Will Sampson's Blog (200)

One of my favorite lean practitioners to talk with is Paul Akers at FastCap. His enthusiasm for lean manufacturing and the Toyota Production System is absolutely infectious, and his ability to find and inspire creative solutions seems boundless. A new book has documented some of the lean improvements Akers and his team at FastCap have done. The book, written by Jon Miller of the Kaizen Institute, is titled "Creating a Kaizen Culture." For…

Over the years, I've met legions of woodworkers interested in turning their hobby into a business. I've also met scores of them who did exactly that with varying degrees of success. There is a wonderful ongoing and lengthy discussion of this over at LinkedIn that is worth reading if you are…

Having recently returned from both the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, I see a continuing trend for mixed media in cabinetry and furniture. Everyone is trying to use different materials for visual effect. Metal, wood, glass, reclaimed lumber, tile, plastic, engineered material such as solid surface, granite, stone, terrazzo, and more recycled stuff than I can list. One of the trends is the use of glass in countertops and backsplashes,…

Every shop I've ever visited had a pile of offcuts stacked off to the side (or in some cases the piles seemed to be taking over the shop). But check out this clever use of scrap to disguise a storage cabinet. So, have I been missing something? I thought the piles of scrap were more of an eye sore than a standard cabinet would be. Maybe I've been missing the inherent beauty in the scrap pile --…

I spent much of yesterday at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City. I always enjoy visiting this show, which in 2013 marks its 25th anniversary. It is a very design-focused show, typically featuring cutting edge furniture design from all over the world. I was especially looking forward to the show this year because my schedule did not allow me to attend for a couple of years. I did indeed enjoy the show, and I'll be…

I've been amused by an ongoing LinkedIn discussion of woodworkers trying to find an inexpensive starter CAD program. Everybody wants something that has most of the features of the expensive programs, costs nothing, and takes only minutes to learn. Good luck! And reading the responses is a lot…

I've been watching a wonderful debate on a LinkedIn forum for some time. It started by asking the question, "Are we too dependent on machines?" And the first poster added, "Can't beat handcrafted!" Well, you can imagine the responses. Lots of non-CNC users trumpeting the value of handcrafted work and even…

Over the years I've written a lot about where pricing goes wrong in our industry. I've talked about things like poor estimates of time, lack of updating and accounting for increased costs, and even such simple things as bad math. Here's a great discussion of the subject in a blot targeted to contractors. If you…

For those of us who already understand the value of the lean manufacturing approach, it seems like lean is a no-brainer. But the sad truth is that often lean initiatives fail because they weren't successfully sold to management and/or employees. Without full buy-in, no new system is going to reach its full potential, including lean. Furthermore, it's always been my feeling that too many people (mostly high-paid lean consultants) give too much emphasize to all the lean terms (mostly Japanese)…

The folks at OtterBox have put up a blog all about making your own wood cover for your iPhone. It's all an April Fool's gag project, but it is really well done with a downloadable blueprint and a…

Custom woodworkers seem to have a love-hate relationship with designers and architects. While woodworkers know these people can be absolutely essential in delivering work to the shop door, the shop owners are also frequently frustrated by interaction with design professionals. Some of it has to do with different backgrounds and different ways of working. It's always easier to conceptualize something on paper than it is to make it a reality in the shop. But a bad working relationship or poor…

One of the most vexing issues related to pricing custom work is figuring out the customer's real budget. Too often, when the questions is asked directly, the customer clams up because they fear you'll take advantage of them if their budget is high. Of course, that's rarely the case in my experience because most customers come in with unreal expectations of what they can get for their money. Still, you need to start somewhere. In its rawest form, the budget question determines if the customer…

There has a been a lot of discussion of late about using reclaimed wood in funriture, flooring, and even cabinetry. Beyond achieving a rustic look, there is a feeling of environmental responsibility in reusing something rather than disposing of it. But there also are potential dangers and lots of work in making reclaimed materials suitable and safe for new uses. This article from…

I've always admired slab tables made with tops of spectacular wood with live edges and maybe a butterfly key or two to lock an errant crack. Think Nakashima. And apparently such tables are finding new audiences and are once again the in thing in design circles. A recent feature in the New York Times about choosing dining tables showed several photos of slab tables. And a massive…

Most of the people on Sawdust Soup are manufacturers. We make the things we sell. But we can also learn lessons to improve our businesses from other than manufacturers. Here is a great story of applying lean thinking to a distribution business. One of the most important lessons to be learned from this…

One of the phrases commonly used by custom furniture makers to set their work apart from factory furniture is the term "heirloom quality." The idea is that they are building furniture to be proudly handed down from generation to generation. The inference is not only that the furniture will be sturdy enough to stand the test of time, but also that it will be treasured and increase in value as it changes generational hands. But as counterpoint to that image there was a…

Most of the woodworking shops I visit rely heavily on word of mouth and referrals to generate business. But despite this reliance, few have any kind of an organized program to help drive and generate more referrals. Here's a great discussion on LinkedIn specifically about this as it relates to…

I just have to share this amazing video of a wood hand-planing competition in Japan. Contestants compete in seeing who can make the thinnest shavings that are still the full length of the board and the full width of the plane iron. The shavings look more like fine gossamer silk cloth coming off the board than they look like the familiar curly wood shavings I'm used to from my western…

From talking with shop owners over the years I know that another area of business that many are uncomfortable with is customer relations. Many small shop owners would like the jobs to magically come in the door, proceed through the shop smoothly for construction and then install themselves on the job with no headaches or hitches. And, of course, all this happens with no communication with the customer other than to receive payment on time. Good luck! I was thinking about this especially…

Here's a little humor for a Friday afternoon while I'm stuck in a growing blizzard in the Northeast. My daughter in Japan sent me this Japanese DIY magazine. This one features lots of amazing garage workshops from around Japan, and there is a big step-by-step garden workbench project, among other things. Apparently the guy on the cover, Tatsuya Yamaguchi, is an actor and singer.…