making more room

[PAMELA DESIMONE,CPF]

Decor magazine has an article this month on saving space in the shop. One thing I noticed was a wall with corners samples cut with the angle still on the frame. All my corners are cut as chevrons. You will be amazed at how many more you can get on a wall with the corners cut as chevrons. Looks neater, too. Also, do you have an pile of glass scraps? We cut all our glass pieces to standard size and put them into the appropriate box. It only takes a second, we don't have to measure anything to see if it is the size we need, and no glass pile of odds and ends. Anyone else have any ideas to share? I have a limited amount of space in my shop, and am always looking for ideas.

[B Carter]

Pam-I learned a great idea from my good friend, Rob Markoff on corner samples.Make all your samples exactly the same. You often see corner walls in which some corners are 6", some 7", some chevron, some square cuts. It's once again the little things that add up to a professional look. By the way, had Decor wanted to show a spectacular look for use of space and organizing a back room, they should have done the entire article on Markoff's shop. The place looks like something out of a NASA clean room. Doors on every counter, drawers instead of boxes-impressive! It really is a commitment to the idea of excellence and the standard that you set in the shop.
As an aside on the point of corner sample walls; You see many framers touting 3000-5000 samples. I wonder how many of those samples never get taken off the wall. I know we are guilty of too many samples when I run a moulding report and we use 500-600 a year. I know we are not as big as some of the members( we only do around 6000 workorders a year), but once we get past our top 100 report, the majority are less than 3 uses a year, with a lot of mldgs used only once a year. Before anybody replies that you have to have a great selection even if you only use that item once a year, it's worth it, please recognize those factors when you make the decision between length or chop, or when you need to throw away dead samples away. And also, how many of those samples are from different companies? Maybe narrowing the group down to 3-5 companies might leverage some type of volume discounts
Boy, I better quit now before I rambled further

[This message has been edited by B Carter (edited November 26, 2000).]

[ArtLady]

Too many frame distributors can indeed effect the bottom line. There are economies of scale that can be achieved by cutting this number down. I am with you Bob Carter. My husband who was a management consultant for fifteen years has been haranging me for months to cut the number of offered corners down to 4 or 5 companies. I know he is right and so are you.


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Timberwoman
AL
I cut the mat, I pet the =^..^= cat.

[JRB]

Bob, I like lots of samples, makes me feel good. I do however try to keep it at six or seven suppliers. I run my business because I enjoy what I'm doing and I'm having fun. Not every thing I do makes economic sense, I'll do things like buy machines that I don't use all that much. When I use them though I am a big kid having a ball AND I make some neat stuff. Some times my toys turn out to be winners, like my Wizard mat cutter. The **** of it is since I stopped micro-managing the bottom Line and just started to enjoy being able to do what I want, my income has more than doubled.
Customers can sense when your actually enjoying what your doing as opposed to hanging on to every dime and worrying about the bottom line.
When I worked for Len Aaron he was always telling me to make the stores "Fun" stores.
Now I know what he meant and why.
It's a shame that company has ignored his ideas and turned those big boxes into micro-managed boredom.
Hail to the bean counters,
John

[Bob Carter]

Heck John, I don't think making money and making fun are mutually exclusive. In fact, I'm having a lot more fun when I'm making a lot as oppossed to not making a lot. A lot of folks don't care for the pace of Christmas; I love it.It's not uncommon to have 5 figure days and I love it. I do agree that you should have fun and hire people that like to have fun, but know when to turn it on and turn it off. Work hard;play hard. A great book on hiring practices is by Herb Kelleher, the founder of Southwest Airlines. They talk about group interviews with one of the questions being"Tell us your favorite joke" Someone that gets into a great joke knows how to laugh and have a good time is probably very personable. We look for those traits as well. We have several time honored traditions(all good time influenced), one I'll share. Every Christmas eve when things are at a crest, we run our Doo-Dah discount. We offer a 15% discount to any customers that will sing the first 4 lines of Zippety-Doo-Dah. You can't sing it without smiling(try it). It's a perfect break in the tension and we've done it for years. We rarely have anybody decline, the majority get into it. Imagine 50-60 people in the store, and somebody is singing at the cash and wrap. It's a hoot!If they get the first 4 lines right(and who can't), we offer a bonus round for an additional 10% for stuff like duets(husband and wife,etc).We also have 3 categories for extra discounts for mystery questions. Last year's questions were geography(name 4 states that start with A, with a lot of people forgetting Az), Sports(name 8 Phoenix Suns) and Music(name 3 of the exes in "All My Exes Live in Texas")Nobody leaves without a smile and the employees like it as much as the shoppers. So sometimes having fun is part of the culture of our company, but so is making money

[JRB]

Bob, What have we done to this poor woman's thread? We have to give her some ideas on saving space.
If you are still using an old fashion mat cutter and it has it's own table. Put hinges on one end of the cutter, put a small block and tackle rig into the ceiling. Attach a large screw eye to the other end of the cutter. Now you can hoist the cutter so that it is standing vertically at the edge of the mat cutter table.
Viola, you now have another fitting table.

Forced fun is not fun. It's the entire feeling of the store that I was referring to. ie: The Vibes the store gives off when customers come in.

I'm not saying your wrong, if managing every aspect of your organization is fun for you, then you are doing the right thing. If your making good money doing it, even better. Just try not to make money your God, it will show in your business and your health.
Paying microscopic attention to the bottom line has never been fun for me. When I finally realized I am at the age when I could leave this earth for good at any time.
I decided to not worry about money so much. I am now working toward being able to retire if I should ever want to.
Trouble is I'm not sure I'll ever want to.
John

[Kit aka emrr]

When I got into this business, no one warned me how addictive it could be. I dream of the day when I can afford to cut back to part-time but, like John, I don't think I'll ever be able to give it up entirely. He's also right about overhead storage. There's a whole ceiling up there just waiting to be utilized. I save time, space and money by only buying 32 x 40 glass; bigger than that I special order from my supplier. Smaller? Well, there are always left over pieces, aren't there? Kit

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Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana

[Jim Miller]

Back to saving space...

