Reprinted from The Wichita Eagle

Woodsong Cabinet & Trim at 100 W. 61st St. North Suite E in Park City, is expanding from commercial millwork into custom-cut furniture.

“I see a lot of potential with it to help diversify us into another line of work, which I think is very important these days,” said Carolyn Pierce, who owns Woodsong Cabinet & Trim with her husband, Randy.

Woodsong is now a YouBuild Cut Center. Customers can select a piece of furniture online and have it cut at the local store, with or without assembly.

The furniture styles are modular, and customers can pick the type of wood, configuration, dimensions and finish at www.YouBuild.com. The order is sent to the nearest YouBuild Cut Center for cutting and labeling.

The furniture is made of American-grown lumber plywood and is formaldehyde free.

“We’re excited about this,” Pierce said. “It’s just a really neat concept, and I think it has a lot of potential for the customers.”

The company, which has been in business since 1998, had seven employees last year and is now down to three, Pierce said.

They hope the new service and partnership will help the business and allow it to hire more employees.

“If YouBuild gets up and going, there’s potential there to look to expand again,” Pierce said.

The YouBuild program is affiliated with Thermwood Corporation, a manufacturing technology company based in Dale, Ind.

Woodsong uses a Thermwood millwork machine, and that’s how the business learned about the YouBuild program, Pierce said.

Woodsong’s business has focused mainly on clinics, pharmacies, schools and similar projects. A few years ago, the company focused on packages for restaurants nationwide.

“When the recession hit, the restaurant business was one of the first to take a hit in commercial building,” Pierce said. “Since then, we switched back to local contractors and a local focus.”

Now, Woodsong is looking for local businesses to help market the custom-cut furniture.

“It’s a fairly new concept. We’re looking for a design center to get the product out here into clientele hands,” Pierce said.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

A new YouBuild Cut Center is now open in Spiceland, IN (near Indianapolis, IN) offering custom closets, furniture, home, office and business furnishings at quality and price levels not seen before.

Spiceland Wood Products

609 South Pearl Street

Spiceland, IN 47385

Phone:  (765) 987-8156

Email:  rob@spicelandwood.com

Contact:  Rob Davis

*For more information, and to order online, please visit youbuild.com.

About YouBuild:

Working through a local YouBuild Cut Center or online at youbuild.com, you choose from a vast assortment of designs, customize them exactly to what you want and order. Your order is electronically sent to an automated production machine at your local YouBuild Cut Center. They process your custom parts which you then either pick up and assemble yourself, saving even more, or arrange to have the YouBuild Cut Center assemble, deliver and install.  This method is as efficient as it gets, which means the lowest possible prices.

The YouBuild program offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. The wood, specially-made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products (the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America), is high-quality and formaldehyde-free for a healthier environment.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

A new YouBuild Cut Center is now open in Greybull, WY, offering custom closets, furniture, home, office and business furnishings at quality and price levels not seen before.

Kustom King Inc.

3839 Greybull River Road

Greybull, WY 82426

Phone:  307-765-9275

Email:  vernh@tctwest.net

Contact:  Vern Henderson

*For more information, and to order online, please visit youbuild.com.

About YouBuild:

Working through a local YouBuild Cut Center or online at youbuild.com, you choose from a vast assortment of designs, customize them exactly to what you want and order. Your order is electronically sent to an automated production machine at your local YouBuild Cut Center. They process your custom parts which you then either pick up and assemble yourself, saving even more, or arrange to have the YouBuild Cut Center assemble, deliver and install.  This method is as efficient as it gets, which means the lowest possible prices.

The YouBuild program offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. The wood, specially-made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products (the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America), is high-quality and formaldehyde-free for a healthier environment.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

A new YouBuild Cut Center is now open in Park City, KS - near Wichita, offering custom closets, furniture, home, office and business furnishings at quality and price levels not seen before.

Woodsong Cabinet and Trim, LLC

100 W 61st Street N. Suite E

Park City, KS 67204

Phone:  316-650-1178

Email:  rp-woodsong@myway.com

Contact:  Caroline Pierce

*For more information, and to order online, please visit youbuild.com.

About YouBuild:

Working through a local YouBuild Cut Center or online at youbuild.com, you choose from a vast assortment of designs, customize them exactly to what you want and order. Your order is electronically sent to an automated production machine at your local YouBuild Cut Center. They process your custom parts which you then either pick up and assemble yourself, saving even more, or arrange to have the YouBuild Cut Center assemble, deliver and install.  This method is as efficient as it gets, which means the lowest possible prices.

The YouBuild program offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. The wood, specially-made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products (the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America), is high-quality and formaldehyde-free for a healthier environment.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

A new YouBuild Cut Center is now open in Amarillo, TX, offering custom closets, furniture, home, office and business furnishings at quality and price levels not seen before.

Hightech Cabinets

411 Parker

Amarillo, TX 79106

Phone:  806-342-4554

Email:  holloway3666@sbcglobal.net

Contact:  Keith Holloway

*For more information, and to order online, please visit youbuild.com.

