Established 30 years ago as a family business at Lye in the Black Country, Pacegrade is a 30-strong company specialising in bespoke joinery, staircases and solid surface fabrication.
However, five years ago it suffered a fire so large, it took two days to extinguish.
“Clearly, it was a major setback for us,” said managing director Nick Horton. “However, looking back, there was definitely a silver lining because it gave us the opportunity to set a new direction for the company’s operations.”
Mr Horton was able to re-equip his workshop with more up-to-date machinery and enable the company to grow its turnover from £500,000 at the time of the fire to more than £1.2m today.
“But we’re not looking to rest on our laurels,” said Mr Horton. “We want to build on this with continued growth in the future. A lot of hard work has put us where we are today, but we are simply running out of room. Ongoing advances in technology and changes within the industry have convinced me that we can make more effective use of our resources. As a result, we are streamlining our methods using the latest CAM/CIM technology – which I believe will enable us to sustain our development without the expense and upheaval of moving to a larger site.”
To illustrate his point, Mr Horton cites the increase in “architectural intent” drawings being received by his company, where final detailing is undertaken in-house.
“Using our current methods, detailing would be done on the shopfloor at a setting-out bench. But, given that around 75% of the drawings we receive have been created in CAD, and therefore could be made available to us in electronic format, we have the opportunity to increase front-end control which, in turn, will provide a number of important benefits,” he said.
Through a £250,000 investment programme, Mr Horton plans to build on the foundation of his company’s AutoCAD installation with the addition of a MAKA PM270 five-axis CNC router, supported by AlphaCAM, AlphaCIM and AlphaWINDOOR software from Planit.
The first building blocks are in place, with the recent delivery and commissioning of the five-axis machine and the installation of Pacegrade’s AlphaCIM system.
Integrated business management
Developed by Planit as an integrated business management system for the joinery industry, AlphaCIM enables users to automate key areas of their businesses, such as sales order processing, works order documentation, costing, stock control and invoicing.
AlphaCIM’s library module enables component information to be stored, used to build an order, and then transferred to Planit’s AlphaCAM programming and AlphaWINDOOR design-to-manufacturing applications; opening the way for the automated production of families of parts such as fabricated doors and window units.
At Pacegrade, AlphaCIM is already being used to automatically produce cutting lists and route cards.
“With the prospect of implementing costing and reports in the near future, the software is already well on its way to establishing itself as our primary business management tool,” said Mr Horton. “In parallel, AlphaCAM offers the means to generate fully-specified programs for the new MAKA CNC machine. Likewise, AlphaWINDOOR provides the link to closely integrate AlphaCIM and AlphaCAM together in our particular operating environment.”
As a parametrically-driven application, AlphaWINDOOR has been designed for families of products, or where there are size variations in items like doors, windows, screens or cabinets.
It represents a made-to-order solution, with individual sizing of every unit. Similarly, its link with AlphaCIM provides order entry facilities that can give information for built-in bar coding and part labelling functions, as well as the generation of production reports and cutting lists.
“It is ideal for door production,” said Mr Horton. “Our installation will enable all the cutting list information to be generated instantly, simply by defining the door style and then entering the required size. Furthermore, the interface with AlphaCAM means that the information can be translated into fully defined CNC machining programs at the touch of a button. This will not only result in major time savings, but will also reduce the risk of errors and the need for highly skilled operators.”
Virtually all of Pacegrade’s products are manufactured to individual customer size and order.
However, Mr Horton believes there are only a certain number of door designs that his company will ever be asked to produce. He therefore plans to build a library of styles which will enable the overall detailing and setting out process to be reduced to a matter of seconds.
Similarly, Mr Horton aims to establish a corresponding library of frames, which will allow the company to mix and match door and frame styles if required, again with only minimal operator input.
A further feature of the AlphaCAM software is that ironmongery or glazing items can be dragged and dropped into the basic definition of the product, enabling Pacegrade to increasingly supply factory-finished items, such as fully-glazed windows or doorsets.
“This will provide the double benefit of avoiding the need for additional trades on site, while helping to boost the added value of our products,” said Mr Horton.
