SCM Team Wins Race!

The SCM team members John Park, Skip Heidler, April James, John James, Steve Bosley, Terry Parrish, Linda Robinson and Ted Robinson started 12th in a field of 20 cars at the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the AWI convention.  Crew chief John Park organized the team in descending size order to effect the fastest changes.  We went from 12th to 4th in the first pit stop and stayed in the top 5 the rest of the race trading places from 1st and 2nd a few times.  The goal of each pit stop was to exchange a team member in and out of the car in the passenger side, properly connect the HANS device and the 5 point safety restraint system, fuel the car (we used a water can) and clean the wind shield and front of the car.  We had a team of seven and we all had jobs to perform every 5 laps.

The last exchange was with Steve Bosley from Superfici and he was in and out of the car in record time, under 30 seconds.  We won the last crew change and our driver ended up winning the race by a few feet.  We all had a lot of fun and thank the AWI for arranging this event.  It was a highlight of the AWI conference and a great team building event!

Are You Interested In Doweling?

If you build commercial and residential cabinets, furniture and/or fixtures, you should compare your present assembly method to automatic doweling.  A doweling joint is precise, inexpensive, strong, and hidden. Plus, it supports fast and precise assembly. It can be permanent or used as alignment for another type of fastener that allows disassembly.

In these tough economic times, we all search for ways to make our operations leaner and our products less expensive to build while maintaining quality.

Doweling is one of those manufacturing home runs that once you invest in the CNC equipment to drill and insert dowels, you realize just how much you have really gained. We rarely see customers return to their prior joint techniques which may have included dado, staples, cleats, screws, and steel or plastic connections.

Most medium to large cabinet and millwork companies are nesting their parts but less than half have invested in precise, flexible machinery to dowel. Doweling is a perfect fit for nesting. We have a host of white papers that cover the subject of doweling.

You're probably asking yourself "Why should I change what already works?"   Some of the benefits of dowel construction are:
*Dowel construction will reduce assembly time, and with the right equipment, substantially
  reduce manufacturing time.
*The process is very lean as material handling is greatly reduced.
*Remove stack tolerances like those found in processes that require multiple machines.
*Faster and more predictable production allow you to deliver quickly and on time

Dowel construction is not a new technique but has seen a resurgence in the US in recent years.

The reasons are:
*The commercial case goods market for Tenant Improvement is still a relative bright spot in the
  US economy and dowel construction is a natural fit with this type of cabinet.
*Nested Based machining has seen tremendous growth and dowel construction is a natural fit
  with this manufacturing method.
*Much of the popularity of nested based machining is due to the continual advance and
  refinement of manufacturing software. The custom product takes no more effort than the stock
  product from an engineering, design, and manufacturing point of view. Advances in machine
  technology, especially CNC nesting and doweling machines and flexible case clamps has
  freed up operator time that can be used elsewhere, helping to reduce overall labor costs.
*In today's economy landing a contract often times requires the ability to provide short lead
  times and the labor-savings and material handling reductions offered with dowel construction
  go hand-in-hand with lean manufacturing principles.

SCM Group is an authority on the subject of nesting, doweling, and rapid case assembly and sells the OMAL range of CNC bore and dowel machines. We have machines that drill and insert 1/4" by 1" dowels up to 3/4" x 5" dowels...Plus, these same machines can be equipped with miter saws, routers, and haunching saws for beaded frames.

We welcome the opportunity to show you the gains that you can make with doweling. Please contact us with any questions.

We look forward to talking with you soon!

Claude Roy Appointed Sales Manager for SCM Group Industrial Division for Quebec and the Maritime Provinces!

SCM GROUP CANADA and its President Mr. Richard Bluteau are pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Claude Roy as Sales Manager / Industrial Division for Quebec and the Maritime Provinces.

Claude brings over 25 years experience to our Customers. During this period he has been promoting and selling high technology machinery as well as automated finishing lines. From 1985 to 1990 Claude was the Sales Manager (panel division) for Cooper & Horton / SCM Group. From 1990 to 2005 he was President of the Canadian subsidiary of one of our competitors. Over the last 6 years he represented SCM Group for Stone and Glass CNC machines across Canada making this division number #1 in their field.

Click here for more details and French version

Kitchen & Bath Remodeling Market Shows Signs of Improvement

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — The kitchen and bath remodeling market continues to show signs of improvement over last year, with sales volume rising 36 percent for kitchens, and up 85 percent for baths over 2010 figures. Showroom traffic also grew significantly, up 42 percent over last year. These and other findings from a survey of approximately 150 dealers across North America, are included in the third quarter’s Kitchen & Bath Market Report by the National Kitchen & Bath Assn. (NKBA).

Kitchen and bath revenue also is up 69 percent from the previous year, and 4 percent for the quarter. Looking ahead, the report also found that dealers were mildly optimistic for the fourth quarter. The NKBA's Kitchen & Bath Market Index, which measures the confidence rating of kitchen and bath dealers on a scale of -60 to +60, registered at +9 for the third quarter.

Click to read full article at woodworkingnetwork.com Kitchen & Bath Remodeling Market Shows Signs of Improvement