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Member Profile: Canyon Creek Cabinet Co. |
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Written On: March 2006 |
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Written By: by Shawn Sullivan |
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Off the main road, tucked away in the midst of a large industrial park in Monroe, stands what looks like a small show room for custom-made cabinetry. Even as you spend the first five minutes walking through the showroom, Canyon Creek Cabinet Co. seems relatively small, but looks can be deceiving.
Walking through a set of double doors, the true sense of Canyon Creek's size and ability finally hits home. Every cabinet produced is different in some way, depending entirely on customer needs.
Canyon Creek started as Cascade Cabinets, a manufacturer of low-cost cabinetry for builders and contractors in Washington. But in 1996, new owners and a new management team transitioned the company into a state-of-the-art, highly flexible, custom manufacturer of cabinetry that employs more than 670 people. "We are one of those industries that nobody hears about that has created 400 jobs in the last five to six years," said Bill Weaver, president and chief executive officer of Canyon Creek.
The company created those jobs through its innovation and the demand for quickly built, middle-priced cabinetry. "Our cabinet business evolved into a fashion business," Weaver said. "There are over 20 standard colors to choose from, but we can do almost any custom paint job in house."
The key to Canyon's ability to custom make any cabinet to the customer's specifications is a combination of highly-skilled employees and a computerized system that tracks the order from inception to final production.
"From the time we receive an order from one of our suppliers to when we ship the product usually takes, with the longest wait times, no more than five to six weeks," Weaver said. Canyon Creek can produce a custom-made cabinet in that time because they make almost everything in-house.
"We are a fully integrated company," Weaver said. "Most of the machining, 80 percent of the cabinet doors, all of the painting, and all of the finishing are done in our plant. We also have our own trucking fleet and in-house accountants." Once the plant finalizes the production of a cabinet, Canyon can ship it anywhere from Florida to Alaska. Most of Canyon Creek's distributors are located in the Pacific Northwest, but orders from places like New York and Alaska are not all that uncommon.
"In a given year, we typically produce more than 250,000 cabinets, and we continue to grow at a rapid pace," Weaver said. "Our growth rate, during the last four years, remained at 15 percent." One of biggest reasons behind Canyon Creek’s success is their ability to change its production to fit trends in cabinetry designs. "Seven years ago this industry changed into a fashion business," Weaver said. "Staying current on fashion trends in cabinetry manufacturing is one of our most difficult, yet rewarding, aspects of our company," Weaver said.
Canyon Creek stays current by using more than 20 standard colors and diversifying its finishing techniques. "We have the ability to create any custom paint job for our customers," Weaver said. "Whether its distressing wood, creating bird pecks on the finish, or putting a glaze on top of the cabinets ... if the contractor can think of it, we can do it."
Although Canyon Creek produces a substantial amount of cabinets each year, it is one of the most environmentally-conscious companies within the industry. "We received numerous awards and recognition for their achievements in environmental practices and community contributions," Weaver said. Canyon Creek has received more than 14 awards in the past five years, and its products are manufactured using state-of-the-art environmental protection equipment that practically eliminates the environmental effects of cabinet making. "Most of the awards we've won [were] due to the nomination of regulatory agencies," Weaver said. "Most of them we didn’t even apply for."
Canyon Creek outgrew its Maltby plant in 1997 and built a new plant in Monroe. Canyon Creek completed the plant in 1998, but by 2004, they once again reached capacity. "We are building an additional 45,000 square foot facility adjacent to our current facility," Weaver said. He expects to complete construction in February, but also expects to outgrow the new section of the plant within a year or two. When construction is complete and the company reaches its newly acquired capacity, Canyon Creek estimates adding 50 more jobs, bringing the total to more than 700 employees within the state.
"One of the most important things we have accomplished is understanding who we are," Weaver said. "While we always push the bounds of who we are, we always stay within the framework of knowing who we are." Canyon Creek successfully transformed a defunct manufacturing company into one of the largest custom-made cabinetmakers in the country, with no signs of slowing down in the near future.
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