Custom cabinetry trends

Factory workers at Ikea’s furniture manufacturing plant in Danville, Va., voted to join a union for machinists and aerospace workers, according to a Bloomberg news report. 
Employees at the Virginia plant voted 221-69 to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the National Labor Relations Board said. The factory, run by a subsidiary called Swedwood, manufactures bookcases and coffee tables.
Aiming to increase record-low union membership among the private sector, the machinists union began targeting Ikea’s Virginia plant since its opening in 2008 with $12 million in incentives offered by state and local governments. The union gained support after Ikea workers complained about low wages, discrimination, long working hours, eliminated raises and mandatory overtime, according to Bill Street, director of the woodworking department for the union that led the organizing campaign.

Interwood Taipei 2011is a major machinery exhibition held in Taiwan every three years. We asked Elli Tsailing Hung, project manager at the Taiwan Trade Center in Chicago, about the show and the current woodworking business environment in Taiwan.
“In general, Taiwan’s wood machinery focuses on customized products, the prices are reasonable compared to Europe and the States,” he told CabinetMakerFDM. “The manufacturers keep making improvements on key components and after-sale services. In addition, due to the limited resources of wood (available in Taiwan), they also put efforts on how to reuse materials.
“The Taiwanese woodworking machinery industry has a history of more than 40 years and now ranks No. 4 in the world for exports. Over the years, the industry has specialized in providing machinery for both production of mass-produced and customized wooden furniture, while adapting to changes in market demand,” Hung said.
Interwood, known as the Taipei International Woodworking Machinery and Supplies Show, is one of the three largest professional woodworking machinery exhibitions in Asia. The last exhibition in 2008 drew 182 exhibitors using 1,070 booths, and more than 3,800 domestic and international visitors. The number of buyers from Russia, Mexico and India grew sharply, according to Hung.

More than 180 companies are expected at the 2011 event, held every three years.
The United States has traditionally been the largest export market for Taiwan-made woodworking machinery, but China claimed the top export destination in 2010, according to the Taiwan Directorate General of Customs and Interwood Woodworking and Furniture Digest. In the 2008-2010 period, Hong Kong, Canada and Vietnam were also major export destinations.
According to Taiwan Economic News, the global downturn has reduced machinery exports. Woodworking equipment exports declined 13 percent in 2008 to $590 million. Machinery makers have focused on saving customer’s costs, developing non-woodworking machines using core technologies, and seeking smaller orders. Newer machines featured better control technology, higher output and accuracy.
Taiwan Trade Center’s Hung said that more than 180 companies are using 1,100 booths in the 2011. The show will be held July 7-10 at the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall and features a full range of woodworking machinery related tools, parts and accessories, raw materials, and other related items. For more information email the show directly.

The Cabinet Maker’s Association will host its 2011 Spring Midwest Regional Event on Friday, May 6, at Superior Wood Products’ facility in Leavenworth, Kan. 
The event will include a special session, “The Art of Pricing Profitably,” which will earn participants two CMA continuing education units. Presented by Brian Dirks, owner of Cabinet Designs LLC and CMA board of directors member, this seminar will cover how much it costs a company to run, how to price work and how to make a profit on every project. KCD Software founder John Murphy will present a seminar on the efficiencies of software design, pricing and manufacturing. Other topics covered at the event include installation of acrylic undermount sinks into HPL, and laminate-clad, rounded profile custom-edge options for countertops. Time for discussions and questions will be allotted after each presentation.
The cost to register for the event is $25 before the May 1 deadline. Professional cabinetmakers, millworkers and woodworkers interested in attending the event may register online. For more information, contact Roger White of Superior Wood Products at 913.250.0060 or email roger@superiorwood.net.

The Senate approved legislation supported by the National Association of Home Builders to repeal a  tax paperwork requirement that could cost small businesses thousands of dollars each year.
Beginning in 2012 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, businesses would have to file an IRS Form 1099 for each vendor from whom they purchase more than $600 in goods in one year. This may force small businesses to spend money on hiring accountants and bookkeepers to keep up with the new requirements, instead of being able to hire more workers to expand and grow operations, NAHB says.
To prevent small businesses from suffering because of the new requirements, the Senate voted 87 to 12 in favor of passing the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011, previously approved by the House. In addition to repealing expanded 1099 requirements in the healthcare law, the bill would also repeal a provision in the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 that mandated independent landlords submit 1099s to firms they provide more than $600 worth of services for.
“During the past several months, NAHB has led the effort along with other industry groups to strike all new expanded IRS Form 1099 reporting requirements for small businesses and owners of rental real estate,” said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen. “In testimony before Congress and in ‘key vote’ letters to House and Senate leaders, we have spelled out how failing to overturn these rules would kill jobs and place a major paperwork and cost burden on home builders. We applaud Congress for acting to rectify this situation and urge the President to quickly sign this measure into law.”

