High technology and traditional skills have merged at Somerset furniture manufacturer Chalon UK Ltd to keep up with increasing orders.
The handmade furniture specialist called in Trymwood Machinery to modernise its workshops after its manual production methods could no longer keep up with orders.
Trymwood completed an in-depth study to provide machinery to ease pressure and create capacity for future sales increases. Chalon’s total investment was more than £500,000.
Primary conversion of panel and sheet materials is done on a GMC vertical wall saw, while cross-cutting to length of all components is performed on a Holytek vertical upcut saw fitted with a Tiger Stop system.
Further preparation of raw components is on a variety of Paoloni machines for sawing and spindle moulding.
At the intermediate stage of manufacture, Trymwood supplied the Hoffman dovetail system of joining mitred components plus a Holytek JD75 single pin automatic dovetailer.
The sizing and finishing of assembled drawers, doors and drawer fronts is handled by another Holytek machine, the double-sided drawerbox sander.
Bow-fronted panels for special units are formed on a Baioni Vato hydraulic forming and bending press.
Centre stage is the Viet Challenge 333TM fixed table moving head widebelt sander for calibrating and finishing raw and semi-finished panels.
Since the installation, Chalon has greatly reduced lead times and increased efficiencies.
Chalon’s managing director Ole Bay said: ‘We set a target of increasing capacity by 50% within six to nine months from the initial meeting [with Trymwood] and we’ve done so.’
