MANUFACTURING ART

He may not say so himself, but Bob W. Shaw is an artist. The soft-spoken Texan’s studio is a 90,000 square foot manufacturing plant, his canvas is elite commercial spaces and his unusual medium is wood veneer. Shaw is the President of Robert Shaw Mfg. Co., Inc. A premium furniture and architectural millwork manufacturer, located in Fort Worth, TX, that serves the upper-most echelons of the market. All woodworking operations depend on four major components to function: personnel, materials, information and equipment. What makes Robert Shaw Mfg.’s work so close to perfection is the team’s ability to conceptualize and carry out highly complex projects. Like any true artist, Bob Shaw has an elevated awareness of the creative process. But he also has the engineering ingenuity to anticipate solutions before challenges arise.

Although not matte and framed, Robert Shaw Mfg.’s work is on display in many fine venues. A good example of the company’s commercial work is the custom furniture and vast expanses of premium architectural millwork installed in the new Fluor Corporation Headquarters in Irving, TX. Fluor Corporation is one of the world’s largest publicly owned engineering, procurement, construction, maintenance services and operations companies, employing an international workforce of 35,000 people in 25 countries. The time frame for the project, from purchasing the site to move in, was an ambitious nine months. It was completed in eight. Gensler was the Architect of Record for the project, Clayco, Inc. was the general contractor and Robert Shaw Mfg. was chosen from a few elite manufacturers invited to bid for the millwork. “This was a true collaboration in which the design, schedule and cost needed to come together,” said Judy Pesek, principal and managing director of Gensler. “Fluor’s mantra from the beginning was ‘We’re going to do this right.’ And we did.

SHARED VALUES

One characteristic of premium architectural woodwork is fastidious attention to detail. For Robert Shaw Mfg, that precision is a collaborative effort of professionals who possess two important traits beyond expert trade skills and a commitment to quality. The first is a comprehensive knowledge of wood species and their characteristics, and the second is the ability to work well with a team. “Longevity is a characteristic of people who work in the premium architectural millwork industry,” explains Project Manager Ken Harris, who has been with the company for 35 years. “The success of the operation relies of the continuity of each person’s skills, and their understanding of what it takes to make the right things happen for each unique job. People tend to stay with the company for a long time, which is good because highly-trained and experienced people are very difficult to replace.”

Robert Shaw Mfg. is a family business founded by Robert H. Shaw in 1946. Although the elder Shaw still puts in full days at the office, he handed control of the business over to his son Bob W. Shaw in the mid 1970’s. Bob Shaw is as close to the quintessential Renaissance man as it gets in Texas. In addition to operating a well-run business, he has an artistic sensibility and a thorough understanding of design, materials and manufacturing equipment. And although he can carry on a thoughtful philosophical conversation, he is anything but pretentious. Bob’s brother William Shaw runs the veneering operation that provides the company with the necessary tight control over their materials. Their sister Julie manages the office. (And yes, by all accounts they get along very nicely with one another). In addition to family, the team is made up of a highly trained engineering staff, and 35 experienced craftspeople. Most people have been there for 20 years or more. As the project manager, Harris works as a liaison between the shop, the installer, the contractor and the architect. “Bob owns the project when he takes one on, and he does not let anything out of the shop unless it is first class.” says Harris, “The entire team here is very particular.”

PREMIUM MATERIALS FOR PREMIUM PROJECTS

From the initial vision of the architect, the team at Robert Shaw Mfg. begins the almost supernatural process of bringing an idea into reality. “I learned a long time ago to listen carefully,” says Harris. “The architects describe a color range, and how slick or flashy they want a design to be. And that tells us what sorts of wood species we are looking for in a veneer and how it should be cut.” Harris relays the information to Bob Shaw, and then the two select logs to match the architect’s intent. “One of my favorite parts is shopping for the logs,” concedes Harris.

To achieve the interesting, elegant and integrated visual effects throughout the Fluor building, several different wood species were chosen. The primary veneer is makore with a large-scale crossfire. The figure marks run perpendicular to the grain creating an almost iridescent brilliance. A floating dining room that spans the atrium on the third floor is done with zebra wood. Wenge was chosen for the credenza and window framing in the dining room because its dark chocolate tone matches the darker striping of the zebra wood. Thick Texas mesquite was used throughout for the flooring, and also to create a parquet effect around the building’s elevator portals. Regardless of the face, high quality MDF is always used for the core. The veneer faces for the Fluor Building were built up with Sierra Pine NAUF Arries, which was the best available MDF at the time. Now Robert Shaw Mfg. uses Medite II SDF as their standard core material. “We work diligently to make our products as perfect as possible. The core must be absolutely smooth so the veneer will lay flat. And it has to be stable. If the core moves, it will take the face with it,” says Harris.

CONSTANT INVENTION

Choosing the veneer is just one of thousands of small decisions that have to be made to keep a job moving forward. “As a project progresses there is a hierarchy of information that is available. For example, once construction is underway, the measurement of the field conditions rarely matches the drawing. So we are constantly planning and making adjustments,” explains Bob Shaw.

While it takes skill and knowledge to layout the individual leaves so they match for width and grain pattern, it is the ability to modify that plan when parameters change during construction that makes a premium architectural millwork operation masterful. “Bob Shaw has this heightened wisdom that comes from a lifetime of experience,” says Harris. “He can anticipate possible challenges in a project before they arise, and identify the best solution from a huge number of possibilities. He can see around corners.”

That last part may be a bit of an exaggeration, but there is no doubt that Bob Shaw fully understands the process and is passionate about his work. “We have been in business 63 years, we know how to do what we do,” says Shaw. “We are sensitive to the aesthetics of a project, the scale and the way things fit together. Our up-to-date, fully outfitted shop gives us the capacity to complete even large premium projects correctly and on time. Nothing is perfect, but we work to put out near perfect product every time.”