Supply Chain for a small cabinet/furniture maker

[AJB Temple]

Richard - remember that this forum is a free resource and that content is provided by participants in their pare time. It is a forum for chat and helping each other, that forms a kind of community. There is no need to differentiate between technical and non-technical queries. It is also worth remembering that although many people will try to be helpful, no one is especially motivate dot provide free consultancy for your business or to give away their own trade secrets publicly.

A regards supply chain, you are a low volume producer and you would be unwise to rely on any external stock holder to maintain your supply chain as you are using very low volumes and will not at first be a priority client for a timber merchant. Therefore, you will need to maintain your own stock holding - say 4 weeks supply - so that you can guarantee supply continuity and improve the deals you do. It would be risky to build a business based "just in time" ordering and delivery at the level you are currently operating.

 

[richard6299]

I'm in West Yorkshire. Any recommended timber yards for my business making boxes? Boxes that are meant to more or less be seen as furniture. Are we talking about regular timber yards like say Howarth Timber? Given what has been said, I think we are. Or maybe Howarth Timber is part of a national chain, and so, not really that suitable.

 

[marcros]

have a look at niche timbers. i havent used them before but they have some nice stuff on the website. http://www.nichetimbers.co.uk

 

[Jelly]

I'm in West Yorkshire. Any recommended timber yards for my business making boxes? Boxes that are meant to more or less be seen as furniture. Are we talking about regular timber yards like say Howarth Timber? Given what has been said, I think we are.

Howarth's Wakefield is (posdibly was) one of only a tiny number of their branches to deal in hardwoods regularly, and even then they're not in a position to hold lots of stock, I'd go speak to them, but not hold out too much hope of them being able to meet all your needs (but if you want quality softwoods, they can sell you it by the shipload).

I'd try "Timber Specialists Sheffield Ltd." and "Arnold Laver" (You'll need to ring the Mossbrough Depot/Mill).

 

[marcros]

the other thing that you could do is to use timbers such as cherry, walnut, etc and use veneers for lids and features. This would enable you to have some stock of the bread and butter timbers, buy in bulk etc. They are much more readily available than many exotics. i would suggest somebody like lavers for this.

 

[RobinBHM]

You could try:

duffield timber
niche timber
scrawton sawmill (oak)

further afield:
international timber (branch in manchester)
brooks bros (branch in Lancashire).

The UK timber market mostly comprises of either the hardwood sector, softwoods, or constructiion.

Most tlocal timber yards are really for the the construction industry selling mostly sawn spruce for constructional timber like studwork and joisting then redwood for site joinery both planed all round section and mouldings. Howarth timber are in this category. They will stock some hardwood and they can buy it in for you, at a cost and unknown quality.

Companies that deal in hardwoods, maybe the large companies like Brooks Bros, International timber, Timbmet etc they are all importers and deal mostly in commercial hardwoods for the joinery or furniture industry. The range of commercially available timbers has shrunk hugely over the last 30 years and many timbers that used to be available like Brazilian mahogany, teak, ramin etc are now banned.

The majority of commercial hardwood timber comes from either Africa or America, of those the American timbers for cabinetmaking would include walnut, cherry, maple, ash. and from Africa, sapele, wenge. I dont know if it still the case but African timbers would arrive at Tilbury docks and American timbers at Liverpool and there used to be quite a few timber companies around these areas. Blumsons for example are still based near Purfleet and their yard backs onto the thames (just up the road from Dagenham ford).

There are then smaller hardwood merchants that specialise in the rarer or more exotic timbers, either homegrown or tropical imports.

What timbers are you hoping to use for your boxes?

 

[ardenwoodcraft]

"Boxes that are meant to be seen as more or less furniture" seems to be a very ambiguous description of whatever this proposed product of yours is going to be.

There is very little that is new or has'nt been tried / done before in woodworking. I appreciate that you may not want to give away too many details and if this product is truly ground breaking then rightly so. Have you researched your market and potential sales volumes for this product? Is there anything similar currently on the market that would give you a guideline as to pricing for this product? Who would your customers be and which geographical location would provide your best revenue stream? What kind of marketing strategy would you use to promote your product to your proposed clients / buyers?

May I suggest, if you have'nt already, that you make some prototypes of your product from cheaper materials, ie:- MDF, plywood etc. This would give you a measurable idea of the volume of material your product would use and enable you to accurately price the more exotic material you propose making the final product out of.

Finally, the big question, do you have the skills, experience and facilities to actually make the product you are proposing. If not then perhaps your time would be better spent acquiring the skills and facilities you would require to move forward with this project. You can always come back to your idea at a later date and will be far better informed and equipped when you do.

Hope this is helpful to you,
Dave.

 

[Rob Platt]

https://www.britishhardwoods.co.uk/
worth a call to check there stock and if handy
worth a visit and a look
all the best
rob

 

[richard6299]

I'm making "boxes", seen as furniture. I'm not entirely sure what UK customers go for in wood type, I suppose ash, oak, beech, elm, pine, etc. But, is it not a "no-brainer" to use veneered pieces, rather than solid wood? What would be the "innards" of veneered wood board? Or perhaps, is there a reason to use a particular type of veneered board? Useing natural wood, perhaps, as the inner wood, rather than man-made? Not sure if there is any difference from the customers point of view, who only sees the veneer.

 

[Dan j]

I'm making "boxes", seen as furniture. I'm not entirely sure what UK customers go for in wood type, I suppose ash, oak, beech, elm, pine, etc. But, is it not a "no-brainer" to use veneered pieces, rather than solid wood? What would be the "innards" of veneered wood board? Or perhaps, is there a reason to use a particular type of veneered board? Useing natural wood, perhaps, as the inner wood, rather than man-made? Not sure if there is any difference from the customers point of view, who only sees the veneer.

The difference is down to you. What sort of machinery do you have set up? Do you have experience working veneer?
You might save money on veneer but increase labour time. Man made boards behave differently to natural timber, depending on humidity/temperature.

Its difficult to say without knowing more about your set up/experience/product.

 

[Inoffthered]

I'm making "boxes", seen as furniture. I'm not entirely sure what UK customers go for in wood type, I suppose ash, oak, beech, elm, pine, etc..

Are you actually "making" boxes or are you "intending to make" boxes?

As for selling 20 - 30 per week, a common mistake made by business start ups is to over-estimate the level of sales or base forecasts on emotion rather than experience or market research (and by market research I dont mean asking friends and family because they are likely to tell you what you want to hear rather than what they would actually do as a consumer).

Your question about "supply chains" may be relevant at some point in the future but as a business start up unless you have already made some of your boxes, I suggest that you get some affordable lumber from where ever you can (eBay if necessary) and make your prototypes. Actually making one will highlight the production challenges you will face and give a better of labour time to make each box and whether you will physically be able to make 20 - 30 boxes a week to sell without working crazy hours).


Until you are making products that are selling in the market place you are in a difficult position when talking to your "supply chain" because anything you say is based on aspiration. Although at some point you may want 24 metres a week, you appear to be nowhere near needing that volume now. As your business builds and you have a history of purchasing you will be in a better position to discuss pricing etc when you can talk about actual volumes bought.

 

[adidat]

^^^^^^

excellent advice!

adidat

 

[doctor Bob]

Be cautious about volumes.
My initial start up business was based on bespoke radiator covers, my estimate was that I needed to sell 5 per week.

In 12 years I have sold 7 radiator covers...................