The management team at Eggers Industries believes in the value of both of these concepts and recently several members of the management team participated in a Tour of Technology in China sponsored by Stiles Machinery, Inc. in Grand Rapids, MI. During the tour, insights were gained on China's rapidly growing production capabilities, their speed to market, and their use of the latest high-tech equipment. The participants toured a wide range of woodworking manufacturing facilities which ranged from having little automation, to having automated equipment with no connectivity or flow, to facilities with well orchestrated automation. Believe it or not, China is facing a labor shortage and increasing labor rates, which is driving the demand for automation. Most of the facilities were focused on repetitive processes with large batch sizes to manufacture a variety of residential furniture or kitchen and bathroom cabinets, while one company manufactured high end, "tailor made", or custom furniture and components.

Complete details of the trip and the various facility tours were captured by Karen Koenig, Editor in Chief of Wood and Wood Products magazine in the following magazine articles and BLOG links.

Inside Two Mega Chinese Wood Plants: Kinwai, Oppein

Furniture Manufacturing in China: Royal & Sogal

China's Factory of the Future: MingZhu

Scenes from China