Page 217 - May 2001
Making Life easier
Manor
Cabinets was established just five years ago as a manufacturer of
modular and custom kitchen furniture for face frame and lay-on doors. It
has since added fitted bedrooms, home office, and bathroom furniture to
the range.
Linkwood software has helped production of Manor Cabinet's custom made furniture to remain swift, smooth and problem-free |
Manor
Cabinets began operations by handwriting cutting lists, a time consuming
activity that is constantly prone to error, the management team had at
two previous companies experienced the benefits and power of specialist
woodworking software from Linkwood, the UK agents for Pattern Systems
and hence software was high on the list of priorities as was machinery.
Shortly
after its start up Manor Cabinets purchased from Linkwood Product
Planner and Cut Planner and today has a complete suite of interconnected
software programs covering, everything from product planning, to
optimisation of cutting and control of boring.
Product
Planner, one of the first programs to be purchased, is a complete
product analysis system that ensures the fast and accurate reporting of
cut lists, doors and drawers both manufactured and purchased, as well as
hardware and labour times with costs. Product Planner, in common with
other software in the Linkwood range, is parametric. All types of
methods of construction for products and variations can be built using
the program, facilitating the production of both standard and custom
furniture with out compromise. It computes all part dimensions, produces
error free cutting lists, and automatically adds extra parts whenever a
product requires such additions.
Job and
product reports such as cut part lists, hardware requirements, door
requirements and many more, can be created, sorted and presented as per
the users requirements. This feature
has proved highly popular and of significant benefit to Manor Cabinets
Cut
Planner was introduced at the same time as Product Planner. Panel
requirements for single or batched jobs are calculated by Product
Planner and read directly into Cut Planner, which computes the best
cutting patterns, based on rules set by the user. Summary reports are
available for material costs, yield, sheet stock and many other relevant
items. Using the optimiser gave many major benefits over manually
calculating cutting patterns, include accurate cost estimates, a
dramatic reduction in waste and better machine utilisation. The saw
operator no longer had to waste time working through manual cut patterns
– the whole job became automatic.
Bar code labels are scanned, drill programs recalled and parts accurately machined. |
These
programs have had a substantial effect in reducing costs and improving
all
As
the business has flourished, the management at Manor Cabinets have
transformed production with the purchase of a new computerised Mayer
saw, and two Busellato CNC
machining centres.
The
first saw at Manor Cabinet’s did not have CNC capability, and patterns
were printed and the details entered manually into the saw. When the
Mayer beam saw, with its computer control
was purchased, it was a simple matter to upgrade from Cut Planner
10 to Cut Planner 20 with its N/C capability as no other company offers
more N/C connections to machinery than Linkwood and Pattern Systems.
The
Bussellato CNC machines are fed with information from Drill Mate, the third link in the software chain. This
generates all the information required by the machining centres. The
panel sizes calculated by Product Planner are read into Drill Mate and
applied to templates, which
are defined for each part. Drill Mate
is also parametric, which means the exact position of all holes,
grooves and routing are computed taking into consideration any product
variations. This information is down loaded over the network direct to
the computer on the Bussellato machines.
Manor
Cabinets success can be measured by its growth. The original 30,000 sq
ft factory has recently been increased with an extra 25,000 of an
adjoining property.
Cutting-out and other machining activities are progressed quickly and in order through use of Linkwood software. |
Another
key factor in the success of the Manor Cabinet installation is the
ability of the system from Linkwood not merely to link machinery but
also to interface with its own and other software. The introduction of a
Sales Order Processing program now enables orders from the showrooms to
be read into Product Planner from where, jobs are scheduled, cut lists
automatically created, optimised by Cut Planner, and downloaded by disk
to the Mayer saw for cutting and bar code labelling. At the Bussellato
machining centres, the bar code labels on the parts are scanned into the
computer, drill programs recalled, the machine is set up and the parts
accurately machined. This whole process is now achieved
by inputting the order only once, in the sales office.
Says
Production Director Tony Porter, one of Manor Cabinet's founders: `We
have a lot of different size components and panels for a lot of
different cabinets. The way in which the system from Linkwood deals with
them means they become as easy to handle as standard parts. Furthermore
every part has a label, so we know exactly where everything goes. Before
we had labelling we needed to recognise parts, a nightmare when you have
so many specials".
Cutting of panels at Manor Cabinet is optimised automatically. |
Steve
Rosendale, Operations Director says “The new production system, with
machinery so flexibly interlinked and accurately fed with instructions
from programs operated in the adjoining production office, is
“fantastic”.
Control,
precision, and quality are watchwords for many companies. At Manor
Cabinets these key factors are guaranteed. In addition, production runs
smoothly, which is remarkable for a company where custom made cabinets
are the norm. The fact is that, whatever the changes in sizes or
machining patterns, software from Linkwood is designed to cope.
This
level of organisation and control is imperative in today’s competitive
markets. There is no time for lengthy prototype and design cycles and
the problems are all solved with software from Linkwood at Manor
Cabinets.