With a 4500 sq ft purpose-built workshop in north Hertfordshire, the company works closely with its clients to colour match paint finishes and sheen levels to their specific requirements.
“Delivering consistently high level finishes to our client base is critically important to our business,” explains Neil Birch. He continues, “We used to do all our spray work by hand which was not only very time consuming and labour intensive, but also meant it was extremely difficult to maintain the standard of consistency our clients demanded.
“To address this we made a strategic decision to invest in automation and so began a search for a suitable piece of equipment that would meet our needs. Initially, we were considering the second hand market, but after much searching around it became clear there was nothing available that would work for us.”
A timely visit to W12
“Shortly after this we visited W12 at the NEC and saw the Cefla Prima machine in action on the Homag UK stand. We were extremely impressed by the performance of the machine and the consistency of finish that could be achieved. The real advantage we saw in this machine is that it allows us, as a smaller producer, to take advantage of automated spraying without the excessive costs that are normally associated with this level of equipment. The Prima has enabled us to step up from traditional hand spraying to a controlled and consistent process in a surprisingly affordable manner.
“Being a new machine, the investment was more than we had budgeted for, but Simon Brooks of Homag UK was very accommodating at the exhibition and offered to help us with financing the purchase. He put us in touch with Homag’s finance man, David Henshaw who was absolutely amazing. He made it very easy and quickly put together a great deal for us which we were really happy with. It was a really slick service.”
Operational sea change
“Prior to getting the Cefla Prima everything was hand finished except for the sanding. Now with the Cefla machine our output volume has increase five or six fold and more importantly, the consistency of the output is outstanding. This is a massive difference which has totally changed our operation.
“This has enabled us to turn around work far quicker with a level of consistency that has meant we can take on much bigger contracts with tighter deadlines. We get better finishes on edges, because when you spray by hand it is difficult to get the evenness achievable with a machine and when you’re spraying by hand the potential for ‘runs’ is much greater.”
Trouble-free installation and training
“In terms of the delivery and installation of the machine, everything went very smoothly. Once we had prepared the space in the workshop with electrics and extraction, the engineer was able to install the machine within a couple of days. This included providing our operator with full training on the machine. Since then our operator has had no problems operating the Prima so it really was very effective training.
“One of the biggest advantages of the machine is the labour saving. Previously we had to have a number of skilled hand sprayers, now we can use general labourers who are far more cost effective for the business. Overall, the machine will probably have paid for itself within two years.”
Homag UK - a pleasure to do business with
“From our point of view, dealing with Homag UK has been a real pleasure. All the dealings we have had with them have been fantastic; they always do what they say they are going to do and that gives us real peace of mind. On the odd occasion we’ve had to call an engineer they’ve been really helpful,” concludes Neil.
For a demonstration of any of the Cefla model, contact Adele Dixon on 01332 856424.