About YouBuild:

Working through a local YouBuild Cut Center or online at youbuild.com, you choose from a vast assortment of designs, customize them exactly to what you want and order. Your order is electronically sent to an automated production machine at your local YouBuild Cut Center. They process your custom parts which you then either pick up and assemble yourself, saving even more, or arrange to have the YouBuild Cut Center assemble, deliver and install.  This method is as efficient as it gets, which means the lowest possible prices.

The YouBuild program offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. The wood, specially-made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products (the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America), is high-quality and formaldehyde-free for a healthier environment.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

Thermwood has completely redesigned and expanded the EZ Office library, which is part of the design offerings under its YouBuild program. Discussions with major national office product retailers have uncovered the need for a variety of resizable office furniture but the original EZ Office was only available in limited fixed sizes.

To address this, Thermwood programmers have (while retaining original styling) redesigned EZ Office products so they can be freely resized by the customer. All new designs have been machined, built and fully vetted and are ready.

Desks come in several styles which are each adjustable to any width within a range:

Library Style desks offer a working desktop with either two or three narrow drawers under the top or also available without drawers. 

Office Style desks can be made in widths from 30” to 66”. One style, available in widths from 30” to 48”, has a four drawer stack on either the left or right side. The second version available from 48” to 66” wide offers dual drawer stacks.

Mini Student style desks feature a pull-out shelf available from 24” to 36” (for use where space is at a premium).

Desks have finished appearance on both front and back and can be positioned against a wall or away from the wall with the users back to the wall. The simple, clean designs blend with virtually any decor.

Credenzas come in several complimentary styles with adjustable width to match the desks, offering the ability to mix and match components to address a wide variety of needs. Upper cabinet modules can be mounted to desks or credenzas of the same width.

Finally, a collection of base and tall wall cabinets and single or double shelves round out the collection.

This collection is called "EZ" because of its simple yet elegant design and the fact that all pieces are assembled with a screwdriver using “Lock Joints”. “Slot Slide” drawers assure perfect alignment yet do not require separate drawer slides. Drawer bottoms extend past the drawer sides and slide in dado slots machined into partitions.

Three different styles of drawer and door pulls are offered and some items, which can function without pulls, are available without pulls. These units are relatively easy to assemble with a caution that larger pieces may need two people to handle.

The full EZ Office library offering can be seen here.

About YouBuild:

YouBuild is a new and exciting opportunity for woodworkers with the proper equipment to address the huge furniture market in a unique and practical manner. Aided by local Retail Dealers and Design Centers, orders are placed online, parts are cut by local shops and then assembled by the customer. Extensive integrated technology make this easy, practical and profitable and an extensive and growing library of customizable designs address almost every area of home and office furnishings. For more information about YouBuild, click HERE

Thermwood has added a “Personal Pause Button” to its CNC routers that process YouBuild programs, which dramatically improves productivity.

Even though modern CNC machines rarely encounter production problems, they do happen. This means the machine operator must remain near the control to stop the machine should something unexpected occur. This limits what he or she can do, other than watch the machine.

To address this, Thermwood has developed a remote wireless “Pause Button” which can be clipped to a belt or pocket. Pressing this button stops the machine, much like an emergency stop, but this is different. The Pause Button, which works at distances of 100 feet or more, not only stops the machine in place but also offers several options for recovery:

• Back at the control screen, the system wants to know what happened and offers several options. You can just resume cutting by pressing “Resume”. Press the “Replace Tool” button and the machine drops off the tool holder with the broken tool and moves out of the way. Change the bit and replace the tool holder and tell the system to resume. It picks up the new tool, measures it and begins re-cutting the path for the broken tool.

• Perhaps parts are moving because you didn’t fly cut the table soon enough. By selecting “Leave Skin”, you can continue machining this sheet while leaving a skin on all remaining parts so they won’t move. You do have to remove the skin from these parts later but that is a lot easier and less expensive than remaking parts. When the sheet is done you can fly cut the table right in the middle of the program and then continue with the next sheet.

• Another possibility is that you encounter bad material or something else happened that makes this sheet unusable. Simply select “Start Sheet Over” and the system will return to Home and instruct you to replace the sheet. It will then re-cut that sheet and continue on. There is a process for pretty much anything that might happen and it all starts with the Pause Button.

Because the Pause button is remote, the operator can move away from the control to sort, label or edge band parts and still be able to stop the machine if something happens. The control even displays a large progress bar along the top of the screen which can be seen from some distance away. It is like the ones you see on your computer and tells you how much time is left before the operator needs to flip a sheet or remove finished parts. By the way, in YouBuild, all back side machining is done on the full sheet rather than one part at a time. It’s a lot faster.

If there is more than one person working in the cell, each can have their own Personal Pause Button.

Personal Pause Button, a simple elegant addition makes processing YouBuild jobs so much easier and more productive.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

A new YouBuild Cut Center is now open in Greensburg, KY, offering custom closets, furniture, home, office and business furnishings at quality and price levels not seen before.

