Lean Tour - Wood Shop Continuously Improving - Fix what bugs you

[@MichaelCZUSA]

I'm revisiting this video to say i have adopted your philosophy into my small shop. That being, "Fix what bugs you and one small improvement every day." Thanks for the tour....again! Michael

[@Tyler1169]

Honestly this is the first shop on youtube i've ever seen that i've been envious of. You're not screwing around with that amount of Homag machinery in your shop, but you can't beat the quality and accuracy of those german made beauties when properly maintained, which would explain why your down time with them has been minimal. also you have no idea how refreshing it is seeing a tour of your shop, it looks like a fun environment to work as a cabinet maker, i can tell you value your employee's input and actively encourage and execute their suggestions. The cabinet shop that i worked for before becoming self employed was a nightmare. Large amounts of inventory was stored, they built cabinets in 3" increments and the owner was admit about having a 1 month stock of all cabinet parts to meet our 2 week lead times. Full kitchens would be stack on pallets transported to the edge bander (no return feed by the way so 2 people on the machine) then transported to assembly, so that one pallet would travel a total of over 100' that's excluding the transportation/machining time of the stocked components. He is also admit that anything that could be cut into a stretcher had to be saved and not thrown out resulting in lifts, that's right LIFTS! of scrap being stored with their panels or stack on pallets around the shop. It could take up to an hour some times to fish out the lift needed to complete a job because of the amount of scrap that had to be moved out of the way or time spent sifting through scrap to find pieces for drawer fronts or other components. All cut list are generated with pen and paper, everything is paper on the shop floor, no computer systems meaning this get lost, missed, made wrong, or made twice frequently. 2 years ago they got a nesting cnc which was a fight with the owner and plant manger because the owner insisted that a pod and rail CNC was more efficient because he thinks you can process more on a pod and rail systems then a nesting system. He's anti full integration because he thinks the people in the drafting department will make errors because they aren't cabinet makers, so nothing is bar coded and no CAM file files are generated with Cabinet Vision and sent to their CNC's. They just use it as an over priced CAD/ Pricing software meaning everything is programed on the CNC's at the stations by the operator of the CNC. and to top it off he's admit that just in time manufacturing will bankrupt a company because you need stock to prevent your self from going under when a machine goes down. Little ranty i know and I apologies haha, it was a brutal 8 years working there, while they gave me the opportunity to hone my skill and develop as a well rounded and skilled Journeymen, it's frustrating because they take a very top down approach to changing anything in the company and that just ended up making me feel like my skills and abilities were being wasted hence the move to self employment. I see your shop is the opposite of that you value your employee's suggestion and actively seek it out. The shop i worked for had 46,000 and you're more productive and efficient with 26,000 Sq/ft which is pretty amazing to see. Your business is definitely on the right track for greater heights and success with your company look forward to seeing more from you guys.

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks. We have good people that work for us and we appreciate their input. We don't have all the answers. Thanks for the kind words. Best of luck with your own business! Let us know if you want to see anything specific.

[@davidbeason4567]

thank you for the tour. i have a small cabinet shop, 1 cnc router , 1 edgebander , 1 bar code drill and dowel, and a few saws. we spray CV as well. its really nice to see someone's setup. congrats on your success.

[@lean-brothers]

Thank you, good luck with your operation it is a super fun business.

[@meMeridiem]

Impressive shop man, good on you two!

[@fabianlona2345]

When are we getting an updated shop tour?

[@lean-brothers]

We definitely need to do a new one, lots has changed.

[@kimparacuelles1844]

Love the company sir. We are a small modular installer from the philipines. We only use circular saw and router to cutt the board😢 we love all the machines that u have ur company. Great video sharing to us sir.

[@ISinicyn]

Fifty minutes flew by like five minutes. Thank you for the production tour.

[@alanmooney]

Great video would love to see a detailed video of your assembly system/processes, also how do you get work, do you sell direct ormake and install on contract. You have a great set-up

[@StollerFamily-ih2fi]

Great video and Shop! Can you give some more info on the Square Pegboards? It looks like you route the square holes on the CNC and 3d print the holders?

[@Strony04]

Just found your videos. Amazing work guys. Really helpfull for the beginners in the business. Thank you.

[@lean-brothers]

Great to hear!

[@juang5861]

Hola, tengo una carpinteria y fabrico cualquier mobiliario pero a escala pequeña, ya me encantaria tener esa fabrica, jajaja, el tour que he visto me a gustado mucho, felicitaciones, fantastica fabrica.

[@phuongnguyen7227]

Thank you guys. A fantastic shop

[@JC-iq9gl]

Great video! would like to know if you will be making a video on how you setup and use your asana system to work with your system, it sounds like a lot of tasks and it would be great to know how you organize them! thanks for sharing!

