Owners weekend update

[cincinnati]

"Well, since Cincinnati refused to mention that I was the guy on the bike, I'm going to take my marbles and go home. "

Sorry abut that Brown hawk. I thought that was one of the Wright brothers being in Dayton and all. LOL!!!!

Again- A big thanks to Nick and Drew. Keeping everyone entertained for the 3 days is no small task.

[brown_hawk]

"Well, since Cincinnati refused to mention that I was the guy on the bike, I'm going to take my marbles and go home. "

Sorry abut that Brown hawk. I thought that was one of the Wright brothers being in Dayton and all. LOL!!!!

Again- A big thanks to Nick and Drew. Keeping everyone entertained for the 3 days is no small task.

I'M not THAT old!:eek:

It was a great time, well worth a weekend. (I can't talk about miles, as I found out I covered less than anyone, including Nick and Drew. )

Hawk

[Ed in Tampa]

I would like more detail about the weekend.

How was the trip to the lumber yard?

In light of all the complaints about back orders when you took the tour of Shopsmith facilities how did stock look?

If you bought anything was you able to take it with you or was it to be shipped later?

What one new thing did you learn that you found very interesting?

How did the projects from the first academy classes look?

See any new products that we don't yet know about? You don't have to explain just a yes or no. On second thought tell us all the details.

Did you see the set where the Sawdust sessions are made? Is there any way things can be moved around so Drew doesn't keep kicking out plugs and blaming the servers for the problems?

Did you buy anything? If so what and what project do you plan on using it for?

Did you get to see Nick's and Drew's dogs? Do they really eat wood or does Nick soak the wood in beef gravy to get them to chow down on it?

How was accomdations such a Motels, Resturants, and etc?

Did you visit any other sights in Dayton? If so which ones?

If you got pictures we would love to see them.

We would especially love to see pictures of the customer service staff. They are so helpful and wonderful to deal with it would be nice to be able to connect a face with a name.

Would you go again? If so why? If not why?

Give us the details guys.
Ed

[alancooke]

Forgive me if I missed it earlier, but in addition to Ed in Tampa's requests could someone give an estimate on the number of attendees. Thanks.

[billmayo]

Finally arrived back in Florida this afternoon. A fantastic weekend. I enjoyed most of all, the factory tours I took. Thanks to Jim McCann for doing an excellant walking tour. I was amazed at just how much work is accomplished there at the factory for all the Shopsmith items. Made and/or assemblied in the USA still looks good there. With JIT (just in time) scheduling, I can now understand why some items are only made when ordered and why there will be some back orders these days. Costly inventory setting on shelves adds to the overhead and cuts any profit margin.

I want to thank Nick and Drew for their teachings/discussions and for providing entertainment by bring Liberty, Katie and Buddy every day. Liberty personally went around the room each day greeting and spending a little time with each of us. She should be on a fast track for manager. We should all can learn from her example. A laser light and air nozzle added additional excitment for the dogs and us.

All the seminars was excellant with the principles and ideas being valid for most woodworking projects. I will be looking forward to next years get-together. Thanks again to eveyone who helped with this years Owners Weekend.

[brown_hawk]

I would like more detail about the weekend.

How was the trip to the lumber yard?
Lumber yard trip was for the classes.

In light of all the complaints about back orders when you took the tour of Shopsmith facilities how did stock look?
Bill covered it above. Nothing much made up until an order is processed, and the JIT can cause backorders if it isn't JIT to arrive.

If you bought anything was you able to take it with you or was it to be shipped later?
Store wasn't open, but the guys did pull a few items. For next year, maybe a call ahead and pick up could be arranged if we lobby for it.

What one new thing did you learn that you found very interesting?
I'll go with Bill on this one. The tour showed how much was made at the plant, and how carefully it is done. And checked. And checked again.

How did the projects from the first academy classes look?
They looked great, at least the ones I saw. Since each student picked their own wood, they were individual. One clock had spaulded wood on the sides. Other was nicely figured cherry. The split turnings looked great. Nick said there may be a DVD so we can duplicate the two class project at home.
Also saw the prototypes for the tool chests. That will be a neat project as well

See any new products that we don't yet know about? You don't have to explain just a yes or no. On second thought tell us all the details.
Nothing new now. Trying to hold on, so not much R&D.

