Employee Spotlight! The Woodshop
Instead of showcasing a single person this month, we'll be spotlighting an entire department. The Abt Woodshop is made up of talented craftsmen who know their trade well, whether they specialize in resurfacing, building, demolition, rebuilding, electrical work, or something completely different. "It's great to work together as a team," says employee Pat Mueller. "I jump in when I need to jump in. We take care of things." Taking care of things is an understatement. From resizing the Atrium's water fountain to helping add on the new warehouse to creating our new furniture showcasing space, our Woodshop employees can take on any challenge. Meet these talented craftsmen and learn about some of the best work they've done here at Abt—you might be surprised at how much of Abt is designed and crafted in-house!
Meet The Woodshop!
With just under 20 people, our team of specialists is small but mighty—and ready to take on any challenge. That's why one of our favorite questions to ask these gentlemen was what their favorite woodshop project was. We got a mix of reactions, but everyone laughed. "Remember the helicopter?" "Wait, it had to be the Inspiration Studio." "Nah, it's anything I'm working on right now." A common sentiment? "A lot of it is just pitching in where it's needed," said Bart Scharlau. This is truly a team of men who work in sync to get the job done, whether the task is small or massive.
David Lee is the head of the Woodshop team, and he agrees. "Sometimes issues can seem unsolvable with tight timelines and things that need to get done. That's when we all come together. We have carpenters, electricians, plumbers and people that specialize in different areas. When everyone jumps in together, those are the best projects." Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to talk to each team member, but we had fun talking to the Woodshop employees we could find.
Some of Their Favorite Projects
We know that these talented employees work to improve the store every day—so we went along and asked our problem solvers what their favorite projects were. Along the way, we learned about some amazing work they've done across the decades they've been here.
David Lee mentioned that one of his favorite projects that they've worked on was the remodeling of the fountain in the Abt Atrium. It was a collaboration with Chicago Fountain, and both groups worked to make the fountain in the Abt Atrium more impressive and larger than it had been before. He's also proud of the dual dishwasher and kitchen cooktop display that customers can see out on the sales floor. The team removed the old one in just one night for a project that needed everyone to come together quickly so that customers could shop our appliances as quickly as possible.
We spoke with Pat Mueller a bit more to chat about his favorite projects. "I like them all, but I like doing the remodeling and the demolition the most. I'm involved in all of it, but my main thing is doing electrical work." One of Pat's favorite projects was the addition of Abt's 430,000-square-foot warehouse in 2022. It took over a year and a half and lots of work, but with all the extra space, we can store more and have products ship to customers quickly.
We mentioned a helicopter briefly—not many appliance stores can say they've needed to use a helicopter before. But Abt did, and our Woodshop team helped handle the task. When updating our HVAC systems several years ago, we needed a way to get massive air conditioners onto the roof of the building. Instead of using a crane, we needed a high-capacity helicopter. The Woodshop team made sure the entire process went smoothly, all to keep the store cool for shoppers and employees alike. That was one of Sean Jahnke's favorite projects that the team tackled.
The Inspiration Studio was a massive undertaking for the entire Woodshop team. Working together with designer Mick deGiulio, our Employee Spotlights created 12 unique kitchen builds across 10,000 square feet. Each kitchen features stunning appliances from premium brands like Fisher and Paykel, Viking, Dacor and many more. Creating these unique boutique spaces on the second floor of Abt's atrium was no easy task, and it's a favorite project of Jason Forrest, Lincoln Buchanan and more. Both of these Woodshop Employee Spotlights have been here for over a decade and have family members who have worked alongside them at Abt, too. Lincoln noted that he loved upgrading the lighting controls to Lutron Athena as well. If you're hoping for a truly connected smart home with easy-to-manage lighting and window treatments, chat with Abt about Lutron for your home.
Josh Gustafson mentioned a few of the tasks he likes doing on the regular, from customer service calls to laser engraving to taking care of air filters to collecting the coins from the fountain—all of which are donated to For Autistic Kids. "When I started here, they just needed someone to sweep the floors and scrub the sticky stuff from the tiles. That was my first job here. Now, my favorite part of my job is coming in in the morning and knowing that nothing is ever the same." Each day is a new challenge and a new job, and the team is ready to face it. "We are a jack-of-all-trades group, and the opportunity to learn around here is abundant."
