Building Cabinets

Nearly five weeks ago, I decided it was time to replace my kitchen cabinets. I went shopping for some units that I could purchase and install myself, but after a day of shopping, I wasn’t pleased with the quality of the cabinets I could get for the money I was willing to spend. I decided to build them myself. 

My plan was to spend the a long weekend constructing the cabinets and to have them ready to install early the following week.

It’s now five weeks later, and I am just finishing the cabinet construction and getting ready to prep the cabinets for stain and paint. In terms of installation of the cabinets, I now see that it is going to be another couple of weeks before the project is complete.

One thing I learned from diving into this project was that even though I am quite well versed in woodworking, I was unfamiliar with and didn’t appreciate, what goes into building cabinets. I now find myself impressed with how much labor actually goes into their construction, the amount of materials that go into each cabinet and the level of skill required to produce finished cabinets.

As I had my “a-ha” moment of appreciation for cabinet makers, I realized its correllation to our business of magazine publishing. Being on the sales side, it can be easy to not appreciate the other side of the process — like wondering what takes our editor so long to put together an issue and our graphic designer to prepare the magazine to send to the printer.

This stuff should be quick, right? 

As it is in my own business endeavors, so it is in the business of managing a maintenance facility. I often visit maintenance managers who can’t understand why there is so much time spent on an engine change or an inspection event. They bid the job at X hours and now it’s taking more hours than they anticipated.

There is often a riff between the management and the technicians on the floorIn the aviation maintenance environment today. Management gets so caught up in the financial aspects of the business (the paperwork and documentation aspect of the business) that they often work for years without actually being on the floor. They often lose touch with the number of man hours, the amount of training it takes to do the job right, and the total scope of what it takes to get the job done.

When is the last time you, as a manager, actually rolled up your sleeves and spent some time on the floor with the people that do the work at your facility? Even though many of you were on the floor maintaining aircraft for years prior to being promoted to manager, it’s easy to forget just what goes into every job.

It’s also easy to lose sight of the workflow in your facility. Problems with the staff, procedures, workflow, or systematic issues go unseen unless you’re actually out there every so often to see things from the perspective of the people who maintain your customer’s aircraft.

I’m not suggesting that you abandon your management responsibilities. I’m just  suggesting that perhaps an hour or two per week, or maybe a day per month, be spent in the heart of the action. At least find a way to get out on the floor and talk to people and observe what’s happening. Doing so will give you new perspective and perhaps even make you a better manager.

Greg Napert, Proud to be an A&P

About D.O.M. Magazine

D.O.M. magazine is the premier magazine for aviation maintenance management professionals. Its management-focused editorial provides information maintenance managers need and want including business best practices, professional development, regulatory, quality management, legal issues and more. The digital version of D.O.M. magazine is available for free on all devices (iOS, Android, and Amazon Kindle).

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More Info

Joe Escobar (jescobar@dommagazine.com)
Editorial Director
920-747-0195

Greg Napert (gnapert@dommagazine.com)
Publisher, Sales & Marketing
608-436-3376

Bob Graf (bgraf@dommagazine.com)
Director of Business, Sales & Marketing
608-774-4901