For over 100 years, Cambridge-based Wedd Joinery has been creating bespoke, specialist joinery of the highest quality. Established in 1925 and still proudly family-owned, the company combines centuries of craftsmanship with constant investment in technology and people. With a 35,000 sq. ft. workshop and a team backed by over 500 years of combined experience, Wedd Joinery delivers complex, high-end projects entirely in-house – from design through to manufacture and finishing.
The need for smoother integration
Until recently, Wedd Joinery’s programming relied on HOMAG’s woodWOP software alongside another third-party platform. While both solutions were strong in their own right, integration between the two created friction.
“We were doing most of our programming with HOMAG’s woodWOP, which is a great piece of software,” explains Simon Lock, Commercial Director at Wedd Joinery. “However, we were also using what is essentially a competitor’s version of smartWOP, and while this was decent enough, it didn’t always integrate so well with woodWOP and our production as a whole. So we liked the idea of replacing this with another HOMAG software and bringing it all under one roof.”
Simon and his team first discovered smartWOP at HOMAG Treff 2024 in Germany. “We went out there looking at new machines, but ended up spending a lot of time with the software team. Seeing smartWOP in action, we took an immediate liking to it – it was clearly the solution we were looking for.”
Why HOMAG?
Wedd Joinery has been a loyal HOMAG customer for over 20 years, operating multiple HOMAG machines across its workshop. “As far as we’re concerned, the more HOMAG machinery and software we use, the better,” says Simon. “We’ve built a strong relationship with the UK team, and everything from sales to servicing has always been top-notch.”
Fast, intuitive implementation
One of smartWOP’s standout qualities was how quickly it could be introduced into Wedd’s operation. “It was very easy to implement – we actually opted to install it ourselves, and had no problems,” Simon recalls. “Then we had two days of training with HOMAG. Our two operators using it are very adept with woodWOP and are good programmers in general, so they took to smartWOP straight away. But even an inexperienced programmer, I think, would have no difficulties using this software – it’s that intuitive.”
Seamless programming
Since switching to smartWOP, Wedd Joinery has eliminated the integration headaches of its previous setup. “Now we’re using two pieces of HOMAG software together, things are much smoother,” says Simon.
“With our previous software, we struggled whenever we had to do special cut-outs, angled units or anything out of the ordinary. Now we can take a panel straight out of smartWOP and put it into woodWOP – a seamless process.”
An easy decision
For Simon and the team, investing in smartWOP was an obvious step forward. “This was a simple one for us,” he reflects. “We were already using software that did similar things, but smartWOP does it better, and it integrates perfectly with our existing HOMAG setup. Given our long-standing relationship with HOMAG, and how impressed we were seeing smartWOP in action, the decision was easy. We couldn’t be happier with how it’s playing out.”
For more information, or a demonstration of HOMAG’s machinery and software, contact HOMAG UK on 01332 856500, option 4 for the sales department. Or email [email protected].
