Judson Beaumont at Wood Tech Summit.
By Iain Macdonald
Last months’ Wood Tech Summit at University of British Columbia’s Robson Square campus in downtown Vancouver, saw 25 industry specialists take turns in front of a diverse group of wood product manufacturers from across Canada and the U.S. sharing their insights on how to become more competitive, efficient and profitable.
The Wood Tech Summit is collaboration between the Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP) at UBC and the Woodworking Network.
With the furthest-away participants travelling from New Brunswick to attend, the audience was treated to three full-day seminar tracks on industrial finishing, manufacturing technologies and business competitiveness. Presentations ranged from inspirational stories of business transformation to dazzling descriptions of new technical wizardry. But perhaps what stood out most was the wide range of creative ways Canadian companies are finding to achieve success, even amidst several years of very tough economic conditions.
Foremost in the inspirational category, Denis Staples, president of Deslaurier Custom Cabinets of Renfrew, Ont. described how his company bounced back from a devastating New Year’s Day fire in 2009 to protect and increase its customer base while at the same time instituting state-of-the-art machining, finishing and inventory systems in a rebuilt production facility that produces greater volume at better quality in just half of the former floor space. The company has positioned itself for even greater competitive advantage in the future through a near-complete transformation to the use of water-based finishes. The Deslaurier saga is featured in ‘That’ll Never Work,’ a collection of stories of Canadian entrepreneurial success by KPMG and Penguin Canada that is currently a number one non-fiction bestseller.
Another highly motivating presentation was offered by Judson Beaumont, a well-known innovator in the Vancouver furniture community whose company Straight Line Designs has earned a reputation for iconic millwork installations in locations such as Vancouver Airport, B.C. Children’s Hospital and on Disney Cruise Lines, as well as producing a long line of furniture that is both unique and prolific.
Beaumont described how he overcomes the threat of cheap offshore knock-offs by continually introducing new designs and products, starting his day with 6 a.m. sketching sessions at his kitchen table, then figuring out a way to build the ones he really likes. Beaumont’s work has evolved radically through the years, from early pioneering work with brightly-coloured Wilsonart laminates to recent pieces that feature mountain pine beetle-damaged wood that has been put through a tumbling process to create wood elements that resemble river rocks. He has become a tireless advocate for the industry and regularly speaks to young people about creative careers in wood.
On the technology side Luke Elias of Muskoka Cabinets, Ottawa presented yet another strategy for competitive edge, describing how his mid-size company has integrated the latest tools in MRP, CAD- CAM and radio-frequency identification chips to achieve a seamless manufacturing operation with tight control of quality and inventories. And later in the day participants heard from CNC Automation and Machineries AutomaTech on how Canada’s first fully-robotic furniture manufacturing plant, Ro-Bois-Tic has taken shape in Saint-Apollinaire, Que. gearing up to produce a target 1,200 cabinets per week based on round-the-clock production. The organizers would like to thank all of the presenters and attendees who helped make Wood Tech Summit a motivating and productive celebration of Canadian business tenacity and creativity. We welcome your suggestions on how to make future events even better, and hope you will join us at next year’s Summit, to be held in Toronto next fall in conjunction with Woodworking Machinery and Supply Expo 2013.
Iain Macdonald is Managing Director of the UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP), Canada’s national training and technical assistance centre for the value-added wood products sector.
