The majority of Republic National Cabinet Corporation's sales are in the trade segments, including contractors, homebuilders, and kitchen and bathroom dealers.

After losing more than 40 percent of its production capabilities to a fire that destroyed one of its two manufacturing plants in Canada, Republic National Cabinet Corp. (RNCC) says it faced the toughest challenge it has ever had to overcome.

Fortunately, no employee was injured in what was likely an accidental fire, says CEO Paul Patek, but the event still tested the company's ability to overcome an obstacle of this size. Now, one year later, Patek says the company has completely regained its production capabilities and is strong in its resolve to provide even better service and turnaround time than it offered previously.

As a manufacturer of kitchen and bathroom cabinets and accessories, the company has four wholly owned subsidiaries that it acquired in 1999. Republic Industries, the largest of the four divisions, started out as a privately owned family company that its founder sold to a venture capitalist firm in 1999, and acquired three other divisions.

"Today, the company is an amalgamation of four independent companies pulled together in a sizable acquisition," Patek says. "For many years, [Republic] was a tremendously successful and profitable company. Now, we are leveraging that historic success and positioning ourselves to take advantage of these changes as the market grows rapidly."

The majority of RNCC's sales are in the trade segments, including contractors, homebuilders, and kitchen and bathroom dealers.

"Our existing channels combined with our wide range of capabilities enable us to supply cabinetry across a broad spectrum of new construction and remodeling projects," Patek explains. Additionally, he notes that the company's manufacturing sites have an expansive reach.

"The majority of our market penetration is heavily concentrated in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast," he says. "We also have a presence in the central part of the country, and, most notably, in Texas. Although we have a plant in Canada, 99 percent of the business goes into the United States." Patek adds that although last year's devastating fire claimed its major manufacturing plant as well as its headquarters, the disaster tested the company's ability to adapt to high-pressure situations that come from a demanding industry. Thankfully, he continues, "the remaining plant was physically large enough to add machinery and relocate employees."

Through this difficult time, the company used the event as an opportunity to restructure its practices and adopt lean manufacturing principles.

Attributing its recovery to following these principles, Patek explains that it only took a short time for the company to see notable changes and significant progress. "Lean manufacturing drove improvements and helped speed our progress toward recovery," he explains. "It happened almost a year ago, but we started to see significant improvements after only six months."

As a result of RNCC's perseverance, the company is better equipped to face other challenges in the industry, such as rising fuel prices. "With the increased costs of fuel and materials, and with labor fees overseas driving prices down, the current challenges are significant," Patek says. "Our plan is to leverage technological advances and increase our use of imported components to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the industry."

Patek adds that the company can offset the pressure from competitors' use of inexpensive, overseas labor by remaining committed to customer service. "The more custom your order is, the more difficult it is to do it right," he stresses. "It is advantageous for a customer to have local services providing replacement parts on a timely basis. Someone relying on an offshore source has difficulty in meeting turnaround time requirements."

Moreover, he says, the company maintains a lead-time that is far above the industry average. "Historically, we have operated on a four-to-six week lead-time, but the market is closer to eight to 10 weeks," he adds. "Our goal is to be faster than our competitors."

Although Patek adds that its customer base is comprised of a network of dealers in the industry, the company provides full shipping services, using a mix of independent truck drivers as well as its own fleet. He believes that the company's ability to provide its own shipping and customer support services yields a competitive advantage over others in the industry.

Additionally, the breadth of services and products the company provides sets it apart from many others in the industry. "We offer everything from stock to custom cabinets with a range of framed and frameless styles, colors and finishes, as well as the ability to incorporate different and unique materials and create matching accessories," Patek says.

The company relies on its four subsidiaries to maintain a clear focus on different aspects of the business. Since 1987, Cuisine Cabico has focused on creating custom kitchen cabinetry designs. One of Cabico's strengths is its ability to turn around any order on a timely basis, Patek notes.  F+I