Will Sampson talks about how woodworkers and the woodworking industry have historically struggled with new technology. His guest is Brady Lewis, founder of the innovative software company Allmoxy and an organizer of a breakthrough new networking opportunity, the Wood Tech Summit.
This episode of the Woodworking Network podcast was sponsored by FDMC magazine. FDMC magazine is your vital source of information to improve your woodworking business. Whether it is keeping you apprised of the latest advances in manufacturing, helping you solve your wood technology problems with Gene Wengert, or inspiring you with case histories about successful businesses and best practices, FDMC magazine is there to be the sharpest business tool in your shop. Learn more and subscribe for free at woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc.
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 this episode of the Woodworking Network Podcast. 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 FDMC magazine. We’ll be talking about a new exiting woodworking technology networking event with Brady Lewis, founder of the innovative software company Allmoxy. But first I want to talk about:
Technology, tradition, and change.
What does it take for someone to adopt new technology or a different way of doing things? I started thinking about this fundamental issue recently when I came to the realization that, at least in the woodworking industry, we often only adopt new methods because we have to.
One would think that as soon as someone comes up with a new idea, a new way of doing something, or an innovative technology, if this new thing is really good, it would immediately catch fire and spread with enthusiastic adherents. The problem is that there is always some level of inertia that slows that process down.
Maybe the new technology is too expensive or too difficult to learn or forces us to abandon too many things we were quite comfortable to use in the past. It seems we must reach a pain point where the problems of keeping old methods are simply too painful to bear, so we are willing make the effort to pay the price to try something new.
Take the much touted and much maligned Metric System. Traditional American woodworkers will tell you they love the Imperial system because its fraction-based measures make it easier to divide things into equal measures. Setting up a tenon on ¾-inch stock is a breeze — just divide it into three equal ¼-inch parts. If that board is 19 mm, the division gets more complicated, equal parts measuring 6.33 mm. Halving 5/8-inch is 5/16 inch rather than dividing 15.875 mm by two. (Yeah, I know, just round it to 16mm and your half is 8mm.)
But then we come up to the modern reality that too many people starting out in woodworking can’t actually read a tape measure or calculate fractions. Think of the famous business case of A&W restaurants trying to compete with McDonald’s Quarter-Pounder by offering a 1/3-pound burger. But people thought ¼-pound was more than the 1/3-pound product. Or think of all the mistakes made in your shop by someone misreading fraction marks on a tape.
Some shops made the leap to using the Metric System, not because they recognized it was inherently superior but because they gave up trying to train workers to deal with fractions. Sometimes we are running AWAY from the past rather than running TOWARD the future.
Still, we wind up moving forward after all. But it’s frustrating. Let’s face it, we rarely just embrace change because of its positive merits. It’s all too comfortable to say, “We’ve always done it this way.” But what happens when some kind of challenge or crisis develops that raises the frustrations of what you’ve always done past the point you can bear?
Salesmen are often told to sell something based on its benefits rather than it’s features because the customer likely won’t recognize the value of the features without understanding the benefits. Just because something is faster, doesn’t mean it’s better unless we can show how the increased speed benefits us.
Early adopters of new technology are often those who have the vision to see the benefits themselves. For the rest of us, it might take suffering a serious pain point before we leap ahead.
Before we get to our interview with Brady Lewis, let’s pause for a word from our sponsor.
FDMC magazine is your vital source of information to improve your woodworking business. Whether it is keeping you apprised of the latest advances in manufacturing, helping you solve your wood technology problems with Gene Wengert, or inspiring you with case histories about successful businesses and best practices, FDMC magazine is there to be the sharpest business tool in your shop. Learn more and subscribe for free at woodworkingnetwork.com/fdmc.
Now, let’s talk about wood technology with Brady Lewis.