KBS Builders employs 146 people at its plants in South Paris and Waterford, Maine, and manufactures about 250 modular houses a year, ranging from ranches to multi-family homes. Operations Manager Ryan MacEachern said that the major challenge for KBS Builders is to improve technology and to overcome the lack of skilled workers available.

The Center helped KBS down that path by covering almost half the cost of initial employee training in lean manufacturing, which eliminates waste from the manufacturing process. Lean projects often improve layout, speed production, and smooth the workflow through a plant. Wayne Messer, senior project manager at the Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments (AVCOG) and the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership (Maine MEP), provided the lean manufacturing expertise to the KBS Builders project.

“We’ve done a lot to change the shop layout, and it’s made us more efficient,” said MacEachern. “We introduced a new CNC lumber saw, and we changed our design software to go with the new saw.

“Our long-term goal is to add product lines and increase output,” he said. “The Center’s help has been hugely important from a financial perspective. Dave shows his passion for what we’re doing, and it motivates us,” said MacEachern, referring to Dave Redmond, the Center’s former director of forest product innovations.

The Center’s wood products innovation program has supported the industry with a combination of in-house expertise and financial assistance to enable companies to contract with expertsto get the training they need.

The program has been supported by the Northern Border Regional Commission, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development, the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Sewall Foundation, Maine Timberlands Charitable Trust, other foundations and private contributions.