal trim runs through a Makor finishing line, which profile sands, finishes and stacks the trim.

The veneering department uses knife clippers from Savi and Fisher + Ruckle, a K++per splicer, a Black Bros. glue spreader and a Paul Ott press, which is one of the original 1982 machines. The finishing department uses Kremlin spray equipment and Chemcraft finishes.

Onsite's factory is noteworthy in itself for being bright, air conditioned and climate-controlled. A Torit dust collection unit located inside the building keeps the work floor dust-free. "Image doesn't create good work, but image helps foster good work. Things are clean here," Peterson explains.

The building is sitting on 10-1/2 acres of land, and the ultimate plan is to double the size of Onsite's manufacturing space to 100,000 square feet. That expansion is a more long-term goal, while a sales volume of $12 million is the target for this year. "We don't want to be too big," Peterson says. "We want to be big enough so that we can service our clients and yet not so big that they don't know who we are and we don't know who they are. We've always enjoyed treating our clients as friends and individual people rather than numbers and accounts."