Lean manufacturing, new technology, and training are helping these wood products manufacturers increase production while improving quality and efficiency.
Now in its 35th year, the WOOD 100: Strategies for Success highlights the innovative as well as tried-and-true practices put in place by 100 North American wood products manufacturers of cabinetry and casework, furniture, closets and home organization systems, architectural woodwork/millwork, retail fixtures and other items, to improve their businesses.
Here's what some of them had to share about the enhancements made to improve the manufacturing process:
Eaglecraft Door Inc., Moultrie, GA
The cabinet components and architectural panels firm expanded its facility by nearly 25% plus improved efficiency, said Rebecca Lewis, CFO. Sales rose 8.6%, and 2024 and 2025 projections are excellent.
“First, we implemented specialized production goal lists for each department, ensuring that every team had clear, actionable objectives aligned with our overall production targets. This initiative fostered accountability and streamlined our workflow.” A color-coding system was also created to manage and track orders.
“These strategic enhancements in our processes resulted in a marked increase in overall productivity, allowing us to meet and exceed the demands of growing incoming sales. By prioritizing quality and customer satisfaction through these innovative organizational improvements, we strengthened our market position, funded expansion, and ensured continued growth and success for our company.”
Bella IMC, Huntertown, IN
Improving efficiency is paying off for the cabinetry and closet firm, particularly in regard to its multifamily product line.
CEO/Sales & Marketing Director Courtney Hogue credits their team and new production manager Nick Allard for decreasing machine downtime and boosting quality control. “We have significantly cut down on waste by our employees keeping up on scrap material volume and utilizing it wherever applicable. We have seen a noteworthy decrease in remakes or errors since hiring Nick, along with additional new faces whom under his direction have been exceptional employees in all key areas of production.
"I firmly believe our continued growth and success in each product line we offer — multifamily/commercial, residential, etc. ... will be greatly attributed to this exceptional team!”
My Door Factory, St. Thomas, ON (picture above)
The company uses lean principles to manufacture MDF cabinet doors in a variety of designs and profiles.
President Brad Cairns credited “adding robotics to our lean practices, constant and consistent improvements in our processes, [and] making our team stronger,” for the company’s continued success. “We were able to reduce man hours by 18% while increasing output by 100% and delivering a better quality product for our customers.”
Already in 2024, investments were made in equipment and training. By incorporating a glue robot to reduce glue lines, adding a press line to streamline the processes and adding a fourth CNC router to alleviate a bottleneck, “we were able to further reduce labor and increase our output,” he said. While neutral on 2024 sales, 2025 projections are excellent.
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DNS Industries Ltd, Vaughan, ON
“We doubled our floor space in 2022 allowing us to increase our production capacity,” said Daniel Robert, CEO of the custom millwork and store fixture manufacturer. “In the first year of expansion, our primary focus was on business process optimization and preparing the business for growth.” In 2023 the firm added CNC routing capabilities and an additional edgebander to aid production; sales rose 29.4%, and 2024 and 2025 projections are also positive. “In FY 2024 we will achieve double-digit growth,” he added.
The Closet Works Inc., Montgomeryville, PA
“We are a company that practices lean manufacturing,” said David Cutler, president of the custom closets and home organization firm. “We live and breathe Kaizen. Every month we make and show videos of all of the improvements that we have made over the past month and employees vote on the best improvements and those responsible are rewarded.” He also credits the “excellent staff who are loyal and talented” for the success. To aid production, recent purchases include a CNC drilling machine, vertical panel saw, upcut saw for the door department, a dovetailer, and an additional edgebander. 2023 sales rose 5.5%.
Interior Services, Boca Raton, FL
The architectural woodwork, cabinetry, and custom products producer invested in software, refined its production and finishing processes, and streamlined its installation practices, “making us a sought-after vendor for architects, builders, and interior designers,” said Danny Bell, president. 2023 sales rose 20.0%, with 2024 and 2025 projections are also good.
Brave Custom Woodworking, Manassas, VA
“We added some small machinery to save labor time and streamlined our assembly and finishing processes to increase throughput,” said Jesse Cline, owner. 2023 sales rose 21.3% and future projections are also good for the custom manufacturer of cabinetry for the kitchen and other rooms throughout the home. Recent investments in a dust collection system upgrade and an upcut saw for solid wood cutting have also aided production.
Giffin Interior, Bridgeville, PA
Sales at the commercial architectural woodwork, casework and millwork firm grew 30.0%, with 2024 and 2025 projections also excellent. President & CEO Dustin Giffin credits the use of INNERGY software to “find bottlenecks and attack them“ for helping increase productivity and throughput. “We also analyzed old project data and targeted projects that fit us better than ones that didn’t,” he said. In 2023 the company added a Drillteq horizontal drill/router and dowel inserter to aid production; a Centateq 5-axis router is planned for 2024.
Elias Woodwork, Winkler, MB
Jeremy Funk, EVP Sales & Marketing, credits “continued outstanding customer service, increased productivity through expansions and machinery investment,” for spurring 2023 sales growth of 12.6%. The custom cabinetry, doors and components firm also “maintained great product quality.”
Koetter Woodworking, Borden, IN
The architectural millwork firm credits its reduced delivery/lead times, along with production enhancements for helping spur a 5.6% increase in sales for 2023, said Sam Smith, director of Business Development. Recent investments in a CNC router, CNC moulder in 2023, and new door production equipment in 2024, are aiding production.
Bishop Cabinets, Montgomery, AL
To improve efficiency, the cabinet firm is investing in 2020 Insight ERP software to better manage inventory, track projects and production operations. “[I]nternally it’s going to change a lot of the ways that we do business and make us more efficient,” said Jeff Gulledge, president and co-owner.
Closet Lifestyle, Riveria, FL
The closet firm’s investment in technology, including a Felder CNC router and edgebander, plus KCD and Cabinet Vision software, has improved efficiency in production and design. “We’re still carrying out a high-end product, but in a fraction of the time,” said founder Antonio Sanchez-Garcia.
Miralis, Saint-Anaclet, QC
The cabinet firm expanded significantly, opening two highly automated plants, a second cabinet factory and a countertop plant. “We’ve put so much R&D and brainpower into creating these two new plants, with automation and 4.0, that we could almost copy and paste them into other similar buildings,” said Daniel Drapeau, CEO. Miralis aims to produce nearly 250 cabinet boxes daily by 2027.
Showplace Cabinetry, Harrisburg, SD
As part of a $25 million investment over the next two years, the company plans to more than double its frameless cabinet factory, to over 180,000 square feet, and add equipment to increase production capacity. “We initially were going to go a little smaller with the expansion, but we anticipate the growth is going to be there,” said CEO Bill Allen. “We want to play offense instead of defense and be ready for the business.”
The Stow Co., Holland, MI
The home organization firm recently invested in a 3Tec MES software system, which serves as the central hub for collecting, managing and analyzing data throughout the production process “When we looked at that and reimagined how to manufacture and how to fulfill our jobs and our customers’ orders that’s when we started to look deeper into a manufacturing execution system. We decided that in order for us to continue to grow and scale our business and go to multiple facilities, we needed a platform to support that growth,” said Scott Silva, vice president.
FrameZero Custom Cabinetry, Huntsville, AL
The cabinet firm runs lean, operating in a one-piece flow philosophy, and follows a production, shipping, and installation model fashioned on European operations. “Keeping it simple, reducing steps; those things are very important,” said Chris Mason, founder and chief visionary.
Read more 2024 WOOD 100: Strategies for Success
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