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BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Value
vs. Price
A new generation of value-added components boost botoom line for
shutter fabricators.
by Susy Rein
Change is
uncommon and sometimes unwelcome in a mature industry like plantation
shutter fabrication. A classic, timeless window covering, plantation
shutters have been laboriously built by skilled craftsmen for generations.
While several new alternative materials have been introduced to
both shutter fabricators and consumers in recent years, real wood
shutters remain the traditional favorite. Beneath the surface paint,
however, some of today’s wood shutter components sport notable
improvements, causing fabricators to change the way they buy shutter
parts. Now that fabricators can buy components with top-quality
value-added features, value rather than price is driving purchase
patterns in this segment.
Good Idea, False Starts
In any industry, time and cost efficiencies can be achieved when
value is added to component parts at the point of manufacture. In
the shutter industry, finger-jointed wood components are a good
example. If expertly manufactured, finger-jointed components provide
measurable advantages to shutter fabricators who prefer:
• Defect-free 100 percent wood
• Long, consistent lengths
• Straight and stable parts
The initial idea of finger-jointing and molding pre-defected wood
blocks into consistent long lengths had the potential to eliminate
material waste and headaches for shutter fabricators nationwide.
However, when established manufacturers of shutter parts introduced
finger-jointed components to the market years ago, the end products
didn’t deliver the efficiencies fabricators were hoping for.
The gluing process was unsophisticated; joints were uneven or separated,
and showed through the finish paint.
Overall, early finger-jointed components did not effectively reduce
waste in shutter manufacturing. Instead, they contributed to increased
call-backs from unhappy customers. After this negative experience,
most went back to using solids and swore they wouldn’t try
finger-jointed components again.
Ed Salomon, owner of California Shutters in Hialeah, FL, can relate.
He has been fabricating plantation shutters from wood components
for 43 years. “Over the years, a lot of people in the shutter
parts industry have tried to better the finger-jointing,” reflects
Salomon, “but I haven’t been pleased with their products.
For me, to be good enough, the joint has to disappear.”
A New Standard in Finger-Jointing
Ultimately, it took an entity outside of the shutter industry—Glen
Oak Lumber & Milling—to produce finger-jointed shutter
components that could meet Salomon’s and others’ exacting
standards. While Glen Oak did not initially know a shutter stile
from style, producing molded products with high-quality finger-jointing
was nothing new for the high-tech manufacturer of hardwood interior
trim.
Glen Oak Lumber & Milling has led the paint-primed millwork
industry in product quality and sales since it began finger-jointing
and priming poplar in 1996. Recognizing that it could parlay this
experience into producing superior shutter parts, as well, Glen
Oak introduced its defect-free poplar Arrow-Straight F.J.™
shutter components in December 2001.
Product trial has been critical to the Arrow-Straight F.J. products’
quick acceptance and success. When shutter fabricators tried Glen
Oak’s shutter components they realized the finger-joint quality
was very different from anything they had tried in the past. “Glen
Oak has mastered the finger-jointing of the shutter components,”
states Salomon. “Because of the technology they have, the finger-jointed
product they produce is exactly what we are after.”
David Hayes of Hayes Mfg. in Ellijay, GA, agrees and has made a
complete switch from solids to these finger-jointed components.
“Producing 1,000 panels a week, we used to have to throw away
at least a quarter of our stiles because they were so crooked or
flawed, they weren’t useable,” recounts Hayes. “But,
now that we’re using Arrow-Straight F.J. components, our waste
factor is down to just two or three percent. The parts are so straight
and defect-free we can cut a large amount of stiles in no time—stacking
and cutting them two at a time.
“Before switching from my own solid poplar shutter components,
I put the Arrow-Straight F.J. shutter parts to the test,” Hayes
explains. “I ran my finger-nail along the length of the tilt-rods
and couldn’t feel the joints. I also purposely ran over some
stiles with an 8,000 pound forklift and they were so strong they
didn’t break.”
Sanding and Priming at The Mill Saves Time and Money
Ed Salomon is quick to point out another value-added feature savvy
fabricators take advantage of when purchasing shutter parts: wood
shutter components can be thoroughly pre-sanded and pre-primed at
the mill.
“Priming and sanding is 50 percent of the finishing cost for
a shutter fabricator,” estimates Salomon, easily justifying
why he spent years trying to get quality pre-primed components for
his shutters—testing numerous suppliers and product, from coast
to coast. He was thrilled to discover Glen Oak could solve this
issue for him as well.
When Salomon received a sample louver primed with Glen Oak’s
special water-borne stain-blocking primer, he inadvertently tested
it under extreme conditions. “I sprayed the Glen Oak sample
with my lacquer top coat,” relates Salomon. “It did a
very good job and I was eager to see the finished results. So, to
speed up the drying process, I set the sample outside the building,
but got busy and forgot about it. That night it rained like a son-of-a-gun
and the next morning I discovered the painted sample floating in
water 100 yards from where I left it. But, because of the water-borne
base the lacquer top coat did not crack—that is extremely good.
“I believe using these components is going to cut my costs
by 50 percent. I should also be able to cut time to deliveries of
my finished product by at least 50 percent.”
According to Salomon, this more than justifies the slightly higher
cost he pays for the finger-jointed, pre-sanded and primed components.
He also contends that these high quality domestic products will
make fabricators think twice before looking to imported products
to provide material and labor savings.
While Salomon, Hayes and other U.S. shutter fabricators are clearly
pleased with the overall value they derive from this new generation
of wood shutter components, Glen Oak continues working to make things
better. For more than a year, Glen Oak has been testing and developing
a proprietary primer, identified as SB43. This unique primer combines
anti-fungal additives along with a high-opacity stain blocker, which
hides the colorful minerals inherent in poplar hardwood.
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