S Taylor & Son Ltd is 175 years young this year. Established in 1850, the Pickering-based joinery manufacturer is headed by Robert and Jake Taylor, the fifth and sixth generation of the family to manage the business.
There will be special events to mark the anniversary, but it’s also a time to take stock, to assess how the business has prospered so long, and to ask where it goes from here.
The company maintains that one of its key strengths has been its continuous commitment to traditional joinery craft skills, which remain the hallmark of its product ranges. Its success and longevity are also attributed to constantly moving with the times and complementing those craft skills with investment in state-of-the-art woodprocessing technology.
This has driven productivity, efficiency and competitiveness and the very latest example came just in January when a cutting-edge Weinig Conturex Artis + CNC solid wood processing centre was integrated into the factory – of which more later.
S Taylor has been on the same site for 50 years and the factory covers a spacious 25,000ft2, occupied by a blend of new processing technology and bench joinery areas.
The company’s main focus is windows and doors, which account for about 80% of production. It also produces staircases and a wide variety of other bespoke products. It has an even balance of customers between private and commercial sectors.
With its own CAD designer on the team, the company produces a variety of product styles, both period and modern. It has a more contemporary range for the new build and extension market but has also established a strong reputation for making products for listed buildings and houses in conservation areas.
Like many other industries, the joinery sector is facing both labour and skills shortages, however, S Taylor runs an apprenticeship programme with a local training provider. It also has joiners who have remained with the business long term – one member of staff retired recently after 51 years of service.
The company uses a range of raw materials including both solid and engineered timbers. That includes Accoya modified timber from Accsys Technologies, which it introduced years ago and today uses extensively throughout its product ranges.
Sustainability says S Taylor is another core commitment – and it believes the environmental case for using timber products generally is increasingly helping the joinery sector in the market. It uses FSC-certified wherever possible and also has an ongoing programme to improve its own environmental performance. This includes minimising waste throughout the manufacturing process to lower its carbon footprint.
The company says the new Weinig Conturex Artis + will further enhance its ability to boost yield and reduce waste.
The Conturex is a highly automated machining centre for solid wood, providing complete processing undertaken with one clamping. Its patented PowerGrip RePos easy reclamping process, according to Weinig, “enables variable part clamping and automatic movement of the workpieces in the machine”.
“The workpieces remain clamped throughout the manufacturing process, thus achieving maximum precision and for complex clamping situations, the system also enables clamping in the fold,” said Weinig. “The result is the best clamping situation, maximum precision and perfect surface quality.”
With a large tool magazine, the Conturex boasts maximum flexibility for corner joints in both windows and door components. Users can choose between mortise and tenon joints, dowel connections and mechanical corner joints.
Weinig’s product integration system also means only one data set is needed for all production components.
S Taylor became interested in the Conturex due to its range of capabilities and productivity, and, after a thorough evaluation process, commissioned the build of a machine. It then partnered with a tooling supplier and four of the company team went to Germany for training at Weinig’s factory. Like anything new, said S Taylor, mastering the machine’s operation was a learning process, but once personnel are familiarised with the software, it maintains, the Conturex is intuitive and easy to control.
The installation and commissioning of the machine went smoothly, and its introduction actually created a new job opportunity, with S Taylor introducing a CNC apprenticeship.
The Conturex, said S Taylor, has boosted its productivity and further improved quality and consistency, so ultimately benefiting customers. Its aim, it said, was for the machine not just to live up to the S Taylor reputation for quality, but to better it.
One particular aspect of the Conturex that stands out for the company is its simulation software. This enables it to simulate and evaluate machinings before running them live.
Moreover, the machine handles softwood, hardwood and Accoya equally well.
By how much it will boost the bottom line waits to be seen, but S Taylor says it puts the company in an even stronger position “to deliver quality products within the UK timber window and door market”.
In October this year, it is exhibiting for the second time at the Home Building and Renovation show in Harrogate and it maintains the Conturex is a tool that will support its sales effort.
With the heritage of 175 years of trading and the latest 21st century technology on board, S Taylor is now looking to its next chapter.
“We are a family SME, which invests for longevity, job security and growth,” it said. “We’re optimistic about the future.”
