For 15 years, Craftsmen Hardwoods Inc. in Drayton has been the go-to name as a supplier for woodworkers in the area, from furniture and cabinets to stairs and trim. On Oct. 22 customers, neighbours, family and friends are all invited to celebrate the grand opening of their brand new facility on 34 Drayton Industrial Dr., just a five minute drive from their old location at 7688 Wellington Road 8.
“Everybody is welcome, customers and anybody with a curiosity,” said general manager Rob Weber with a smile.
The company sells to customers ranging from one-man shops to large manufacturers throughout southwestern Ontario and within a two-hour radius of Drayton. About 60 per cent of the wood is sourced from the United States while the rest comes from Ontario and Quebec.
The relocation was not a simple undertaking by any stretch of the imagination. They were well established at their old location on the Weber family dairy farm since they first set up shop there in 1998, and the move was certainly a long time in the planning.
They officially moved in on July 29 and it took a day and a half to move all the product to the new site, and the company even had to reduce its inventory by 25 per cent to accomplish that feat on time.
Despite the difficulty, the move is a welcome change. Their new location is about twice the size of their old 18,000 square-foot warehouse, and this extra space will allow Craftsmen Hardwoods to serve their customers in a timelier and more efficient manner because shippers and receivers can access the product quicker than they ever could before.
“We stack our products on blocks five or six high, then another one directly in front of that.
Here, we’re only two stacks deep, in the old facility we were an average of four stacks deep and sometimes five or six,” said Weber.
“We were constantly handling material and moving it around.”
What’s more, the warehouse also has a drive-through truck bay, allowing drivers to simply open the doors and drive their trucks right inside to load them with their product for shipment; much quicker than moving loads in and out of the warehouse.
But perhaps the biggest improvement over the old location was the installation of a climate control system that keeps the warehouse at a cool and consistent 10 degrees Celsius and about 50 to 55 per cent humidity.
Those are the ideal temperatures to store the wood at to prevent it from warping, splitting or shrinking after it is made into the final product by the customer.
“If the product doesn’t sell fast enough, you have it sitting and it will eventually take on moisture to the average relative humidity that is outside,” explained Weber, and the warping and shrinking is particularly troublesome considering the fine workmanship necessary when making furniture and stairs.
Weber took a lot of time to lay out the property and draw diagrams of how he wanted the final building to look, and Frey Building Contractors took the lead on the project, ensuring that as many local companies were involved in the build as possible, from Kitchener and Listowel to Guelph and Drayton.
Weber is also very pleased with the new office space available to him and his employees.
Their old office was two levels, which not only posed a problem for Weber who has been in a wheelchair since suffering a spinal cord injury in 1996, but it discouraged interaction among his staff as well.
“Here it’s all one level and that’s nice, obviously for me, and the communication is a little better. We’re all a little more interactive, and there is much more space in the office as well.”
Weber says he is blessed with the way his business has grown from its humble roots back in 1996, and it was his customers and his staff that got him to where he is today. He was paralyzed on May 24, 1996 while cutting down a tree on the family dairy farm at the age of 20.
Not knowing what he could do with his life after that, he started Craftsmen Hardwoods that October with help from Murray Martin at Mar-Span Building Centre.
He moved out from under the umbrella of Mar-Span in 1998 by building his first warehouse on the farm, the company was incorporated in 1999, and he doubled the size of his warehouse in 2002.
This latest move is just the next step in the growth and success of his business that grew out of one of the most trying period of his life.
“I had the blessing and privilege to operate under [Martin’s] mentorship and to be in the office environment to learn about business principles and practices,” said Weber.
“I believe God has a plan and reasons for various situations we face in life.”
The grand opening celebration for Craftsmen Hardwoods Inc. is Oct. 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
at their new location, 34 Drayton Industrial Dr. For more information call their office at
(519) 638-3380.
