That's one hundred kitchens, not one.

There's 4 guys doing this, I'm pretty sure a CNC is much faster...

good use of a jig.. but you guys need a CNC.

You need to see a proper cnc work if you think this is faster.

A big local shop doesn't cut their toes on the cnc. They park a pallet of sides next to a hauncher and cut the toes 4 or 5 at a time. That's definitely faster than almost any cnc. But outside of modular box cabinets, pretty tough to justify.

Gang cutting is a good idea. I'll have to think about that.

I'm with the others, You need a CNC!

Me too. I guess youd have to quantify the true cost of the four guys? What do they cost the shop in absolute total? Hourly pay, matching, comp, etc.. I could outrun that with my cnc with the mere fact that those four guys would be doing other work that the CNC can't while the cnc is running those parts even if it's a shade slower (I doubt it) and the part consistency, dust collection, time for battery changes, sweeping the floor, on and on.

It's great to see innovation in manual production. But trying to outrun mechanical advantage by moving in reverse back to the days of thousands of me building a pyramid.. and thinking its "faster" is not smart business. It may get you though a period to get to smart. But it's not a smart place to park.

By my reckoning, it costs you about $.11 per notch to cut those.

That's assuming everyone is a low cost employee, with a cost of no more than $20/hr.

That seems expensive to me.

Thanks for all the advice. It's not my shop, so not my decision about the cnc, but now I want to see one work. I don't think we have the install crews and sales to support the cnc. I can back up the finish staging floor pretty much by myself. So, I doubt he needs the production area to get faster. But, maybe if he gets more hotel jobs things might change.

We do less than a half million in sales a year. We can justify it. Easily.

It opens up a lot of possibilities and frees up labor for other tasks.

If your doing 100 kitchen jobs I cant see how it cant be justified. Old habits die hard.

It's even faster if you don't use a toe kick. Set the boxes on a ladder toe kick, or adjustable legs and the installer snaps on a toe kick. Better yield out of the sheet goods too.

Rich is spot on with the detached kicks. Thats what we build and you get 6 sides out of a 4x8 sheet. Probably wont fly in a hotel job though.

you say you dont have the sales and crews to support a CNC? How much are those guys in their supplied and branded shirts costing your bosses company? I dont supply anyone with shirts. I dont decal/brand anything in my company (including vehicles). A 15$ an hour man is costing the company 22-25/hr. Four guys cutting notches is 88-100 an hour which easily pays for a CNC. Your assembly cart you posted (really nice) would be 10x easier if the parts came off a CNC.

Now if your in an area where you can have those guys in branded T shirts for $9 an hour... I guess you've got yourself a bit closer to china labor costs.

I can only imagine that if your boss is selling 100 unit hotel kitchens with that level of manual labor your in an area that has super low labor costs. Im in an area that is ridiculously low but I still pay 15 tryin to catch keepers.

What are you making per hour? What are the four making per hour?

when I got a cnc I switched to a toe notch system from adjustable legs. (did ladders before legs) I'd never go back despite the difference in sheet yield. Once the box is assembled I have no more to think about. plus the cabinets slide on the floor on an un-finished toe kick. IMOP it's much easier than any other toe system I have tried.

There is no way a hand cut toe kick system is faster than a cnc.

I bet a hotel would love detachable toe kicks. Let's them spray for bed bugs and such much easier!

I think you gentlemen may be missing the point and probably most of you need more men like Michael working for them. I don't mean this in a harsh way either because most of you gentlemen are here commenting in an effort to help.

We do run a CNC at my shop and I think my shop does toe kick better than most, and yes I do see their method of making toe kick to be rather outdated. However, Michael doesn't appear to be in a position to make those decisions.

Michael is likely going to have to build these cabinets in whatever way the shop owner says he has to. Given that, I think his jig is quite good. If I were Michael's supervisor, I'd be quite thrilled that he's thinking this far forward and trying to clean up the process.

And even if, at the end of the day, this jig isn't quicker/leaner etc than some of the alternatives, you can see that he clearly thought this thing through and made something that makes repeatable, accurate cuts all day, every day. That is definitely a win.

Not a lick of disagreement there. I have searched for the Michaels of the world for 30 years and have yet to be lucky enough to find own. He is a rare breed and should be cherished.

I think most of the comments were with regards to being faster than a CNC and the shop possibly not benefiting from a CNC.

I dont doubt for a minute if the shop owner is churning out product and satisfied with his margins there is a slim chance of parting with 50-100K to make his employees life easier. It would likely only happen if there is a better margin to be had or when there isnt enough of Michael to go around or other staffing issues arise.

Can you make a jig that services both cuts? Preferably without doing any flipping of the jig or part?

Halve the amount of walking and remove the setting down of one jig to pick up the other?

I'd take one body out of the loop too. Pick up a cut one, return with an uncut one. For whomever is ferrying parts from the stacks.

Or, a roller table? Dude making the cuts sits in one place, one guy shoves them on, another guy unloads?

Toe Kick notching saw...

CTD Model N90 18