Page 12 - CMA PROfiles Fall 2018

ASSOCIATE OF THE QUARTER: WESTERN DOVETAIL

Brent Byers working on the wide belt sander in the mill at Western Dovetail.

building for 10 minutes to retrieve a product out into the parking lot to make electrical panels on.
couple of computers and servers, which room in the shop and cram it back in at For the first few months, tools were put
were then set up in the corner of a night before locking up,” the company in place and hooked up with temporary
neighbor’s shop. shared in its newsletter account. “For the wiring using giant cords and cord ramps.
Those first few days were brutal; first few weeks, the shipping department Dust collection issues proved challeng-
customers wanted to know when they was in the parking lot under pop-up ing; instead of one central system, 10
would get their product, and there was shade structures in the blazing heat. smaller units were set up and a dedicated
no clear answer. Staff was able to get After two weeks, they were allowed employee was hired to empty them all
access to the building once for about 4 limited access to the old shop for a total day long.
hours in order to get all of the completed of eight hours a week. Other companies The path to financial recovery involved
drawers and ship them off to customers. offered to store what they were able to multiple strategies and resources
The Hunters and their team had to pull out of the building. and plenty of waiting and jumping
figure out how to keep their business After searching the Bay area for a through hoops.
going without interruption. John Ewer suitable building, Max and Josh decided The Western Dovetail team was working
at Dimensions Unlimited, a longtime to move next door, signing a lease in twice as hard to produce half as much
customer and vendor, allowed Western November 2014 with the same landlord for the first couple months, and Max
Dovetail to share his nearby office and on Mare Island. Unfortunately, the new Hunter credits the crew’s “heroics” for
shop during the initial chaotic period. building had no infrastructure, was 30 helping bring the company back to the
Twenty employees worked out of a space percent smaller than the old shop, and break-even point by the end of the first
a quarter the size of their old shop.
was wide open with no posts to mount quarter of 2015.
“Every day this intrepid
crew had to drag
the materials and
“You have to be willing to admit that you’re
struggling, but also demonstrate that
you’re committed to succeeding. People

can see that you are sincere in that and
will go the distance with you.”
— Max Hunter

10 PROFILES FALL 2018