When Hoffman Manufacturing, Inc. owner Geoffrey Hoffman left his woodworking job in the late '90s to start his own store fixture company, he not only brought his expertise in fashioning wood products out of fiber-based materials, he also brought hands-on skill in metal fabrication, including powder

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From the get-go, Hoffman realized the value of having the capability to add the powder-coated metal to wood components which, he says, sets him apart from most of his competition. This was particularly critical in his home base of Madison, Wis., where store fixture manufacturers were plentiful and extremely competitive.

"The company was started to manufacture furniture with powder-coated steel frames and wood panels," Hoffman explains. "My background is both in wood and metal. In the beginning, we only sourced the powder coating. Now we do it ourselves and at least half of our work uses wood and metal together.

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"Diverse capabilities have helped us stay consistently busy."

Hoffman says he does not serve any particular fixture market subsector; although he considers his market area as national. He does have one large local customer whom he does a lot of subcontracting for; "mainly the small jobs." Hoffman says.

"We're really not specific in what area we serve," he says. "Diversity helps balance our year. Since we have an advantage in the area of metal fabrication and powder coating, we will always pursue projects that require wood and metal."

Hoffman designed the powder-coating system in-house. "We designed the powder operation ourselves with the concept of flexible flow and staging in mind," he says. "The booth and oven we purchased, but the conveyer is our fabrication. The coating area is 3,300 square feet. There are two workers assigned to the area: however, they can work else-where, depending on our work load.

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Here is the powder coating process:

First, parts are cleaned, mostly by hand. For small parts, dip tanks are used. The parts are then hanged and conveyed into the booth where the powder is manually applied with electrostatic powder guns. Parts are then conveyed into the 20-foot oven, where they "cook" at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. After cooling, they are ready to be unloaded.

"We buy material from several powder manufacturers depending on quantity and customer specification." Hoffman explains. "Most of the time our customer specifies the powder. We've abandoned powdering wood, primarily due to limited availability of powder. Powder for wood is different than powder for metal."

Hoffman says the main advantages of bringing powder coating in-house are reduction of lead times and the "elimination of someone else's margin, so our pricing can be more competitive."

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He says he didn't come to his own company with specific knowledge of powder coating. "I only knew where to go in town to get powder coating done. It is something we learned as we started doing it," he says. "I relied heavily on my employees for this.

"Our powder shop is a support department and I don't expect to grow specific business just for powder. Our powder will grow with the rest of the company, but it is not likely to grow percentage wise."

Dealing with the 'Big Guys'

So, specifically, how is Hoffman Manufacturing able to compete with companies that are 20 times its size?

"Functionally, we're competitive because we outsource less with metal and powder in-house," he says. "Control over quality, price and lead times are huge advantages. In addition, we can market ourselves as a 'one-stop' shop."

"We offer everything. The only thing the largest manufacturers can do that we can't do is they can make more of it. Willingness also raises competitiveness. Some shops say 'no' to a short lead time or can't handle a lot of customer changes. Part of what we sell is our willingness to say 'yes' and to do more."

Besides its powder-coating expertise, Hoffman has instituted a smooth, flexible order-to-ship scheme. The company utilizes a team of CNC machines and other panel processing equipment. The machines were purchased through the John G. Weber Company of Sheboygan Falls, Wis. Weber is a distributor for Stiles Machinery.

Lots of CNC machinery

Major pieces of equipment include a Homag Espana panel saw, Weeke Optimat 250 point-to-point machining center, Brandt edgebander and a Weeke Optimat BHC 350 point-to-point machining center.

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A work order is created for each of the team leaders in "machine," "wood," "metal" and "powder" departments. This packet includes drawings and material information. Data from all work orders is compiled in a daily schedule. It is a simple and automatic system.

"Every fixture is created in Solidworks because it is the best software for us for engineering and design," says Hoffman. "Nearly all of our customers use it also. Unfortunately, without going to a DXF file first there is not a way to go from Solidworks to CutRite or WoodWop. We have to manually enter information from our Solidworks drawings. WoodWop is very user-friendly so the process is simple.

"We can program a part in WoodWop on the fly at the machining center faster than importing and exporting a DXF file."

So how is Hoffman Manufacturing able to compete nationally when there are fixture manufacturers in the regions they sell in to?

"Luck, and then not messing up. Sometimes work just falls in our lap. The key then is keeping them so happy that they have no reason to look else-where."

Competing locally and nationally

In terms of competitive challenges, Hoffman is not sure how marketing locally compares to nationally.

"I have no idea what the differences are," he says. "Seriously, though, we have not had a need to practice marketing. What little we do nationally does. I think, cover locally also."

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Training at Hoffman is not formalized. "Our training is informal and on-the-job. For specific positions, we have used Stiles Education in Grand Rapids for training. The cross-training is thin and varied. Most employees are specialists but can fill in at other positions when needed."

Still, finding qualified employees is not easy, he says.

"It isn't easy at times. Some positions, like welders, are easy, but cabinetmakers are hard to find. We are pursuing a relationship with the local technical college, Madison Area Technical College, which should help. They have an excellent wood program. For a position like CNC programmer and operator, we pursue people with a machinist, not wood or cabinet, background.

"Still, as a business owner, my biggest challenge is making decisions based on our financial statements instead of what I may want to do," concludes Hoffman.

Hoffman Manufacturing, Inc.

Location: Madison Wis.

Established: 1998

Products: Store fixtures and Subcontracted parts

Market area: Local and national

Employees: 23

Facility size: 25,000 sq. ft.

Owner: Geoffrey Hoffman

Yearly sales volume: $3 million