Executive Interiors Vice President Tim Russell, center, celebrates the grand opening of its new facility with employees. Photos by Frank Lopez

Executive Interiors, a cabinetmaker in Fresno, hosted its grand opening Wednesday to show off its new state-of-the-art facility.

Local media, Executive Interiors’ employees and customers were present to celebrate the grand opening and enjoy lunch provided by Chef Paul’s Café in Fresno.

Founded in 2007, Executive Interiors provides fixtures for commercial buildings, and has done work for clients including Community Medical Centers, the Fresno Chaffee Zoo, the Fresno Grizzlies and Facebook.

 

Fresno County District 3 Supervisor Sal Quintero was present to praise Executive Interiors’ founders — President Jaime Russell and Vice President Tim Russell — for the growth of their company and to present them with a proclamation from the city, designating April 24 Executive Interiors Grand Opening Day.

“We look at community development, we look at businesses, and to us, there is nothing more important than a locally owned business expanding, growing, and hiring more and more people,” Quintero said.

The new facility, located on Nielsen Avenue and West Avenue near Belmont Memorial Park, covers 21,000 square feet and currently employs 25 people.

There are plans to implement a second night shift that is likely to add 10 to 15 more employees.

A special highlight of the facility is the newly installed robotic machinery that will save manpower and time. The new machines come from Ima Schelling Group USA, located in Raleigh, North Carolina.

One of the machines is used for cutting wood to manufacture and build the cabinets, and the other is an overhead gantry that robotically stores and organizes materials, saving employees time and energy from having to manually move materials themselves.

Combined, the new machinery cost more than $1 million, with the software costs going past $60,000.

Tim Russell said the new machinery is the first of its kind to be used on the West Coast.

“We anticipate that this is going to drive our production up by 40%,” he said. “We’ve already seen it. We’ve got this facility that is helping us with our costs overhead, and we’ve bumped up the productivity so now we’ve got to hire to keep up with it.”

He added that sales have increased 60% since around April of last year, when Executive Interiors broke ground on the new facility.