Cliff Irwin - President, Irwin Cabinet Works Ltd. -Stirling, ON, Canada

July 29, 2005

In 2003, I found myself on the horns of a dilemma.

I had a “point to point” router but did not have the operating software necessary to design cabinets and nest these at the machine. One well known design software representative was prepared to sell me $15,000 worth of software to solve my problems. They neglected to tell me that the their software would cost me at least $20,000 more to integrate it to a machine with an obsolete controller. The purchase and integration of this software would have set me back anywhere from $30,000 to $40,000, and it would have been useless!

Luckily, I found out about Thermwood’s eCabinets. I could not believe that this software was FREE. Once I understood how eCabinets works and then how Thermwood and CNC Automation (their Canadian distributor) operate, I decided to register for their eCabinets software and eventually purchased a Thermwood router.

The decision to purchase a new router was very difficult, I already had a "point to point" machine with a machine operator to program and run it. A new machine would cost me a lot of money and my existing machine was more or less worthless since the controller was obsolete. However, after being treated honestly by the folks at CNC Automation I made the decision to go with a new Thermwood.

After having my new router for about six months I came up against a work slowdown. My gut reaction was to lay men off while I tried to dig up more work. At this time the nerves kicked in on the price of the machine and we had thoughts of bailing out and selling the machine. Instead I called my sales rep. at CNC Automation and we both agreed that with the new technology I had to learn to look outside the box. With help I was able to start subbing out machine time and doing many other tasks. Before, this was impossible. I also have increased the kitchen production dramatically without adding staff.

Today, I have no regrets in making the decision to purchase a router from CNCAutomation. I now use my machine to manufacture store fixtures, case goods, plastic components as well as "high end" kitchens. It permits me to be more flexible and able to continue to operate if one part of my business slows down. This has allowed me to grow my business to the point where a second router may need to be purchased in the next 12 to 18 months.

As they say, “Talk is cheap but, it takes money to buy whiskey!”

With Thermwood and CNC Automation, I have the ability to buy a lot of whiskey and it is not the cheap stuff!

Cliff Irwin
Irwin Cabinet Works Ltd.
P.O. Box 57
2472 Stirling-Marmora Road Hwy #14 North
Stirling , Ontario K0K 3E0
www.irwincabinetworks.com