Problem: Expanding Production Capabilities without Expanding the Need for More Labor.
Company Name: Superior
Furniture Company
Employees: 60
Plant Location: Grand Rapids, Mich.
Product Offerings: Tables, Bookcases, Entertainment Centers, Wood Chairs, Contract Work for Other Manufacturers
Gross Sales: $4.9 million |
Superior Furniture is struggling to find good help just like the majority of furniture companies in this country. With unemployment dipping to 3.9 percent, the problem doesn’t seem to be getting any better for the company. The labor shortage has put Superior Furniture in a paradox. The company wants to expand its production capabilities and take advantage of what has been good business in the Grand Rapids, Mich., area. However, the unavailability of quality workers makes it difficult to move forward.
It was for this reason that Craig Hanson, operations manager, turned to equipment as part of the solution. “We began looking for material handling solutions in order to free up employees to move on to other jobs.”
Hanson looked at the company’s rip saw and decided to start there with a return. “The first return we bought didn’t work out so well — especially on pieces over 40 inches long. We wanted to get one in there that would work up to 80 inches.”
So, the company turned to Doucet for a six-month trial run. “Doucet modified a return for us and it has worked out well,” Hanson said. “We used to have two operators on the rip saw, one to feed it and the other to remove the material. Now we use one person and we are getting a return for the second rip saw.”
The Doucet return has rollers that run away from the saw. After the material is ripped, it is moved away from the blade by the roller. A sensor detects when the board has cleared the end of the saw and triggers the return. The rollers then sink, revealing a conveyor belt that moves the material to a set of rollers that return the ripped material to the operator.
Hanson says that the only obstacle in setting up the return was placing the sensor properly. “If the eye is too sensitive, it will detect the wood as it moves back on the return. That can create some problems. So, we had to make sure the sensor was properly placed.”
With the addition of the return on a second rip saw, it is safe to say that the returns have doubled the production capability in the rip process for Superior. All without adding labor.
“The purpose of adding the material handling system was not to take the place of employees, but to get more from the ones we have. It has accomplished that,” Hanson says.
Even when the company finds workers, getting them to work full-time is also a headache. “Hiring people runs in spurts for us. Sometimes we can hire eight people and find maybe one out of the eight that is worthy of keeping. Our biggest problem is that we cannot find employees that want to work full-time. They want to come to work when they want to work and that’s it. Sometimes that means two days a week. Of course we need them to work somewhere near a 40-hour schedule especially if they want to earn their benefits. So, you can see that anything that helps us to grow without increasing our need for labor is welcomed here.”
