Trade Show Display Company Gets a Production Boost with CNC Woodworking Technology from Laguna Tools

Imagine spending months designing and building your dream home, only to destroy it once it’s completed. In a sense, that’s what Trade Design, Inc. does with its highly touted, one-of-a-kind trade displays after a trade show is over.

“That’s true,” says project manager Emily Trusela, who practically grew up in the family business. “Our trade show displays are typically extremely customized, one-time builds that will never be used again… though we do try to recycle as many useable pieces as possible.”

Emily’s father, Shinichi Kanaoki, founded Trade Design, Inc. 25 years ago. Originally a toy designer from Japan, Kanaoki found a highly specialized niche designing, building and staffing displays for Japanese companies interested in tapping into the U.S. market.

“We have become very adept at helping clients bridge subtle – and not-so-subtle – cultural gaps between markets to resonate with U.S. consumers,” she said. “That takes a great deal of client collaboration and communication to produce a trade show display experience that attracts not only a high volume of visitors, but a wealth of new clients.”

The company’s manufacturing facility is located in Signal Hills, California, where its well-equipped woodworking shop is capable of turning around one-of-a-kind projects on tight deadlines and on budget… without compromising on quality or attention to detail.

Emily says the company builds about 15 new displays a year, but she says that’s just the beginning of the story. “We also manage the packaging, transportation, electrical, staffing, and any other detail related to the trade show. All a client has to do is walk into their display, and start doing business.

“Of course, attention to detail means attending the various shows to make sure everything comes together perfectly,“ she said. “Our biggest satisfaction is when a client comes up and tells us how successful the show was. It’s very gratifying.”

According to Emily, most of the displays are built from wood, typically ¾ birch, which is then finished with various laminates. The company’s ability to make deadlines and create show-stopping displays is dependent on its extensive woodworking capabilities within its 15,000 square-foot-shop.

“My husband Louis oversees the construction of the displays we build in-house, and one of our best investments we’ve made has been the Laguna Smartshop 5×10 CNC Router Machine we purchased from Laguna Tools in Irvine, California. With the Laguna Tool’s CNC Machine, we are able to build displays infinitely faster, and create very complex angles and frames at a fraction of the time and expense, which helps keep our displays affordably priced,” she said.

“We first saw the Laguna Tools CNC at last year’s IWF Woodworking Show in Las Vegas. My husband loved the quality, and the very high level of customer service provided by Laguna Tools. We understand the value of providing extraordinary customer service to our clients, so it’s refreshing to receive that level of service from a vendor.”

Emily says the Laguna Tool’s CNC Machine has been a huge boost to their production capabilities. “We can create projects in two weeks less time than using a typical router or woodworking tools,” she added. “In fact, we’ve been making cuts for one project that would have taken us four men to cut the material in five days (8 hour days). We just finished cutting all the material in one day with just one person working on the CNC machine. The machine really saves us time and man hours!”

 

Products:

• Laguna Smartshop 5×10 CNC Router
• 3HP Mobile Cyclone Manual Clean w/Remote
Dust Collector

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