16 minute read
Technology with a Human Touch
Connected manufacturing—artisanal craftsmanship
By Sandra Wood, Executive Director, CKCA
Cabico&co is one of North America’s leading privately owned custom cabinetry manufacturers. Their team consists of more than 600 specialists and craftsmen with more than 370,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing facilities based in Coaticook, Quebec and St. Catharines, Ontario. Cabico&co has a network of more than 550 dealers across North America and is fuelled by over 35 years of solid growth.
Alain Ouzilleau, President and CEO, CABICO&CO There are 330 employees based in Coaticook, while the other 300 are located in St. Catharine’s with approximately two-thirds living locally or about 20 minutes away from the plant.
The company’s business approach is to harness the latest technology while still incorporating an essential human touch into every step of the design and manufacturing process, and every aspect of client and business relationships.
Alain Ouzilleau,
President and CEO, CABICO&CO
• Custom cabinetry is no longer a question of choosing inside a catalogue; it’s now taking a dream and making it reality. • The impact on our employees will be positive as well. Their work will be more rewarding, and they will be able to use their talent and skillsets for customization and craftsmanship, which is what matters most. • We have been inspired by other great Canadian cabinet manufacturers, and we hope to do the same for others in the industry.
Coaticook expanded and upgraded manufacturing plant in Coaticook
VALUE PLACED ON THE HUMAN TOUCH
Alain Ouzilleau, President and CEO confirms that he faces the same challenges most in the industry are feeling—a labour shortage. “Some of the ways we have been able to mitigate this challenge is to recruit abroad and hire internationally,” he explains. “We have 36 new employees who will soon be welcomed to Coaticook (12 from Senegal and 24 from the Philippines). We are also hiring an additional 70 individuals from the Philippines, half will work in St. Catharines, and the other half will work in Coaticook. Hiring internationally requires a lot of work and expense with securing housing, immigration, etc. but right now, technology just isn’t enough, we still have a need for employees who can infuse the human touch into our products.”
INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY
On September 22, Cabico&co unveiled new ultramodern facilities, new equipment, and upgrades to their Coaticook manufacturing plant. Alain told the Canadian Kitchen Cabinet Association (CKCA) that “With nearly $25 million in updates, including major digital and technological transformation, this upgrade now positions Cabico&co as a leading player to increase production and growth in domestic and North American markets.”
Cabico&co’s plant optimization strategy meshes automation and robotization technology, connected manufacturing, and the know-how and artisanal approaches of specialists and craftsmen who bring personalized touches to the most complex projects. The design and manufacturing of custom cabinets require seamless communication between people, machines, and systems. Achieving this balance was a significant implementation challenge for the technology teams at Cabico&co and its Quebec partners Dunin Technologies, Nubik (Deloitte), Createch (Talan), PSTOX, and Automatech, which managed to converge, integrate, and synergize a range of software and technologies.
- ALAIN OUZILLEAU, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CABICO&CO
customer experiences in designing and manufacturing personalized projects. While some may think automation will limit customization, Alain doesn’t see things that way; “This massive transformation has only one purpose—to be at the service of our woodworkers, so they spend more time doing what they’re best at, infusing their craftsmanship into our products.”
He also notes that, “Technology is associated with standard production (i.e., no more custom). Robots and systems free up our talented craftsmen’s time. This helps to increase production capacity and to produce projects of unparalleled quality. The system transformation that is happening right now is influencing the designer’s design because we can take these designs and send them directly to our production system.”
TOP: Cabico facility ribbon cutting ceremony BOTTOM: Cabico grand opening facility tour
more than 600 parts. All these parts have unique routes inside our systems. These parts converge towards the assembly line, where they are assembled and shipped to our customers.”
Alain and his team recognized that custom cabinetry brings a significant communication challenge between the systems, the people, and the machines. Alain says, “It was impossible to find one system that answered all the challenges we had for producing custom cabinetry. So, we had to find one expert system as our solution. We ended up finding one system to join all these systems together.”
COCREATOR PLATFORM
Alain is excited about the Cocreator platform which will become the cornerstone of the communication between Cabico&co and their partners. The idea behind Cocreator is to move away from a catalogue and Alain says “We want to take a designer’s creativity and bring it to the machine on the shop floor. Custom cabinetry is no longer a question of choosing inside a catalogue; it’s now taking a dream and making it reality.”
“What our team has accomplished over the last couple of years is just paramount. I’m so proud of the work they’ve done. We truly have an excellent team.”
FROM FINANCING TO IMPACT—THE POSITIVE RIPPLE EFFECT
In addition to financial investments, Cabico&co is also investing in innovative systems that will help drive the cabinet industry forward. Alain believes the biggest impact from these investments will be on his customers. “Ultimately, it will be much easier for our customers to work with us,” he points out. The process for a designer to design, order, and receive exactly what they envisioned will be more seamless. In addition, the impact on our employees will be positive. Their work will be more rewarding, and they will be able to use their talent and skillsets for customization and craftsmanship, which is what matters.”
