Will Sampson talks about how shops struggle with focusing on doing what they do best. His guest is Chad Shelton of Bella Innovative Modern Cabinetry Company. He transformed his company by adopting an innovative joinery system and narrowing the products and services he offers.
This episode of the Woodworking Network podcast was sponsored by Hexagon. Software has become crucial to successful woodworking businesses, but some shops might not recognize the name of Hexagon the software leader in the woodworking industry. More familiar are the company’s two woodworking CAD/CAM brands, Cabinet Vision and Alphacam. CABINET VISION simplifies the process for all furniture, woodworking, or casegood manufacturers by using a single, fully modular software package to go from design to manufacture. ALPHACAM is intelligent and intuitive CAD/CAM Software for Woodworking, Metal & Stone Cutting. Learn more at hexagon.com/products.
Woodworking Network is a home for professional woodworkers, presenting technology, supplies, education, inspiration, and community, from small business entrepreneurs to corporate managers at large automated plants.
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Intro music courtesy of Anthony Monson.
Welcome to the fourth season of the Woodworking Network Podcast and a new episode. Join us as we explore the business of woodworking big and small and what it takes to succeed. I’m Will Sampson.
Today’s episode is sponsored by Hexagon, makers of Cabinet Vision and Alphacam software. Today our guest is Chad Shelton from the Bella Innovative Modern Cabinetry Company in Ohio, with a story about how innovative joinery changed the whole direction of his company. But before I get to that, I want to talk about:
Doing what you do best
There’s a business maxim that you should do what you do best. On its face, it seems quite simple and straightforward, but when it comes to putting it in practice, there are often obstacles.
In custom woodworking, the first obstacle is often an irrational feeling that you need to fabricate everything to do with your final product all in house. That somehow it is dishonest or sacrificing quality or some such nonsense to farm out any part of the process. Of course, in reality, even the most fastidious operations outsource at least some of their process. Few if any successful shops forge their own hardware or fabricate their own plywood or make the tools and machines they use.
We all already outsource something.
Then there’s the conflict between what you are best at making and what you want to make. Some people might be attracted to a particular facet of what they do, not because they do it best but because it is particularly rewarding and challenging. Sometimes, when you get very good at doing something, it becomes automatic and less interesting. So, some shops plug away doing some of the more difficult and less efficient processes, just because they like it, even if it’s not what they do best.
Even worse, some of those processes might be unseen or unappreciated by the customer. In shop visits, I’ve repeatedly been introduced to some feature or procedure the shop does that they are particularly proud of. When I ask how much extra they get from the customer for that work, the answer is most likely an admission that the customer doesn’t even know about it. To put it bluntly, the work has no value in the customer’s eyes. So, why do you keep doing it?
This all brings to the forefront the fundamental question of how you decide what processes or products you do are the ones you do best. Are they the ones you can do most efficiently? Are they things you can’t easily outsource for less than what it costs you in time and money to do? Are they the things your customers are willing to pay the most for?
The answers will be very different for every different shop. Again, there might be sentimentality and other forms of attachment that keep you doing things that maybe should be outsourced. But this is a serious exercise that can help shape your business for the long haul. You need to constantly evaluate what you are doing in light of changes in the market, changes in technology, and availability of outsource alternatives. What you made in house yesterday, might be better outsourced today. Or maybe it is time to bring something back in house because new skills and technology or supply chain issues make it easier and more efficient for you now than it was in the past.
There is no right answer, only the honest answer that comes from a serious self-evaluation of what you do.