Fixing a bottleneck through outsourcing

Early in 2007, Erran Fichman, owner of Fichman Furniture in Toronto, Ontario, realized that even though he was spending more time in his shop, less work was getting out the door. So he stepped back, looked at his work flow and realized that finishing was causing a bottleneck. With work backing up at...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:CabinetMaker 2008-03, Vol.22 (3), p.40
Main Author: Jennison, Ken
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bottlenecks
Corporate profiles
Furniture industry
Outsourcing
Strategic management
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Early in 2007, Erran Fichman, owner of Fichman Furniture in Toronto, Ontario, realized that even though he was spending more time in his shop, less work was getting out the door. So he stepped back, looked at his work flow and realized that finishing was causing a bottleneck. With work backing up at an alarming rate, he decided to outsource his finishing. As a result, the shop's sales have nearly doubled, and Fichman has realized two things; you can let go of a project and still get great results. And perhaps more importantly, to truly get great results, you have to let go. By 2005, Fichman had already begun to book work that would ultimately take him well into 2006, and by February of 2006 he had work promised out that would ultimately not be complete until 2007. Now the shop is running on time, and has sold twice as much work for 2008 than for 2007.
ISSN:1048-0196