Norwich staircase specialist Riverside Joinery expects to post a turnover of more than £2m for the first time as a direct result of introducing two new CNC machining centres.
The Masterwood Project 415L and Project 5 machines, a £200,000 investment for Riverside, have replaced traditional manufacturing methods and opened up new avenues of business for the company, run by managing director Jonathan King.
“I wanted to increase the turnover of the business to secure the future of the existing workforce without a dramatic increase in labour,” he said. “Although we were profitable I could see this changing if we retained labour-intensive methods, and I also wanted to remove human error.
“We were losing out on jobs, not because of any quality issues but because of our lead times. Now we have the two new Masterwood machines we can be much more responsive to customer needs. We can also compete more and start selling to high volume housebuilders, where price is such a critical issue.”
Mr King chose the five-axis Project 5 to do more curved work on staircases, as well as machining large newel posts. Production has nearly doubled to about 30 staircases a week using both machines, with the figure expected to double in the coming months as the manufacturing team become more proficient with the technology.
The Project 415L produces all components with standard specifications. Both machines also produce components such as mantle tops for sister company Norwich Fireplace Centre.
Riverside has also spent £120,000 on a new dust extraction and factory heating system which uses its wood waste.
