The Cabinet Makers Association (CMA) is pleased to announce the results of their annual election for the organization’s Board of Directors and also their officers for 2017-2018.

The CMA members re-elected Leland Thomasset of Taghkanic Woodworking (Pawling, NY) to serve another three-year term. Matt Wehner of Cabinet Concepts by Design (Springfield, MO) was also elected by the members to serve on the board for three years. In addition, Monika Soos of Sofo Kitchens (Maple Ridge, BC) was voted in by the Board to serve for one year – the term balance of exiting Board Member Scott Comstock of Woodperfect Custom Cabinetry (Forney, TX).

The Board has appointed officers for 2017-2018 as follows:

• Matt Krig of Northland Woodworks (Blaine, MN) was re-elected as President for his fourth term in this role.
• Leland Thomasset was also re-elected to serve another term as Vice President.
• James Fox of Fox Woodworking (Phoenixville, PA) will serve as Treasurer.
• Monika Soos will serve as Secretary.

Matt Wehner will join Keith Smith of Keith Smith Custom Builders (Greer, SC) and Chris Dehmer of Dark Horse Woodworks (Atlanta, GA) as members-at-large.

Exiting the Board are Mike Mitchell of Burger Boat (Manitowoc, WI) and Scott Comstock. The CMA expresses gratitude to Mike and Scott for their contributions for the betterment of the association.
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Please join us in congratulating the CMA’s 2017-18 board of directors. Contact information can be found at www.cabinetmakers.org/contact-us. 

​Question: We have an employee who is out on FMLA leave and now has been cleared to come back to work on an intermittent basis. Due to his serious health condition, he will be placed on intermittent FMLA leave. The employee was a salaried manager and now will only be able to work around 20 hours per week. Do we still need to pay him his entire salary or can we break that salary down into an hourly rate?

Response: When leave is taken intermittently (or on a reduced schedule basis) under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the employer can, in fact, prorate an exempt employee's salary commensurate with the time worked. This is one of only a few very limited cases where an exempt employee's compensation can be prorated based on hours worked without destroying the salary basis of pay that is otherwise required for exemption classification. The other two scenarios where this is allowed is during the first and last weeks of employment. See the paragraph titled "Circumstances in Which the Employer May Make Deductions from Pay" at www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/fs17g_salary.htm

The FMLA Regulations address this directly at §825.206(a) which provide as follows: "If an employee is otherwise exempt from minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as a salaried executive, administrative, professional, or computer employee ..., providing unpaid FMLA-qualifying leave to such an employee will not cause the employee to lose the FLSA exemption. ... This means that under regulations currently in effect, where an employee meets the specified duties test, is paid on a salary basis, and is paid a salary of at least the amount specified in the regulations, the employer may make deductions from the employee's salary for any hours taken as intermittent or reduced FMLA leave within a workweek, without affecting the exempt status of the employee...." See http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?%20c=ecfr;sid=f60cac82476ea25c3294f2114da66cc6;rgn=div5;view=text;node=29%3A3.1.1.3.54;idno=29;cc=ecfr#se29.3.825_1206 for the full text of the Regulation.
 
We invite you to also review the Employer Guide to the FMLA which provides more plainly on page 58 that "[t]he employer may make deductions from the employee’s salary for any hours taken as intermittent or reduced schedule FMLA leave within a workweek without affecting the exempt status of the employee." See https://www.dol.gov/whd/fmla/employerguide.pdf
 
Want to learn more about how to handle issues like this?  Click Here to listen to our podcast about exempt employees compensation and FMLA.
 
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Axalta Coating Systems (NYSE: AXTA), a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, has completed its previously announced acquisition of The Valspar Corporation’s (NYSE: VAL) North American Industrial Wood Coatings business. Valspar divested the business in connection with the antitrust approval of its acquisition by The Sherwin-Williams Company.

The purchase price for the transaction is $420 million, subject to certain adjustments set forth in the Asset Purchase Agreement. The acquired business had net sales of approximately $225 million in 2016. Axalta expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings in the first full year, but less accretive to near-term results including the anticipated integration costs to be incurred largely in 2017.

