Combine a buoyant UK wood processing sector and capital investment tax breaks and it adds up to busy times for moulder manufacturers and suppliers.
“We secured record-breaking order inflow through 2021,” said Weinig UK managing director Malcolm Cuthbertson. “It started at the end of 2020 when wood processing companies, who’d been very busy during the summer lockdown, decided to invest their exceptional profits rather than contribute to HMRC. The introduction of the Super Deduction tax break provided a further boost, allowing customers to claim 130% capital allowances on qualifying plant and machinery and a 50% first-year allowance for qualifying special rate assets.”
SCM UK is equally positive. “Without doubt 2021 has been a fantastic year,” said managing director Gabriele de Col. “The need to recover ground lost during 2020 and desire to benefit from the 130% fiscal deduction spurred many companies to invest.”
Daltons Wadkin too reports strong orders across the board.
“Since the summer of 2020, we’ve seen record growth in all machine sectors,” said director Alex Dalton. “Business in solid timber processing equipment has been especially buoyant, with demand for band resaws, automatic cross-cuts – and planer moulders. Sales of new and used equipment are booming.”
He added that the company is seeing strongest demand for high speed, mill specification machines, with orders increasing “in line with rising timber prices”.
Leadermac UK has seen a similar trend. “We’ve had a lot more enquiries over the year and our best performers have definitely been our high output Speedmac and Thundermac,” said general manager Martyn Cotterill.
Weinig experienced significant growth across all market segments – again with solid wood machinery performing particularly strongly.
“The solid wood sector benefited most from unprecedented demand for home improvements from summer 2020,” said Mr Cuthbertson. “2021 was equally good across our complete machinery portfolio.”
SCM saw increased orders from businesses ranging from joinery workshops to medium to large manufacturers.
“Our range starts from the Profiset 40 and 60 four- or five-sided moulders, priced from £15,000 to about £55,000. They’re simple to use, productive and flexible and fit well in space-hungry workshops and we saw an explosion in orders,” said Mr de Col. “Many bigger manufacturers are also exploiting the fiscal incentive and updating to our Superset industrial range, from the four-sided, £50,000 nt, to the eight-headed tn, tm and tx. These highly productive workhorses use latest software interfaces to bring workshops to Industry 4.0 level.”
Latest new moulder developments included Weinig’s Profimat 30.
“A pandemic was, in theory, a less than ideal time to launch a new machine,” said Mr Cuthbertson. “However, with its competitive price point, innovative features and solid build quality, the Profimat 30 turned out to be the right machine, in the right place at the right time.”
The new moulder measures 1.5×1.3m and comes with five spindles and the choice of a standard motor package or an upgraded option for “extra grunt”. The standard working height is 8-120mm and working width 13-230mm.
“It also has the optional ability to work to widths of 260mm – the width of a stair tread and, in many cases, a window board,” said Mr Cuthbertson. “It’s a feature few machines of this size and price range can match.”
Weinig has also rolled out the new WMC (Weinig Machine Control) system across its range. “The screen has more in common with an iPad than a conventional PC, which means every user can set up their own dashboard for perfect flexibility,” said Mr Cuthbertson.
The technical innovation of the year from SCM is the new version of its Maestro active four-side software.
“This makes Superset programming easier and more intuitive, allowing even less skilled operators to run more processes via the large eye-M touch screen controller,” said Mr de Col. “It provides immediate access to programming of all SCM machines via one interface, using the same icons, and allows operators to monitor, optimise and improve production performance. It produces reports, customisable by operator, shift, programme, forecast period and more and facilitates production organisation.”
The touch screen eye-M console has a 21.5in-widescreen monitor for easy navigation and an “effortless user experience”.
“All functions can be recalled with simple clicks on familiar icons,” said Mr de Col. “It enables management of electronic adjustment of the universal shaft, control of the electronic axes, the towing system and the motors of each operating group. It imports profile images for simplified program search and allows customised machine layouts.”
Daltons Wadkin now works with Slovenian moulder manufacturer Ledinek.
“Their ultra-heavy duty moulders provide feed speeds from an entry level at 200m/min to 1000m/min, with performance matched by precision due to highly engineered design,” said Mr Dalton. “Standard features include width capacity from 300mm upwards, large axial adjustment of spindles, straight and profile jointing and fully PLC-controlled setting.”
