FD M
CABINETS
The workday at Cabinet Door
Service is broken down
into segments and work
completed is recorded
as it is done.
Cutting lead time with
Cabinet door manufacturer boosts efficiency
and cuts lead time with lean methods.
By Karl D. Forth, Editor-In-Chief
kforth@wattnet.net
At Cabinet Door Service,
you have to go with the
flow. The Salem, Ore.,
producer of cabinet doors
and dovetail drawer boxes has
created a new business model
based around flow and value
stream mapping.
Two years ago, The Strategic
Economic Development Corp.
in Salem, a local economic
development agency introduced
CDS to the Oregon Manufac-
Doors are assembled in one of the cells, top left. Cell organization
provides accountability to the process.
One of the manufacturing cells, top right, labeled by overhead sign and
with its own board describing work completed that day.
turing Extension Partnership. In the time since, they have
re-engineered the business model into what is called the
CabDoor Production System, based around lean manufacturing principles.
“We’re competitive on price, we offer good quality and the
level of service we provide is outstanding,” says CDS co-owner
and production manager Cliff Stites.
One of the first benefits of the change was easy to see:
CDS reduced its overall space requirement from 168,000 to
68,000 square feet. All of its manufacturing is done in 48,000
square feet, with 20,000 square feet for raw material storage.
CDS adopted the business model concept for lean. “CDS
took advantage of the operational excellence they now have
and have taken it to the marketplace to create an advantage,”
says Dave Looper, consultant with the Oregon MEP.
CDS makes doors primarily for small to medium-sized cabinet
shops in the Pacific Northwest, including Boise, Seattle, Medford
and Roseburg. CDS’s top 100 customers have done business
with CDS for an average of almost 14 years. CDS’s own trucks