The North American Industrial Wood Coatings business is one of the leading providers of coatings for OEMs and distributors engaged in industrial wood markets, including building products, cabinets, flooring and furniture, in North America. The strong brands of the business, which include Zenith®, UltraguardTM, LifeshieldTM and Color Choice®, will join Axalta’s portfolio of Performance Coatings products and services. A shared commitment to customer care, technical service and support, as well as a keen focus on innovation in advancing the technology of wood coatings will provide a strong platform for future growth in this important industrial coatings market. The business consists of manufacturing facilities and offices in High Point, North Carolina and Cornwall, Ontario, an R&D organization with locations in High Point and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and sales representatives located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

About Axalta Coating Systems

Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With more than 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the approximately 13,000 people of Axalta continue to find ways to serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology.
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​For more information visit axaltacoatingsystems.com and follow us @axalta on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

This year’s WMIA Wooden Globe Innovator of the Year award goes to Crystal Cabinet Works, Inc. for their energy saving Hocker North America Dust Collection & Energy Management system.

By combining adaptable and customizable components with an energy management system, Hocker North America was able to deliver a one of a kind system to the Crystal Cabinet Works’ plant. One of the main challenge of Crystal Cabinet Works has been company growth. As the company grew and added machinery the dust system was also required to grow and adapt. This resulted in 6 different collectors from 4 different companies. The hodgepodge of systems resulted in bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and high energy consumption.

The Energy Management System capabilities of the Hocker products caught the attention of Crystal Cabinet Works. After discussing their needs with Ben Dipzinski, owner of Hocker North America, the company decided to proceed with this much more efficient system.

The new Energy Management system was able to save the company an estimated 1 million kilowatt hours each year. This savings is equivalent to to meeting the electricity needs of 94 average U.S households, 562,023 dishwasher cycles or brewing 3,831,933 pots of coffee. From an environmental standpoint, the energy consumption reduction equals saving 1,236,225 pounds of C02 or 24,725 trees needed to absorb that amount of CO2.
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According to Dipzinski, “Even if you don’t take Höcker’s Energy Management into consideration Crystal Cabinets would still see a 25 percent reduction in energy costs just from our higher efficiency fans and motors. We are able to provide more cfm with less horsepower. Our total connected horsepower is 485 versus 650 with the old system.” A sure choice for energy savings and increased ROI, Hocker North America is continuing to offer systems to small and large shops throughout the United States. 

Stiles Machinery is proud to introduce new technologies and solutions to North America following LIGNA 2017. Manufacturers will benefit from a wide-variety of innovations and products demonstrated by some of the world’s leading manufacturers at LIGNA held in Hannover, Germany on May 22nd- 26th. Industry experts occupied 10 halls demonstrating innovations in wood processing equipment, services and solutions including smarter technologies and enhanced automation.

HOMAG further solidified their reputation as the market leader by stealing the show with the launch of tapio, a revolutionary digital platform for the future of the wood industry. “tapio” provides an open platform to all partners, customers and technologies providing comprehensive knowledge of the entire production process. Users are able to monitor the status of their machines in real time, retrieve energy-usage data, run reports, access saved programs and recipes from the cloud, and even operate machines remotely.

Along with a multitude of new technology innovations and automation designed to increase productivity, precision and efficiency, HOMAG demonstrated new advancements in CNC processing, zero-joint edgebanding technology, solid wood processing, surface technologies and batch size one production. Attendees enjoyed a fully-automated batch size one production concept with a fully-networked furniture production line including a storage and retrieval system, HPS robotic cutting line, four-sided zero edge processing, and automated drilling, clamping and robotic packaging. Benefits of the new automation technology were highlighted throughout the booth including AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicles) designed to transfer parts between the machines, the new intelliGuide system for panel saws which uses LED lighting and lasers to communicate part positioning to the operator prior to sawing, and a newly redesigned, cohesive software platform from HOMAG Software Solutions.

Also on display this year was the Innovation Center offering a glimpse into technology of the future with 3-D printing and a zero joint edgebanding process using microwave technology.

