Cosmo Cabinets does $50 million in business annually from its kitchen cabinet manufacturing facility within Eatonton city limits.
But don’t look for Cosmo’s offerings at the local big-box handyman store or even at dedicated kitchen makeover outlets. Cosmo sells almost exclusively to large apartment complexes of 60 to 300 units each.
“Our sweet spot is 200 units and up,” company founder and CEO Umaesh Khaitan said. “A full tractor-trailer load, which is about 15 kitchens, is our minimum order.”
A new, single cabinet rolls off the Cosmo assembly line about every 40 seconds, but Khaitan said ideally, he’d like to see that time lowered to about 27 seconds.
“Because of the market shrinking a little bit because of multifamily units slowing down and there are still project delays post-COVID, we had to slow our production down,” he explained. “We were pretty well geared up to do 120 kitchens a day, but right now, it’s about 60 or a little more each day.”
Khaitan added that production targets are set each weekday for the lone eight-hour daytime shift. On Fridays only, once each worker on the manufacturing/packing line reaches their target, they are free to leave while still getting paid for a full day’s shift.
On the other hand, if the target is not yet met at the shift’s end, employees are expected to remain until each order is filled, but that’s a rare occurrence, according to Khaitan. He described a recent incident when a problem arose in the drawer box construction process, setting those particular employees back, so two coworkers from receiving jumped into the drawer box area to help get everyone caught up. “Because at the end of the day, they did not want anybody to miss the target,” Khaitan said.
Additionally, all floor workers who show up on time for the shift earn a $2 per hour pay boost for the day.
Khaitan said that at a recent company meeting, his human resources department prepared a chart depicting on-time employee arrivals and the bonuses paid out. However, the chart also revealed that Cosmo employees “had left $55,000 on the table.”
“When we started that program, only about 35% of our workforce was taking home that bonus,” Khaitan’s son and Cosmo Cabinets President Nirvana Khaitan contributed. “Now, we’re usually at 50 or 55%, so more prioritize it.”
Khaitan was born and grew up in India, the son of a manufacturing owner there (though not in cabinetry). He left in the 1980s to earn an electrical engineering degree in Syracuse, New York. Upon graduating, he returned to India and joined the family business but returned to the U.S. in 2003 to strike out on his own.
By chance, Khaitan said he was selling kitchen cabinetry within a year and soon identified a need for mass-produced, affordable, attractive, but customizable cabinets for apartment buildings, senior housing units, and multi-unit developments.
“It’s a family business, very hands-on, but still very professional. I grew up in a professional environment, and my father had some very, very good basic business principles, which I follow and hopefully my boys will follow,” Khaitan said. “And I think that has helped us to grow. So, it’s not a mom-and-pop operation, but we try to have a professional mom-and-pop culture, I guess you could call it.”
Cosmo Cabinets (110 Industrial Blvd., Eatonton) is currently hiring. Khaitan said that for every five people interviewed, one or two will be hired. He stressed that Cosmo maintains a high-paced production schedule but works with employees to ensure they are well-trained and prepared for all tasks asked of them. Additionally, the company holds several employee-oriented outings each year and encourages all to participate.
Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; vacation and holiday pay; retirement programs, including a company 401k; and life and disability insurance. Visit cosmocabinets.com for more information or to apply online.