The 2011 College of Woodworking Knowledge will offer several business management seminars at AWFS Fair 2011, July 20-23.
The sessions are designed to move businesses up, over and beyond the hurdles of a bad economy, global competition and the tenacity of day-to-day challenges, CWWK says.
“Think Like an Entrepreneur” is a three-hour program targeted to smaller businesses, based on Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited. The “Becoming the Next Generation Manufacturer” session shares tested performance strategies and provides the framework for driving manufacturing growth in the 21st century. “Profitable Growth through Innovation” is a seminar designed to help participants think smarter and more creatively about how to develop more profitable customers, markets, products and services through innovation techniques. “Arm Yourself with Financing Savvy” will reveal financial and tax information surrounding business loans.
Other topics include “The Art of Bidding” and a “Hands-On Lean Manufacturing Simulation” workshop, as well as “Social Media Bootcamp for Woodworkers,” “Strengthening your Workforce from Within,” “Listening to your Customer” and “Think Creatively! Business Strategies for an Evolving Market.”
The full education program will be available in late March at www.AWFSfair.org.

Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams of North Carolina has actually expanded during the economic downturn, opening new  furniture stores and looking to grow further. The company cut about 150 jobs during the recession, but maintained a staff of almost 600, according to a news story.
“It sort of made us sit back and reexamine a lot of different things about the company. The way we operate. The way we do things,” said Williams.
To capitalize where it could, the company opened stores in wealthy areas such as Greenwich, Conn., and Costa Mesa, Calif.  More than two decades ago, the company began making dining room chairs only, and now has expanded it’s product offerings, including seating and tables.
The company has two plants in North Carolina, one of which also has special perks for employees, including a gym, Internet access, a café and daycare. Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams will add six to eight new stores in the coming years.

Responding to feedback from 2009 AWFS Fair attendees, AWFS has created a new educational track for the 2011 College of Woodworking Knowledge (CWWK) education program for small shops: Small Shops Ten & Under. Topics will focus on the needs of shops with 10 or fewer employees.
Results from a survey of 2009 show attendees who self identified as coming from shops with 10 or fewer employees showed more than 86 percent wanted a small shop educational track. They also offered suggestions for topics, and these suggestions will be reflected in the track’s lineup.
The development of the CWWK program is led by an industry-wide advisory committee chaired by Philip Martin of Hafele America Company, with representatives from machinery and related tooling, software, millwork, hardware, wood products, independent furniture makers and the trade press. Associations represented include the Architectural Woodwork Institute, Cabinet Makers Association, Hardwood Plywood & Veneer Association and The Furniture Society.
The CWWK includes eight educational tracks: Business Management, Cabinet & Millwork, Software & Technology, Techniques & Applications, Handcrafted Furniture, Safety & Environment, Teacher Track and Small Shops Ten & Under.
Classes at AWFS Fair will begin July 19, 2011, the pre-show day, and continue throughout the four days of the show. The 2011 roster will include the popular SMART program (Special Machinery and Relevant Technology) — technical sessions conducted at machines on the exhibit floor before the show opens.
For additional information on CWWK, contact Nancy Fister, education director, at nancy@awfs.org; or 800.946.2937. Full CWWK program details should be available in March 2011.

Weinig AG is reorganizing its business divisions into five product segments by the end of 2010 in response to increasing product diversity and changing conditions in the market for wood processing machines. The five product divisions created in the operations sector will be profiling, windows, pre-cutting, end profiling and used machines.
The sales and service companies of Weinig around the world will remain in place to maintain the company’s links with customers. These product divisions will be the central element of the company’s future organization and will be largely independent, with ongoing development of the product range as the main objective.
“These new structures will put us in a better position to focus on our core competencies, giving added dynamism to our activities in the market,” said Wolfgang Pöschl, chairman of the board at Weinig. “We expect a massive impetus from the new structures, specifically in our core business of profiling.”

Here’s a quick reminder to anyone who is bidding in the Pricing Survey to please return their bids by the deadline of August 20. If you have already downloaded the bid package and need some more time to complete your bid, just let me know. We want to encourage as many bids as possible.
If you need more information or still need to download the bid package, click this link.

Will Sampson
Editor, CabinetMakerFDM
wsampson@wattnet.net