McClure Shuffleboard Tables Article National Hardwood Magazine
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Time to read 3 min
by Matthew Fite McClure Tables Relies On American Craftsmanship To Create Quality Products Grand Rapids, MI–McClure Tables, located Jenison Michigan, manufactures butcher blocks, kitchen islands, shuffleboard tables and dining room furniture. McClure Tables CEO Todd McClure explained it is the skillful handcrafting of each of these items that sets them apart from other companies.
McClure Tables purchases about 200,000 board feet of lumber per year, including Maple, Walnut, Cherry, Hickory, Hard Maple in Select and Better, Mahogany, pine and reclaimed wood. The company buys its wood from dry lots. [caption id="attachment_21123" align="aligncenter" width="318"]
Once they get the wood in their shop, the creative craftsmanship begins. “We work from the shop-level up,” said McClure. “We don’t work from the design out. Most of the products we make are based on notes from an old notebook. Most of what you see on my website (www.mccluretables.com) is handcrafted and built by master furniture makers, who are doing this with their own notes or out of their heads. They’re not referencing drawings and making the product.” “When we engineer or make a new product,” McClure added, “there are usually two or three woodworkers asking each other, ‘What if you did this?’ or ‘What if you did that?’ We’ll have a conversation for a half hour or an hour. Then I’ll go back to my office and come back in three hours and see what they’ve built, make a couple more comments, and, a couple of days down the road, we’ll have developed a new product.”
Dan and Todd McClure Inspecting Lumber[
This process is used instead of a directive coming from the front office and a designer using Auto-Cad to make the plans, which are then given to the workers in the shop. Annually, McClure Tables introduces new product lines; sometimes, these product lines are inspired by customer input. For example, the butcher block product line is fairly new. Additionally, the furniture makers handcraft nearly every piece of furniture, instead of a craftsman making the original item from which other workers make copies. “I think it works better,” McClure said, “because the actual craftsman who builds the product feels a sense of pride and ownership, and that the company values their input. The workers aren’t just workers, and people don’t work just to work. Everybody aims to be creative, and I think this is accomplished by involving all my workers in the creative process.” Assessing his company, McClure said, “We’re very old-fashioned.”
Todd McClure & Robert McClure
McClure uses no computerized machines. The company utilizes the skill, work ethic, and creativity of its employees. This vintage business model is working well for McClure Tables. The company began as a group of retail stores in Texas in 1981. The stores, called Game Room Designs, sold overseas-manufactured shuffleboard tables. In 2007, the company began contract manufacturing of its shuffleboard tables. Working this closely with the manufacturers gave McClure much insight into how the tables were built. In 2010, the transition was completed, with the company relocating its headquarters to Grand Rapids, MI, the hometown of McClure’s wife, Judy McClure. Grand Rapids also happens to be the town where the American furniture industry got its start, before moving to North Carolina and then overseas. McClure said it’s an advantage to be situated in such a place where the species of wood are greatly varied. The McClure plant in Grand Rapids spans 18,000 square feet. True to its vintage business plan, McClure Tables utilizes established, reliable American- made equipment. They use a Diehl rip saw, a Black Brothers glue roller, a Dorcette stroke sander, and a Quincy rotary air compressor, among other equipment.
Click Here to see the Magazine PDF version. Note: you will have to scroll to pages 22-23 to read online, but an image is above.
Currently, about 95 percent of McClure Tables’ output is shuffleboard tables. However, the butcher block product is changing how the company operates. In three to four years, McClure projects it will purchase 1 million board feet of wood per year for its butcher block items. Three to five board feet of wood are needed for one square foot of butcher block, he said. All in all, McClure projects a 50% increase in sales over the next three years. And, he said, the future promises even more growth. Key personnel in the company, besides Todd McClure, are Judy McClure, the company's president, and Brian Poll, the sales manager. In addition to the company’s leadership, nine employees work in the shop. The furniture makers in the company have years of experience. McClure said they are like “kids in a candy store” when they begin working on a new project. McClure Tables is a member of the National Kitchen and Bath Association. McClure said that manufacturing products in America may be out of the norm for many these days, but consumers, even in China, want American products. The quality of American goods and the accompanying customer service – including McClure Shuffleboard Tables – are desirable, he said.
