Klay Grover is currently the CEO and an owner at Homestead Cabinets. He began working at Homestead in 2007 in the shipping department and quickly learned the entire operation. By 2013 Klay was General Manager at Homestead and in 2018 was made CEO and in charge of all operations. This year he participated in the purchase of Homestead from the previous owner.
In 2014 Homestead began their “lean” journey. With Klay’s leadership Homestead has become a lean machine. Along with the extensive work Homestead has done on their culture, namely, Craftsmanship, Hard Work, and Communication, lean has finally become a way of life at Homestead. The company has additionally created a position called the “continuous improvement manager.” They are continually making changes to processes and implementing ideas, machines, gadgets, and gizmos to streamline operations. Homestead’s investment in, and
commitment to improvement is obvious.
Klay has played a huge role in driving Homestead’s lean culture but gives credit to the team. “None of this was possible without our amazing people.” He is creative and innovative, but not all of the great ideas are his own. The 8th waste, Unused Employee Genius is at the forefront of Homestead’s focus. The permission and encouragement to create and innovate come from the culture he has been instrumental in developing.
The Homestead team is now poised for more growth. Under Klay’s leadership Homestead has grown from $4.4 million in 2016 to a $6.5 million per year company in 6 years with essentially the same amount of employees. This year will also be a record year, easily surpassing $8 million in total sales with the same number of team members we had in 2014.