Installation of Homag machinery has allowed a Worcestershire furniture manufacturer to cut production time dramatically and stay competitive.
The throughfeed Optimat NB100 drilling machine at Ashcraft Furniture‘s Evesham factory in February is helping the firm to cope with a growing import threat ina number of product areas .
Ashcraft managing director Martin Bowell was impressed with the machine at last year’s Woodmex show.
At the time, the firm was drilling panels on a point-to-point CNC machining centre which took 45 seconds to process a single bed headboard.
But now the company has the Optimat NB100, which retails at £30,000 upwards, it is processing the same component every six seconds.
Homag modified the machine with five drilling heads, instead of the standard four. All headboards and footboards can be drilled in a single pass, saving 50% production time.
Mr Bowell said: ‘We supply to a highly competitive area of the market, in many cases up against cheap imports from the Far East. The only way we can supply the right quality product at the right price is by equipping with machinery that gives us high throughput with flexibility and reliability.’
The 30,000ft² Ashcraft factory, which produces high demand furniture such as computer workstations, has other Homag machines including single-sided Brandt edgebanders and a Brandt Arminius throughfeed foil transfer edging machine.