“From day one, our purpose has been to contribute to our stakeholders, employees, and customers’ success,” he adds. “And for that, we’ve always had big ideas and visions regarding how we can get there to become their best partners. I strongly believe we need to invest in technology and be more efficient. We’re the early adopters of technology, and this is necessary to stay competitive in the North American cabinetry industry.”
“We have amazing long-term financial partners that have helped us through this process. We are very grateful for the trust and support of the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Desjardins, Export Development Canada (EDC), and Investissement Québec.”
LOOKING FORWARD IN CANADA
Alain is realistic about the challenges our industry faces. Despite those challenges, Alain believes there are excellent career paths in the cabinet industry and recognizes that, “We need to do a better job of educating Canadians on the career opportunities that exist within the trades. This is so important for the success of the industry as a whole.” When asked if Alain had considered taking production offshore, he responded by saying, “We are a proudly Canadian manufacturer. Here in Canada, our employees truly have an incredible work ethic and craftsmanship.”
ADVICE FOR THE INDUSTRY
Recognizing Cabico&co is a leader and a large manufacturer in Canada; Alain knows the industry is also comprised of a wide range of Small to Medium Enterprises (SME’s). To any company thinking of expanding and investing in more technology Alain reflects on his own experience at Cabico&co: “It’s taking significant time to plan and ensure we have the right equipment. We have had to assess the requirements based on the nature of our products and match the technology and equipment to those needs.”
Alain and his team have embraced a common vision—to go the extra mile. They want to attract the best talent, customers, and partners, and Alain believes that his facilities’ digital and technological transformation is a force for positive change. “It enables us to offer customers operational excellence to meet their expectations and ideas while providing a motivating work environment for our employees,” he adds. “I am very proud of my people, without whom the migration to updated industry processes would not have been possible.”
On behalf of the CKCA, we would like Alain and his team to know how proud we are of you too. Alain makes time from his very busy schedule to participate in one of CKCA’s committees and supports the work we continue to do to advocate for our industry. Alain doesn’t just talk the talk he walks the walk too.
CKCA President, Pete Fournier attended Cabico&co’s unveiling on September 22 (and admits to taking pictures and being inspired by what he saw). As Fournier says, “Cabico is a proud member of CKCA and it’s these kinds of innovations that drives the industry forward and sets a path that inspires us all and shows us what is possible.”
CKCA would like to wish Alain and his entire team at Cabico&co the very best in this exciting next chapter.
HARBOUR CITY KITCHENS
Can robots and employees work hand-in-hand?
By James Risdon, Wood Industry Contributing Writer
Craig Bryden, Harbour City Kitchens
An Automatech Robotik arm — massive, red and powerful — reaches out across a computer numerical control (CNC) machine and with the grace and precision of a surgeon takes care of the doweling and insertion on a piece of material.
Then, firmly but gently, the arm picks up the material and hands it over to be sent to an edgebander. Alone. No human beings needed.
“Prior to this, you used to have a person at the machine who would take the material, put a label on it, dowel it, and sort it away on a cart for the edgebander,” says Craig Bryden, Harbour City Kitchens’ managing director of business operations.
“The Automatech Robotik arm is now, in a sense, that person,” notes Bryden. “It picks up the piece off the router, drills it if it needs doweling, and puts it onto a conveyor belt which delivers it to the edgebander.”
In Harbour City Kitchens’ roughly 50,000-square-foot shop on the outskirts of Victoria on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island, in Saanichton, automation is everywhere.
“This is the future — and the way to go,” says Bryden.
By buying another CNC machine and turning over its operation to Automatech Robotik equipment, Harbour City Kitchens is hoping to boost its output and become far more productive than it had been in the past.
“It’s only one person (being replaced) but it’s one person that never gets sick and it can work from 5 a.m. to midnight — and this function is typically the bottleneck in a shop,” explains Bryden.
The massive, robotic arm, as impressive as it looks, though, is only the visible part of the automation solution at this workstation. After the four-by-eight feet sheets of material are cut, they pass under a canopy-like visioning system that takes pictures of the cut pieces and lets the robotic arm know what to pick up next.
THE ULTIMATE WOOD SCREW
Specifically engineered for
manufacturing cabinetry and
solid wood furniture.
Harbour City Kitchens
–CRAIG BRYDEN
“If there are quality issues with the pieces, (the visioning system) will be able to spot them,” says Bryden. “It wasn’t an immediately obvious, slam-dunk solution, but we felt it was worth it and, as we continue to evaluate it, it will educate us.”
But this level of automation isn’t cheap. The Automatech component of the work station set Harbour City Kitchens back about $500,000 and the new CNC machine was another $500,000, figures Bryden.
