Can Small Survive?
The 2002 data published by Statistics Canada for the Canadian furniture industry (NAICS 337) lists 3,597 establishments that employed 86,227 production workers, an average of 24 workers per factory. The household and institutional furniture sub-sector data showed 1691 establishments with 37,110 production workers for an average of 22 workers per factory. [1]
Since 2000, an increasing number of medium- to large-scale "manufacturers" have been out-sourcing some or all of their production to Asian countries, primarily China. As documented by Loretta Tofani in the Salt Lake Tribune, China has minimal environmental and health/safety regulations or enforcement, resulting in environmental degradation on a global scale.
Outsourcing in Canada has resulted in numerous plant closures and layoffs. Statistics Canada reports employment in Canada's household and institutional furniture manufacturing declined from 33,635 in 2003 to 30,579 in 2005. Outsourcing has been even more dramatic in the US - since 2000 over 69,000 jobs have been lost through 314 furniture plant closures. [2]
Smaller-scale manufacturers rarely outsource, which minimizes their environmental transportation footprint. In addition they purchase local materials/services and are less likely to pollute their own backyards.
Until consumers and regulators start considering the actual bottom line of purchasing local rather than imported furniture, small producers need to remain cost-competitive by using new technologies, superior design and providing products tailored to each customer's exact need. A range of initiatives can be implemented to achieve these goals, including flexible manufacturing networks (FMNs), incubator centres, access to CNC technology, economical CAD/CAM software options (see below), inventory financing programs, wood marketing boards, design competitions, etc.
Many countries already implement these initiatives with support organizations to help their smaller manufacturers adapt to globalization. For example, the UK's Metropolitan Works in East End London and France's Valorisation de l'Innovation dans l'Ameublement (VIA) concentrate on making their furniture industries more competitive.
Sketchlist 3D ($200), stand-alone software from SketchList Inc.; Furnit 2008 ($89), an add-on program for AutoCad from Romania are two new low-cost CAD programs that could help smaller producers become more competitive.
Learncnc.org makes available a free video "tutorial" that presents an interactive 3D environment for exploring different CNC machining and tooling topics.
[1] More recent Statistics Canada data for workers per factory cannot be compared with other years, because in 2004 Statistics Canada again changed the requirements for inclusion in its surveys of manufacturers (see VCR Statistics for previous changes).
[2] US Hardwood Federation report
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