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| greenEurope
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Our correspondent reports from the World Forestry Congress on the demand for certified green wood products across the Atlantic. What he found out may surprise you....more
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| Speke Klein, Durham, Ont.
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At 4 p.m. on August 29, 2009, Robin Speke looked out the window and saw a black cloud. She was working on her laptop in the second-floor office of Speke Klein, the furniture-manufacturing business she owns with her husband, Thomas Klein, in Durham, Ont. Both are Parnham College graduates, but Speke has gravitated toward design and Klein spends most of his time on production....more
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| WOOD-DUST EXPLOSIONS protect your workers, protect yourself. liability.
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Take away any of these five factors, and an explosion is not possible, though a fire may be.
• Combustible dust (fuel)
• Ignition source (heat)
• Oxygen in air (oxidizer)
• Dispersion of dust particles in sufficient quantity and concentration, and
• Confinement of the dust cloud...more
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| Making a Difference
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Jim Taylor has this idea that things are changing and, by working together, the architectural millwork industry can help steer the changes and profit from them. But Taylor has a lot of ideas and he is not shy about sharing them. It is one of the reasons he finds himself in such sticky situations as heading up the B.C. chapter of AWMAC and negotiating with the U.S. Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI) and the Woodwork Institute (WI) to create the world’s first standard for architectural millwork. His interest in change and his focus on the future have taken him from his start as a miner to owning Seagull...more
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| Managing Process
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Focus on Logistics 2009
Our first concern in the wood industry is to make a beautiful, functional product we can sell for money. This task is more than enough to keep any one person busy, or even a shop full of dozens of people. But the larger a shop grows, the more factors peripheral to the direct activity of creating the product start to intrude upon the bottom line. Material...more
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| All in perspective at Continental
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The licence plate on his silver Mercedes is CCC-CSS. Owner Bill Volk says it stands for Continental Custom Cabinets - Continental Sales and Service. Bruce Donald, project manager and chief estimator, says it stands for Continental Custom Cabinets - Can’t Stand Still. Donald knows of what he speaks; stop to talk to someone or take a picture while touring the London, Ont. shop with the 71-year-old Volk and, chances are, when you turn around he won’t be there....more
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| Look at problems and processes to see beyond shapes
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Quick — design something!
If you are feeling a little puzzled by that command, it is only natural. After all, you have not been told what it is you are supposed to design, who is supposed to use it, how
it has to work or even why it is needed. Design is a creative process, with the key word being process. Processes need to start somewhere and go somewhere else....more
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| BANG FOR YOUR BUCK
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They say word-of-mouth is the number-one favourite marketing channel for the Canadian wood industry. Most shop owners will tell you that they rely heavily, even exclusively, on it. It is not hard to see why. It costs nothing, except a job well done, which is always your goal anyway. It is powerful; nothing influences a person’s buying decision more than the advice of a trusted friend. Perhaps best of all, it requires no knowledge,...more
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| The Survivor
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We have all heard that those who do not pay attention to history are doomed to repeat it. In business, it is also true that those who remain too focused on history and an established business model may be doomed if circumstances demand a change. Gino Ouellet, owner of BSL Wood Products in Mont Joli, Que., has not only survived but flourished in the troubled Gaspé region by looking for different paths whenever he en...more
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