WMIA Honors Woodworking Industry's 2007 Innovator, Educator and Commitment to Excellence Award Winners
Past Winners  | | WMIA 2007 Award Winners The 2007 Woodworking Industry Award Winners were (left to right holding the coveted wooden globes) Innovator of the year, OFC Panel Processing LLC, Charlie Olswold CEO; Commitment to Excellence through Technology, OFS Brands, Hank Menke President and CEO; Educator of the year, Michigan Career & Technical Institute, Jim Wellever, Director Cabinetmaking/Millwork Training Department.
The WMIA member presenters left to right were Dave Ortmayer, Steve Jesnek and on the extreme right Richard Hannigan. Also shown in the photo are WMIA president Tom Reisert and Jeff Eckert OFS Brands senior VP manufacturing. | The Woodworking Machinery Industry Association (WMIA) announced the 2007 winners of its Innovator, Educator and Commitment to Excellence through Technology Awards at the Kiawah Island Resort (S.C.) at its 20th annual awards dinner honoring woodworking industry leaders.
In his welcoming remarks to the association Board of Directors, guests and media representatives, WMIA president Tom Reisert, president of Edward B. Mueller Company Inc., said, “ It is a pleasure to welcome you to our 20th annual awards dinner where we pay honor to those who have made outstanding contributions to our industry.
“We as WMIA members are committed to supporting and maintaining North American woodworking businesses. This commitment is exemplified by our messages to our customers of the benefits of Reeducation, Reengineering and Retooling through the acquisition of our high-tech woodworking machinery which directly result in higher productivity and lower labor costs.
“Every year at this time we select companies and educational institutions that get it. They have vision and the foresight to implement high technology that pays off. They get the message that in the U.S. they have access to an excellent work force, a ready supply of raw materials and of course, the world’s leading consumer market. They have made the commitment to succeed by innovating, Reeducating, Reengineering and Retooling. We as WMIA members are committed to supporting these leaders and their commitment to excellence through the utilization of technology.”
The 2007 winners are: Innovator, OFC Panel Processing LLC (Muscatine, Ia.); Educator, Michigan Career & Technical Institute (Plainwell, Mich.); Commitment to Excellence through Technology, OFS Brands (Huntingburg, Ind.)
Innovator of the Year
Steve Jesnek, WMIA member and Stiles Machinery director of dealer development, in announcing the 2007 Innovator of the Year Award recipient said, “Year after year the Innovator Award acknowledges industry leadership in ‘out-of-the-box’ approaches to succeeding in a business environment that is difficult in the best of times. Sometimes successful innovation comes not just from being in the forefront of technology, or in creatively innovative uses of that technology, but from creatively innovative responses to a changing marketplace.”
While OFC Panel Processing’s use of high-tech equipment certainly has enabled it to broaden its customer base and expand its capabilities, Jesnek said, “It is the company management’s recognition of the need to respond to changing customer opportunities and challenges, and its will to do so, that secures its position as an outstanding woodworking industry innovator.”
OFC, founded in 1990 as a two-person custom furniture and cabinet company, left the niche after it was approached in 1995 by a major office furniture manufacturer to provide furniture panel components. That business grew to such a degree that OFC gave up its local custom furniture and cabinet business, but still recognized the need to expand its customer base.
Beginning in 2001, with the purchase of a high-tech machining center and edgebander, it grew significantly in capability, quality and efficiency. By 2002 it had grown to 60 employees and in 2006 incorporated lightweight panels, including honeycomb, into its product mix.
It is now able to provide a large mix of parts in small volume as a just-in-time provider of short-run components to smaller manufacturers of millwork, store fixtures and displays, for example. By building prototypes and helping to develop product lines, OFC contributes in a major way to help customers’ business growth. Often with the resulting success and growth, these customers bring their component manufacturing in house. But, Jesnek noted, “With true innovator’s spirit, OFC recognizes that while it will lose that customer, it will gain others.”
Charlie Olswold, OFC Panel Processing’s CEO, accepted the award.
Educator of the Year Award
Richard Hannigan, WMIA board member and Holz-Her U.S. Inc. vice president/sales, announced the Michigan Career and Technical Institute as recipient of the 2007 Educator of the Year Award. In his introduction Hannigan said, “WMIA has strongly believed in the importance and value of educational institutions for providing information and training as a window to career opportunities in the woodworking industry. In an era when young people often are seeking challenging careers which utilize and incorporate modern technology, the woodworking industry is often challenged by a perception of a low-skill, short-term career path. The Educator of the Year Award was created to provide recognition for institutions that have made significant strides in training students in modern woodworking principles utilizing high-technology machinery and software.”
He noted that, “Beginning in 1944 as the Michigan Veterans Vocational School, MCTI is now the second largest vocational rehabilitation training facility in the United States. Its Cabinetmaking/Millwork Training Department is the only post-secondary industrial woodworking program in Michigan. Physical, mental and emotional disabilities are accommodated through a variety of assistive devices, specialized learning strategies and disability management counseling. This MCTI department has been putting a steady influx of competent technicians into the workforce for over 63 years.”
