AWFS Vegas
As a manufacturer of heavy-duty plywood container boxes and cable/wire reels, Container Systems produces thousands of products a week. When the company set out to replace its work cell in its reel production department with a CNC router, it wasn’t looking to increase capacity. Instead, it was looking to drive labor costs out of its manufacturing operation.
Custom Shop
As a manufacturer of heavy-duty plywood container boxes and cable/wire reels, Container Systems produces thousands of products a week. When the company set out to replace its work cell in its reel production department with a CNC router, it wasn’t looking to increase capacity. Instead, it was looking to drive labor costs out of its manufacturing operation.
Finish Line
Apply safety and increase productivity. Now how does that work? Safety in the finish area reduces problems caused by injuries or finish defects. Naturally you think of safety as personal protection, spray area protection, grounding and bonding.
The First Word
On April 26, a regulation on formaldehyde emissions more than six years in the making finally became reality in the state of California. The state’s Air Resources Board (CARB) voted to impose significant new restrictions on the use of formaldehyde resins in composite wood products.
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International Technology Showcase
Material Issues
What is the outlook for some of the more popular North American hardwood species?
“Red Oak markets will take on a softer feel over the next few months,” says Barrett “Upper-grade Red Oak will be especially difficult to move, and common-grade Red Oak shipments will slow to flooring plants, many of which will stop purchasing #1 Common altogether. Lower prices will lure Far Eastern, Mexican, European and Middle Eastern buyers to the table and lift Red Oak out of the doldrums during the second half of the year.
Production Line
In an environment of increasing eco-awareness, companies like Contact Industries tend to stand out in the crowd. The Portland, Ore.-based manufacturer of veneer-wrapped moldings and architectural millwork products has engineered its production methods to extend its raw material usage by as much as 50 times over using a combination of softwood and hardwood veneers wrapped over finger-jointed pine or laminated veneer lumber (LVL) substrates.
Proving Ground
Up until this year, Caldwell, Idaho-based Canyon Custom Woodworking relied on traditional woodworking machinery to cut box parts for the high-end custom cabinet market in the Boise, Idaho area. But when Steve Conger, president and owner, was faced with staffing issues, he knew it was time to change his production strategy to include automated machinery.
Sanding Sense
Over the last six years, I have analyzed more than 800 wide belt sanders in over 350 different plants. The problems I have observed can be classified into three major categories: Operational or process problems; Machine adjustment problems, and; Sanding defects. In all plants, most of these problems exist, and unfortunately, the negative results compound. The elimination of these problems is entirely within the control of each plant, but you must have the knowledge and desire to do so.
Supply Side
Since its emergence into mainstream in the late 1990s, the closet industry has benefited from a long list of hardware suppliers and machinery manufacturers ready to make the most of what was then an untapped revenue base.
Think Lean
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ report on manufacturing productivity was received with some alarm in the business media over the last number of months. For those that may have missed it, manufacturing productivity increased 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006. The productivity increase was the smallest since the first quarter of 2004 and compares quite unfavorably to the 5.6 percent average annual growth in productivity in manufacturing for the 10-year period of 1994 to 2004.
Trends
Modern Woodworking interviewed Jackie Hirschhaut, vice president of public relations for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, to get the lowdown on the latest furniture design trends from U.S. furniture manufacturers.
Trends Extra
Overall U.S. woodworking equipment purchases in 2006 fell by less than a half percent from those in 2005, according to data from Equipment Data Associates (owned by Randall-Reilly Publishing – publishers of Modern Woodworking), which tracks and analyzes leases and finances of woodworking machinery and equipment in certain categories from all 50 states.
Machining centers led the increases with a 28.3-percent increase in 2006 over 2005 numbers followed by moulders with an 11.5-percent increase.
Trends Wood Bits
The Woodworking Machinery Industry Association (WMIA) is sponsoring the Wood Component Manufacturers Association’s (WCMA) 2007 Fall Conference & Plant Tour Event, November 5-7 in Grand Rapids, Mich. WMIA will be sponsoring the educational component of the meeting. The program will cover profitability, costing, market trends and forecasts, worker safety, health and productivity; employee training and development, sales and marketing strategies and technological advances in the industry.
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Cover story
A group of U.S. wood products manufacturers who joined the Homag technology tour hosted by Stiles Machinery last month visited several wood processing plants throughout Germany, France and Austria. They give their insight into how U.S. production strategies stack up with those of their European counterparts.
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