There is growing evidence that smaller craft-based furniture manufacturers, companies which a few years ago might have considered automation a betrayal of their traditional skills, are turning to CNC machines for some of their production operations. One obvious reason for this is an increasing scarcity of skilled craftspeople with expertise in cabinetmaking and furniture manufacture. Other benefits of CNC machining are also encouraging manufacturers to adopt new technologies.
Ben Dawson Furniture, a leading specialist furniture designer and manufacturer based near Edinburgh, specialises in boardroom and executive furniture. The company has successfully completed major special projects, such as furniture for the Scottish parliament interim debating chamber, designing and making furniture for the British Embassy in Berlin and the design and manufacture of furniture for many major companies and financial institutions.
Ranges of standard furniture include tables, desks and cabinets which can be customised in many different ways, including a choice of veneers, inlays, crossbanding and edge profiles.
The ethos of Ben Dawson Furniture is one of traditional craftsmanship – but it has recently bought a Rye QM CNC router to increase productivity, shorten lead times and reduce production costs.
Ben Dawson, the founder and managing director, said: ‘One of our main concerns was the increased requirement for shaped furniture, which meant having to make and store expensive handmade jigs. We used to spend days making those jigs and many more days setting out when, for example, we were making large boardroom tables.’
By the end of 1998, the business was growing fast, turnover having doubled over the previous three years. Production was entirely dependent upon the skills of the staff of 20 trained cabinetmakers using traditional manual machines and further growth was limited by the availability of more people with these scarce skills.
‘We were already chasing our tails to keep up with the volume of sales,’ said Mr Dawson. ‘It had been clear for some time that we would have to use CNC technology to increase our productivity, without sacrificing quality, so we agreed a plan to educate ourselves in CNC production and achieve the greatest benefit with the least demanding learning curve.’
Exhibition roadshow
The management team began by attending the 1998 Woodmex exhibition and then contacted a number of manufacturers of CNC routers. They visited many users of the machines, identifying as they went CNC techniques which could be applied to their business. They attended more exhibitions to familiarise themselves with what was available and gradually developed a specification for their ideal CNC machine.
Mr Dawson said: ‘From all that came a shortlist of machines which could meet our needs. The clinching factors in favour of Rye Technology were the price/specification ratio of the QM and the fact that they are a British company who could provide UK-based after-sales support.’
By the time the order for the CNC router was placed, Ben Dawson Furniture’s need for CNC manufacture had become urgent as sales and production volume grew. Rye agreed to lend the company an MG-series CNC router until the QM was ready for delivery. This enabled the production teams to begin the process of re-engineering the existing furniture range to achieve the maximum benefit from CNC production. When the QM machine was delivered last summer, productivity had already been significantly increased and the production teams were recognising more and more opportunities for using CNC technology.
‘Everything we have done during this initial CNC learning process has been directed at increasing our efficiency without compromising our quality. The arrival of the QM, a somewhat different machine to the one we had been using, inevitably meant some re-learning of machine operation, but the fundamental principles were the same and the benefits were substantial,’ said Mr Dawson.
Investment and costs
Several months on, Ben Dawson Furniture has achieved the increased productivity and efficiency which was the reason for the investment, but is still learning and discovering new ways of using CNC techniques to improve production and reduce costs.
Mr Dawson concluded: ‘The fact that we can talk to the engineers who designed and manufacture the machine in English, and know we have been fully understood, has been very helpful. With Rye, you know that if you call an engineer for help, you will be able to talk to somebody you know.’
Another QM CNC router installed during the summer at VA Pedley Ltd of Whittlesford, Cambridgeshire, is transforming the 73-year-old company works. Its first venture into CNC machining, the Rye QM, was purchased primarily for machining complex shapes in veneered reception desktops and other furniture. However, only a couple of months after beginning to use the machine in earnest, the VA Pedley production team is discovering just how many other manufacturing operations can be made faster and more accurate by using the versatility of the machine effectively.
Works manager Alan Stalley said: ‘Having bought the machine for shaped work, we are now discovering just how much the machine can do. We are now cutting all the rebates and joints in pedestal sides on the QM and are also drilling all the holes for assembly and hinge fixings in doors in a fraction of the time it used to take.’
VA Pedley makes fine furniture, primarily for companies in the financial sector, such as banks, insurance companies and other large corporations. Something of the order of 99% of all its work is in fine veneers, such as oak, maple, cherry, walnut and mahogany. Previously, cutting shaped desk and table tops required a high quality jig, which was both expensive and time-consuming to make – and a problem to store.
Mr Stalley said: ‘Not having to store a large number of jigs in our factory will prove a major benefit over the next few months. CNC machining has the potential to liberate extra space for production and finishing.’
Companies working in the traditional way do not usually make decisions to adopt new technology without considerable thought, and VA Pedley was no exception.
He said: ‘The issue of acquiring a CNC machine had been debated for several years before a decision was finally made to look into it. Several manufacturers of CNC routers, including Rye, were invited to show us what they could do.’
The company was sure about one thing – it wanted a traditionally engineered machine capable of hard use for many years. Mr Stalley said: ‘When we saw the Rye QM it looked the sort of machine we needed. And we knew that Rye machines were renowned for their reliability and heavy build.’
The fact that Paddy Foy, now the principal operator of the QM, had used Rye CNC routers in his two previous jobs effectively clinched the decision to buy the Rye machine. VA Pedley decided to order a single-headed QM, essentially as a sturdy router with drilling capability, but with the large 3000x1550mm table to match as nearly as possible the company’s 10x5ft press.
Mr Foy said: ‘We had already decided that we wanted a router that could drill rather than a point-to-point drilling machine that could rout.’
The QM is equipped with an Osai 10/110 CNC controller with Ethernet software communicating with an off-line programming PC in an adjacent office. Licom planning and programming software enables Paddy Foy and his colleagues to do their programming for one job on the PC while the QM is machining other work.
Learning to cope
Because Mr Foy had previous experience of both Rye CNC machines and Licom software, less training was required than might usually have been expected. However, he and two other staff have been trained in programming and the use of the latest Osai controller at Rye, and one additional operator has also been trained. The learning process has been less arduous than many at VA Pedley had feared.
The QM can be fitted with a wide range of machining units, including refinements such as an automatic toolchanger, multiple heads, a saw unit, horizontal cutting units and single or multiple spindle drills. All models of the QM are available with up to four 5.5kW router heads, two manual 8kW (10.7hp) toolchange heads, or an automatic toolchanger and up to four electric drills, or the multiple spindle drill block.
The inverter drive with regenerative and DC braking provides an infinitely variable spindle speed between 3,000-20,000rpm, with full power delivered between 12,000-24,000rpm. The X-axis and Y-axis feed rates of the QM at VA Pedley are up to 40m/min with a Z-axis feed rate of up to 7m/min.
The Osai 10/110 controller has 8Mb RAM and an 800Mb hard disk plus a full keyboard and 10.4ft TFT colour screen. Ethernet communication capability is provided as standard to make possible the fast transfer of programs, machine monitoring and factory networking.
Mr Stalley said: ‘Using CNC machining is something of a revelation to us. The potential benefits to businesses like ours are huge and we have hardly begun to discover them yet.’
