Reminiscing
We often reminisce about how fun it was when we ran the business out of the basement of our house on Airport Road in Caledon. When we could no longer be on the floor and help pump the product out the fun stopped. You may think this is counter to every goal for an owner. Yet I felt that I had more fun making furniture than I did sitting in meetings and looking at forecasts etc. At this point, we were big, the old days often came up.
How a basement-based facility grew to a 1500 SQF unit, then to a 13,000 SQF facility… To 50, 80, 120 200, and 380,000 square feet of manufacturing and 250 employees. The stress of running such a facility was more tiring than working on the line and pumping out products.
We Were Growing
We grew at an alarming rate, did we make mistakes? Oh hell yes, learning by doing was our motto and we did well. We grew faster than any other furniture manufacturing facility of our time.
Sometimes it meant sleeping at the office, sometimes it meant weeks of 15-hour days, barely any sleep, and weekends? Days off were non-existent, for us anyway. We worked hard since we were kids and of course, my parents did the same. My mom worked at The Bay as an accounts payable. My dad worked for Bauhaus and Sealy. Came home and worked in the basement until the business was able to support the family from the basement.
All this growth was part-time until we moved to our larger facility at 10 Delta Park in Brampton. The family came together under one roof. This is where things went into high gear.
Two Shifts
We were profitable because we ran two shifts. Again, my parents didn’t go to school and have degrees. This was hard work, learning on the fly, learning costing, manufacturing, and innovating as we go. This was fun, the most fun I had working at the Delta Park and 21 Fasken locations. To me, this was the height of, me being able to make a difference on the floor and be part of the team on the floor pushing out product. Being a leader and owner on the floor was setting the pace.
Have the guns going and people hustling and knowing what has to go to who and when to get the trucks full and out the door. The most enjoyable thing for me was to get things done and be proud of what we made. Knowing that we made a good product, we made money, and profit in the process was ideal. The hard work was paying off and we were not spinning our wheels in the process. These little things made the long days worth it. It gave us great pride and yes, we were very proud to have done this on our own.
