Furniture Hardware Demand to Exceed $11 Billion in 2012

Furniture hardware demand in US to exceed $11 billion in 2012

The Fredonia Group recently released the Builders’ Hardware study, predicting US demand for builders’ hardware will rise 2.1 percent per year through 2012, adjusting for inflation. Gains between 2002 and 2007 were 1.2 percent per year.

Imports are forecasted to account for nearly 42 percent of hardware demand in 2012, up from 35 percent in 2007, according to Fredonia. Locks and other shop safety devices are predicted to be the largest share of the builders’ hardware market, with furniture expected to account for most hardware applications in 2012.

For more information, visit www.fredoniagroup.com.

Building a Million Dollar Furniture Assembly Business

Building a million-dollar furniture assembly business: innovation and efficiency make big money for this Calgary shop.

One shop. Three people. A million dollars in sales.

On the surface, it doesn’t appear to add up. However, upon closer examination, the math isn’t so strange after all; it’s what you get when you combine simplicity with efficiency and innovation.

In short, Kitchen Cabinets Factory in Calgary, Alberta, Canada makes a lot of uncomplicated cabinets very quickly and very efficiently.

Probably the one driving force behind the shop’s success is a single maxim: Keep it simple. In the 21 years of the shop’s existence, Walter Kostur has worked hard to make the cabinet assembly process as straightforward as possible.

Quick assembly—The simple, modular format of KCF’s cabinets help assembly technician Henry Zaba move quickly through each job.

Material is cut on a customized Sicar sliding table saw, edgebanded on a modified SCM Basic edgebander, and drilled on a Blum drill press. Even though the machinery is more than two decades old, each piece has been extensively modified by Kostur.

KCF only builds modular (3 inch increments) frameless cabinets. KCF’s materials are uncomplicated as well. Cabinets are built with 5/8-inch melamine, drawers with 1/2-inch melamine, and cabinet backs are 1/8-inch one side white Fibrex. Assembly is done with 1-inch multi-fluted maple dowels, glue and staples.

Kostur is a big believer in outsourcing. Doors and cabinet drawer fronts painted and stained are obtained from a nearby shop. “It would be insane for me to build doors. For me to do it seriously I would have to at least double the size of my work space and add $200,000 in equipment,” Kostur says. “I don’t need the headache.”

What’s more, Kostur does not confine outsourcing to cabinet hardware. KCF does not do granite countertops, and laminated countertops are sub-contracted. Installation services are also sub-contracted.

Kostur is keenly aware of the relationship between time saved and money earned. He points to KCF’s hardware as an example. “We use clip on hinges and expensive staples because the savings are so great down the road,” Kostur says. “If we used screw on hinges we would save money on the hinges, but it would cost me two man weeks per year for tightening up the screws on the doors. Instead, we use the clip on hinges and the kitchen goes out. It’s worth it.”

Kostur uses the same philosophy in his cabinet finishing. “You’d be surprised how little we spray in every kitchen,” Kostur says. “For example, in every kitchen a part of the cabinets’ gables are partially exposed above a cooking surface or sink. Instead of gluing a piece of veneer to the gable, we just build the gable using one side white and one side veneered material. The material is more expensive, but the installer does not have to mess around onsite with a brush and contact cement. After all,” he adds, “we need the installer somewhere else the next day.”

One unusual thing that KCF practices is that of insisting that customers do their own measurements. “With very, very few exceptions, all kitchens that we build are based on the customer’s information,” Kostur says. “People make a sketch of the kitchen walls with the dimensions as if they were looking at the kitchen from above without a ceiling. They include window, refrigerator, stove and sink locations.”

Frameless only—Kitchen Cabinets Factory only produces frameless cabinets. If a potential customer is absolutely determined to have face frame cabinets, co-owner Walter Kostur will politely decline the job.

And while asking customers to supply their own measurements might seem unusual to some, Kostur says the time and money saved are crucial. “Legally it would be described as a conditional agreement,” Kostur explains. “We build a kitchen on the condition that the customer measures the walls. People are careful and get involved. Strategically that also means a little bit of commitment. People could go to 15 small cabinet shops and ask, Could someone visit my house and give me a quote?’ There’s no commitment there. However, if they spend that five or seven minutes measuring the walls, that always means something. If I did that, I would be running all over the place doing estimates instead of working,” he says.

