Their first visit to Sydney’s AWISA exhibition sowed the first seeds, with the pair being introduced to nesting technology for the first time. “We saw point to point, nesting machines and everything in between on that first visit” said Grant “it was on the second visit, in 2004 that we seriously investigated all our options” “At the exhibition, the guys from Gabbett Group showed us over the whole machine, nested a sheet and then showed us the finished carcase assembly. It certainly built our confidence in being able to see the machine doing a job we were going to have to do on a day to day basis” said Grant.
Graham is the first to admit that it was a big leap forward for both the company, and their methods of production. However the company approached the new technology methodically, with Graham spending time at the CHCH polytech training in many relevant areas of computer technology to ensure they were ready for the arrival of their first CNC.
The SCM nesting machine has both boring and routing capacities, making it a versatile machining centre for kitchen componentry.
The large matrix table handles a full 8’ x 4’ sheet, allowing the software program to accurately nest the required components, giving as little waste as possible. The onboard toolchanger also means that downtime is kept to an absolute minimum. Today, both Graham and Grant are looking at ways streamline the production. The most recent investment is in 20/20, a software reporting program. 20/20 Product Planner is a complete bill of materials system for reporting cultists, hardware, labour times and accurately tracking costs.
The 20/20 Product Planner program consists of 3 main sections, Job builder – to create and control jobs, Manufacturing Manager – which releases jobs to the factory floor and Style Manager – for storing material type, construction methods and costings. This software is linked directly to the SCM nesting machine to automatically generate all these reports.
The main benefit for Modern Age Joinery is the ability to track all area’s of their production. By combining the SCM nesting machine to the Product Planner software, Modern Age hope to refine their manufacturing process even more. Both Grant and Graham see big changes in production methods for the New Zealand manufacturing industry. In keeping with the companies history, Modern Age Joinery aims to keep themselves at the forefront of these changes.
