Bringing together computer applications across the range of design, manufacturing and supply needs is driving information technology in the timber and wood products industry. There are many developments for merchants in the supply chain (TTJ April 26) and also in design. In the summer a new package for manufacturing is to be launched.
Cabinet Vision‘s (TTJ December 2, 2000) screen-to-machine addition to its Solid Professional software will provide a link between the design and logistics aspect of its product to go direct to manufacture.
Rob Williamson, technical operations manager in Europe, said: ‘This program comes from the US and has been driven from there because they are more CNC oriented. The thinking is that if we have software without the need for any third-party software, then it makes ours so easy to use and the job can be completed all the way to manufacture.’
The Solid Professional CV Solid CAM screen-to-machine module has a built-in Alfacam engine that provides the DXF (drawing exchange) files used in proprietary CAD CAM software. The module generates code for integrating CNC functions.
Well equipped manufacturers can be geared up to export their own CAD CAM work from Solid Professional or other applications for CNC. Mr Williamson said the screen-to-machine module would be aimed mostly at new equipment purchasers or new users of Solid Professional.
‘We have gone to CNC manufacturers and we want to build up relationships with them, but not exclusively. They would be in a position that if someone was looking for a CNC purchase, they would be able to show the benefits of it with our software, and we would be able to do the same,’ said Mr Williamson.
Cabinet Vision was founded in 1983 and in 1999 became part of Planit Holdings, the £150m international group. There are five modules of the software. Version 3.2 was released last summer and the new 3.3 screen-to-machine module was shown at ASFI in Atlanta last November. It is being distributed in Europe, where there are more than 100 Cabinet Vision systems, and handled in the UK from Ashford, Kent.
‘We have the new module out on test at the moment with a CNC customer,’ said Mr Williamson. ‘He, for instance, is able to export the code from his present package, so he can thoroughly test it and compare it. We have got it down for release in the summer. The beauty of it is that you do not have to buy Alfacam.’
Solid Professional works from a virtual stock room, taking in construction standards and then product design with sales demonstrations and quotations, and onto manufacture with drawings, specifications and optimising for the most economical production. This now links to CNC manufacture.
Cabinet Vision says the software can cut thousands of pounds off materials and save hours on job preparation, with reductions in preparation for manufacture of about 75%. The wood for each job is cut in the most cost effective way. The company said that cutting 50 sheets of MDF a week at a cost of £22 per sheet, could result in up to 15% waste of board. That could be significantly reduced to the tune of £5,700 in a year.
Mr Williamson said: ‘It would be used for bespoke furniture cabinetry, but there are many people who use Cabinet Vision – custom shopfitting, caravans, we even have a customer who supplies oil rigs.
‘The front end we sell just for design (prices start at £3,000), but the real power in the software comes from the manufacturing data. The cutting list is dynamic, everything is intelligent, it changes throughout, there is a bill of materials. The manufacturing aspect has been designed with convergence in mind between saw, point-to-point and router. At the end there are management functions, such as the report centre for project costing.’
In the US, integrating management functions is acquiring a great following. Last month OMware, which develops, sells, and supports Master Builder, reported sales up 182%, fuelled by the success of version 7 launched last November to upgrade management functions.
Master Builder is a management and accounting system for contractors, which integrates estimating, project management, and accounting into a single construction-specific system.
MB7 is a Network Edition with improved security to restrict access to designated users to view, enter or report in particular fields. MB7 Network Edition enables contractors to control their job costs, manage payroll, collect receivables, administer payables, and track cash flow.
‘The construction industry is really starting to adopt technology as a necessary tool. With the new release of MB7 Network Edition, we have responded to the market’s need for complete integration between document control and accounting functions,’ said OMware president Dan Smith.
In the UK, trialling has begun with builders Linden and Fairview and their supply chains with the housebuilding portal www.thebuilding-site.com. This enables Linden buyers to trade online with selected suppliers, including timber specialists Crendon Timber and Watford Timber, PVCu window supplier Solaire, brick factor Taylor Maxwell, lintel specialist Hendricks Lintels as well as subcontractor BDL.
The portal’s chief executive Robert Alcock, former boss at Black & Decker, said: ‘One of the major criticisms levelled at e-construction offerings is that a lot of promises about future services have been made, without much evidence of products actually coming on-line. The feedback we have received from our initial trialling workshops has been very positive and the participants are now using our system to request quotes, place orders and manage the procurement process from start to finish.’
It intends to roll out to further housebuilding companies and has been in discussion with a number of leading companies to bring the full service online by the summer.
Two of the largest merchants, Travis Perkins and Jewson, have joined an electronic trading system that links 2,500 contractors and goes live next month. The firms are users of Ramesys software and the system is called Xchange.
It allows Ramesys clients to use their existing software to buy from the merchants, which account for about 50% of the merchant market, through the Ramesys communication hub, although there is a charge for each transaction.
One of the benefits is that it allows the integration of the contractors’ and merchants’ systems. A contractor can then draw up a tender using Xchange to import pricing information from the merchant into its own estimating systems. The same system can then be used by the merchants through the accounts software to invoice the contractors.
Frank Smith, IT director at Travis Perkins, said: ‘We are working with other suppliers to provide electronic procurement, although this is a significant initiative for us.’
Ramesys is providing free software upgrades for existing users to be able to take part. ‘We have produced a uniquely integrated system that allows transactions to be processed from the client’s back office through to the supplier. There will be greater efficiency and cost savings,’ said Ramesys managing director Mark Chambers.