One of the first modifications Kostur made to the shop space was to cut two feet off the opening to the shop so that deliveries could be made directly into the space by a delivery truck’s crane without the staff having to unload and move materials.

Not surprisingly the KCF shop is a model of efficiency. Lidia Mis, Kostur’s wife and co-owner of KCF, is the shop manager, her brother Henry Zaba works as an assembly technician and her son Chris works as their assistant. Everybody rotates between various work stations and tasks as needed. The shop, together with its complement of machinery, has been modified to maximize efficiency.

Kostur modified the shop’s Sicar sliding table saw by adding an electric pneumatic valve to it. Now, when the scoring saw is turned on, the blade lifts up, and when it is turned off the blade automatically goes down. “That saves a few seconds of going there and turning it off, and also saves the blades,” Kostur says.

She saws—Lidia Mis, co-owner of Kitchen Cabinets Factory, acts as shop manager and primary technician. However, all employees rotate between work stations and tasks as needed.

Next to the saw is a custom made scissor table powered by a garage opener. It can be raised or lowered by the saw operator using a remote control pilot. It performs as the saw’s table extension or allows parts to pile up. The saw is also equipped with a pneumatic remote controlled clamp and has been retrofitted with the Tiger Stop system.

There have also been modifications to the SCM Basic 2 edgebander. To avoid stringing, Kostur added a custom bracket and pulley system to keep the edgebanding tape moving in a linear fashion through the machine.

There has also been a modification to keep the machine clean. “The normally-closed and normally-opened valves provide a blast of air to the hood,” Kostur explains. “Without this, chips would bunch up and block the hood every few minutes. Now every edgebanded part causes a one second long blast of air from the jet that removes the chips.”

Acting as the edgebander’s outfeed table is a stand that was intended to be used for motorcycle repair. Although originally outfitted to be hydraulically lifted, the stand is now pneumatically powered. As the parts drop from the end of the edgebander and pile up, the stand slowly lowers itself, allowing the machine operator to keep working without interruption.

KCF’s Maggi dowell boring machine has also been modified. “We immediately ordered two more pistons after we got it because it came with two and I thought, Well, if we are drilling parts of different widths, we can’t survive with the two clamps,’ so we added two more.”

Stand down—This pneumatic stand sits at the end of the shop’s automatic edgebander. As parts drop from the end of the saw and pile up, the stand drops, allowing the operator to keep cutting without interruption. When the parts are removed, the table goes back up.

KCF also maintains jigs for all possible gables of cabinets. “If it’s a typical 8-foot-tall kitchen where you go to 95 inches, you take the jig and set up the stoppers in about two minutes.”

Regarding the shop’s dust collection, flat bars have been welded to the rotor and a three-phase motor is used. “It sucks like you wouldn’t believe,” Kostur says.

KCF added the second bay to its shop for assembling about eight years ago. The mezzanine above both bays is used for finishing. Kostur notes that using the mezzanine and area often ignored by shops is a built-in cost savings. “You pay for the floor footage,” he says. “The mezzanine is free.”

Running an efficient shop clearly makes Kostur happy. “Not only is it a very profitable operation, you have no idea the satisfaction we get,” he says. “We live for the satisfaction. It’s like a dopamine.”

Furniture Gluing with Hickory and Pecan

Hickory lumber (Genus: Carya) comes from eight different trees four species called “true hickory” (shagbark, pignut, shellbark and mockernut) and four species of “pecan hickory” (bitternut, pecan, water hickory and nutmeg hickory).

In the marketplace, you can get any of the eight species when you buy hickory lumber. True hickory is found throughout the eastern United States. However, the range of pecan hickories is limited; bitternut is throughout the eastern United States; pecan is found from Texas to Louisiana, through Missouri and Indiana; water hickory is found in Texas through South Carolina; and nutmeg is found in Texas and Louisiana. Separation of lumber into the two groups is impossible unless chemical or microscopic tests are used. However, many users indicate that they prefer true hickory as they believe it has better color and seems to handle better. Character hickory (with knots, streaks and similar; low grade lumber which keeps costs under control) has also recently become popular for furniture, cabinets and kitchen flooring.

