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Going Quasi-Green – Scrap Is In

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Everywhere we turn these days, someone is jumping on the green bandwagon, claiming that their products are Earth friendly and yet there is still far too much waste that finds its way into the local dump. Too often manufacturers fail to see that scrap can be used. When scrap is used we can call it being quasi-green meaning that we leave a minimal carbon footprint or unnecessarily use natural resources.

 

Have you recently taken a look at kitchen utensil displays either online or in local stores? Bins and racks filled with plastic and other synthetics that are far from green. (Plastic is made from oil.) Take a look in your own kitchen. What is the ratio between plastic and renewable materials such as wood? Why are these utensils being bought so readily? Is it fashion? Ease of cleaning? There’s nothing else available? A large part of the reason why we see so many plastic utensils is that almost all of these utensils are manufactured in China, cheaply. Many have their production off-shore because there is a far higher profit than if they were to be made in the U.S.A. (See our earlier blog “Oven Claw: Made in the U.S.A.)

 

If these companies would just look around, they’d see that there is another way. Ages ago, when I was kid it was common to watch workers tear down old buildings board by board and stack the wood in piles. This scrap lumber would be used to build new structures. This is in stark contrast to today when bulldozers crush everything and large trucks haul the remains to the dump. During those early days people especially in the lower middle class used every scrap of various materials around the house. For instance, my mother saved bacon, steak and other drippings left after cooking. She used this grease to make bars of soap that for the most part she used for washing clothes. Every scrap of cloth gleaned from making our shirts was saved and eventually used to make warm quilts. There were many such examples of this kind of utilization in not only our household but others as well. There was very little waste. Reports indicate that since the early 1990s more and more companies are trying to use scrap instead of using only new materials. At the same time people purchasing products strongly prefer new materials and shun used.

 

What does all of this have to do with the Oven Claw? As we build out our market, we will use more and more recycled wood and ensure that our manufacturers use every scrap. As it stands at the moment, our manufacturer does not waste any part of the tree. In this way the Oven Claw is not what one normally thinks of as a green product but it is more akin to what I saw as I grew up; using every scrap possible. Why not change your buying habits and reject plastics? Use wood products in your kitchen and save our natural resources.

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Oven Claw: Made In The U.S.A.

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

President, Leikam Enterprises, LLC


“You’re having it made, here in this country?” “You mean you don’t have to out-source to China?” We had many such comments. People often concluded with, “That’s great. That’s the way it should be.” But when I began to design the Oven Claw™ that wasn’t what I was being told. At one woodturning shop where I had a prototype of the Oven Claw™ made, the woodturner said, “Bill, do you want the bad news?” Always eager for information, even negative, I replied, “Sure.” He went on to say that I’d never make any money from the Oven Claw™ because of the cost of wood, the cost of hiring a woodturner, shipping, and other costs. He added, “Take those numbers and you would have to wholesale it for a minimum of $25.00 and no one can afford that. Retailers generally mark-up by 50%. That would mean they would have to put them on the shelf for $50.00. It just won’t fly. You’ll never make a profit. I’d find another project.


So, with that information, I slacked off on developing the Oven Claw™ further, thinking about what I could do, how I could have it made in the U.S. and at a cost whereby I could make at least a little profit. I went in search of another woodturner; someone who might have the equipment that would enable the shop to produce a high enough volume so as to drive down the manufacturing cost yet maintains the quality. I found an elderly gentleman. He went to work on the project but when I picked up my first supply, he informed me that unless he could make more than 100 at a time, he could not make them for under $20.00 each. There would be no profit. Disheartened but determined, I sold the first small supply of Oven Claws to local high-end stores, friends, anyone. People admired them, called them works of art, elegant and yet practical. I sold all but five. I kept those so that I had a variety of woods to show store owners and take orders.


My first break came while during a business meeting someone in the group suggested that we have them manufactured by a prison industry. Immediately upon arriving back at my office, I went online and found the National Correctional Industries Association, contacted them, told them what was needed and in their return email I had three references. In the end, the prison industry I chose to work with could not accomplish the complex task of adequately cutting the Oven Claw™ head and so they bowed out.


Knowing that it was probably possible to find a manufacturer, I set my team to work. They found several manufacturers but one in particular fulfilled all of our key needs: Made in the U.S.A., use recycled wood – scrap that would otherwise be trashed in the dump – maintain quality and give us a good supply quickly and inexpensively.


So, if you do your homework and if you don’t give up, you can have your projects manufactured in the U.S.A. at a reasonable cost so as to keep jobs here in this country, help local workers put food on their table and at the same time be a responsible business by going green.

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