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WARREN TIMES: Warren countertop company fills a Mid-west need
By Cindy VanSchalkwyk

Good ideas take off and build up a momentum of their own. That's what has happened to MobileFab, a company located just off Market Street that will soon expand into the Chicago area.

"This deal will expand the MobileFab System's availability beyond the Northeast for the first time. That's our biggest combined order," said Paul Dubuc, CEO, president and company owner.

MobileFab employs innovative technology to create kitchen or bathroom countertops on site in just one day — instead of the one to two weeks that is the industry standard. Mr. Dubuc has been in the countertop business for 18 years. He applied his knowledge of the process to streamline a system that is normally lengthier.

Paul Dubuc is the CEO and owner of MobileFab, an innovative Warren- based company that is expanding its technology into the Chicago area.

For instance, traditionally, a cardboard or plywood template is created at the site then taken to another location for manufacturing. When complete, it is delivered and installed on the original site. But the margin for error is larger when potentially three different crews handle the process, Mr. Dubuc said. With the new process he developed, the same two people handle the job from start to finish. And the cost remains competitive.

"Price-wise there is no difference. The cost of the equipment is made up by the efficiency," he said.

His process centers on 26-foot truck that contains an efficient workshop. Components inside include a diesel generator and all the tools and materials necessary to form and install a Corian solid surface countertop in a matter of hours. Four similar vehicles, leased from MobileFab, are currently in the Northeast, not counting the two trucks based in Warren. The company currently employs 14 people, and expects to hire 3 to 6 new people in the next 6 months to handle the new order. Of the eight trucks that will be sent to Chicago over the next five years, one will be sold outright, while the remaining seven will be leased. The truck bodies will be ordered from Pennsylvania, but outfitted in Warren. MobileFab in Warren will also provide training for those who will man the trucks for the Chicago company, called Counter Solutions.

It took years of experience and continual tweaking of the original idea to come up with the streamlined system now standard in every MobileFab truck, Mr. Dubuc said. Only the color of the Corian countertop is chosen ahead of time so it can be stocked in the vehicle. The MobileFab truck then stops at a home or business owner's door at 7 a.m., ready to take measurements and run ahead of the competition. Instead of creating a cardboard or plywood model, and then transferring it to the countertop material, the blank sheets are precisely scribed and marked in place on the cabinets to eliminate measurement errors. Depending on the size of the job, the new countertops will be installed anywhere from early to late afternoon.

"You can have breakfast on your old countertops and dinner on the new," Mr. Dubuc said.

The process now carries four United States patents. The company never stops innovating.

"We keep it updated. As we learn new tricks we apply it to the vehicles out there," Mr. Dubuc said.

If you're looking into the process, the Market Street site has the name MobileFab on its trucks, but RISSCO on its sign and in the phone book. The names will all change to MobileFab within the year, Mr. Dubuc said.