Hickory has many uses, including baseball bats (true hickory is preferred), tool handles (excellent shock resistance), drum sticks (true hickory only), furniture (growing in importance) and cabinet making.

Density. The density of true hickories averages about 50 pounds per cubic foot at 8 percent MC. This is heavier than oak. Pecan hickories average about 42 pounds per cubic foot. A dried and planed board foot of lumber will weigh more than three pounds.

Drying. Both hickories are difficult to dry and require close control of drying environments. The wood can check if dried too quickly. Staining if dried too slowly or stored when green is likely, especially a blotchy type gray stain or overall pinking. Shrinkage in drying is around 7 percent.

Final moisture content for hickory should be 6.5 to 7.5 percent. Higher MCs cannot be accepted due to hickory’s high shrinkage; lower MCs result in excessive chipped grain.

Furniture gluing and machining. Hickory is very unforgiving when gluing due to its high density. Surfaces must be flat, smooth and freshly prepared. Clamp carriers are probably best for this wood. True hickory is more difficult to glue than pecan hickory.

Machining of hickory is difficult due to its density. Chipped grain is common if knives are not sharp. Dull knives also result in a rough flatsawn surface where the large vessel cells are located. Correct MC is critical. With proper knives and machines, the surface is excellent in quality, however. Usually, machine tools need to have a larger tool (or sharpness) angle, thereby increasing the amount of metal in the tool.

Stability. Hickory is not too stable when the MC changes. Hickory changes about 1 percent in size for each 3 percent MC change running across the grain parallel to the rings (tangentially), and about 1 percent size change for each 4 percent MC change across the rings (radially).

Strength. The hickories are one of the strongest native softwoods. Bending strength (MOR) averages 19,500 psi for true hickory and 16,000 psi for pecan. Stiffness (MOE) averages 2.0 million psi for true hickory and 1.8 million psi for pecan.

Color and grain. I think that the true hickory group has more uniform and lighter color than the pecan hickory group. Both seem to have nice grain and color character, however, after finishing. If dried correctly, the heartwood is fairly white colored, with tinges of brown and sometimes red. The large pores in hickory present some of the same finishing problems as oak, hackberry and ash.

New Gluing Techniques Lead Cabinet Producer to Fast Start

Toronto cabinet company uses advanced furniture manufacturing methods to take advantage of a booming market.

AyA Kitchens and Baths Ltd. identified a need in the market and set about filling that need. The company found an empty building, and assembled a state-of-the-art cabinet construction plant in Mississauga, Ont., with the current capacity to manufacture 70 kitchens per shift.

Although the company is new (the plant went into operation in July 2001), the primary executives have plenty of experience. CEO Dave Martin worked for Canac Kitchens from 1986 to early 2000. Martin hired Peter Lorke to build the new plant. Lorke’s experience was in manufacturing office furniture, not kitchen cabinets, at Knoll.

“What we applied from office furniture is mostly quality related: procedures, quality checks, documentation, working with numbers, colors and pictures to make it easy to train people,” Lorke says.

Manufacturing methods used in the office furniture industry are typically more advanced and more flexible than in the kitchen cabinet industry. AyA documentation and manufacturing standards are similar to those used by ISO-certified manufacturers.

AyA makes kitchen and bath cabinets, but also does some entertainment centers, closets, desks and bedroom furniture. Cabinet companies are doing more of these latter categories.

Martin says AyA is producing mid- to upper-end cabinets. “We don’t go after a lot of the lower-end apartment work,” he says. “We’re in business to sell direct to builders and retail.”

AyA got a big boost from the hot housing market in its hometown.

“The market here in Toronto is very strong, approaching 50,000 housing starts a year,” Martin says. “We realized that most of the other manufacturers were reaching their capacity levels, and most of them were landlocked and didn’t have the ability to expand. The capacities were below what the demand was.”

