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As one of the nation's leading suppliers of wood doors and specialty products, Conestoga Wood Specialties competes on a number of fronts in a very demanding and competitive industry. So, searching for any competitive advantage is paramount for this East Earl, Pa.-based company.
With seven plants strategically located in Arkansas, Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, Conestoga has the capabilities to offer an extensive range of custom wood components, including custom doors, drawer fronts, beaded front frames, dovetail drawer boxes, mouldings, cabinet systems, finished wood products, a variety of radius products, special designs components, rigid thermal foil and medium density fiberboard products.
Conestoga operates as two distinct business units, employing over 2,100 people. Its OEM/Contract Division focuses on high-volume customers, producing thousands of doors in a single order. The company's Custom Division services the custom kitchen and bath industry, producing single-set kitchens, catering to just-in-time cabinet manufacturers and routinely producing orders as small as a single piece.
According to Arvind Rao, engineering manager for the Custom Division, remaining competitive has a lot to do with adapting the company's manufacturing operation to an ever-changing market.
"Our manufacturing and support systems incorporate state-of-the-art technology and custom designed equipment that enable us to meet our customers' specific needs, now and in the future," Rao says. "In addition, we manage our own rough mills to ensure the highest quality standards throughout production, even in the early stages of lumber processing."
CAPITAL INVESTMENT PLANNING MODEL
Rao says capital investments are planned using a dynamic model.
"My team spent a lot of time designing this model, and it has proved very useful in making investment decisions. The model contains inputs such as sales forecasts, machine data, cycle times, etc., for each manufacturing cell," he says. "All the variables in the model are linked so that a change in any one of the many parameters results in changes throughout the model. This model functions as a decision system and allows us to identify equipment needs to meet sales forecasts, bottlenecks and also simulate multiple what-if scenarios."
Rao says his team uses a multiple-layer approach to this process.
"We have a three-pronged approach toward capital investment," Rao explains. "The main driver is capacity. Capacity is probably the most critical driver because shipping on-time is one of our most important metric. We constantly hit high levels of delivery performance. We are able to do this only because we prioritize our capital investment decisions to meet our sales forecast."
The second part of this three-pronged program is the specific technology that is required to meet Conestoga's operational goals. "The model helps us in strategically mapping our automation needs. In simple terms, it shows us the big picture, what we need to focus on now and in the next two to three years," he explains.
The third part is a replacement strategy. Machine replacement strategy is a finely-tuned process at Conestoga, Rao says. "We're always looking at our older machines and trying to replace them. We try to evaluate the costs associated in maintaining a machine during its operating life and based on this we decide when it is time to replace it."
HIGH PRODUCTION VS. CUSTOM
The balance between custom and high-production jobs is delicate, he says.
"Our manufacturing setup is a high-production custom mix, some orders being as small as a single piece. Each piece can have a different panel raise, edge and bead profile and can be finished in over 1,250 stain and glaze combinations. So obviously our equipment also needs to be customized.
"It's not that we don't buy off the shelf machinery, but we may tool the machine differently to suit our needs. That's what we did when we purchased shape/sand machines from Unique Machine & Tool," Rao says. "The machines are off the shelf, but we tooled the stations differently. With extensive research we were able to design a process that is very flexible and efficient. The Uniques are a critical part of our manufacturing process."
"Every door gets an edge profile, so a large part of our production volumes are processed on these machines. We first bought one machine, and when we were satisfied with its performance we bought more. Prior to this, we had a process that we thought was very labor intensive and inconsistent."
Working with multiple vendors on one project is not unusual, Rao says.
"We're shifting our focus from automating in pockets to developing integrated systems."
Rao says that he coined the term "Automation in Isolation" and is passionate about changing the status quo.
"Integrating the right machine with the required material handling systems and the right software systems is what is going to make us successful. At times we come up with the concept and then get the right vendors involved to work on the project."
DELIVERY PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY
In spite of the pressure to maintain its delivery performance, Conestoga does not compromise on quality, Rao says.
"Automation also results in a process that is more accurate and reliable," he says. "So, finding reliable and efficient machines and software systems is the most important part of my job. Edge profiling on the Unique machines have helped us improve our quality. Our quality systems and personnel ensure that products are manufactured to the right specifications."
In the end, Conestoga has cracked the code on merging custom products, produced in short runs, with high production jobs that require more automated machining.
author: By Steve Ehle