In 1989 there was a mini-boom in commercial construction in south-western BC. With the possibility of a major airport expansion, and free-trade opportunities south of the border, Bruce Sharpe persuaded Woody's directors that they were well placed to expand their manufacturing business. Miles Faster, regularly complaining that the company's production efficiency was being thwarted by lack of manufacturing space, made a pitch to John Carpenter for moving to completely new and more controlled automation, talked over the idea with his father. Woody discussed it with his wife who in turn brought Kim Cashman and Spencer Moneysworth into the debate.
Cashman and Moneysworth felt strongly that they should remain where they were, since there was spare land on their property, even though not the most convenient foe plant expansion. They argued that not only would this avoid the costs of buying and selling property, but more importantly avoid the interruption to production while relocating their existing equipment. Beside, the nearest potential location at an attractive price was at least fifteen miles further out from the residential area where most of them lived. Polarization of opinions rapidly became evident and so, in the spring of 1989, Woody called a meeting of the directors and key personnel to resolve this issue. After a visit to the factory floor and a prolonged and sometimes bitter argument lasting into the early hours, it was agreed that the company would stay put on its existing property.
It was agreed at the meeting that additional production capacity would be added equivalent to 25% of the existing floor area. The opportunity would also be taken to install air-conditional compressor capacity. Equipment would include a semi-automatic woodworking production train, requiring the development and installation of software and hardware to run it. The president and Executive Vice Presidents' offices would also be renovated.
At the meeting, the total cost of the work, not including office renovation, was roughly estimated at 17 million. Woody agreed to commit the company to a budget of 17 million as an absolute maximum for all proposed work and the target date for production would be eighteen months from now. To give Woody's personal a feeling of ownership, Molly Bussell proposed that the project should be called Woody 2000. Spencer Moneysworth would take responsibility for the Project Woody 2000.