New Miscellaneous Products Web Page
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You are invited to visit our new web page that displays actual photos of our miscellaneous 3D Laminate products. Following are the various categories of the products that are shown:
Below each photo is a button that gives you the option to open a High Resolution Picture of that particular product. Pressing this button will take you to a link that shows just that photo, which you can then SAVE directly to your PC, tablet, or mobile device. Once saved, press the back arrow on your internet browser and you'll be taken back to the page showing all of the products.
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Celebrating our 9th Year Anniversary
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WOW! Nine years!
I am looking at the first door we made at Brushy Creek Custom Doors; it hangs on the wall over our office printer. It is dated “3/20/2009” and has eight signatures on it. The same door we rout today would have 28 signatures! When we started our “little” company back in the depth of the housing crisis, we never dreamed we would have a team this big, or be serving so many customers!
Growth has not always been easy, or in a straight line. We have hit walls, reached plateaus, or whatever analogy you would like to use. Point is, we have had to learn things along the way so that our growth here at Brushy Creek did not come at the cost of our product quality or our good relationships with you, our customers. One of our greatest enemies has been clutter: Clutter in our work areas; clutter in our processes that wastes time and effort; clutter in our thinking, like ‘we have always done it this way’ statements.
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About a year ago, we at Brushy Creek Custom Doors started applying the “Lean” thinking of “5-S” to our shop. At its heart, 5-S is about ‘cleaning out the clutter’ so we can concentrate on the things that really add value to our products, without wasting resources on things that don’t. As part of our service to you, I thought it would be good to share the 5-S’s so you might benefit from them, too.
SORT:
Take everything out of a well-defined area (hint: start small, maybe with a drawer, your desk top, or a personal work station). Sort into three piles: Used regularly, Used occasionally, and Not used here. (Be sure that everyone who uses the area is part of this step! You may not ever use something that they use all the time.)
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SET IN ORDER:
Start with the “Not Used” pile and either throw those things away, or put them in a “Red Tag” area for others to take for use in their areas. (Hint: be ruthless! Save only things that have value!) Then start to return things to the clean space. Arrange the “Used Regularly” things closest to you. The “Used Occasionally” things can be farther away, or even moved to a storage area shared with others.
SHINE:
Yes, this is cleaning, just like it sounds! This first time through, clean really well before you start setting-in-order. Then make it a regular habit. It’s amazing how taking pride in a work area improves your work, and when a machine is clean, you can spot little problems like oil leaks while they are still small.
STANDARDIZE:
Now that your things are well arranged, mark their locations so they go back there EVERY TIME. Label or color-code your things so they will “come back” if someone borrows them. Standardize your processes by developing SOP’s, so different people will do the same tasks the same way. (If you are not consistent, you can’t improve!) It is unbelievable how much faster you can work, and with how much less effort, if you know where everything is and how to best do the things you do regularly!
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SUSTAIN:
All the HUGE progress you just made will disappear unless you keep up with it. (Think about how you got all that clutter in the first place….) Set a daily time for 5-S. Watch your team to see that they are using the SOP’s they developed. Post a schedule.
Finally, understand that 5-S is not a “one and done” deal. It is a process of continuous improvement. This was Round 1. Your work will change. You will find better ways to organize your tools. Your team will think of better ways to do things. You don’t ever want to stop getting better.
When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, He told him to “dress it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15). God provided the raw materials, and He told Adam to be creative and make improvements as he saw fit. That is the essence of work. And despite the many frustrations even King Solomon saw in life, he said, “it is good and comely for one … to enjoy the good of all his labour” (Ecc. 5:18). We at Brushy Creek Custom Doors have found the 5-S process to be a means to reduce frustration and get more good out of our labor. We hope it will do the same for you!
Written by Geoff Arnold on March 29, 2018.
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Monthly Email Update - Info
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Since you have received this newsletter via email, you are set up to receive our monthly email updates and do
NOT need to sign up again at our website. Our goal is to keep you informed of new tools and products that will help you be a success. If you do not want to receive these updates in the future, please click the Unsubscribe link below.
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