Page 2 - Demo

2|January 2023
The Ellis Page Company: A Novel
Model for a Fabrication Workforce
SlIppery rock GazeTTe
Continued from page 1
In keeping with the newer technologi- cal upgrades of the industry, they are sell- ing their old backsplash machine to make room for another, newer one. They also have a filter press water system that circu- lates 11,000 gallons of water. Keeping with the theme of upgrades, they are looking to improve that system to better keep up with their growing water demands. Towards that end, they also have a system in place to cap- ture and recycle rainwater. Their website is currently undergoing a revamp process as well, to keep up with their ever-evolv- ing business. The future also seems to be knocking on their door when it comes to their business cards. They are exploring dot.card for “virtual” business cards — no paper or app needed, just a phone.
On another technological note, since all material that comes into their shop is pre- sold (approximately two containers of material a week), they use a labeling sys- tem to help route material and cut down on errors. However, on the off chance that a piece does get cut in error, because of the size of the projects they do, miscuts are
usually incorporated back into the proj- ect or the next one, reducing waste. At the moment, the material of choice for all these large projects seems to be white quartz, which means miscuts really do fold back easily into the project.
Not everything they do involves technol- ogy. They template a lot of their projects by hand, only bringing out the laser tem- plate machine for angled or other com- plicated areas of a project. In 2021, the company reworked a section of their ware- house doors to make it easier for the fork- lifts to load and unload the install trucks out of the weather. Plus, they make their own glue-up brackets out of scrap material. If they break one, they just make another one.
There are two surprising side effects to all the machinery and safety-conscious tech- nology. The first one is the longevity of their work force. Just about all of the team has been with the company for well over a decade, including co-owner Troy Page, Roy’s son. Several other team members are closing in on 20 years with the company. Most started when it was a solid surface company and transitioned as the company
evolved. Even though most of them prefer not to, all but a couple of people in fabrication can do solid surface as well.
The second, more amazing
Each piece of equipment in the shop is served by a crane to easily and safely deliver materials.
side effect is that it opens fabrication up to women. As a matter of fact, at Ellis Page Company, LLC, the majority of the work- ers in the fabrication shop are women. There are two male polishers and a male forklift operator. The rest of the crew is women. Women are programmers, saw- yers, and operators. One of the female crew, Elizabeth, has been with the company almost 20 years. She started in solid surface and grew into her CNC programmer/oper- ator position as the company changed over
time. Ellis Page Company, LLC has actu- ally been working toward this for decades. They hired their first woman fabrication worker in 1999.
When Roy Page was asked if there was a difference between women and men in fab- rication, he responded with a very boss-like diplomatic answer: “A lot of people like to sit there and say that women are more atten- tive to detail. We like to think that everyone here has that same attention to detail.” He did mention that he thought women seemed to pick up the programming process a little bit quicker than men, though.
Please turn to page 3
Shop Manager Kara Andes does everything from programming to quality control to scheduling.
Left: Installing a mitered quartzite book-matched reception desk. Below: The mostly Prussiani wet fab shop includes three CNCs and two saws, including a waterjet, and a Marmo Meccanica edge polisher. Currently, a Stingray Water Filter Press system circu- lates 11,000 gallons for their steady fabrication schedule.