Value vs. Price: A new generation of value-added components boost bottom line for shutter fabricators
by Susy Rein

As published in Draperies & Window Coverings magazine, November 2004

Change is uncommon and sometimes unwelcome in a mature industry like plantation shutter fabrication. A classic, timeless window covering, plantation shutters have been laboriously built by skilled craftsmen for generations.
While several new alternative materials have been introduced to both shutter fabricators and consumers in recent years, real wood shutters remain the traditional favorite. Beneath the surface paint, however, some of today's wood shutter components sport notable improvements, causing fabricators to change the way they buy shutter parts. Now that fabricators can buy components with top-quality value-added features, value rather than price is driving purchase patterns in this segment.

GOOD IDEA, FALSE STARTS
In any industry, time and cost efficiencies can be achieved when value is added to component parts at the point of manufacture. In the shutter industry, finger-jointed wood components are a good example. If expertly manufactured, finger-jointed components provide measurable advantages to shutter fabricators who prefer:
• Defect-free 100% wood
• Long, consistent lengths
• Straight and stable parts

The initial idea of finger-jointing and moulding pre-defected wood blocks into consistent long lengths had the potential to eliminate material waste and headaches for shutter fabricators nationwide. However, when established manufacturers of shutter parts introduced finger-jointed components to the market years ago, the end products didn't deliver the efficiencies fabricators were hoping for. The gluing process was unsophisticated; joints were uneven or separated, and showed through the finish paint.

Overall, early finger-jointed components did not effectively reduce waste in shutter manufacture. Instead they contributed to increased call-backs from unhappy customers. After this negative experience, most went back to using solids and swore they wouldn't try finger-jointed components again.

Ed Salomon, owner of California Shutters in Hialeah, Florida can relate. He has been fabricating plantation shutters from wood components for 43 years. "Over the years, a lot of people in the shutter parts industry have tried to better the finger-jointing," reflects Salomon, "but I haven't been pleased with their products. For me, to be good enough, the joint has to disappear."

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