Did you see the set where the Sawdust sessions are made? Is there any way things can be moved around so Drew doesn't keep kicking out plugs and blaming the servers for the problems?
Essentially the same place we had the seminars. They are trying to upgrade all of that, but trying to keep the costs down, so there may be problems once in a while. But they are learning and applying it every session.

Did you buy anything? If so what and what project do you plan on using it for?
See above. Some orders were put in, but that's as far as my knowledge goes.

Did you get to see Nick's and Drew's dogs? Do they really eat wood or does Nick soak the wood in beef gravy to get them to chow down on it?
See Bill's comments.

How was accomdations such a Motels, Resturants, and etc?
Someone else has to answer this one.

Did you visit any other sights in Dayton? If so which ones?
I was asked for directions to the AF museum.

If you got pictures we would love to see them.
I posted my two. Nick took some, so I expect he'll post them somewhere.

We would especially love to see pictures of the customer service staff. They are so helpful and wonderful to deal with it would be nice to be able to connect a face with a name.
Just Nick, Drew, Jim, and Phil were there.

Would you go again? If so why? If not why?
Yes. Great time, great learning, great talking to others with an interest in woodworking. I enjoyed meeting all the guys from the forum who were there, including a couple who just lurk here. One lurker had some fantastic pictures of some scroll saw projects he had done. I hope he signs on and posts some of them - including a walnut bald eagle that used the sapwood for the head. Ask Cincinnati about that one as well.

Give us the details guys.
Ed

I bet you want a gallon of blood too!:D

For Alan, about 30 Fri and Sat, with about 20-25 Sunday. Some were there all 3 days, and some just 2 or 1.

Hawk

[cincinnati]

I did not see any inventory of built tools at all. The only tools I did see were on the line like they were in the middle of building Friday and stopped to go home for the day. There were Bandsaws and strip sanders on the line. What was a little surprising to me was the amount of parts they were in the process of making like the Control Sheave Assembly. A bin about the size of a watermelon bin in a store. Just seemed like a lot to me but sure it seems like a small amount to them.

It may be no big deal to the people at Shopsmith, they see the factory every day, but to us Shopsmith owners it like seeing the birth of a child. I would just love to be there for a day when things are running. even get my hands dirty making a tool . How cool would it be to order a tool and get to help build it. Bet the workers would just love that LOL!!!!! My problem, I just about own everything now LOL!!!!!

The studio, where the sawdust videos is filmed, is in the old retail store. Imagine walking into a convenient store, glass door and windows, looking to your right. instead of seeing coolers of pop and beer you see the studio

[nuhobby]

Excellent summaries above!

I will add, regarding ordering stuff at the show -- For myself I am already beyond the point of "addiction" and I order SS items too often. At the owner's weekend I mentally handcuffed myself and tried to just enjoy the classroom and social environment.

For the JIT aspect of "built upon ordering" they don't necessarily build immediately; it sounds like they may wait for a batch of 30 or so minimum of a given machine before they run the manufacturing cell.

Several of us tourists were employed in some type of manufacturing industry and we thought Shopsmith was world-class in their arrangement systems, fixtures, inventory management, QC, and so on.

They also explained about production being much busier in the winter/early Spring / tax-refund season. Jim McCann said some customers try to send in their Gov't refund check directly on payment for their machines....

[billr64]

I know what I am going to plan on doing next year, if I can afford it that is. Texas to Ohio is a long trip.
Your reports make it sound so interesring, Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

Another Bill

[psf513]

Hotels were directly across the freeway and, at least mine (Hampton Inn) was clean, comfortable, and accomodating. Restaurants were along the same street as the hotels and plenty to choose from.

Overall, I was also very pleased. Only concern I had was that there seemed to be a lot of "down time" betwen demos. But, with just 2 people running the program, they needed to rest also