[@danbirch8939]

Amazing! Thanks for the tour. Such another league!

[@MrAdamdumont89]

Wonderful video! Raw and incredibly insightful and informative

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks

[@DK-lz7kg]

So so cool so many great ideas here. One thing that seems a bit redundant to me is the vending machine/boxes. An employee should be able to grab disposables as needed quickly from a bin, but now has to punch numbers and wait for things to open or vend. A very simple solution would be to use a 2-bin system with a kanban card. If the rest of the areas are run by kanban, it’s a little strange to break that into something more complex. Less drawers, less doors, the better! It does look fancy and cool though 😊

[@fritz4345]

Amazing shop.

[@deanmartin7593]

Very informative video. A suggestion for a topic to cover that I don’t see in any shop tour is your method to heat the space (provide a nice environment for workers) and control humidity (if required)? To you use off cuts or waste in a solid fuel burner perhaps.

[@lean-brothers]

We actually heat with forced air but most of the heat comes from our air makeup units in the paint room. The shop is typically in the mid 60s during the winter.

[@billfinney-t5i]

Awesome shop

[@harryjanzen5539]

Well done.

[@brentjenkinsdesigns]

Wow. I'm your 13th subscriber. Which will be really cool in a few years. Lol! Keep up the amazing work brother

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks did watching and the sub. Let us know if there's anything you'd like us to record.

[@harrydykstra]

Great video. It’s great to have such a detailed tour. I would love you see a video on how you use Asana for your jobs and files.

[@lindseyschlabach7190]

The device to check the squareness on the doors and floating shelves is quite interesting. Is there any such thing for double checking cabinets? Size and squareness?

[@fredhiller6017]

Great video you guys have a similar market as where I work 👍🏻

[@paul-akers]

Fantastic operations well done

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks for all the inspiration Paul. It’s thanks to you and the lean community that we are making the progress we are.

[@tedpancoast1272]

Hey Paul, this would make for a great AME style tour? Can we make that happen?

[@tedpancoast1272]

Lean Brothers, where is your shop?

[@tedpancoast1272]

Have you guys been to Japan with Paul?

[@lean-brothers]

We are in Utah. I have been wanting to go on a tour but haven't yet.

[@yoniesharnessshopllc]

Panel saw, on some of them you can do angle cuts if you make a jig. I didn't see it but one of my friends said they do it at their shop. Downside is the jigs take a bit of time to load, so they do a bunch at a time and put it on the shelves. With a bit of time and innovation I'm sure you could figure something out :)

[@selvajeganathan4013]

Very impressive and enjoyed the tour !

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks. Let us know if you want to see anything in more detail.

[@tedpancoast1272]

Great work guys. Thanks for the tour.

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks for watching!

[@casualluxury]

do either of you cut much TFL material? Black specifically, I have a problem with two of my CNC's when loading from the table to the bed due to the sensor issue with the black TFL. Ever dealt with something like that? Great shop btw!

[@jronmanbuilds]

Do you ever work with traditional plywood and face frame construction or is it only particleboard/mdf and edge banding?

[@typeaboutit]

Loved the tour!

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks. Let us know if you want to see anything in more detail.

[@typeaboutit]

@@lean-brothers I would love to see a bit more in depth on the software side of what goes into the shop. What cabinet design software do you use?

[@lean-brothers]

No problem. We'll get a few videos recorded about the software.

[@BetterSleepSecrets]

Great shop tour. I work for a company in the UK who have several large Homag CNC's. Your approach to lean is great. Would you say it was hard to get all the team on board? Also never seen that measuring table you have. Can you share the manufacturer please? Cheers

[@jefffinney6806]

Thanks for the tour. Great stuff. On your wall hanging system, where do you get the hooks to hang stuff.

[@lean-brothers]

We make the out of wood or 3d print them ourselves.

[@jefffinney6806]

@@lean-brothers thanks for the info. Any chance you would share the design if your wall system or is it proprietary?

[@lean-brothers]

We just made them available bulklaser.com/collections/lean-brothers

[@curtbroihahn4995]

Can you tell us more about the measuring easel? I have been trying to find this item or something similar and can’t find anything… any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[@cmanon3948]

Do you guys have any videos telling your company’s story up to this point? How it started and grew over the years?

[@lean-brothers]

I think we talk about it in this video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/roLQpGlnjKZjsNE

[@createmomentum]

Amazing shop! Curious if you could provide some details on the lighting? Seems the whole shop is very well lit. LEDs?

[@lean-brothers]

All LEDs. We love light so we put all new leds and a lot of them when we bought the building.

[@johnnyspropshop]

Enjoyed the tour, sub'd. Like the square peg boards.

