Stewart Milne Group has become the first UK firm to order a state-of-the art Randek timber frame assembly line.
The Scottish housebuilder is paying an initial £3.5m for the Swedish-built equipment, which Randek claims will be the ‘fastest line in the world’.
It will be installed at Milne’s £10m timber frame kit factory under construction at Witney, Oxfordshire (TTJ June 2), which is spearheading the firm’s push into the English timber frame market.
A smaller Randek line costing £500,000 is in operation at Century Homes in the Republic of Ireland (TTJ June 16) but Milne’s will be the UK’s first.
The equipment consists of totally automatic floor and wall panel lines linked to MBA’s timber frame design software. Output will be about 6,000 kits per year.
Installation is scheduled for October and it should be fully operation by January.
Executive chairman of Stewart Milne Timber Frame Systems Hugh Mackay said that Randek has guaranteed the installation will be the world’s quickest.
He added: ‘Randek has specifically designed it to our requirements and introduced many innovative methods to supplement their already proven system.
‘It is very satisfying that after a prolonged period of design work we have now got the final specifications.’
Milne operations director Hamish Morrison said an Enterprise Resource Planning integrated software system was designed to meet customers needs, ensuring homes were built to order and delivered on-site just in time. The layout of the production line would also add to speed.
