Formed by Richard Churchill, RC Motorhomes Ltd is a renowned manufacturer and supplier of luxury motorhomes, catering to the needs of discerning travellers seeking comfort and style on the road. To meet the demands of their highly specialised industry, RC Motorhomes has turned to AXYZ, a leading provider of CNC routers and cutting solutions.
This case study delves into how AXYZ’s routers have revolutionised RC Motorhomes’ manufacturing processes and improved their position in the market. “In 2017, I was keen to improve production of our motorhomes’ interior fixings and furniture using newer ‘digital’ technology and remove many of the issues/inconsistencies that occurred from cutting and routing materials by hand,” explained Richard.
“My first machine – the 4008 series, with a processing area of 1.5m x 2.4m, was therefore introduced. Realising the benefits that I had anticipated, I took the decision to take on a larger machine capable of enhancing production of our larger exterior materials in 2022, which was the 8022 Infinite with a processing area of 2.6m x 3m. Both have helped to future-proof production moving forward.”
Manufacturing challenges
Before integrating AXYZ Ltd routers, RC Motorhomes faced several manufacturing challenges:
Precision cutting: Crafting intricate interior and exterior components for motorhomes requires a high degree of precision and accuracy, which was difficult to achieve with manual methods. AXYZ routers are equipped with state-of-the-art technology, ensuring precise and consistent cuts even for complex designs.
Inefficiency: The traditional manual cutting and routing methods were time-consuming, labour-intensive and hindered the company’s production capacity. By automating the cutting and routing processes, AXYZ routers significantly reduced production times and labour costs, resulting in a vast increase in efficiency.
Material waste: Inefficient cutting methods resulted in higher material wastage, affecting both costs and sustainability efforts. The routers’ intelligent nesting and programming capabilities minimised material wastage resulting in material optimisation, contributing to cost savings and environmental sustainability.
Customisation: RC Motorhomes struggled to efficiently produce customised components for individual clients. AXYZ routers allow for quick and easy adaptation to custom designs and specifications, enabling RC Motorhomes to meet individual client needs efficiently.
AXYZ provided RC Motorhomes with a customised CNC router solution that addressed these challenges effectively:
“I use the machines to cut all of my interior and exterior materials, including fixings, furniture, main body panels, partitions/walls etc. The use of the machines has enhanced production in all of these areas. Much less time is taken and consistency is at a much higher level. I am able to store all of my design/material dimension detail digitally and recycle it as and when required, cutting/routing is more accurate with minimal error, resulting in less needing to be ‘re-done’ and a reduction in waste material,” said Richard.
With the introduction of the AXYZ routers, RC Motorhomes harnessed the capabilities of AXYZ routers in various applications including:
Interior components: The routers were instrumental in shaping and cutting interior components like cabinetry, countertops and wall panels to precision, thus ensuring a luxurious and well-finished interior.
Exterior panels: AXYZ routers helped craft exterior panels, awnings and other components with consistent quality and accuracy.
Customisation: The routers facilitated rapid customisation, allowing RC Motorhomes to offer tailor-made solutions for their customers with customisation capability. RC Motorhomes can now efficiently cater to the unique requirements of individual clients, enabling them to expand their market reach.
Results and benefits of implementing AXYZ routers
The implementation of AXYZ routers brought about a series of remarkable outcomes for RC Motorhomes. Improvement in areas of production has increased by approximately 50% when compared to previous ‘hand-based’ tooling methods used pre-2017. This enabled them to redirect/reinvest resources to positively impact other areas of the business, such as new design, fit-out, servicing and retrofit. The efficiency the machines offer has greatly reduced many of the variables the company had little control over. Error rates were reduced and coupled with the natural time saving, there has been a large positive impact. Also, reduced labour costs and material wastage contributed to cost savings, boosting the company’s bottom line and the minimised material wastage aligned with RC Motorhomes’ sustainability goals.
Increased efficiency, via automating processes, has enabled RC Motorhomes to significantly reduce production time, allowing them to fulfil orders more swiftly, resulting in shorter lead times and thereby increasing production capacity.
The enhanced precision cutting of the components exhibited by AXYZ routers resulted in improving the overall quality of RC Motorhomes’ motorhomes.
Errors and imperfections have been greatly reduced, enabling the company to work inside much smaller tolerances due to the accuracy and precision of the machines, which in turn has reduced time spent reworking or performing corrections.
More complex working has become easier and more time efficient as they have been able to reduce some of the variables and risks present in their previous working processes, mainly due to less ‘human’ involvement.
The purchasing of the larger router meant the RC Motorhomes moved to a larger site to incorporate the machine with the 7m bed, a commitment that was a challenge across the business, due to the wealth of changes that it brought to everyone involved. The physical size of the machine and size of materials it can cut/route has meant the company had to modify the methods/techniques it uses, with some designs changing due to the capabilities of the new technology.
They continue to try and optimise as much as they can by constantly looking for improvements and new processes. This has included increasing their workforce and putting some of those employees through training to operate/maintain the machines correctly. RC Motorhome has had to reprioritise some aspects of production in line with the speeds that the new machine offers and therefore certain aspects of production processes have also had to change, which has had an impact on other areas, such as supply.
When asked how employees at RC Motorhomes adapt to working alongside the AXYZ machines, and what additional training or skill development was necessary, Richard said: “All those who I had planned to operate the machines initially were present during the installations and received training/instruction from the AXYZ representative present at the time. Seemingly this has been enough for us to utilise the machinery to meet our needs, and since then I have ensured any knowledge is given to anyone else who requires it.
“AXYZ aftersales teams have been on hand to help when contacted, but this has been minimal, with appropriate advice/resolution received each time. I currently have no outstanding issues or needs in order to operate machinery as required.”
The INFINITE router is a highly configurable CNC machine that is suitable for one-off, small batch production as well as high volume and high productivity applications, including woodworking, plastic fabrication, engineering plastic machining and so much more.
For a wide range of routing operations, one can choose from high-speed spindles ranging from 5hp to 15hp. For knife cutting, choose from a tangential knife, which can be used for creasing and folding applications or an oscillating knife which can be used to process soft goods material.
Looking to the future, RC Motorhomes is currently more than satisfied with the benefits of its current machines/set-up offers and is constantly working to optimise the use of machinery to its full potential. There are no immediate plans to automate further due to the bespoke ‘coach-built’ nature of the product. However, they wouldn’t rule out the possibility if more ‘mainstream’ builds were required in the future and/or if their production line was expanded.
In conclusion, the integration of AXYZ routers into RC Motorhomes’ manufacturing processes has proved to be a game-changer, enabling precision, efficiency, cost savings and customisation that have elevated the company’s position in the luxury motorhome industry. AXYZ routers have become an indispensable tool in their quest to provide top-quality, customised motorhomes to their clientele.
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