Machinery

By staying ahead of the curve when it comes to machinery, we have been able to provide new and improved ways of servicing our clients in the market place. Our calculated risk approach to investing in the latest technologies, allows us to create a more efficient service to our clients. As a team, we take regular trips overseas in Europe to view the latest technologies within the sector and it has allowed us to expand and grow whilst also continuing to provide our second to none service.

Just over 2 years ago now, we updated our whole machinery sector of the company. It took a total of 2 weeks to remove all the existing machinery and bring in the current. We strategically calculated how long the transition would take, which allowed us to continue to service our clients during that period.

It all started when we had just got back from the European Machinery Show “LIGNA” 2 weeks prior. Sitting down at a small local café, we started discussing what new technology and machinery we had seen and how we could implement it into our set up. Scribbling on a napkin, with a black pen, we started designing what we thought at the time, would be impossible.

We came up with a layout which would remove 90% of our current setup and what looked to be a 6-9 month process. Coming back to the factory that morning, we spoke with our Foreman and told him our idea. His response, “You’re crazy, but we can do it”. So we jumped on the phone with our machine representative and started putting our napkin scribbled idea, into reality.

The layout consists of 2 new CNC Machines from Anderson. Anderson, based in Taiwan, specialise in manufacturing CNC equipment. They’d recently introduced a CNC which can cut White HMR at double the speed of any other CNC in the market. It uses electro magnetic drives to increase the speed from point to point unlike other CNC models.

Then came the Barbaric Storage System. This company manufactured custom storage systems that stored all different types of board materials that could then be loaded onto the CNC’s via a crane. It too was 3x times the speed as our previous model and had a lot more sophisticated software. With its expanding and contracting crane head, it allows us to stock over 2,000 sheets of material, no matter the size or thickness. This has been a massive advantage as it ensure our stock levels are always full.

So, for those who are unfamiliar cabinet making jargon, what I have written about above is nothing crazy. What was crazy and would become the first of its kind in Australia, was the fact we had designed the layout to have the Barbaric Storage System sit on a 350m2 mezzanine above the CNC’s. This would allow us to increase space throughout our headquarters, allowing us to expand our current volume levels.

Following, we then added 2 brand new IMA Edge Banders to the layout. IMA is a Germany crafted brand that manufactures the worlds best edge banders. Their high volume machine creates a consistent and sublime finish to parts travelling 25 metres per minute. With their single part corner rounder technology, it creates a consistent corner round finish to ever part. Consistency is crucial when it comes to volume. As companies expand and output grows, they generally lose quality, however, by investing in the right and most sophisticated technologies, we have been able to grow our level of quality alongside our output.

Machinery within our industry is important. It provides consistency, quality and accuracy. We believe our facility is a representation of ourselves as a company. It gives our clients confidence and provides us credibility. A concern business owners and CEO’s have when moving their business to a new supplier is “Is this new company going to keep up?”. It’s what causes businesses to hesitate when making transitions and they have every right to have those concerns. Would you put all your eggs in an unknown basket? That is why we believe to constantly improve and re-invest in the latest technologies. It creates growth for us as a business and gives our clients confidence that they are aligned with a reputable company, that can ride along side them in the journey of growth and expansion.