Next up, we spoke to Scott Wieck, who spends a lot of his time on customer-facing tasks such as remodeling and resizing cabinets to fit new appliances. Scott knows that every day is going to bring in an interesting task. "I really enjoy it because it's always different ... every one of those cabinets I get is unique—it could be exactly the same cabinet, but the guy that put it together used more glue than the last guy. Then this one won't come apart where the other one will. The day-to-day work is exciting because it's always different." With 15 years at Abt and 14 years as a cabinet maker before that, Scott knows his trade—and so do the other Woodshop team members.
After talking to Scott, we spoke to Silvano Lopez. David Lee described him as the "Grandmaster finisher extraordinaire", and it's easy to see why. Silvano (also known as Sal) is involved in all kinds of projects, so he had a hard time picking one that he loved the most. Sal can clean up the occasional accident or mistake, too: if someone put a screw through the side of a piece of wood, it's Sal's job to get things back to normal and looking pristine. It's clear that Sal is well-respected by everyone on the team, and that's because he can fix and refinish nearly anything to have it looking like new.
Other team members were hard at work outside of the woodshop, too. We stepped into the soon-to-be expansion of our furniture department, where we found Scott Wurzbacher. Scott Wurzbacher has done some of the traditional woodcrafting at Abt, making some of our most beautiful tables in conference rooms. These tables look like they've been beautifully carved from trees themselves. "Those are probably my favorite projects, artistically. Each table took, I don't know, 52 hours. Took five slabs, cut them, glue them up, sand them, visquine, bow tie...took about one week." Describing these tables as artistic is an understatement: check out a close-up of the table below.
Scott has crafted many other tables at Abt as well, including one that little Abt shoppers may have used before COVID. In the Atrium, a custom LEGO table was the perfect spot for kids to have fun and build their own creations. While it's no longer in the Atrium, there are tons of other spaces that little ones can play, like with our bubble machine or our massive LiteZilla wall.
Tim Moore has been at Abt for 13 years, and he mentioned that "my favorite project is anything I'm currently framing". When he says framing, he's referring to soffits, walls and ceilings. He frames these to provide that finishing touch that makes Abt look its best. When we're updating spaces (like making the new TUMI store) Tim goes to work to make the new area look its best.
Finally, we chatted with Russ Posson, who's only been on the Woodshop team for eight months. Compared to his fellow workers, he's a bit new. "My favorite project so far has got to be the TUMI store." The more he works in the Woodshop, the more adventures he'll have to laugh about with his coworkers. There have been tons of other adventures that this team has been on—when something goes wrong, you go to Woodshop, and these innovative employees will find a solution.
A Little Extra Fun
Other favorite moments that these talented men can remember? They shared a group Halloween costume at Abt. Abt has a Halloween costume contest every year, and departments can compete as a group. One year they all dressed up as lumberjacks—a good joke for folks that spend so much of their time working with wood.
Finally, everyone who walks past the Woodshop knows that they're going to hear a great soundtrack. There is always music on in their workspace. While some parts of Abt are quiet or dominated by the radio on the sales floor, the first person in the Woodshop chooses the music of the day. On the day we were in, the team was listening to the Beach Boys in honor of Brian Wilson's passing. "It really depends on whoever gets in there first," David said with a smile. "Sometimes people fight over it, but we wait for them to go to lunch before we change it." No matter when you walk into the Woodshop, you'll hear music playing—the perfect soundtrack to help these craftsmen get the job done.
What Makes The Woodshop Team Unique
After chatting with many of the Woodshop team members, we asked them what they loved about their jobs. The same sentiment came around the room again: "It's always something different." David Lee said with a smile. "We literally never do the same thing day to day" Some of the team's upcoming projects have results that customers can look forward to seeing, too. "We're working on the TUMI store, then we'll update the Apple Store, the Connect Store..." There's a long list of projects coming up for this team, and they're ready to handle just about anything we can throw at them. You may have even seen the future space for TUMI blocked off in our Atrium. it won't be for long ... keep an eye on our social media spaces. We may post an update once some of these revamps are finished.
Over 89 Years Of Experience
