Green Forest Cabinetry
Virginia State Chapter

Being Chief Information Officer at a fast-growing, leading-edge cabinet company is the perfect job for someone who majored in Integrated Science and Technology with a focus in Production Systems and Data Science. And Michael Boone, who leads a dynamic and effective team at Chesapeake, Va.-based Green Forest Cabinetry, says his favorite aspect of his job is working with “an awesome team of innovative problem-solvers who are not afraid to be wrong.” Not that they aspire to be — and they always take pride in what they get right. Michael’s most memorable project since joining GFC while earning his degree from James Madison University was both a time- and money-saver. “Our team redesigned our package to be less labor-intensive, more efficient and faster,” he says. “This allowed us to box our cabinets right on our assembly line just in time.”

“Our team redesigned our package to be less labor intensive, more efficient and faster. This allowed us to box our cabinets right on our assembly line just in time.” 

Improving production output and lowering costs isn’t the only item on Michael’s very full plate. His day-to-day responsibilities also include purchasing, which has become a significantly more complex task, as countries shut down during the pandemic and caused materials to become scarce. But, he says, it’s not without solutions. “Setting up new relationships with vendors, machine learning with demand forecasting, and live updates of production and shipping, both global and domestic, have allowed us to reduce delays,” he explains.

It turns out that his fascination with LEGOs as a child provided inspiration. “I loved LEGOs, and even enjoyed the LEGO design software that allowed someone to design their own personal creation and buy the custom brick packs,” Michael recalls. “Our inventory system is very similar, taking parts from different suppliers and marrying them together into an assembled cabinet.” Away from work, he loves learning about and working on cars, taking his black Lab puppy Bria for walks around the neighborhood and dreaming about future world travels so he “can taste food from every country.”