Weekly Enterprise

The Quarterly Newsletter

earlkline — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:38:51 +0000

Take a look at what the WEI team is up to in its first issue of “The Quarterly“

Fun Team Building Retreat at Mountain Lake

earlkline — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 15:38:16 +0000

The WEI is starting its 2011/2012 business cycle with a “Team Building” retreat. We are set for an overnight retreat at the Mountain Lake Biological Station on Friday evening, August 26 and all day Saturday, August 27. We’ll have dinner up there on Friday night followed by a team-building exercise and socializing. We’ll spend Saturday getting to know each other better through numerous exercises to demonstrate individual differences defined by the Myers-Briggs instrument and have breakfast and lunch there. Home by dinner time on Saturday to soak in the festivities offered in downtown Blacksburg during the first weekend of the new semester. We will join Dr. Steve McMullin’s and Dr. Brian Bond’s 12 Leadership Institute students at the retreat.

High performance depends on exceptional teamwork. Attendance at the retreat is critical for the new WEI group to begin developing team skills as soon as possible. Plus the trip will be fun at the spectacular mountain lake area!

That’s a wrap, folks!

corkybravo — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:28:08 +0000

The 2011 Wood Enterprise Institute Coaster Set ordering has now concluded. We appreciate your support throughout the year, and look forward to more of your business next year. Stay tuned to this site for future updates, especially with the next iteration of the WEI.

Again, thank you for your support! We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without your business, your interest, our staff, and our donors. Thank you!

-WEI Team, 2011

Final Presentation Videos

corkybravo — Fri, 06 May 2011 15:17:45 +0000

Hello! Our final presentation of the WEI Business has been posted online. It’s long, and two parts, but should give you an idea of how we did this year. Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2:

Annual Business Report

earlkline — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:58:56 +0000

Please join us for our final presentation on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 5pm in the Brooks Forest Products Center (WEI classroom). This presentation is our formal annual business report to WEI stockholders. We hope you can join us to hear about the final WEI bottom-line business results!

The 20-minute presentation will be followed with light refreshments and some time to ask questions about the overall student learning experience.

Process Video, Part 2

corkybravo — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:02:42 +0000

Hello! We have another video in our series of process videos. After this, we’ll conclude our three-video series with a cork engraving demo. Thanks for tuning in!

Process Video, Part 1

corkybravo — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:53:29 +0000

Watch below, or on Youtube for our newest video! This one is about how our coasters are made. If you’ve ever wondered how we do it, this is the one to watch!

Online Ordering Is Live!

corkybravo — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:34:52 +0000

Hey there, everyone. We wanted to throw a quick post up to let you know that online ordering is live! You can order the 2011 coasters by clicking here. If you have special requests, let us know.

We’ve also had a few issues with Internet Explorer. If you’re using IE, you need to click “no” when the pop-up box asks you about displaying secure items. Our site is secure, but it’s an oddity that only occurs in IE. If you continue to have issues, we recommend using the latest editions Firefox or Chrome.

Open House – March 29, 2011

earlkline — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:45:51 +0000

We invite you to our Open house 3-5 pm on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Please join us to meet our team and learn about our experiences.

Please let us know if you can come. RSVP at vt.woodenterprise@gmail.com.

Our Strengths: Thorough Testing

corkybravo — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:25:33 +0000

Yeah, we know it's gross.

This past week, we here at the WEI were able to take some coaster samples down to our outsourced finishing facility, to see how well our coasters could be finished on someone else’s line. The cost and time savings are innumerable, here, and the results were fantastic. However, there’s both a good and bad aspect to the finishing. Everything looks top-notch, but the finished cork, although protected, does not engrave well. By using our standard 15% power setting on the laser (unfinished cork will burn improperly or ignite if you raise the power more than this level), we got what could only be described as an ugly engraving. See the photo in this post.

Obviously, the end-result was less than desirable. So, we started working on new power settings, to standardize our engraving. After a few tests, we found that a 30% power setting was optimal, as 25% was a little too gray, 35% had too much char, and two swipes at 15% made the image a little muddy, as well as taking twice as much time.

Just another example of how we’re problem solving, to bring you the best products we can!