Besides these high speed, mill performance machines, he added, Daltons Wadkin has added SCM joinery specification planer moulders to its portfolio.
“These range from simple four-sided planers, to flexible six-head machines with automatic setting, quick change tooling and intuitive touchscreen control,” he said.
Daltons Wadkin’s latest installations include a Ledinek Multiplan S250 at Pontrilas Timber in Herefordshire.
“It required the mill roof to be removed and the 17-tonne machine being lowered in was a sight to behold,’ said Mr Dalton. “The company also installed an upgraded Brodbaek handling system to handle the Ledinek’s volume throughput.”
Weinig reports the first UK installation of the new Profimat P30 at Norfolk-based AJ Driver Joinery. The company was looking for a machine to replace its 15-year-old Weinig Variomat and wanted a compact, quick setup moulder capable of processing 300m of 125x70mm hardwood and softwood at a time and accurately producing intricate mouldings for traditional glazed windows in Accoya.
The company’s P30 came with Weinig’s Control Package – which combines CNC positioning for width and thickness, electronic digital displays and a 10.1in touch screen – and its Memory Plus system, which can save 500 profile settings on the machine.
“It’s designed with an understanding of what smaller manufacturers want,” said business owner Andy Driver. “It’s also exceptionally user-friendly. After two days of Weinig training, the whole team was capable of running it.”
Among SCM UK’s latest sales are Superset nts to IDSL and ERW Joinery. Both had nts already, but needed new technology to meet demand.
“IDSL opted for two automated machines in seven and eight-head configurations, with return systems for high flexibility and productivity,” said Mr de Col.
“ERW Joinery was substituting an old Superset with an automatic version, with fast job changing and high speed spindles to guarantee a glass finish.”
Moulder suppliers have also been developing machine support services. SCM says remote machine support has “been brought to a new level” in recent years, with online diagnosis and repair available for all software-related issues. Its Maestro connect digital services platform allows machine status monitoring and maintenance optimisation, while providing spare parts suggestions, ‘smart learning’ and augmented reality service support with engineers wearing Smartech glasses.
According to Mr Cuthbertson, some customers still needed persuading that online support and diagnosis is far more effective than dispatching an engineer to resolve an issue.
“But remote technical support is now a daily activity for us,” he said.
Daltons Wadkin has taken on more regionally based engineers to meet growing servicing demand. “Restrictions on foreign travel also forced us to take a more creative approach to engineer product training,” said Mr Dalton. “Investment in a dedicated gigabit internet connection has allowed virtual training, while ensuring a reliable connection for remote machine management and technical support.”
Leadermac has also taken on another mechanical and electrical engineer and developed its software “to enhance fault finding”.
Looking forward one of Dalton Wadkin’s “foremost objectives” is further investment in engineer training. “We’ll also continue to partner with SCM, Ledinek and Kuper to provide a truly diverse portfolio of planer moulders,” said Mr Dalton.
With timber processors finding recruitment of skilled personnel an increasing challenge, Weinig will continue its focus on “developing automation that helps productivity and reduces reliance on labour”, with further innovations promised shortly.
SCM is looking at machine maintenance management software development and also the introduction of a new moulder “above the Superset nt”.
Leadermac has expanded its Taiwan factory to increase output, with a focus on automation and mechanical handling technology. Meanwhile in the UK, its new website (www.leadermac.uk.com) and shop are up and running.
“The new website is much more modern than its predecessor, with an improved user interface,” said Mr Cotterill. “The shop is also proving a success. We are the only approved distributor of Leadermac parts in the UK and Ireland and it stocks over 600 different part numbers ready to order online.”
While moulder suppliers reported continuing healthy sales early in 2022, some predict a cooling down from 2021’s frenetic levels of activity. “There may be reduced order volume, but those that come in will be from considered buyers who have carefully thought about where they’re taking their business,” said Mr Cuthbertson.
Mr de Col sees the market slowing when current tax breaks expire on March 31, 2023 and urges companies to act if they want to take advantage. “Production pipelines are already full to the end of this year and the benefit might slip away from those that don’t jump on the opportunity now,” he said.
