It has historically been the policy of Collins to produce our made-to-order cabinetry in the Formica, Wilsonart, Pionite, or Nevamar of the customer's choice as the nominal cost of all four brands of laminate is about the same anyway.
As our cabinet orders and production volume have increased, so have the costs and pain of special-ordering the laminate(s) for each and every customer order. These costs include determining the number of sheets needed, ordering, expediting, receiving, marking for the order, and then staging for production. These costs are then compounded by higher freight and manufacturing costs that result from back-orders, late deliveries, shortages, and human errors. Further, this policy has precluded us from consolidating our laminate purchases with one supplier and realizing lower material costs. It has become increasingly clear why our competitors long-ago selected a pallet of standard laminates from which to choose.
In order to avoid some of these increasing costs, improve efficiency, and improve on-time delivery of customer orders, Collins has published a new swatch card with thirty-five carefully chosen LAMINATE SELECTIONS that are being bulk purchased and stocked. This change is effective January 1, 2003 and the savings expected from this change have been factored into our 2003 Price Schedule.
This new laminate policy still provides customers with the option of special-ordering cabinetry in any commercially available standard-grade laminate by Wilsonart, Pionite, Formica, or Nevamar for an additional 10%. We will also provide quotations on specific premium-grade laminate selections. This policy recognizes all of the above costs and passes them to the customers that receive the benefits . as opposed to generally passing these costs to everyone.