There’s a showroom on site, and AyA sells in Toronto through company-owned locations, and in several locations in the United States, including Chicago, Charlotte, Atlanta, Florida, New York and Virginia, where Martin spent eight years developing markets. He is expecting sales for 2003 to be $18 million (U.S.), which he expects to double next year.

About 70 percent of AyA’s business is in Ontario, and 30 percent in the U.S. “By this time next year it will be the opposite,” Martin says.

To take advantage of the hot local market, the Mississauga building, just a few blocks west of Toronto, proved to be almost ideal. The building was large enough to handle the production AyA planned, with additional space for expansion. As a bonus, the building has an 18-story tower previously used to test elevators.

“It’s the greatest signpost around,” Martin says. “Our challenge now is to get people to associate the tower with our business.”

AyA was also fortunate to find good employees seeking greater opportunity and a shorter commute. The company employs 165, with 106 in manufacturing.

“We benefited from the fact that the office furniture industry slowed down the past two years, and we offered an excellent opportunity to people who had reduced hours and didn’t see any advancement in their own companies,” Martin says.

The furniture manufacturing process begins each Wednesday, when raw materials are purchased and production planned for the following week. Similar kitchens are grouped together and that batch is given a color, one of nine that is constantly rotated. Sheets of paper with that color are taped to each machine working on that job. Starting dates of different functions in the plant are staggered depending on shipment date.

Lorke organized the 100,000-square-foot manufacturing floor into cells: cutting, edgebanding, drilling, custom work, door department, finishing, assembly and shipping. There is a manager for each five to 30 employees.

The plant can produce 70 kitchens a shift at full capacity, but it is now producing an average of 30 kitchens a day.

Lorke, a native of Germany, is a big proponent of Homag equipment. In the cutting cell are three Holzma saws, two HPL 33 models and one HPL 11, and two Altendorf F45 sliding table saws.

Most edgebanding is done on a single line with several machines. Two Homag double-end tenoners are used to produce the final edge cut (one machine does two sides, the board is flipped 180 degrees and the second does the other two sides). Next are two single-sided Homag Profimat edgebanders in a row, and then another double-end tenoner, a Homag Profi-Line, that removes 2-1/2 mm from each edge, and cuts a groove in the back, if needed. Every part of the carcase can be done on this line. Employees on opposite ends of the line communicate with headsets. A separate edgebander, that is longer and has a 24-edgeband magazine, is used for shelves and rails.

In AyA’s drilling section a Weeke BET 500 is seen by Lorke as being the workhorse. It does a large share of the drilling, working with a Weeke BST 500 dowel inserter. Drilling is also done by a Weeke Optimat BP 145 machining center, and a smaller Optimat. Gluing and dowel insertion is also handled by a Koch 310, and a new larger Koch BDB feedthrough machine.

A small custom department uses a Weeke Optimat BP 85 for smaller volume, special work.

The door department is separated from the other functions by an aisle that runs the length of the plant. Outside suppliers deliver most of the door stiles, rails and raised veneer center panels. AyA keeps an inventory of random-length solid wood panels for the other 20 percent of doors, which are cut there. The door department has a Voorwood A112 shaper/sander, Friulmac double-end tenoner, Hoffmann double-miter saw, and two clamp carriers. Two Homag double-end tenoners determine that the door is square. Three Viet widebelt sanders complete the door department.

There is a staging area for finishing, the next cell. Two finishing lines are in operation, with a third on order, Lorke says. The staining line starts with a Heesemann KSM2 sander. Stain is applied by a Cattanair Rotoclean rotary spray booth, a process that Lorke says works especially well for raised panel doors. Both front and back are stained. A second finishing line applies sealer and topcoat with a Cattinair EP2M UV curing unit.

Pieces are fed into four furniture assembly lines (two are currently used), each with a Ligmatech case clamp. Custom units come into assembly separately. Blum hardware and insertion machines are used.

Will the cabinet market continue to grow? “I believe it will,” Martin says. “One of the things we know in North America is that during this economic downswing, housing has stayed extremely strong.