Workshop News

Gat Creek is expanding our facility by 40,000 square feet to build more furniture faster and meet demand. And the work has already begun. A self-confessed manufacturing geek, Gat’s philosophy on expansions is that if you are going to add on space, add on as much as you can. The expansion will ultimately double the factory’s capacity.

From the beginning, Gat Creek has made environmental responsibility a core value. For example, on our roof we gather sunlight to power our lighting and more. 

“We got our first solar panels probably five or so years ago,” Gat Caperton said. “We’ve always been interested in it but we didn’t have the extra capital to invest until then. We tend to buy CNC machines first and then solar panels. When our budgets allow, we add more panels because although it’s a modest return to us financially, it is a significant return environmentally.”

If science fiction had its way we would all be working for robots by now. That day will likely never come, but there is no doubt that automation has profoundly changed the manufacturing landscape; almost entirely for the good and without making human beings obsolete.  Here at Gat Creek, we owe a good deal of our success to our investment in four CNC (computer numerically controlled) machines. Deploying robots strategically we can build more complex and beautiful furniture, without taxing Gat Creek’s most important asset — our people. 

While it may seem like a magic wand invented by the auto industry, Lean Manufacturing is a process that encompasses a variety of practices depending on the trade. “Our business is particularly well-suited to Lean principles,” Gat explained. “With a piece of solid lumber I can make a bed, or a table or a dresser. Unlike a car manufacturer that is dealing with thousands of parts to source and manage.” Lean works for both industries, but for Gat Creek the complexity is vastly reduced.

“Really it’s as simple as listening to our customer and focusing on the things she cares about,” Gat said. “And our customers care about the finest material and craftsmanship.”

Call us biased but West Virginia has one of the country’s finest park systems, and of the 37 throughout the state, the best is Cacapon State Park. It’s just down the road from the Gat Creek workshop. So we were thrilled with the opportunity to craft furniture specifically for the park’s historic cabins undergoing their first updates in more than 50 years.