Fancy Ridge Wood Products

3260 Hwy 218

Greensburg, KY 42743

Phone:  270-565-4864

Email:  fancyridge@hotmail.com

Contact:  Joe Soto

*For more information, and to order online, please visit youbuild.com.

About YouBuild:

Working through a local YouBuild Cut Center or online at youbuild.com, you choose from a vast assortment of designs, customize them exactly to what you want and order. Your order is electronically sent to an automated production machine at your local YouBuild Cut Center. They process your custom parts which you then either pick up and assemble yourself, saving even more, or arrange to have the YouBuild Cut Center assemble, deliver and install.  This method is as efficient as it gets, which means the lowest possible prices.

The YouBuild program offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. The wood, specially-made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products (the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America), is high-quality and formaldehyde-free for a healthier environment.

You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at youbuild.com.

Ken Susnjara, the founder, chairman and CEO of Thermwood, conducted a series of seminars at the IWF show in Atlanta describing the fundamental basis of YouBuild. He explained “YouBuild allows cabinet shops, using the proper equipment and current skills, to address the approximately $45 Billion furniture market, a market which is ten times larger than cabinets.

He explained the differences between cabinets and furniture and how YouBuild makes this possible. “A typical sale for a cabinet shop is for an entire kitchen, perhaps $10-, $15-, $20,000 or more. You can afford to design and sell the job, work out production problems and still make money. A typical furniture sale might be $500 - $1,500 dollars. You can’t afford to design, sell or work out production problems. If you want to make money all you can do is cut the parts and cash the check. YouBuild does the things you can’t afford to do making furniture. Let’s start with selling.”

“As part of YouBuild, shops, called “YouBuild Cut Centers”, can designate others to sell for them. There’s two ways to do this. Some folks, like Interior Designers, professional handymen, and even certain types of retail stores can operate as Design Centers. They help customers select and order YouBuild products and receive a sales commission for these sales. Others like closet installation companies, home contractors and even larger retail stores will likely operate as Retail Dealers, receiving a discount on YouBuild products and then reselling them at a higher price, perhaps with added value such as assembly or installation.”

“The nice thing about this approach is that, once set up, there is virtually no effort required. All commissions and discounts are tracked and handled automatically by YouBuild. A Cut Center can set up 50, 100 or more sales outlets without having to worry about the clerical effort needed to maintain and service the network. Once established, this sales network can generate a continuous flow of business without much day to day effort from the Cut Center.”

“Now let’s look at production. When an order is placed, it is queued online where it can be accessed by the Cut Center. They simply assign the order to their CNC router right online and the order shows up on the machine control. Just execute the program and the machine guides you through every step. Edge band designated parts and they’re ready. All the hardware, screws, fasteners, hinges, pulls…everything else needed for the order, even the assembly instructions, arrive in a package a few days after the order is placed. The Cut Center doesn’t have to deal with any of these details. Just give the package and parts to the customer and the order is complete.”

“There are over a thousand product designs that have all been optimized and tested. Every piece has been produced, sometimes multiple times, until both the design and instructions work smoothly and easily both through production as well as for the customer. We have even hired inexperienced day workers to assemble YouBuild products using our instructions and then, by observing them, refined both the product and the assembly techniques until the average person can easily do it.”

“We believe we have all the bases covered with YouBuild so that properly equipped cabinet shops can enthusiastically address the huge furniture market in a bold new way that works for them and can make them a lot of money.”

Thermwood Announces “YouBuild”

Bringing Furniture Business to Cabinetmakers

Thermwood Corporation has announced a new program called “YouBuild”, a new and unique business model, providing an easy path for cabinetmakers with Thermwood CNC routers to easily address the huge home and office furniture market.

It starts with a web site, YouBuild.com, which offers over a thousand unique designs for home and office furniture and closets, some by renowned furniture designers. What makes this even more unique is that these designs can be customized and are available in four real wood species, walnut, maple, oak and cherry, either finished or unfinished. Sizes of most items can be adjusted. The wood, specially made for YouBuild by Columbia Forest Products, the largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood in North America, is high-quality, formaldehyde-free and available in any quantity through local Home Depot stores under a special order program.

Manufacturing is done locally by cabinet shops who participate in YouBuild, called “YouBuild Cut Centers”. Orders are placed online. Each Cut Center has its own online area within the YouBuild site. Products are specified, customized and quoted online. YouBuild Cut Centers access CNC programs online, using their CNC machined control, and then cut and edgeband parts that were ordered. Customers can assemble themselves, using unique joinery, or they can have the Cut Center assemble for them.

Cut Centers are not required to do any design or programming, they just sell and make what is ordered using the online programs. To help sell, they can establish Retail Dealers and Retail Design Centers. These are independent individuals and businesses that promote and sell YouBuild products for them and receive a commission on any orders they generate.

YouBuild offers an entirely new approach to furniture and, because the program is so simple and efficient, top-quality, formaldehyde-free, real hardwood materials can be used, while keeping prices highly competitive. There is no cost to become a YouBuild Cut Center as long as shops have the equipment necessary to use the technology. You can find more information in the YouBuild section of the eCabinet Systems web site and at YouBuild.com.