Lean Machines for Furniture Manufacture

ukfirst Master Engineer Andy Taylor visited the W8 Exhibition - a showcase for the major machine manufactures - to see if the latest machines on offer support Lean Manufacturing philosophies and enable furniture producers to reduce lead times, and manufacture increasingly bespoke products.

The good news from W8 is that machine manufactures continue to offer more and more advanced and innovative products. They are developing solutions to help furniture manufactures achieve batch sizes of one and are placing greater and continued emphasis on service. If you are considering an investment then you need to get out there and speak to them.

With so much choice and technology, buying a machine is an important and difficult decision. From a "Lean" perspective the key is to think about how the machine will support your processes and where it will fit into your production flow. The decision should not be based solely around cycle speeds, productivity and overall capability. It should be based around a machine having the right functions for your production, being easy to operate and changeover and how it will integrate in to your factory.

The chances are they have the machine that is right for you, just be clear about what you want and need, and try to think Lean!

The manufacture of furniture relies heavily on machines and equipment of all sizes.

Challenges for Modern Woodworking Machines

Today, Lean Thinking is being applied by many furniture producers in their approaches to manufacturing.

Why? Because customers are demanding shorter lead times and greater choice.

At its heart, Lean Manufacturing is all about organising production to meet these demands. This requires a challenge to traditional machine design and use. The evidence from the W8 show is that the machine manufactures are meeting this challenge with innovation and a clear understanding of the need to achieve batch sizes of one.

Lean Thinking on Machines

Lean Thinking drives the need to flow parts and orders through processes with minimal delay. This requires a move away from traditional thinking about batch and queue production. No longer is the main focus of machine performance around cycle times and output rates to process large batches in optimum times. Today machines must be flexible and support small batch production through reduced set up times and the ability to process single items. This allows bespoke products to be manufactured in the same time without the need to hold large amounts of stock and WIP. To further support this and reduce delay machines must be easy to use and easy to maintain.

CNC Technology for Woodworking and Furniture Manufacture

CNC technology continues to grow and enable furniture manufacture in batch sizes of one. More and more functions and processes are being built into machining centers. This was not only evident at W8 through the focus and growth of the 5 axis machines and larger multi functional centers but also on the lower entry level machines. These have gone beyond simple point to point drillers and now include multiple operations. With increasingly lower entry costs they are becoming more of a proposition to the smaller producers and workshops.

The advantage of CNC technology is that it has eliminated multiple set ups on multiple machines into one process stage. Given that new programs can be loaded for each job, different pieces can be processed every cycle, allowing batch sizes of one. However for companies to use the machines effectively like this, downtime between jobs needs to be minimised. Therefore quick set ups and ease of use are key.

The machines typically take care of changing tooling themselves with automated changeover mechanisms. These continue to be improved with greater speed and capability to add more tools. On the operator side considerable thought is going into the displays and controls. Some displays have begun incorporating videos showing the operator the step by step set up of the machine. Thought has also gone into the graphical displays which provide clear feedback to the operator showing him what to do next as the machine is cycling. There is also the capability to quickly modify and set programs at the control panel. Clear visual management like this will not only reduce set up times but will help standardize production, reduce opportunity for errors and generally making the technology easy to use.

Small Batches with Nesting Machines

Taking on the direct challenge of small batch sizes are the growing number of CNC Nesting Machines that where on display at the show. The advantage with these machines is that for panel based furniture production; components can be cut, drilled and machined from one panel in one process stage. There is no need to cut optimized batches of panels on a saw and then move them through multiple machines before bringing them together at the end to assemble a cabinet. With clever nesting the complete kit of parts for a cabinet or cabinets can be processed together. This means complete orders or batches of one can be processed, arriving at assembly ready to go with no additional storing and kitting stages.

In the development of these machines manufactures are building in more and more functions. Automated tool changeovers devices, panel handling and transfer devices and add-ons like inkjet printing for identification are adding to the benefits and allowing these machines to integrate into the production process.

Classical Woodworking Machines

The classical woodworking machines were not to be forgotten at W8 and are still seeing strong demand.

Classical machines offer flexibility with lower investment. If organised well they can still support good flow of product through a workshop. The same criteria apply to these machines when thinking in terms of lean; low set ups, easy to use and flexibility. The main feature of the machines on display was the increasing amount of automation and control being added. User interface screens and machine controls allow automated setting and control of machines. Some panel saws for example allow users to do simple programming to optimize the cutting. The visual displays also provide basic instruction and guidance to the operators. As for the CNC Machines, these enhancements are making the process simpler and quicker for the operator.

Service and Maintenance to Support Manufacture

Another strong theme from the exhibition was the increased drive to improve customer service and machine maintenance. Most major companies offer features such as dial in remote diagnostics and online part ordering. Built in features on the machines such as maintenance manuals, instructions and fault finding mean users can maintain and in some case fix the machines themselves. With innovations such as these it is clear the machine manufactures understand the importance of keeping machines running and getting them back up again when problems do occur.

For more information :

• Homag – www.homag-uk.co.uk
• Felder – www.felder-group.com
• Wadkin – www.wadkin.com
• Biesse – www.biesse.co.uk
• SCM – www.scmgb.co.uk

A full list of exhibitors is available at http://www.w-aspects.co.uk/exhibitor-list.html

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