Placement services are available to all students for life. The department maintains an extensive database of wood-related companies throughout the upper Midwest. It had 100 percent placement last year, all within the industry, and placement is consistently above 90 percent, with an average of 22 graduates a year going to woodworking companies.
Jim Wellever, director of MCTI’s Cabinetmaking/Millwork Training Department, accepted the award.
Commitment to Excellence through Technology Award
Dave Ortmayer, WMIA marketing committee chair and Italpresse USA, Inc., chief operating officer, announced OFS Brands as winner of the Commitment to Excellence through Technology Award recognizing companies that have achieved significant growth through a competitive edge gained partially through their commitment to invest in high technology machinery and software systems. Ortmayer said, “The winner of this year’s award is not new to our industry or one that started in anything approaching a high-tech environment. Its first plant was opened in 1937 producing scoreboards and Venetian blinds. Today, OFS Brands manufactures quality wood office furniture, including casegoods, conference, seating, healthcare and custom furniture. OFS Brands is the parent company of OFS, First Office, Carolina Business Furniture and Styline Logistics.
“Still a family owned company, OFS Brands positions itself as committed to providing ‘socially responsible furniture and logistic solutions through better design, excellent performance, innovative products and services, and greater value to its customers.’
“It also attributes its self-described ‘phenomenal growth,’ positioned to achieve a 25 percent growth over last year, to its flexibility in fulfilling customers’ requests through one-piece flow manufacturing with a special emphasis on producing any special or custom product demanded using a wide spectrum of high-tech machinery.”
Hank Menke, OFS Brands’ president, accepted the award.
Past Winners
| 2006 Innovator of the Year
General Casework
Denver, CO Commitment to Excellence
Through Technology
KraftMaid Cabinetry
Middlefield, O. Educator of the Year
West Ottawa High School
Holland, MI | | | | 2005 Innovator of the Year
Woodharbor Doors & Cabinetry
Mason City, IA Commitment to Excellence
Through Technology
PIN
Irving, TX Educator of the Year
Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI)
Reston, VA | | | | | 2004 Innovator of the Year
Premier EuroCase
Denver, CO Global Marketer of the Year
Loti Corporation
Tualatin, OR Educator of the Year
Georgia Tech College of Architecture
Atlanta, GA | | |
| | | | | 2003 Innovator of the Year
LesCare Kitchens, Inc.
Statesville, NC Global Marketer of the Year
Hollman, Inc.
Irving, TX Educator of the Year
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners/Las Vegas International Training Center
Las Vegas, NV | | | | | 2002 Innovator of the Year
Lewis Lumber Products Company
Picture Rocks, Pennsylvania Global Marketer of the Year
Sandberg Furniture
Los Angeles, California Educator of the Year
San Marcos High School
San Marcos, California | | | | | | | | 2001 Innovator of the Year
American Woodmark Corporation
Winchester, Virginia. Exporter of the Year
Fish Construction, Inc.
Stafford, Texas Educator of the Year
Pittsburg State University's Woodworking Technology Department
Pittsburg, Kansas | | | | | 2000 Innovator of the Year
Eggers Industries/Neenah Division
Neenah, WI Exporter of the Year
Swiss Services of Nevada
Las Vegas, NV Educator of the Year
Cerritos College
Norwalk, CA | | | | | | | | 1999 Innovator of the Year
Siewert Cabinet & Fixture
Manufacturing
Minneapolis, Minnesota Exporter of the Year
Design Fabricators, Inc.
Lafayette, Colorado Educator of the Year
Precision Wood Products
Hartford, Connecticut | | | | | 1998 Innovator of the Year
d-Scan Company
South Boston, Virginia Exporter of the Year
Bush Industries
Jamestown, New York Educator of the Year
Kent Career/Technical Center
Grand Rapids, Michigan | | | | | | | | 1997 Innovator of the Year
The Maiman Co.
Springfield, Missouri Exporter of the Year
American Cabinetry
Cranbury, New Jersey Educator of the Year
WoodLINKS
Vancouver, British Columbia Partner of the Year
Altendorf America | | | | | 1996 nnovator of the Year
Ellstrom Manufacturing
Seattle, Washington Exporter of the Year
Haworth, Inc.
Holland, Michigan Educator of the Year
Fox Valley Techincal College
Oshkosh, Wisconsin Partner of the Year
Michael Weinig | | | | | | | | 1995 Innovator of the Year
The Knoll Company
E. Greenville, Pennsylvania Exporter of the Year
ICO Manufacturing, Inc.
Babylon, New York Educator of the Year
Stiles Education Center
Grand Rapids, Michigan Partner of the Year
Timesavers, Inc. | | | | | 1994 Innovator of the Year
O'Sullivan Industries
Lamar, Missouri Exporter of the Year
American of Martinsville
Martinsville, Virginia Educator of the Year
Henredon Furniture Industries
Morganton, North Carolina Partner of the Year
C. R. Onsrud | | | |