Having already benefitted from one programmable optimising and defecting crosscut saw, Pluss has invested in a second Salvador, this time a SuperAngle 600 with drilling head for bed frame component manufacturing.
Over the past 45 years Pluss has helped thousands of people with disabilities and other disadvantages move into employment. The award-winning social enterprise has a turnover of over £19m and is recognised as one of the leading national disability employment specialists in the UK. The woodworking arm of the company, based in Barnstaple, produces high quality bed frames and components for luxury bed manufacturer ViSpring.
The Salvador SuperAngle 600 crosscut joins the existing SuperPush 200, reducing processing times and freeing up a bottle neck in production. Machine technician for Pluss, Kevin Williams, was involved in both Salvador installations. “Our old processes were very labour intensive and offered no chance of optimising the material. That, coupled with a second drilling process meant that production of key components was slow, inaccurate and inefficient. I already knew the potential savings in waste a Salvador could bring.
Simultaneous angle cutting and drilling operations
“The SuperAngle 600 with drilling has now taken over from two separate machines. It’s only been installed for a few weeks but we are already matching our initial target of 2500 finished components per week with plenty of capacity to spare. Crucially material wastage has been reduced from nearly 30% down to around 10%.”
New for 2017, the Salvador SuperAngle crosscut saw is now available with a drilling head that can perform boring and countersinking operations in combination with straight and angled crosscutting. Combining these two, traditionally separate processes into one operation increases efficiency with huge savings in labour, reduced material wastage and machining time while guaranteeing accuracy.
The five spindle drilling unit is controlled through Salvador’s new software. A simple and intuitive operator interface allows the machine to operate in one of four modes; full cutting list optimisation with or without defecting, fixed cutting, sequential fixed cutting and cut to mark. The powerful optimisation software is continually scanning the infeed material, considering material length, head and tail angle and any defects in order to reduce waste and maximise yield.
Another advantage of the new software is the addition of three new ‘intelligent’ functions providing valuable operator and management data. S-Money generates statistical information and manufacturing costs, reporting on the overall productivity of the machine, separate cutting lists, individual operators or different types of material. S-Help provides the operator with real time machine diagnosis with infographics accompanying error message. S-Excel allows cutting lists to be programmed remotely, away from the machine, taking data from third party production management software or simply from an Excel spreadsheet.
David Jenkins, enterprise manager at Pluss, has been working Daltons Wadkin sales director Andy Walsh on the Salvador project. “The whole process has gone very well,” comments David. “Our company was made to feel special with the service received when investigating the machine. The Salvador met all of our requirements, the installation team were professional and dealt with all of our questions. Since then we have received regular communication to check on our progress and have arranged for an annual service contract with Daltons Wadkin.
“The machine is very safe, robust, accurate and delivers the production efficiency we as a company wanted to achieve. Its ease of use allows us to meet our vision which is to allow people of all abilities to be inspired to achieve a career,” says David.
“We are now in discussions with Daltons Wadkin for other machines based upon the service, reliability and functionality of delivering this project.”
The SuperAngle 600 and SuperPush 200 can be seen operating alongside other equipment at the Daltons Wadkin in-house Wood & Panel Machinery Show, from the 3rd-5th October in Nottingham.
Watch the video interview with Pluss featuring the SuperAngle 600 in operation on the Daltons Wadkin YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/DaltonsWadkin
0115 986 5201
[email protected]
www.daltonswadkin.com
