Join AWI at AWFS, July 14-18, 2009 in Las Vegas!

Come by the AWI booth #1651

In addtion to the exhibits, AWFS education programs are packed with topics to address business and manufacturing challenges, including strategies for the future, technology and product advances, a series on Lean Manufacturing, making environmentally sustainable advances in your company, improving finance and marketing skills, safety courses and many more.

Below are a list of AWI sponsored Education programs at AWFS -

Understanding LEED
Wednesday, July 15 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Margaret Fisher, Saunders Wood Specialties

Understanding the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program is becoming more and more critical for custom woodworking businesses. Margaret will acquaint you with LEED, Green Design and its potential benefits to wood products manufacturers. She will discuss the LEED credits that pertain to wood materials and the documentation required, as well as inform the group on certified wood and the implications of Chain of Custody. She gives a comparison of building materials and defines Life Cycle Assessment. This session will help you determine if your business is a good candidate for LEED project participation and what would be required, how it would change your processes and how it can grow your business.


Introducing the New Architectural Woodwork Standards
Friday, July 17 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Mike Bell, Kentucky Millwork
Rob Gustafson, Woodwork Institute
Jim Taylor, Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada

Come and learn about this new, collaborative effort of the Architectural Woodwork Institute (AWI), the Woodwork Institute (WI) and the Architectural Woodwork Manufacturers Association of Canada (AWMAC). Just published in 2009, these standards replace the previous ones of the individual organizations. The speakers will “get under the hood” to point out the changes in format and talk about the new features of this historic joint standards. Attendees will learn of the numbering for easy indexing and compliance; how to navigate through the standards to find specific criteria; and how to distinguish between economy, custom and premium grade in machining, assembly and installation of architectural woodwork. Attendees all receive a complimentary copy of the new standards!


Money Matters: Finance for Non-Financial Managers
Saturday, July 18 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Scott Nelson, Central Plains Millwork
Bruce Spitz, Classic Millwork & Products, Inc.

Get ready for the fastest 3 hours of your business life. This abridged, intermediate level, AWI Education Module covers: The Experts on your Team, Understanding Income Statements for Woodworking Companies, Making Use of the Balance sheet as a Management Tool, Practical Money Management (Costing, Estimating Comparisons), Cash Flow (different from profit and very important), How to Talk with your Accountant and Banker about your Business and the AWI Cost of Doing Business Report. Using a case study, Scott and Bruce tell you how to calculate wood manufacturing costs using your own numbers. You will take away a set of study sheets and know how to use them to create a realistic picture of your company's financial health, and as a bonus, determine, "Can I buy a truck?"

AWI’s education program faculty include knowledgeable experts in business management, highly successful woodworkers and other recognized specialists. Click Here for the Program Development Wiki Work Area.

Check out AWI's Education Offerings Below.

►Click Here to view the AWI LEED® PodCasts

►Click Here to view the video - Woodworkers Wanted

AWI Education Course Descriptions

Fundamentals of Estimating
Length: 1 Day
Learning Outcomes:  This Basic program is designed to help you calculate your “break even” and to introduce attendees to the AWI Cost Book. Do you know much it costs to put the key in the door and turn on the lights every day at your plant? Learn how to find out, AND how to put that fact to work for profitable jobs next week. Go home from this program to sleep better at night, knowing you can turn down unprofitable work and negotiate your margins with confidence.

Advanced Estimating
Length: 2 Day
Learning Outcomes:  Get the results you want from every project - profit and pleasure. Participants take away immediately useful tools - job costing, bid justification, tips for estimating complex projects. The faculty takes attendees through unique woodworking problems, and leads them to real-world solutions. You should have a grasp of basic math, know how to use a calculator and architect’s scale rule, have a working knowledge of the AWI Cost Book and Quality Standards. Whether you “bid” or “negotiate” the tips and tools from this meat-and-potatoes seminar will improve your bottom line.

Fundamentals of Project Management
Length: 1 Day
Learning Outcomes:  Basic one day program designed for NEW project managers.  Participants will build a solid foundation for profitable projects, sharpen their basic management skills, and learn what questions to ask. 

Advanced Project Management
Length: 2 Day
Learning Outcomes:  Effective, efficient, aggressive project management is vital to your company’s growth and health. Learn to “manage UP” to the General Contractors and Owners for whom you work. Take home tips and techniques to put your team in control of the project from the first day to job close out. Improve your Customer Management skills, allowing jobs to flow instead of bump along to completion. Get the tools to punch out of a job, once and for all, so life can go on.

Auto Cad for Woodworkers
Course Length: ½ day, full day, or up to 4 day programs as industry need determines
Learning Outcomes:  Teach competent users of the Autodesk program AutoCAD the tips and tricks of fine woodwork detailing and engineering with objective to increase efficiency, reduce error, and add clarity to shop drawings for woodwork manufacture.

LEED™/Green/Sustainable Woodwork
Length:  ½ Day
Learning Outcomes:  This program explores the relationships between the US Green Building Council LEED™ project specifications and the use of wood and wood products. It is intended for general-level design professionals, end-use customers, and woodworkers who are unfamiliar with the LEED™ requirements. The concept of LEED™ points or credits are related to AWI’s support of sustainable architecture and the use of wood, nature’s renewable resource.  Attendees take home an understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of using FSC-certified materials. The program reviews green lumber, panel products, veneers, and doors.
 
Financial Management
1 Day workshop
Learning Outcomes:  While there are courses on this topic taught at every business school and junior college, this workshop should focus on cost accounting concepts for custom woodworking operations, and the unique needs of the bid-and-negotiation style of work so many AWI firms do. It should include definitions of common accounting terms; cash flow analysis; labor costing; material costing; factory overhead calculations; the cost-volume-profit relationship; and budgeting/reporting mechanisms.
 
Sales and Marketing
Length: 1 Day workshop
Learning Outcomes:  Definitions for marketing, Understanding perceptions, Outline of the marketing process: Research, Planning, Communication, Relationships, Writing the formula for marketing success, and a review of the many mechanisms and tools to take the marketing message to the target audience

Contracts
Length:  1/2 Day
Learning Outcomes:  The Contracts module will allow attendees to take home proven tips and techniques to get what you want while giving the General Contractors and Owners what they want. Find out how to get jobs, protect your investment, AND make profitable agreements. You will take home a Contract Addendum you can use the next day to negotiate for your rights on the next project.