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Cabinet Concepts by Design uses Cabinet Vision to Secure Business
Like many other Americans in 2007, Matt and Shelley Wehner were looking to create a solid financial future for their family. The dream of financial independence seemed right around the corner with the purchase of Cabinet Concepts by Design (CCD), Springfield, MO. However, nobody was able to see the recession that was about to begin. With Cabinet Vision, four skilled workers, and two weeks’ worth of business, and a newly implemented motto of “We will not use the word can’t,” the Wehner’s had all that they needed for a successful business.
Both Matt and Shelly had given up on promising careers, Matt as a math teacher and Shelley as an account rep for a national company. They had used their entire life savings to purchase CCBD with no experience other than Matt’s high school wood-shop classes and Shelley’s love of design.
Shelly Wehner
When the Wehner’s took the keys to the business, Cabinet Vision was already in house. However, neither Matt nor Shelly had any experience with the software.
After purchasing the company and looking into the markets, Matt and Shelley decided to work high-end home builders, in part because the lower-end cabinet market was saturated with multiple cabinet companies and they would not be able to see a substantial return on investment. This experience provided CCBD with the knowledge needed to operate a successful business.
“When we purchased the company in 2007, the previous owners had Cabinet Vision in place. However, their only use for the software was creating cut lists,” says Matt.
During the next six to 12 months, Matt trained himself through trial and error on the capabilities of Cabinet Vision. One of the first things that he taught himself was how to use Cabinet Vision for demonstrating and showcasing what CCD could offer its customers.
“Cabinet Vision was really instrumental in helping us close orders. We did this by learning how to use Cabinet Vision as a tool for showing our customers a customized 3D drawing of what they would see upon completion of the job. This gave us a distinct advantage over our competitors and their 2D drawings, as we were able to switch different styles of drawers, doors, lighting, etc… immediately at the customer’s request,” says Shelley.
After taking his first official class on the basics of Cabinet Vision more than one year after purchasing the company, Matt now admits that he should have taken advantage of some of the training offered by Cabinet Vision earlier.
In conjunction to the webinars, online and in-house training, Matt and his staff have found the Cabinet Vision e-Support to be quite helpful.
“We use the Cabinet Vision eSupport forums quite often and have found tremendous support through it. We recently had a problem where a drawer was not responding properly. After posting a question on the forum asking other end-users why this is happening, we had several responses within an hour. Most of the answers provided were the same saying, “It sounds like you either deleted a drawer or it was imported incorrectly.” After looking into these suggestions, we found that although the drawer was still in the design, we had deleted it from the cabinet library,” says Matt.
This support has been very beneficial to CCBD, providing the company with improvements in cutting lists, accuracy and efficiency.
“We have learned so much from the different types of training offered through Cabinet Vision. In particular, we have saved approximately 50% in the amount of time needed for creating cutting lists. By accomplishing such a time savings, we have been able to allow more time toward the manufacture of custom cabinets. This allows us to get the end-product to the customer faster, which means more, happy customers,” states Matt.
Another feature that amazed Matt is how simple inputting the cut list is for the CNC. According to Matt, it is as simple as hitting the “send” button and have the cut list input to the machine.
In addition to creating cut lists and 3D drawings, Cabinet Vision helped Matt and Shelley with producing assembly sheets ̶ which were previously done by hand – while providing them with detailed material reports, assembly reports, door lists and most importantly for CCBD, a cost report.
“For us as a small shop, the cost report is definitely the most useful. This allows us to know down to the penny how much we are spending while providing us with an expert analysis of what our final cost to the customer should be,” states Matt.
By completely understanding Cabinet Vision, Matt was able to acquire a Homag beam saw & implement point-to-point machining with many of the machines already in house. Installation of the CNC Machinery has really helped with efficiency and accuracy.
“Cabinet Vision’s ability to link up directly with the machines has provided us with a tremendous time savings which becomes a large financial savings,” says Matt.
In order to keep up with the increase in orders, Matt and Shelly needed to add an experienced designer to their growing business. In 2012 they hired Mark Price as Designer / Project Manager. With 11 years of experience in the cabinet making industry, Mark had no previous experience with Cabinet Vision. Immediately after joining the CCBD team, Mark was thrown into the world of Cabinet Vision where he found it to be extremely friendly, easy to use, and more powerful than any other software he has used.
“The software I used at my previous employer was very limited. After we would create a drawing, we had to use Sketch-Up (a google program) to fill in any open space and then create our part list by hand, taking several hours. Afterwards, we would go line by line to double check the part list due to the number of errors created within the software. This would cost us an additional 2-3 hours per job. Cabinet Vision is the perfect fit for a company like CCBD. It has the flexibility to transform construction methods to suit what we have and what our limitations are,” states Mark.
All of this has helped CCBD secure cabinetry work for two of the largest homes in the U.S., which are both currently under construction in the Ozark area of Missouri. The largest home is 72,000 square feet. Thanks to Cabinet Vision, CCBD was able to secure the cabinetry for the first three kitchens and are currently looking at other areas of the house.
Through hours of hard work, determination and a solution built specifically for the wood working professionals, the company has grown significantly in the past six years, averaging an increase in sales between 25% – 40% per year since 2010, its own paint shop, several new machines, and new 30,000 square feet facility.
“Cabinet Vision has taught us so much about the industry. By maximizing the capabilities of Cabinet Vision, we have been able to grow from a company that had four employees and two weeks’ worth of orders to a company that has orders for two of the largest houses in the U.S., employs 22 people and has orders for nearly three months. I can truthfully say that if it was not for Cabinet Vision, I do not believe we would still be in business today!” concludes Matt
“We will never shop for software again,” states Matt.
About the Company
Name: Cabinet Concepts by Design
Web: www.cabinetconceptsbydesign.com
Benefits Achieved
- Reduced time to produce cutlists by 50%
- Secured more orders using quality presentations
- Increased sales by 25%-40% per year since 2010
Comments
“I can truthfully say that if it was not for Cabinet Vision, I do not believe we would still be in business today!”
Matt Wehner