Located in the South East of Ireland, Shoalwater Timber Frame is a leading timber frame manufacturer specialising in the production of passive houses.
The company was established in 1999 with a vision to produce high quality TF houses, which at that time was a new concept in Ireland but attracting a lot of interest. It was soon approached by a local building contractor who, in conjunction with Wexford County Council, set out to design and manufacture an affordable housing scheme.
Shoalwater was the only Timber Frame company in for tender and, despite being in a market dominated by concrete, won the contract. The rest is history, with the company continuing to lead the industry in this ever-expanding and important building sector.
Shoalwater director, Alan Walsh
In order to meet increasing production requirements, Shoalwater has recently taken delivery of a new Stromab CT600 fully programmable crosscut saw, for making straight or angled cuts for its frame components. Supplied by exclusive UK and Ireland agent, JJ Smith, the machine has now been in operation for several months, and Shoalwater has been very pleased with how things have gone.
“First off I would just like to say a quick few words to thank all the guys at JJ Smith for their exceptional service during the purchase and installation phases of our new Stromab CT600,” comments director, Donal Mullins. “This is not our first time dealing with JJ Smith as we purchased our original Stromab saw from Martin Smith a few years ago. Despite being worked very hard day in day out, it has rarely has given us any trouble, however, we were limited to straight cutting only.”
Stromab CT600 for angled cutting
Donal goes on to add: “as with all businesses it was time to improve our productivity, both in speed and accuracy, and to find a machine that gives us the variability to process up to 95% of our components at the one work station. After some excellent information and advice from JJ Smith sales director, Ian Stanley, we purchased the CT600 which was expertly installed by their technician, Alan Reid.
“To say it has reached our expectations would be an understatement. Programming is extremely easy; the saw is quick and you have the option of reducing or increasing the run speed depending on what the cutting process is. We had the flexibility of ordering a 7m infeed capacity pusher which has worked out really well. In addition, as the machine comes with an enhanced software optimisation package, our waste has also reduced significantly.
“There are many other positives I could mention but this machine has been a massive game changer for Shoalwater, currently increasing the speed of our processing by up to 25%, and we are still learning faster ways of utilising this great piece of equipment”.
Ian Stanley comments: “it was a pleasure to work with Donal and his team on this project and we are delighted that the new Stromab CT600 has exceeded their expectations and is making such a big difference to their production. We look forward to working with them again in the future”.
0151 548 9000
[email protected]
www.jjsmith.co.uk
