Summary
• Machinery manufacturers report improved enquiry and order levels.
• Customers expect more performance for less outlay.
• Quicker set-up and ease of operation are driving product development.
• Medium- and long-term growth is likely to come from the merchant and joinery company sectors.

Moulder manufacturers have been united in at least one opinion this year – it’s been tough out there. But, they say, while the recession has affected all of them in one way or another, there is still business to be had and they are cautiously optimistic that the worst is over.

“People are still buying moulding machines,” said Weinig UK’s managing director Neil Forbes. “If you’d asked me a month ago I thought things were dire, but in the last week I’ve been travelling around and getting reports from our sales agents and the word is that people are starting to talk to us and are thinking of investing next year.”

Colin Simmons, solid wood sales manager at SCM, agrees that the lot of the moulder manufacturer is slowly improving. “Sales have been affected [by the recession] but there are definite signs that things are moving in the right direction,” he said. “People are starting to ring up and ask to see us and there is now more consistency in the order pattern.

“Our distributors are also showing more signs of confidence in the market and are restocking their showrooms with the smaller Sintex NT and Compact NT ranges,” he added.

Middle range

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these types of smaller machines have held their ground relatively well, although there have also been some stand-out installations of the super heavyweights of the moulders world in the last year. However, according to Mr Simmons, it’s the middle range that has suffered most.

“The market has been in two extremes – the smaller machines ranging from £9,000-28,000, where the purchase is based on price, and the top of the range multi-headed models coming in at £80,000-100,000 where the purchase is based mostly on the machine’s specification,” he said.

What holds true across the spectrum of moulders is that customers have been expecting more bang for their buck and that’s certainly benefited the cost-

competitive Leadermac. “At the beginning of the recession our enquiry and order numbers actually increased,” said Leadermac UK managing director Kevin Wright. “Customers who were watching their pennies came back to us for a second look and it resulted in an upturn in business.”

“The chief driving force seems to be more performance for less outlay,” agreed Francis Dalton, managing director of AL Dalton Ltd, who added that sales volumes for both new and second-hand equipment were down. “We’re still getting enquiries, but sales are currently very hard to close,” he said.

Improved efficiency

“Mouldings manufacturers are looking for better pricing, but there’s only so far you can go with that,” said Neil Forbes. “However, the current climate has really brought it home to them that they need to become more efficient, so they’re looking for more flexibility within their machines.

“For example, some of the volume manufacturers will have high-speed machines and have been used to running one product at very high speed for days and days. They don’t have those runs any more because the market is now demanding shorter runs and quicker delivery times.”

As a result, he added, Weinig is seeing a trend towards its Powermat machines because they are quick to set up and are flexible enough to cope with shorter runs.

Quicker set-up times and ease of operation are part of the efficiency drive and remain the focal point of machinery manufacturers’ product development.

“Our machines are constantly evolving and the main focus at the moment is in operator set-up and tool change,” said SCM’s Colin Simmons. “We now have a very comprehensive range of controllers for the machine from basic working width and working height, to fully programmable. And while the machines will do long runs, they are more geared up for a few lengths of this and a few lengths of that than they were in the past.”

Customers are also looking for “the complete package”, according to Neil Forbes. “The whole moulding industry has changed,” he said. “Whereas in the past a customer would come along and say ‘it’s a good machine, the castings are good quality, the motors are a good brand, Weinig is a reputable company and so on, now they’re not just looking at the nuts and bolts and metal. They’re now looking at the whole infrastructure – the process from receiving an order from their customer, to the product going out the door.”

Workshop response

Proof of this focus is the response Weinig had to a workshop held in Germany in the first week of December to which there was a “fantastic response”. “It looked at the person in the tool room receiving the order, how he produces a template for it if it’s a new moulding, how he produces the tool, how that information is sent to the moulder for setting up and how it’s handled at the back of the machine to get it out as soon as possible.

“We expected 20 customers and got 50 from across the whole range of volume manufacturers through to the smaller bespoke moulding and window and door manufacturers. It was a huge indication that customers want to learn more and find out what’s new.”

What’s new includes a couple of high-speed models from Weinig – the Waco Hydromat 3500 for the 120-150m/min market and the Weinig Powermat 2500, which runs at around 200m/min, both of which are targeted at volume softwood companies, and from AL Dalton, an entry level Kuper XS model.

The German-made Kuper moulders are “well-made, comparatively high specification machines, yet still at an affordable price,” said Francis Dalton, adding that a six-head version was recently supplied to a customer in Northern Ireland.

Powermat installation

Weinig has also been active in Northern Ireland, having just installed a Powermat at Haldane Fisher Ltd’s mill. The builders merchant produces large volumes of standard and special mouldings but had found that order quantities were reducing, making the traditional high-speed mechanised moulding line less suitable.

“What was needed was a quick-setting moulder unencumbered by mechanisation so that Haldane could react quickly and efficiently to small order quantities,” said Weinig UK’s sales manager Malcolm Cuthbertson.

“They selected a Powermat 1000 seven-head moulder featuring 12,000rpm spindle speeds, CNC control and the PowerCom setting system, complemented by a new Rondomat 960 profile grinder. The moulder is equipped with the Weinig Powerlock tool system which allows tool changing at the press of a button. Not only is downtime reduced, but throughput feed speeds are significantly improved, making the turnaround time to process orders amazingly short. The installation of the machine has totally revolutionised the way the mill operates.”

Six-head Superset

SCM recently installed a six-head Superset with an electronic Mobile 10LH controller at MWS near Wetherby, while for its part, Leadermac has installed a 60m/min Speedmac at Bolton-based Tonge Bridge Timber and, “on the back of that”, received an order from neighbouring Alfred Hulme. The initial investment, according to Alfred Hulme, is in the region of £250,000 and the machine should be installed in late January.

“The company chose the Speedmac with the 310mm-width capacity, rather than the standard 230mm, enabling it to produce wide boards such as stair components,” said Kevin Wright.

Future growth for moulder manufacturers is likely to come from the merchant sector, along with small- to medium-sized general joinery, window and door manufacturers who, according to SCM’s Colin Simmons, “have been pretty good for orders right through the recession”.

“It’s the traditional moulding manufacturer, particularly in the bespoke area, that has been buying machines this year,” agreed Neil Forbes, “and medium- and long-term growth is likely to continue to come from them because they are doing shorter runs and need to improve their efficiencies across the board.”