The new line, which was supplied by Industrial Timber Technology, has been installed at the company’s 32,000ft2 factory at Chichester.
And, with less reliance on manual labour and increased productivity, CTS managing director Malcolm Thomson, said the company had doubled timber output in the past 12 months.
“It now allows us to take on more work because of our bigger output capability,” he said.
CTS designs, manufactures, delivers and erects specialist timber components such as glulam portal frames, feature roof trusses, beams and columns and bespoke structures such as oak frames.
Previously, the company had six manual benches, using 12-14 people to put the timber frames together by hand. With the new fully-automated framing line, the company is using less than half the number of people – and still increasing output by over 50%.
Mr Thomson believes this is a big advantage. “Skilled manual labour is always an issue, especially on the coast where unemployment is low. We can now have greater consistency of quality with less reliance on manual skills.”
However, he was keen to stress that the company has not lost any staff – rather re-deployed existing people in other areas.
“With the extra efficiencies in the timber frame manufacture, we are producing more roof trusses and spandrel panels. This means staff get to move around a lot more, providing greater variety in their work.”
He also said the new line had improved health and safety at the site. With computer-controlled frame nailing, there is no longer a requirement for manual nail guns.
“The line also has a lifting mechanism which means less labour intensive work,” he added.
The new ITT line is fully-automated and capable of handling 80% of all CTS’s timber frame construction panel orders.
“Our business is growing fast with maintained or improved quality and delivery,” said CTS managing director Malcolm Thomson. “We are keeping our house builder customers very happy.”