Our moulding corners were originally hung on vertical Velcro strips 8 ft. long (10 ft. ceilings here). Packed as densely as possible, they occupied about 28 ft. of prime wall space. Now we have them hanging on six 48"x96" black Gatorfoam panels. Three of the panels are attached to a 12 ft. length of wall, and the other three panels slide on two barn door tracks hung from the ceiling. We have 25% more moulding sample space, in less than half of the wall space. It looks great, and no more drywall ruined by adhesive Velcro strips.

Mat corner racks take up a lot of prime real estate on design tables. So, we now use double-deck, clear acrylic mat corner racks -- a significant improvement. Very professional looking and well worth their price, IMHO.

A mechanical drymount press takes up table space in the back room. The flat top of a vacuum press doubles as a work table when needed. A vacuum press is more versatile than a mechanical press for mounting, too.

Overhead storage is helpful, but be careful of two potential problems: (1) Light from ceiling fixtures may be blocked, making dark work areas; and (2) Make sure customers' property is safe from anything that might fall or be dropped from above. We used to keep metal frame hardware on a shelf over the fitting table, but not since a piece of steel corner hardware fell and poked a hole in a photograph to be framed. I was reaching for a handful of those pieces at the time. Live and learn.

We store mats, mount boards, and glass vertically, in bins under work tables. Our tables are constructed like fit-together puzzles, made of 1/2" and 3/4" particle board. Their tops are supported by vertical dividers, and you could literally park a car on any one of them -- they are extremely rigid, strong and stable. Over four hundred matboards, plus cut pieces, are stored under two 48"x96" tables, which also house all of our common hardware, tools, and supplies on small shelves. If you want to build similar tables, remember to incorporate vertical supports at right angles for best stability.

When saving space, do it wisely. For example, keep all liquids below bench-top level. Make sure that if a leak or spill happens, there is nothing below that could be harmed by the liquid mess. In our shop, there are carefully designated areas -- and prohibited areas -- for drinks, glue, solvents, paints & other liquids.

For the gallery, inexpensive and attractive easels can be constructed of 1/2" particle board with 1"x2" reinforcing spines inside. Ours are 7' tall; 12" wide and hinged at the top; 24" wide at the bottom. We stand them like a ladder,with the fronts and backs about 24" apart at the bottom. They are very stable. We keep large ready mades, surplus shop framed art, and overflow finished work under them, standing on the floor. Each side of each easel holds three or four framed display pieces, so we save valuable wall space. And the easels are portable -- just remove the frames, fold them shut at the bottom, and carry them anywhere.

Whenever frames are stored vertically, keep them face-to-face and back-to-back. That may seem obvious, but you'd be amazed how easy it is to ruin a frame with scratches and dents from the hardware on another frame, if they are standing face-to-back.

Hope that helps.

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Jim Miller, CPFcm; GAFP Committee Member

[PAMELA DESIMONE,CPF]

Bob, 5 figure days? 50-60 people? In one store? Tell me your secret! I think music in the store is great, but no one wants to hear me croak - opps, sing. I was wondering though, do you do 6000 orders per store, or 6000 combined? It wasn't clear to me. I'm a moulding junkie, but I still manage to keep my samples below 2000. I am sure many framers hate to throw anything away, so stuff just collects. I only keep two pieces of scrap matboard on file (except for popular colors). I only sell rag mats, also, so I also save space not having to store extra paper scraps.

[B Carter]

Pam-Since it's your thread and your question,I'll answer it without fear of disrupting this thread.Yes it'sfor my main store and there is no secret. We locate all our stores in major regional malls with mega-traffic. I compete not only with the Michael's and Aaron Bros of the world, but also the Eddie Bauer's, Disney's and Gap's as well. It makes you stay on top of your game. I pay as much in rent monthly as over 50%(according to PPFA) of framers gross in a month. The results speak for themselves, but only if you have the ability to compete at that level. We seek out only those malls(location, location, location) that mirror our target customer and have over $350/sq ft in sales. One has almost $500/sq ft. Multiply your gross sq footage by $500 and you get the idea. It's not for every one and the faint of heart need not apply. But it's what keeps us busy doing what we've been trained to do. By the way, would you guess Jay does a whole lot of 5 figure days, also? It's just a different level of doing business with a lot of the same problems you have every day , also. I hope I'm not coming off boastful, it's just the facts of the way we do business

[B Carter]

Pam-Since it's your thread and your question,I'll answer it without fear of disrupting this thread.Yes it'sfor my main store and there is no secret. We locate all our stores in major regional malls with mega-traffic. I compete not only with the Michael's and Aaron Bros of the world, but also the Eddie Bauer's, Disney's and Gap's as well. It makes you stay on top of your game. I pay as much in rent monthly as over 50%(according to PPFA) of framers gross in a month. The results speak for themselves, but only if you have the ability to compete at that level. We seek out only those malls(location, location, location) that mirror our target customer and have over $350/sq ft in sales. One has almost $500/sq ft. Multiply your gross sq footage by $500 and you get the idea. It's not for every one and the faint of heart need not apply. But it's what keeps us busy doing what we've been trained to do. By the way, would you guess Jay does a whole lot of 5 figure days, also? It's just a different level of doing business with a lot of the same problems you have every day , also. I hope I'm not coming off boastful, it's just the facts of the way we do business