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks. Let us know if you want to see something specific.

[@AlexSidorenko-u2k]

What kind of dovetail CNC do you use? And how good is the quality of the dovetails? Do you ever use prefinished material like Baltic birch? If so, how well does it perform on the machine?

[@lean-brothers]

we recorded a short today. I will go live soon to answer your questions.

[@nicklyons1488]

Great video. What system are you using for getting the box parts sorted per cabinet? Is this done after labeling at the CNC table or after banding?

[@lean-brothers]

We answered your question in this video - kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWGbkH5jlr6be5I

[@ernestoyanez3024]

Great shop guys! What software do you use to generate barcodes, nesting and labeling?

[@lean-brothers]

It's done automatically in cabinet vision

[@weldonTWW]

What system/software do you use for the barcode scanning?

[@Advancedtechnical]

thanks for sharing

[@lean-brothers]

Happy to do it. Let us know if you want to see anything specific.

[@SL-ox5xm]

Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind me asking, how much time does a job typically spend in the active production vs engineering/CAD/programing? Does this differ with the custom line of business? I have a very small shop doing custom only and it seems like every job is reinventing the wheel.

[@lean-brothers]

It really depends. All softwares are not created equal and every plan is different. If you have the right software the programming, even for custom parts, isn’t too bad.

[@whitecollarworkshop]

Four 10's and half on Friday...we do the same, but looking to trim to just four 10s. Want to get rid of OT. Why do you go with the half day on Friday when you're having to pay OT?

[@lean-brothers]

We always have things to do and a lot of the guys like the extra work. We went to 4 - 10s for a bit and I ended up too busy on Fridays. I vowed never to do that ever again. If we cut back we would go to 4-9s and a half Friday.

[@WoodwrightMillworkLLC]

Maybe a better name for the company would be Robot art? The art of this business is in their systems and efficiency not a product they produce. Well done! What is your typical turn time for a set of cabinets?

[@lean-brothers]

It was originally called Trim Art because Tyler sold trim. I like Trim Bot better. Tyler said "A job is typically in the shop about a week. We are out 8-12 weeks for most jobs depending on the specs of the job."

[@WoodwrightMillworkLLC]

@@lean-brothers you can turn a 20-30cabinet kitchen in a week?! That explains the efficiency of the system wow!

[@lean-brothers]

On average we output 75 boxes a day. If we pushed hard we could do 100-150 (depending on complexity) boxes with our current staff.

[@WoodwrightMillworkLLC]

@@lean-brothers Are most your boxes full overlay 3/4" standard boxes? What kind of joinery is used?

[@lean-brothers]

@@WoodwrightMillworkLLC They are mostly euro style 3/4" boxes. We've been using confirmat screws for most things, but we are moving to more glue and dowel press together. (This is Daron so I might not be using 100% correct terminology. I'm getting my kitchen redone soon. We'll make a full video over the process).

[@Waytoofarr]

awesome

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks

[@mahmood02]

Which software use for production managment and cad/cam for CNC

[@lean-brothers]

We mostly use Cabinet Vision. We do a few custom parts on Alphacam.

[@MAJORyurix]

Optimat ABD, nice

[@JDLundblade]

What brand is your measuring table

[@lean-brothers]

www.proscale.com/protable-cab/

[@alexandros8848]

hello which software does he use for 3d design ? thanks

[@lean-brothers]

We use Cabinetvision and Alphacam

[@Actio83]

Hehe managers dont know how much of a hate word lean is, to them it’s just a buzz word :)

[@rinatsabirov9544]

In short - it is a good wood shop. But looking at it as optimizer of Lean I must say that your 5S is not working! Even if you are moving - the edgebander S-500 is remaining and there are some things at the machine that should not be there. It's just as an example. The back side of the beam saw Homag B-130 should not be blocked in such a way with edgebander. In some cases the beam can go not parallel and you will need a folk lift to hold and fix it. The dust collectors should be all standing outside in one place. Because inside of wood shop it's filters get dirty with dust very fast and air inside the wood shop become dusty too!

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks for the reply. For us, lean is about continuous improvement, not being perfect. We try to improve every day.

[@romedome9060]

Clean doesn’t mean 5s is complete.

[@rinatsabirov9544]

​@@lean-brothersand you are doing a great job guys! I'm sure you will succeed in it! 👍

[@Richard-q7g]

I do all that's by hand sometimes i which i could be all cnc makes it hard to compete

[@troyqueen9503]

Work smart ,but always work hard because the end product is the reward.Great video thanks .👍📐🇨🇦

[@lean-brothers]

Thanks! As they say, the joy is in the journey.

[@evolution__snow6784]

Amazing shop