The Wood Tech Summit Leadership Conference held on Oct. 23, the day before WMS 2013, featured some of Canada’s leading wood products innovators, entrepreneurs and educators.
Organized by the Woodworking Network and the Centre for Advanced Wood Processing at the University of British Columbia, the event provided a great opportunity to hear from some of the best and brightest minds of the Canadian woodworking industry who shared their stories and strategies for success.
The event was co-hosted by Rich Christianson of the Woodworking Network, and Iain Macdonald, managing director of the Centre for Advanced Wood Processing.
The day-long program featured discussions on green finishing, RFID inventory systems, robotic work cells, setting up a factory in China, participating in a wood cluster and more.
The Wood Tech Summit speaker lineup included Sepp Gmeiner, a partner of Lignum Consulting, who talked about achieving operational excellence and some of the many ways wood products companies have to differentiate themselves from their competition.
Adam Hofmann, president of Bowdon and Gross Furniture, talked about reaping the benefits of participating in a wood-manufacturing cluster and his company's involvement with the Bluewater Wood Alliance Inc., a cluster of wood products manufacturing companies in Southwestern Ontario.
Luke Elias, president of Muskoka Cabinet Company, explained how his mid-size cabinet-manufacturing firm has seized on a number of technologies including a durable water-based finish line, RFID technology and ERP tools to help manage quality and costs.
Bastien Larouche, owner, Ro-Bois-Tic near Quebec City, Que. talked about ‘lights out woodworking at Ro-Bois-Tic’ using an industrial robot that mans a nesting cell that includes a CNC router, edgebander and drilling and dowel insertion machine. The 24/7-line was designed to produce 1,200 ready-to-assemble cabinets per week.
Pierre Fournier talked about ‘On-shore vs. Off-shore manufacturing,” and his company Triangle Kitchen, which operates manufacturing plants in Dieppe, N.B., and in China.
Denis Staples, president of Deslaurier Cabinets, explained how he and his partner Jim Deslaurier seized the opportunity to build a leaner and greener manufacturing operation following a destructive New Year's fire.
And ‘achieving award-winning design’ was the topic for Ann Marie Snook’s presentation. Vice president of operations for Nienkämper, Snook spoke about the company's success in corporate and residential furniture markets. Nienkämper's 120,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art plant in Toronto produces classic and contemporary furniture designs for shipment around the world.