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Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

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Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

#1

Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

Tom Anderson

The below is a semi-commercial post but is being done with the advance approval of host Ellis Valentine. The below is being posted to the Messages and Hand Tools messageboards.

I am searching for an "expert" (consultant, adviser) who can assist in improving the floor operations of a wood-related manufacturing facility. The factory is located in Cambodia and is operates in a mode where a USA factory might have been 100 years ago.

This factory has 700 workers today and does almost everything either manually or with basic machines. They make doors, cabinets, and some furniture for the local market which is Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This factory is so lacking in basic tools, process definition, and floor organization that what is needed is not so much a manufacturing engineer but an excellent problem solver skilled in basic methods of organization, fixtures selection, measurement, and so forth. There may possibly be no tape measures in the factory today. No final inspection is being done.

The ideal person would be someone with significant hands-on knowledge of small-scale furniture / cabinetry factories. But, the task is not to automate everything as that would be cost prohibitive and the workforce skill level could not support it. In addition, finding skilled labor in Cambodia to program / operate / maintain highly complex machines is quite difficult. This is a "Woodworking 101" situation with an industrial bent to it.

This factory has been in existence for 6 years operating mainly off of inertia and a good economy. There is now a good English-speaking GM in place but there is a dearth of wood-based manufacturing expertise in the area. The hope is to move the factory from one dependent on a local economy to one that can supply furniture to regional customers such as Japan and Korea.

The key areas to focus on will likely be quality control to include inspection, material handling, and productivity (by way of training, tools, fixtures, machines, etc.).

A possible pkan for providing services is:

A. Intial discussions and recommendations via phone / email / webcam.

B. One-week factory visit (Phnom Penh, Cambodia).

C. Additional actions, recommenations, and follow-up done remotely unless the person wanted to do all advising from Phnom Penh.

D, Ongoing advising on an "as needed" basis.

The nature of this project is quite flexible and will depend on the interests and capabilities of the adviser. A visit to Cambodia is not strictly required.

If the above is of interest, please contact me via this message board. Thank you for your consideration.

Re: Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

#2

Re: Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Fact

Howard

Tom

I have had experience in similar projects in the medical equipment field. My feeling is that the likelihood of success without the consultant making a number of site visits is nil at best.

Howard

Re: Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

#3

Re: Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Fact

Tom Anderson

Howard, thank you for the response. I agree, factory visits will be quite beneficial. Your medical device experience will be useful although a good knowledge of best practices, tools, fixtures, and equipment in the furniture making business will also be of use (at least later).

I was a bit surprised at how many responses we received. You seem to be able to do the job. Right now, we are looking strongly at a candidate from Thailand as Thailand is right next door. Give us a week or so and we hope to make up our mind. And, if we do not go with you now, there could be a need for your skills later if the first advisory effort provides limited results or once we need to discuss equipment.

The factory does have equipment today. All of it is fully manual and looks to be 20 to 50 years old. But, the main issues, at least initially, are to organize, create systems, and train.

Tom

Re: Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

#4

Two suggestions

Bill Tindall

1. Try a consulting firm such as "Your Encore". This firm is a middleman between retirees and jobs like this one.

2. In the Highpoint NC area there are likely dozens of laid off and retired furniture plant managers. Put an ad in the local paper there and in Woodshop News.

Re: Seeking Adviser for Manual Cabinetry/Door Factory

#5

Peter Martin

I was in the USAF and in Saigon when it finally fell to the NVA at the end of April 1975, and was involved as we watched the genocide developing in Cambodia under the Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge during the following years. Public and political sentiment towards involvement in another foreign war was at a low, even it it meant intervening to prevent a genocide, so there was no attempt to intervene. At least not revealed to the media. 

I would have jumped on this. I love Cambodia and it's people. The inability to find skilled people and for factories to be operating at levels of a hundred years ago is understandable. Pol Pot's vision was to create a socialist agrarian society of farmers producing food, and killed anyone with education who presented what he considered a threat. If not shot dead on the streets of Phnom Penh for simply having a college degree or the wrong family name, you were hustled off to "The Killing Fields" where most were worked and starved to death trying to produce food. 

It didn't end until Vietnam intervened to stop the genocide. Perhaps with a little help. In the world of intelligence there are no friends, only allies. And sometimes enemies become allies for a greater purpose. History is full of ironies.

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