Kudos started out 20 years ago under the name Advanced Timbercraft. Over the years, the Northern Ireland firm realised its position in the market for expertly producing smart timber frame homes, focusing on energy efficiency and atmospherically-controlled dwellings.
The re-brand in 2016 to the name Kudos allowed the company to grow and find new opportunities. Encouraging people to take a fresh look at timber frame, and a fresh look at its brand. Kudos prides itself on using the finest timber frame technologies to create bespoke, high performance and low energy properties.
As one may expect, Kudos being at the forefront of sustainability and growth already owned some automated machinery. Kudos’ Andrew Eves told us: “We already had an automatic crosscut, for almost 18 years, so it was a case of upgrading. We knew we needed it.”
Andrew explained that the company was able to receive funding, in the form of a grant for diversified farmland. This encouraged the team to look further afield for their crosscutting solutions and explore the market in more depth.
Kudos didn’t hesitate to get in touch with Daltons Wadkin sales director, Andy Walsh, about Salvador automatic crosscutting solutions.
After speaking with Andy, Eves said: “We were very impressed from the first phone call that Andy wanted to come and visit our workshop. The customer service was exceptional.”
Following the visit, Andy Walsh explains that: “Meeting face-to-face with the customer is vital to identify their production needs. The Salvador SuperAngle S600 was an obvious choice to provide accuracy and performance for the timber frame business, and also the capacity and orientation to minimise disruption to their factory layout – offering a left to right feed version”.
Compared to traditional crosscutting methods a Salvador SuperPush 600 can increase yield by 15% or more, reduce labour by over 50%, reduce operator skill levels and increase productivity while providing a 100% safe working operation. However, for a company such as Kudos who already owned an automatic crosscut, how would the Salvador compare to what they previously used?
Andrew Eves explains: “With the old automatic crosscut a designer did the cutting list optimisation on their own PC first, the Salvador S600 automatically optimises on the machine which saves about four hours per job, and it saves waste.” He also noted that the speed and accuracy of the S600 were also among the key benefits.
Another reason for choosing the Salvador SuperAngle S600 was the ability to minimise waste, which would reduce their impact on the environment as well as reduce cost Last year saw the third highest percentage rise in UK timber prices in the last 35 years, with costs increasing by 46.2%.
Whilst timber prices are known to fluctuate, being able to make the most out of the timber one has is a top priority for the industry. The Salvador S600 automatically calculates the cuts on any size timber loaded, making the most of each piece of timber.
Andrew Eves was very impressed with the Daltons Wadkin engineer’s level of knowledge, and how keen they were to answer any questions. He comments: “At one point we were talking about cutting rafters, and within minutes Sam was demonstrating how to do it.”
When asked if Andrew would recommend Daltons Wadkin for Salvador crosscuts, he said: “In terms of customer service we were very happy. Daltons Wadkin are just on the other end of the phone and any software problems can be accessed by Daltons Wadkinengineers remotely. The Salvador saw is robust, it’s clearly designed for prolonged use. We would recommend it.”
For more information on the Salvador range of automatic crosscutting solutions contact Daltons Wadkin.
0115 986 5201
[email protected]