LIGNA attendees witnessed the introduction of fully-automated spray machines from HOMAG for furniture parts, doors, staircases and interior fitting elements as well as new solutions from WEINMANN in timber processing for home construction, window and door components.

Stiles will be showcasing a number of these new innovations in their (5) showrooms spread across North America, as well as in booth 7411 at the upcoming AWFS 2017 next month in Las Vegas. For more information on the new technology Stiles will be demonstrating at AWFS, please visit StilesAWFS.com.

​About Stiles Machinery Inc.
For more than 50 years, Stiles has been helping manufacturers succeed. As the largest supplier of quality
machinery, Stiles provides a Total Production Solutions approach by also offering equipment integration, financial
services, education, service and parts. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., Stiles has regional offices in High
Point, North Carolina; Bristol, PA; Coppell, Texas; and Rancho Cucamonga, California. Stiles is a proud member
of the HOMAG Group, a global leader in the production of industrial machines for manufacturing. Visit Stiles at
www.stilesmachinery.com. For additional information, please contact Christina Elsenbroek, Stiles Machinery, at
616.698.7500 or celsenbroek@stilesmachinery.com.

The Southeast Urban Wood Exchange encourages all businesses in the U.S. Forest Service’s Region 8 with a stake in the urban wood movement to quickly and easily list their products and services for free at UrbanWoodExchange.org.

UrbanWoodExchange.org is a new clearinghouse for businesses ranging from professional tree care and removal services through sawyers, kiln dryers and lumber suppliers to connect and create local urban wood networks. The Urban Wood Exchange features a searchable database that helps users find urban wood providers in their state.
Businesses can list their products and services by simply logging onto UrbanWoodExchange.org. Product listings include Cut Logs, Milled Lumber and Firewood/Chips. Service listings include Arborists, Sawyers, Kiln Operators and Lumber Sellers. 

An underlying mission of the Southeast Urban Wood Exchange is helping to facilitate the highest and best possible use of community trees at the end of their service. These trees are felled due to old age, insect infestation, storm damage, utility excavation and other circumstances. They are never meant to be removed, however, solely for their wood value.

“Our goal is to encourage utilization of urban wood on the local level including producing sustainable lumber for use in municipal projects and by professional and hobbyist woodworkers,” said Nancy Stairs, Urban Forestry Program Coordinator of the North Carolina Forest Service (NCFS). “By treating removed urban trees as a resource the costs associated with the removal and disposal of trees are reduced and the amount of urban wood in the waste stream is minimized.”

The Urban Wood Exchange is hosted by the North Carolina Urban Forest Council, in partnership with the NC Forest Service’s Urban & Community Forestry Program and funded through the USFS Southern Region 8. The Exchange serves 13 states extending from Florida to Texas on the south and Virginia to Oklahoma on the north.
Register your urban wood products and services or learn more at UrbanWoodExchange.org.
 
About the Urban Wood Exchange
The Southeast Urban Wood Exchange is a free online directory of urban wood products and services funded through the U.S. Forest Service Southern Region 8. Region 8 encompasses the following 13 states:  Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. For more information visit UrbanWoodExchange.org

​Federal Brace is expanding their line of products to include handles and pulls, with a rustic-inspired line being released this week. The first few designs will be available in a flat black powder coat and a stainless steel finish and will be made of a durable 11 gauge material, both strong enough to withstand everyday use and perfect for both indoors and exposure to the elements. For ease of installation, Federal Brace is supplying fasteners and thorough installation guidelines to consumers and designers both, allowing DIY homeowners, along with experienced tradesmen, to add to their look with a subtle hardware touch.

The first design, a flat plate with a length of 6.25” and a 2” width, provides the perfect grip for pulling, sliding, or grabbing. Each mounting plate is also 2” with .18” holes, allowing for a simple install. The second design, a rod-style handle, has a total length of 10.25”—plenty of room for grip or to do double-duty as a towel rack. Whether installed on a drawer, door, cabinet, or as a towel rack, these handles and pulls are ideal in many home and office applications and settings.
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For more information on Federal Brace’s new line, visit www.federalbrace.com or contact their experienced support and design teams at customerservice@federalbrace.com. They can also be reached during business hours (EST) at 1(877)353-8899.