The return on investment (ROI) for those purchases is still difficult to determine as it will depend on how much use the shop can actually make of the new equipment in a real-life setting.
However, while ROI is obviously important, so is long-term growth. Tommy Gagnon is CEO of Automatech Robotik in Saint-Apollinaire, Quebec. He says, “In Canada, we are beginning to see the ‘early majority’ market segment that is now integrating robotic automation within their factories. They all share a common goal: growth. Where you start is not the most important part, but rather where you want to go and how fast you want to get there, are key goals for business. This is what robotic automation gives you — a very strong tool to achieve your growth objective, quickly.”
Bryden is confident this investment will pay off. “If we grow to where we want to be, then the ROI on this will be fairly quick — a couple of years,” he says. “But if it’s not doing that and operating 12 to 16 hours a day, then it would have been better to just leave an employee standing there.”
The arrival of this equipment at Harbour City Kitchens did not — as some might fear — cost any employee his or her job. The existing employee who was overseeing the use of the older CNC machine is still doing that work nearby — and keeping an eye on his robotic coworker.
“At the start, there were a few joking comments about it taking over their jobs,” says Bryden. “But the guy that it ‘replaced’ is still there. He’s just doing something else. Our plan is to have more employees.”
Harbour City Kitchens is no stranger to automation. It embraced technology early on, buying a Homag Storeteq system roughly a decade ago to take sheets of material pre-loaded into it, store them in a compact, fenced-in area in the shop, and then place them where they are needed to maximize the efficiency of the workflow.
“We have worked together to develop solutions to decrease dependence on direct labor and create consistency in an otherwise inconsistent process,” says Homag managing director, Marco Fernandes. “Our most recent collaboration has resulted in realizing a highly automated and consistent production environment which achieves just that.”
And that’s just the beginning. “When we put that in, it was one of the first in Canada,” says Bryden. “Now, it’s pretty common for any decent-sized shop.” With its latest investments in innovation, Harbour City Kitchens is hoping to significantly increase its capacity and up its annual sales volume by roughly 50 per cent, from roughly $20 million to $30 million, says Bryden.
Already, there are two early pay-offs for the business. The first is a boost to employee morale. The company’s roughly 55 workers on the shop floor — and the other about 25 who work in the offices — get a charge out of being part of a company that embraces the latest tech. And then, there’s the “Wow!” factor when bringing in prospective clients to tour the facility. “Everyone thinks it’s cool,” says Bryden. “You bring clients in and everyone is impressed with how advanced it is.”
But it wasn’t always that way. When Bob Philipchalk first opened the business that was to become Harbour City Kitchens decades ago, it was no more than a small cabinetry shop in Greater Victoria. Over the years, it grew
– MARCO FERNANDES, HOMAG MANAGING DIRECTOR
Harbour City Kitchens
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LEFT: Shane Coppinger Harbour City Kitchens RIGHT: Harbour City Kitchens
and eventually moved into its current digs in 1985.
Today, Harbour City Kitchens is owned and operated by the latest adult generation of Philipchalks, Scott and Tim Philipchalk, and long-time school classmate and later co-worker — and now co-owner — Craig Bryden.
“We bought into the business in 2005 and then bought the building in 2010,” says Bryden. “We all worked here right out of high school. I was doing the delivery of the cabinets and then shipping and receiving.”
By the mid-1990s, the company was heavily into the multi-family market but there was a lot of competition in that space and margins were tight. The then young owners made a bold business decision. They shifted into the single-family, custom cabinetry market.
“We sold off a lot of the equipment we had — half of it — and shifted from
– TOMMY GAGNON, CEO, AUTOMATECH ROBOTIK
stocking things on the shop floor to a leaner operation,” says Bryden. A newly created inventory room freed up a lot of floor space and Harbour City Kitchens used it to start making wooden cabinet doors after acquiring another manufacturer.
Always looking for new opportunities, the entrepreneurs even tried — and succeeded for a while — at making caskets early in the millennium. But after doing that for only a few years, the company divested itself of that side of the operation, selling off casket-making business to a funeral company.
These days, the booming Vancouver and Victoria housing markets provide Harbour City Kitchens with more than enough customers. “Right now, we can’t even keep up with the demand locally,” says Bryden.
Finding enough workers, though, is a lot more challenging and another one of the reasons the company is moving towards more automation to ramp up capacity. Company-wide, we’re looking to add 10 to 15 employees over the next two years,” says Bryden.
Labour shortages are not only making it more difficult to find good workers but also driving up wages. Although it can be a lengthy process to bring in workers from other countries through Canada’s immigration programs, Harbour City Kitchens is looking into that option as well.
“Labour costs for us in manufacturing have jumped up about 25 per cent in the last few years since COVID-19,” says Bryden. “An entrylevel job is now $20 per hour and it’s hard to find people.”
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