PBC Linear talks about their Integral-V Linear Guides solution used in TigerStop's latest rack and pinion driven positioning system, TigerRack.

TigerStop proudly supports WoodLINKS USA, an organization dedicated to helping build future woodworkers through industry support and education.  WoodLINKS USA ia a not-for-profit organization focused on establishing a modern, entry-level wood manufacturing program in high schools and community colleges designed to meet local skilled employee needs with the long term intent of providing our wood industry with the necessary skilled workers to remain competitive at the entry and middle management levels.

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While at the AWFS tradeshow in Las Vegas last month, Gerry Barnaby stopped by our booth asking about our products - then landed at the SawGear demo station.  Turns out he is from ToolSELECT, a tool review website, and wanted to review the SawGear right on the spot.

The SawGear was designed with the contractor in mind - job site rugged and portable so it can travel from job to job.  The stop is so affordable compared to most automation tools, it has been coined the "Affordable Automation" tool and is finding its way to small shops in the woodworking and metalworking environments.  We are pretty proud and love it when tool reviewers pick us out of the masses like the AWFS show.

For a sneak preview of our review, click here. 

Your can check out their website here.

The TigerStop booth is humming along at AWFS this year.....

Visitors of the TigerStop booth are invited to learn about TigerStop's Clipboard software - paperless workflow for lean manufacturing.  Shops needing that extra competitve edge can learn about going paperless with touch screen control and work order downloading with Clipboard.

Other products available for demonstration are the TigerFence and SawGear.  Purchasers of a SawGear during the show and up to August 31, 2011 will receive a coupon for a FREE DEWALT miter saw stand shipped anywhere in the United States.  If automation always seemed to be ONLY for the BIG guys, check out the SawGear.  SawGear makes automation affordable for everyone.

At AWFS?  Check out booth #4655!

We're pretty excited about this over here at TigerStop.  We worked out a great deal with our buddies at DEWALT to be able to ship a free DEWALT miter saw stand to every customer who buys either an 8 foot SawGear or a 12 foot SawGear.  The SawGear works great on the DEWALT stand, and setup with our BR-MSS brackets takes seconds.  Just install the BR-MSS brackets on the DEWALT miter saw stand, and then every time you setup your saw stand, you can drop the SawGear directly onto the brackets and clamp it in place.  Honestly - it'll only take a couple seconds to setup or tear down. Is there some fine print - well sure.  But it's not too bad.  We can only ship stands to US addresses, and the offer is only good for SawGear SG08 or SG12 purchases from June 15, 2011 to August 31, 2011.  To get the DEWALT saw stand, return the coupon that is enclosed with the SawGear to us at TigerStop along with a copy of your SawGear purchase receipt.  We'll then mail out a saw stand to you directly. This is a pretty cool deal...

This year’s Woodworking Industry Conference (WIC) started off with an interesting discussion on NikeID.  That’s right, NikeID – which is a mass customization program kicked off by Nike nearly 6 years ago.  You go to a website, design the Nike sneaker that you want (style, colors, etc.), pay for it, and then they make it and ship it to you.  And you won’t pay more for your custom sneaker and it won’t take months for you to get them.  You’ll wait a week at most – like any online purchase.

Welcome to the era of mass customization, and this was the focus of much of WIC.  With traditional woodworking markets of housing, furniture, and cabinets down substantially from their hay-days of 2007, consumers who are buying our products now demand that their purchases are made more precisely to their tastes.  And here’s the catch… they won’t pay more for these custom products, and they won’t wait longer for them.  Consumers now want their customizations and they expect the suppliers to provide this.

“So great,”...

Wells Fargo recently released a good economic outlook survey for the construction industry.  Since I'm a believer that economic conditions come straight from our collective attitudes (i.e. economies do better when we're feeling good about things...)

We’ve all seen the cool ads on national TV.  We’re talking about the ads where a guy orders a car from his mobile phone and the shop robots build the car to the customer’s spec as he’s entering the order.  Yes, the global IT behemoths like IBM, Microsoft, and SAP will one day enable a truly wonderful world.  And maybe one day, we’ll all get a chance to experience a glimmer of instantaneous automation.

Well actually, the days of (near) instantaneous customization and end-to-end automation are closer then you might think, and you don’t have to look too far to find it.  You won’t find it in multinational IT firms or global car companies though - you will see it being executed regularly by many small and mid-sized manufacturing companies.

We’re in the middle of a phenomenal adoption of complete factory automation which is fundamentally changing industry economics and is fascinating to watch – for those technophiles amongst us.  Factory networks and computing power are cheap enough and available enough...

Welcome to the TigerStop blog! 

We’re launching this blog as a forum for folks like us who want to share ideas.  That is, folks who love manufacturing and building things and are looking for ways to do what we love better, faster, and with less waste.

Check back frequently (or add us to your RSS Feed) for regularly posted ideas or insights about manufacturing best practices including visions for things like defect-free shops or mobile factories of the future.  We’ll also try to connect folks to good articles, information, videos – whatever will help all of us in our quest to build things better.  And if something we write about sparks a thought of your own, go ahead and write a comment back to us.  We really want to hear what you think too.

Thanks for taking this journey with us - we’re looking forward to creating with you an interesting place where we can all learn a thing or two.

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