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2004 Innovator of the Year – New Wave Custom Woodworking, Inc.
“We have gradually used machines to do jobs that were formerly done by hand, yet have not changed the hand-made quality of the frames we produce.” – Rudy Schemitz, President
 Like so many other furniture manufacturers in the country,
New Wave has felt the sting of foreign competition. Modern tooling has moved away from the handmade, individual piece paradigm towards one of high volume mass production. New Wave’s desire to produce high-quality products while improving production processes to meet customer demand, has led to innovation in tools and techniques, and has earned them this year’s award.
New Wave is a furniture frame manufacturer that provides wooden frames for the upholstery business. Located in Honesdale, the company has been shipping a value-added product from Wayne County for more than 13 years, utilizing the talents of the local workforce. Their hallmark is to provide pieces of exceptional quality, in quantities of one to 1000, with consistency, reasonable delivery time, and excellent customer service. Using pattern following tools, the company has devised jigs to make legs and chair parts that formerly could only be made by hand. Through skills development and technology, New Wave has been able to provide repeatable production pieces to their principle customers using local hardwood species and exotic woods.
New Wave offers product proto-typing, new product development, and large production as well as individual custom orders. Their frames can be reupholstered after years of service and still retain their value and integrity. It is also not uncommon for the company to receive a request to reproduce a frame that was originally produced by them years ago. Although most of their work leaves the county, some has been done for local businesses. Furniture frames made by New Wave appear regularly in trade magazines such as Interior Design and Architectural Digest, on television on Guiding Light, As the World Turns and Oprah, and in fine homes, hotels and businesses throughout the world. With a workforce of 32, New Wave characterizes themselves as a small business with a big impact.
Through innovation, New Wave is meeting the challenge of the contemporary market—to provide a quality product at a competitive price and to keep jobs in America. Source: 2004 Innovator of the Year Program |
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