In my travels for the Wood Manufacturing Council across Canada, I continue to be fascinated by the diverse strategies woodshops use to execute production.
These shops range from small, traditional furniture shops like Barnboard in Hamilton to highly mechanized, one-person operations like Rocky Mountain Millwork in Calgary, which employs robotics to cut and build their millwork. On a larger scale, Kingswood Cabinetry in Calgary uses extensive automation, while Kubic in Mississauga blends modern mechanization alongside stationary power tools. Despite these differences, skilled people remain central to production.
How do wood shops meet their production needs and keep an excellent workforce? I have seen shops that have most people doing one or two processes repeatedly and shops that cross-train their people to be able to have mobility in their skills, and tasks throughout the organization. Chaulk Woodworking focuses on cross-training and fostering an engaging workplace culture. Trevor Chaulk’s company offers creative incentives to attract and retain workers, ensuring they feel valued both in the shop and the community.
With the wide range of shops and needs of manufacturers in Canada, one of the great challenges is how do people come into the industry and have a seamless transition to being both productive and engaged so they stay? Some people make lateral transition with a background in woodwork or manufacturing whether as newcomers or within Canada. Many are trying to get a start in the industry and either come from a training program such as the WMC Connecting Youth to Wood Manufacturing training program or the Momentum program in Calgary. In talking with employers across Canada, I sometimes hear critique of what students are learning in training programs and that graduates are not industry ready.
As a red seal cabinetmaker, I had my start in a community college skilled trades exploration and then on to a one-year cabinetmaking program. From there I worked many years in the industry and then went on to teach in post-secondary for more than 11 years. Having been a student of post-secondary skilled trades training, worked in industry for 20 years and then a teacher, I have a bias that post-secondary skilled trades training is critical to meaningful, fulsome education in cabinetmaking and wood manufacturing. I have been exposed to post-secondary programs throughout Ontario and to a lesser extent in other parts of Canada. Post-secondary woodworking programs are delivering important fundamentals of cabinetmaking, wood manufacturing and essential skills training. For example, programs at Humber and Georgian College take students through a series of practices backed up with theory that get students through the challenging pathways to safe operation of a series of stationary machines. Students are challenged to try to practice the expectations of completing projects with consideration for both quality and deadline. As students build capacity, they are challenged with more complex processes including interpreting and creating drawings and cuts lists. This builds muscle in extrapolating from 2 D to understand all components and the procedures to complete a project. Having said this, it takes years to develop 360-degree skills in cabinetmaking. Woodworking training is only a small foundation for building that capacity. And it is a cornerstone.
Some employers expect that post-secondary will generate workers that can land in their organization with 3rd year apprenticeship skills and experience. This is an expectation that cannot be met. Another critique I have heard is that post-secondary should focus on case construction skills alone. While I understand these desires and frustrations, there can be a misunderstanding of the mission and obligations of post-secondary. First, every post-secondary program must teach to a contract with the government regarding learning outcomes, deliverables and hours of delivery. This is the limitation of the container they are in.
Second, every program has challenges with square footage, retooling, integration of new technology as colleges are not in the business of profit and budgets are tight.
Third, there can be a philosophical gap between post-secondary and industry. And there should be. Industry is in the business of building beautiful things out of wood and wood products with the intention of profiting that necessitates a keen attention to margins, productivity, quality, waste and timelines. Post-secondary faculty are tasked with teaching woodworking fundamentals that can be built upon and transferable to the workforce and a diverse industry. Students can be hired in shops from stairs to doors and architectural millwork to kitchen cabinets. Further, whoever comes through the college door that qualifies to be in the program is going through a process of learning SOPs, project-based learning scaffolded with theory in woodworking. The bar is very low for entry, and many come in with zero experience and do not have what I call good hands. Good hands is the natural, tactile aptitude with woodwork of handling materials, tools and doing processes. Some students also do not have a baked-in hustle or enthusiasm in the way they show up. They are shoulder to shoulder with students with good hands, some experience and lots of hustle. Faculty is tasked with delivering, within limited resources, curriculum mandates, something meaningful from a woodworking perspective to all these students. There is also a culture in post-secondary of student support and accommodation. This is a very good shift so those who have learning challenges can get the support they need. It also can create tension for the faculty in having students go through a journey of growth/challenge in building woodworking capacity and knowing the expectations of industry and the shop floor environment and trying to bridge these two sometimes disparate worlds.
For wood manufacturers and employers who sometimes hold critical views on the quality or post-secondary cabinetmaking programs, my advice is join a Program Advisory Committee (PAC). Every post-secondary program in Canada that is publicly funded has a PAC that is made up of folks from the industry who can review the program and advise on improvements. It is also a great way to get a better understanding of the landscape of what post-secondary programs deal with and see that the delivery of teaching and learning for post-secondary woodworking is in the good hands of people with tons of industry experience and a capacity to transmit knowledge and allow students to learn and build a passion for woodwork. There can be a chasm between the teaching environment and what employers may need in their facility. Let us bridge that gap together with cooperation and an understanding.
