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Rhetorical Question about Batch Size

9/5/17       
cabmaker

I have rhetorical question about batch size. I have my own opinion about the correct answer but I thought I would run it by the hive mind to see how others look at it.

This is a project that is in our shop today.
It's paint grade with delivery, installation & finish by others. The customer will be ready for it in about a month. We sold it for $23K. The project is flush inset with fully mortised butt hinges. About half of the labor will accrue to the wall cabinets and about half to the base cabinets.

We have approximately 3 days into the job so far.

Every faceframe, door & drawer box has been fabricated.

The doors have been preliminarily fit into the faceframe for final fitting after faceframe is affixed to the box.

All of the box parts have been cut out. Five of the eight base boxes have been assembled. No doors have any hinges on them yet.

The faceframe parts and door stock was already S4S'd prior to commencing this 3 day effort.

We are all in general agreement that if we re-allocated our labor to strictly the base cabinets this part of the job would be 100% ready to ship. Instead of bringing the base cabinets to the finish line then going after the wall cabinets we now have the base cabinets about 75% complete and the wall cabinets at 30%.

MY QUESTION is this: Given the random exigencies of running a boutique cabinet shop would we be better off having half of the job 100% complete or all of the job 52% complete.

The second part of this question would be what are the variables that would make you side with one strategy or the other?


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9/5/17       #2: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
Paul Miller

Website: http://MCCWOODWORKING.COM

If you have a month, meeting the schedule should not be a problem. But, if it is a problem, I would work with the contractor and see what works best for their schedule. Normally, upper cabinets are installed first, so in that case, I would do these first. However, you have upper cabinets coming down to the counter tops, so maybe these base cabinets need to go in before you do the uppers in this area.

The refer cabinet and refer panels can go in anytime, so these would be done last.

If there are going to be Granite or Quartz tops, templating for the tops may require that the base cabinets be set to meet the top shops schedule.

Mounting doors and drawer boxes and drawer fronts takes time. If these are not finished when they are picked up, I would do all the prepping for their installation, and we could ship these without the doors or drawers installed. These are usually removed for installation anyway. But, mortising for the hinges must be done in the shop.

Having said all of that, most contractors don't meet their schedules anyway so you are probably safe. More than likely, the cabinets will be done and sit in your shop for a month waiting for the contractor.

9/5/17       #3: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
Leo G

Getting the lowers completed to allow for countertop templating is what I do if I have a time problem.

If it's a simple painted job then you shouldn't have problems with matching if you finish them at different times.

If it is a stain job or a paint and glaze job it can be difficult to keep the colors consistent if you do them at different times, especially if you have different people doing it.

I really prefer to keep the finishing done at the same time so you have no issues with matching.

9/5/17       #4: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
Another Cabinetmaker

Nobody is going to conclude it's better to have 52% completed. I like the exercise, but I think a more thought provoking example would be better.

9/5/17       #5: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
Leo G

Both choices are 52% done. Depending how you do it you can ship a partial order or not ship an order that still needs to be completed.

Not shipping the whole job is still not shipping a completed job.

9/6/17       #6: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
chipbored

If you looked at it from a "pull perspective" for YOUR SHOP then the goal is to have the whole job at your door ready for pickup by the due date. There would be no advantage to you to have one cabinet totally complete at the door ready to pickup gathering cobwebs. Based on this, you could look back over the job and find the most efficient way to get all the cabinets to the door by that time. Looking at the size of the job I would be doing each task one after the other to make set up times for each task efficient. I.e make all cabinets, make all drawers, hang all doors ect. ect.

If you make all upper cabinets. Then change tools and focus to hang all doors, then go back again and make all base, change focus again to hang all doors ect ect I feel like your losing your time in movement and time changing setups

9/6/17       #7: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
Gary Balcom Member

Website: http://www.Atlantacabinet.com

To me, it's a question of what you would install in a day. If this is a one day install, then you're not gaining anything by a smaller batch in the shop.

9/6/17       #8: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
cabinetmaker

52% as fast as you can sticking to quality product. Primer can be drying on the finished 1/2, while the other part is being produced

The idea is to free up resources to consistently produce product, but as we all know, its billable product

9/6/17       #9: Rhetorical Question about Batch Siz ...
Another Cabinetmaker

I understand your question better now. I thought you were asking your question in relation to the deadline. 52% of everything is the same as 0% of everything. But in fact you were asking your question in relation to some arbitrary point in time.

Regardless of the method you choose, the job will undoubtedly be done and ready for pickup by the due date. So is your assertion that one method will yield better results than the other? If so, what is a better result? Less man hours? Less duration on the shop floor? More shop flexibility? These are all different things and each shop will value them differently.


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