| In commercial architectural woodworking,
time is of the essence. Increasingly, clients want
projects to be on time, under budget and to emanate high
quality. Shop owner Rick Thaler of OGB Architectural
Millwork, Albuquerque, NM, has embraced this need by
purchasing state-of-the-art equipment to increase
production in the shop.
In 1923, OGB began as a cabinet shop in the Bradbury
Stamm Construction company. Then-owner Orville Bradbury
successfully grew the division over the years, and it
became widely known in the region for its exceptional
wood products. In 1988, the division became its own
company (under the ownership of the construction
company), and was then called O.G. Bradbury
Architectural Millwork Division. In September of 2000,
Thaler purchased the company (from his employer) and set
to work modernizing the 22,000-square-foot plant.
Prior to the purchase, Thaler had worked at O.G.
Bradbury as a benchman and cabinetmaker. A New York
state native, Thaler got his start in woodworking as a
teen working as a framer and then trim carpenter. "I
began to accumulate tools when I worked in construction.
When I moved here 30 years ago, I evolved into a very
small residential furniture business and cabinet shop -
just me and another guy. I worked at this for six years
and then I discovered commercial work," he recalls. "I
went to O.G. Bradbury to have some widebelt sanding done
and saw a spiral staircase being built in the shop. I
thought, 'This is what I want to do.'" Subsequently,
Thaler closed his residential furniture/cabinet shop and
went to work for Bradbury in 1980.
Year Founded: 1923 by Orville Bradbury
Employees: 47 full-time
Shop Size: 22,000 square feet; office is
1,900 square feet
FYI: OGB originated as a cabinet
division within the Bradbury Stamm Construction
company.
|
He left the company after a year and worked in other
shops in the area for another seven years, honing his
skills as a commercial woodworker. In 1990, he returned
to Bradbury as an estimator and project manager. "I was
hired to 'crank it up.' At the time, the company was
famous for its high-quality millwork, but it didn't work
in other areas. It wasn't thriving financially, so they
wanted me to broaden the customer base and bring in some
new business ideas," Thaler says.> Thaler worked in this
capacity until 2000, when the Bradbury Stamm
Construction Company decided to sell its millwork
division. He expressed an interest to buy it, and the
company agreed to sell. "They made it very easy for me
to buy," Thaler notes. "They were very interested in
having the millwork company continue because the owners
believed that it was a good thing to have a quality
millwork company in the area. But there was also an
enormous amount of tradition and history with the
millwork company that the owners were proud of and
wanted to continue. They have been a great help to me in
succeeding as the business' new owner, and they continue
to be supportive," he adds.
Growing Pains/Growing Gains
Thaler has grown the company's sales from $500,000 in
1990 to $3.5 million in 2000. After purchasing
state-of-the-art machinery to increase production
capacity, the shop's sales increased to more than $5
million in 2003.
 |
| This teller line at First State Bank in
Albuquerque is fabricated from white oak and
features a white ash stain with a clear lacquer
top coat. The hand-painted Native American
designs were CNC routed into the panels.> |
"In the first two years that I owned this company, I
spent a lot of money and energy on equipment and
modernizing plant systems," Thaler says. But the
increases in sales and changes in production came with
growing pains. "When I announced that I was going to buy
the company, we had 55 employees. By the time the deal
closed, we lost about 15 people for one reason or
another," he says.
Some woodworkers left because they were "old school"
and did not want to learn to run CNC-controlled
equipment. "They were tremendously effective employees,
but it was very difficult for them to make the change.
Some people cannot get their minds around it," he says.
"Still, other people left because the pace of the shop
changed and they could not stand that."
Thaler says that while the capital investment to
upgrade the shop's equipment was expensive, "t was worth
it. Given the fact that I am working at the level I want
to be at isn't even the question. The upgrade was
essential. It is exciting and fun to modernize, and it
gives you a whole new set of things to do with your
business. Your capacity for sales grows along with your
ability to tackle complex, interesting, fast-track
projects. In addition, there are labor savings. But the
machines do not take the place of jobs, they just allow
a shop to grow and enable a shop to hire operators.
"We have access to interesting jobs with curved work
and strange shapes that we never had access to before.
Technology isn't a magic wand, though. It does not do
the work for you, but it opens doors of opportunities
for the shop as well as for the employees," he adds. By
that, he means that employees can increase their career
span. "We have people in the business who have been at
their job for a long time. It is physically demanding
and doesn't always pay well. But you get a guy in his
30s or 40s, who maybe has never had the opportunity to
stretch his mind, and put him in front of a
CNC-controlled machine and he is a whole different
person.
