Four WMIA Wooden Globe Award Winners Named at WIC 2015
Four WMIA Wooden Globe Award Winners Named at WIC 2015

Four WMIA Wooden Globe Award Winners Named at WIC 2015  SAN ANTONIO, TX - The 2015 Wooden Globe Winners were awarded this morning at the Wood Industry Conference in San Antonio. The winners include Pittsburg (KS) State educators Doug Hague and Charles Phillips, named Educators of the Year; Menck Windows USA, Inc., Chicopee, MA, which received the Innovator of the Year award; and New England Casket Company, East Boston, MA, for Commitment to Excellence Through Technology.

The annual awards are given by the Wood Machinery Industry Association, from nominations supplied by woodworking technology companies.   

Innovator of the Year Award  2015
Menck USA – Menck Windows is a joint venture between Liesenfeld International GmbH and leading window manufacturer, Menck Fenster GmbH, of Hamburg, Germany. Menck Fenster is a 130-year, 4th generation business that provides custom windows and doors in Europe, the Far East, and the United States. Lead by Todd Bachelder, CEO, the new Menck Window production facility,  uses advanced software and German-built CNC machinery for close tolerance design, assembly, glazing and material handling.

"What excited us about this project was the prospect for technology transfer," Bachelder said in receiving the award.With a dozen competitors importing the European style windows, Menck set out to produce the widows cost effectively in its  U.S. 75,000 square foot plant.

It uses CNC Weinig ripsaws, and chop saws, a Weinig S4S moulder, to produce precision wooden blocks, called Scantling. A Weinig Conturex processing center profiles, drills, routes shape sand joins in one work cell.

"This is a factory in a box," Bachelder said. A Multirex processing center produces curved sashes in a similarly automated process. A Maschinenbau press and Ruchser Fensterbaumaschinen workstations speed glazing and cladding.

Menck Windows product line includes the European-style in-swing windows (tilt and turn, casement, pivot-hung, sliding and folding), out-swing windows (casement, awning, folding) and a full range of door products. With applications for high-end residential, commercial, and historic preservation projects, Menck Windows product is either all wood or more typically, wood with aluminum cladding. The company also makes curtain walls. Menck was nominated by Weinig product manager Steven McNeilly (at right above with Bachelder)

Recipients of the Innovator Award produce a unique and innovative wood based product or utilize an innovative process to produce a wood based product using high technology machinery supplied by one or more WMIA member companies. Menck USA

Commitment to Excellence through Technology 2015
New England Casket Company – Manufacturing hardwood caskets for over 78 years, 62-employee New England Casket is lead by Louis Tobia, Jr., (left, with Pascal Doucet) the third generation owner. Manufacturing caskets in a three-level factory, the company adopted Doucet technology Weinig Moulders, Kenwood Ripsaws, efficientlyers, and in 2013 began integrating technologies and adopted lean applications.

"I just want to make caskets effiiently, for less money, and better quality," Tobia said. To avoid keeping an inventory of parts, Tobia said he had gradually been improving technology. To assemble and miter the sides to a specific size, Doucet help develop a specific machine process to do it.

"What used to take about 27 man minutes, we go it down to 7 minutes," Tobia said. "That's a 77 percent improvement."   New England Casket Company

Educator of the Year 2014
Doug Hague and Charles Phillips – These two Pittsburg State University instructors have a passion for the industry and for educating. Wood industry suppliers who attended the WMIA BootCamp in January experience first hand Hague and Phillips encylopedic knowledge of wood production processes, and their ability to educate on all aspects of wood manufacturing processes.

The recipients were singled out for their effort in conducting a BootCamp at the Wood Technology Industry Institute at Pittsburg State (below). James Besonen of Wood Machinery Systems, who attended the BootCamp, nominated the educators. The BootCamp is an immersion training session for wood industry suppliers to broaden their knowledge of the overall secondary wood manufacturing processes. The next one is June 1-5, 2015.

The Educator Award, given annually to someone within an educational institution or company with a structured curriculum tailored to training individuals for careers in the woodworking industry.The curriculum for this award always includes hands-on training on high technology machinery supplied by WMIA member companies.

View the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association's 2014 Wooden Globe Award winners.

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