High-tech design, laminating and machining
equipment produces innovative store fixtures
By Brooke Baldwin
It's the use of high-tech equipment from the time an order
comes in to the time the finished product goes out the door that is allowing
Trappe, Penn.-based ED Woodworks to come up with its innovative custom-made
store fixtures. Its designed displays have gained a national reputation for
maximizing merchandise presentation.
"Our own design people first work with the customers to create the actual
fixtures along with a preliminary floor planned based on each one's particular
requirements," says Rick Weber, vice president of manufacturing for ED
Woodworks. "Then, all the information is put into Pattern Systems design
software. From there it is processed, and all the materials are broken out
for that job."
The next step is the laminating department. ED Woodworks bought a Joos hot
press at IWF two years ago. "The Joos unit is the only one with the hot
water heating system that we were looking for," says Weber about the
decision. "It's actually like a radiator in your home - it
has copper pipes embedded through the press plates, and the hot water is circulated
by two large industrial heating units. So, there is no chance of a wire breaking
inside a heating plate as would be associated with an electrically heated
unit. Previously, we used solvent-based contact adhesive and a pinch roller,
but we wanted to get rid of 90 percent of our solvent-based work. The Joos
hot press uses water-based adhesives. Water-based adhesives have given us
a much flatter and straighter product. We're also very pleased with our
Black Brothers roll coater."
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Using water-based adhesives, this Joos hot press has increased production speed for ED Woodworks.
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Using water-based adhesives and the Joos hot press also has
increased production speed for ED Woodworks. "Once materials are in place,
we can do a lay-up in anywhere from a minute and a half up to three minutes,"
notes Weber. "With the old way, we had to spray each piece of laminate,
then spray the boards facing up. Then we'd wait 15 minutes for the glue
to flash off and put the materials together. Then we'd flip it over and
do the other side. That process took about 30 to 45 minutes. It's quite
a time difference. Also, with the hot press, there's not nearly the clean-up
we used to have. We were smart enough to get a $4,000 automatic clean-up option
where all that's needed is a push of a button and it cleans itself. That
has more than paid for itself just in labor savings."
Weber says the water-based system also has allowed him to use paper-backed
veneer. "I was using phenolic-backed veneer and having a hard time,"
he says. "It is so much easier working with paper-backed veneer. The
most critical thing you must do when you lay something up is what I call balanced
construction. If you have a 3/4" core and you put vertical grade laminate
on one side, you have to use a vertical grade laminate on the other. The same
would go with phenolic-backed cherry, for instance. You don't have to
do that with paper-backed veneer, however, because it really doesn't
have any tension on the board."
Most of ED Woodworks' products are made out of flakeboard and a variety
of laminates and veneers. "Normally, a project is a hodgepodge of different
thicknesses and materials," says Weber.
"There is a fine line between production, quality and giving the customer
what he wants," he continues. "We try and stay away from glossy
laminates, for instance. We would be lucky if we could even get them out of
the factory without having to replace a bunch of parts because of scratching.
The customer isn't going to get long life out of that either. Metallic
laminates are sometimes hard to work with, too, and you have to decide if
you are making enough money with their production. It's a judgment call
you make with experience."
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Turnaround time for a typical project at ED Woodworkers is eight weeks.
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After the laminating department, the material goes to the Mayer
computerized saw. "All the parts are cut out of every different thickness
material or lay-up material or even a stock board that we carry according
to the cutlist," explains Weber. "There might be ten different cutlists
for each job. All the parts are cut, labeled, sorted by where they go in the
factory and then move on down the roller conveyor system. A few things are
hand-built and go to the highly skilled guys in the factory.
"Most of the parts, however, then go to the Busellato CNC machine from
Delmac Machinery. We construct our products with dowels. Almost every part
has some kind of machining done to it. Whether it's just holes for dowels
or whether it has some fancy shape to it or holes for lights, we just bring
up the CNC program on the sticker, and that machine routs it out for us. It's
all digital. That's our next new item we are planning on purchasing -
another Busellato CNC. Every part goes through it, so a bottleneck has been
created, and we need another one."
As for laminating curves, Weber considers it to be a challenge. "I'm
doing a project right now that has a 4' x 8' panel with the top
of it curved out. I made some large forms where we could glue up six pieces
of plywood, put the form together and stick it in the press for two hours.
We use AutoCAD to engineer the parts. Then through another program, we can
produce the machine code to run the Busellato CNC machine. Everything is so
accurate."
From the CNC machine, the material goes to the Homag edgebander where the
labels on the parts indicate which type edge and what colors to use. Wood
pieces go to the finishing department to be finished. Non-wood pieces go directly
to the case clamps to be pressed together. After that, the detail department
attaches the hardware.
Turnaround time for a typical project is eight weeks from the time the customer
signs off on the design until it's out the door. "We're so
busy, we're always running overtime," says Weber.
