2009 CLOSETS & Home Organization Conference & Expo Session Descriptions
Closets & Home Organization Conference – Session Descriptions
Taking Advantage of the Social Media Shift, Denise Butchko, Designer, Closet Works
Utilizing real-world examples from colleagues who are already using social media, this presentation will answer your questions and calm your queasiness about how and why to incorporate these applications into your branding and your life. We will focus on specific ways that you can incorporate New Media applications into your marketing efforts for greater effectiveness – and fun!
Learn why the longer you sit on the sidelines, the more opportunities you’ll miss. You’ll see statistics and examples demonstrating that Social Media is not a passing phase but an ever growing and important practice. And one that involves so much more than telling people what you had for lunch (though if it's a really good burger joint in Chicago - I'd kinda like to know!)
Building a Leaner Business, Suzy Whatley, Director of Operations, Rev-A-Shelf
This session will cover the application of lean principles from light manufacturing to total distribution including:
- Commitment from management. A list of do’s and don’ts and avoid the “flavor of the month”
- Establish a key focal point in the beginning; be relentless on the search for understanding
- Measuring results; are you achieving the team’s goals, is the data in a format easy to read, understand, and communicated
- Sustainability of the progress; creating new habits, avoid complacency
Profit Centers Beyond Closets, Kevin Jepson, Co-Owner, Closets Etc.
There is no magic pill to make your business survive or even thrive; however, diversification can greatly help. Throughout the life of Closets Etc. we have created revenue streams in many areas including:
- Garages
- Laundry Rooms
- Mud Rooms
- Wall Beds
- Entertainment Centers
- Armoires
- Home Office
- Make-up Centers
- Kitchens Cabinets
- Bathroom Vanities
- Commercial Casework
- Lighting
- Glass
I will be sharing some of our successes for you to apply to your business and pitfalls for you to avoid.
We need to start thinking outside the box: cabinet companies are moving into the closet business. Why are closet companies not moving into the cabinet business? The same goes with garages. Garages are where the closet business was 20 years ago. Don’t be left behind if you have not explored this market.
Closets Design & Sales, Speaker to be announced
Understanding your client and their expectations is critical to designing the right closet for them. This session will showcase innovative closet designs that can add value to your future projects and demonstrate how to deliver the service your customer mandates, to create the ultimate sale.
- Identify what matters most to your clients
- Understand client expectations in current economic times
- Service your customer’s needs
- Learn innovative closet designs
Be a Marketplace Leader, Dave Angers, Director, Closet Tailors
Mastering a Single Business Proposition: What makes your business compelling? Is it your superior product line, customer service level, or are you the low price leader? Apple, Nordstrom, and Costco are true market leaders because each of them excels in a single business proposition that their competitors haven’t been able to duplicate. Consumers overwhelmingly prefer to work with businesses that have their level of marketplace clarity and focus. This 1 hour workshop will help you identify your single business proposition and help you understand why it pays to be a specialist.
The Life and Times of a Lean STOR-X™ Closet, Wolf Nickel, President, StorX Organizing Systems
“Lean” is a buzzword that seems to have become everybody’s favorite production work system. Lean manufacturing is a production philosophy that requires a change in the traditional way of examining business processes. It relies on the philosophy to only produce what is necessary in the exact quantity when it is needed. Lean manufacturing can rationalize office and plant space, which can increase capacity and increase the output of existing products without acquiring new facilities.
This is exactly what Wolf Nickel, President of STOR-X™ Organizing Systems, was looking for. He was facing long extended lead times for his dealer network; hiring more staff and expanding the shop size were not options. Instead, STOR-X™ chose to get more efficient.
Wolf will share their Lean journey and have the attendees at his presentation share in some of the exercises. Wolf will give examples of the valuable lessons and changes he made in the factory. His presentation will:
- Describe the Lean process
- Find out how his STORX 3D Cad software was a result of Lean
- What equipment changes STOR-X ™ made
- How it improved the product line
- How it empowered the employees
- Follow a Lean closet through the entire Lean process
- Have some fun!
Industry Tour of Drawer Box Specialties' Manufacturing Plant (off-site)
Located a short 30 minute drive from the Long Beach Convention Center in Orange, CA is Drawer Box Specialties' (DBS) 55,000 sq ft manufacturing facility dedicated to the manufacturing of custom and stock drawer boxes.
Using a wide variety of materials that include melamine, ply woods and solid woods, DBS produces dovetail, doweled and nailed drawer boxes in both custom and stock sizes. Tours will be conducted in small groups to insure that questions get answered and your time is well spent.
Refreshments will be served. Tours will be conducted from 4:00 pm until 6:00 pm with the buses returning to the hotels by 7:00 pm. Duration of the tour is approximately 1 hour.