"I have seen it happen a dozen times. Guys get a
whole new lease on life. They are able to go forward in
the woodworking business and work into their 50s and 60s
instead of having to quit because of a bad back or
something. It is pretty amazing and today, having
machinery like this on the floor helps us to attract and
retain employees," he continues.
 |
| This Flying Star Satellite coffee house
features high-end curved casework, as well as
decorative ceiling fixtures and arches. A
variety of laminates and decorative metals were
used throughout.> |
Today the shop, an AWI member, employs 47 people. "A
great bunch of folks," Thaler says. "The people in the
shop are really the key to success in any shop. The
machinery is just extra. You have to have people who are
really dedicated and turned on to make the machinery
work for you."
Thirty employees work in production, five work as
installers, eight as engineers and four as support
staff. The shop has built a solid reputation for
fabricating difficult, involved projects. "Our customers
are looking for a complete package with all of the
specifications (i.e. stone tops, solid surface material,
glass, metalwork). They want a sole source for anything
that is connected with their project. Since we are
willing to provide them with what they want, we get a
lot of work," Thaler says.
He adds that the shop prides itself on working best
under tight deadlines and with complex design. "We do a
lot of curved work for our clients," he says. The shop's
client base is the whole of New Mexico and includes
banks, hospitals, tenant improvements for doctors,
lawyers and others, and restaurant work. The shop has
completed projects for clients in Texas, California and
Michigan as well. Business is procured through
referrals, repeat business and bids on public work that
is advertised in Construction Reports. Projects range
from $40,000 to $300,000+. "We like to have between 15
and 20 jobs on the books that are more than $100,000,"
Thaler adds.
To keep the shop profitable and working, Thaler has
one rule. "We won't bid on any job unless it is under 10
percent of our gross annual sales. To bid more
interferes with our mission, and that is to keep the
customer happy," he says. "We are committed foremost to
servicing the customer. I see that we are expensive and
the only way that we can continue to sell our product is
to make it worth more than what our competitors offer."
A Blueprint for Productivity
For efficiency, the shop is set up in cells, which
include pre-production for cutting, banding, boring and
machining; lumber/milling; countertop assembly;
specialty assembly for curved cases and odd shapes; and
finishing.
A conveyor system moves pieces easily and quickly
through the plant. "A conveyor system is a tiny
investment with huge paybacks," Thaler says. "Having one
in place rationalizes the work flow. When you are
dealing with a lot of parts, you want them to get to
where they need to be without thinking about them.
"With a conveyor system, they don't get lost or
shoved off into a corner. They don't fall off and get
damaged, and it is easier on everyone's back. You don't
have to handle the parts again and again. Handling parts
is a hidden profit killer. It is astonishing how much
time in the shop is spent handling parts. We still have
a long way to go," he adds.
 |
| OGB specializes in unusual-shaped fixtures
and curved casework like the customer counters,
gondolas and special fixtures shown in this book
store. Exotic laminates from Octolam and Avonite
solid surface materials were used throughout the
project. Another local shop built the shelving
units.> |
Another machine in the shop that helps increase
productivity is the Busellato Jet 3600 CNC router, which
is being run on two shifts because so many parts are run
through it that it creates a bottleneck otherwise.
Thaler says that the router is also being utilized for
engraving identifying part numbers on project
components. He adds that he is planning on adding
another CNC router in the future to prevent "the choke
point" from holding up production potential.
Other equipment includes a Holzma panel saw, Brandt
edgebander, Edgetech countertop saw, Auto V Grooving
miter folder, DMC widebelt sander, Powermatic surface
planer and 36-inch bandsaw, Oliver joiner, Ligmatech
case clamp, Altendorf sliding table saw and Disa dust
collector. Finishes are purchased from Sherwin-Williams,
and colors are mixed in-house using a computerized S-W
stain mixing system. "We are doing a lot of dye stains,
and staining particleboard and MDF," Thaler says.
Precatalyzed lacquer is used most often and sprayed hot
using a Binks hot lacquer spray system. "Sometimes we do
a conversion varnish, and once in a great while we apply
a polyurethane," he adds.
A Midwest Automation glue spreader is used for
laminates, purchased from companies like Abet Laminati
and others.
The shop uses Blum hinges and Grass drawer slides, as
well as Grass' Unigrass metal drawer systems in its
projects. Microvellum software is used for drafting,
engineering, cutlists and optimizing capabilities.
Thaler says the shop does not outsource too much of its
work "for control reasons." However, it purchases
postformed tops and some mouldings from area shops.
Sometimes OGB will network with other shops on bigger
jobs, thus sharing the workload.
Thaler says that the company is the right size for
the market in New Mexico and he has no immediate plans
for expansion. "We plan on focusing on profitability in
the next couple of years." He is in the process of
purchasing the shop and office buildings from Bradbury
Stamm Construction. When the sale is final, he wants to
"take everything out of the plant and put it back in in
a different configuration to make production flow even
more smoothly. But I don't want to do that until I own
the building. A lot of the setup is a remnant from the
way the shop was run years ago. It is actually a pretty
good setup, but it can be improved upon," he adds. |
