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25/05/2010
Extending the cutting capacity at Pemberton Lesuire Homes
18/02/2010
PSL welcome new clients to their customer base
28/09/2009
PSL launches multi-processor version of SECANT
18/08/2009
Customized version of SECANT installed at Vedum Kök & Bad AB, Sweden
28/03/2009
Pattern download now available in DXF format
05/11/2008
PSL welcome Hill's Panel Products to their customer base
13/06/2008
Standalone mitre editor application launched
06/06/2008
PSL launch SUPERLNK application
30/04/2008
CPOUT and PTX download files available through online service
18/10/2007
Dated: 25/05/2010
Pemberton Leisure Homes are based in Wigan and are at the forefront of advances in the design and development of the caravan holiday home concept.
It is in the nature of their business that restricted volumes of cut pieces must be produced just-in-time to feed the assembly process. When producing exact quantities it is difficult to devise patterns that can be cut efficiently exploiting the full cutting height of the saw and by 2009 it had become clear that additional cutting capacity was going to be required. Simon Farrell the machine shop manager undertook an evaluation of various saw packages and also included the SECANT specialist cutting optimizer, which can be configured for most saws.
Simon said,
What surprised me most was how quickly Secant was able to cut the requirement. In one case the number of saw cycles was reduced from nine saw cycles with our current pattern generator to just three with the SECANT patterns.
A short study using the SECANT package clearly showed all-round savings in utilization. There were some minor savings in materials on the beam saw and spectacular material savings in the timber cutting operation. These waste reductions were sufficient in themselves to justify SECANTs cost. However more significantly there was a considerable decrease in cutting times. This led to a re-evaluation of the additional saw capacity that was actually required. It was quickly decided that the software upgrade should be the priority, with the saw purchase coming afterwards.
The software was installed in December 2009, and integrated with Pemberton’s existing design shop software. Pemberton were able to run SECANT in parallel with their existing optimiser and compare projected running times. The expected reduction in cutting time was fully realized. In some cases the cutting time to meet a day’s production was almost halved.
The job management facilities of SECANT allowed Pemberton to closely manage the trade off between material yield, cutting speeds and work in progress. Individual pallets of parts may be cut planned or, where the day-to-day constraints upon production permit it, numbers of pallets of the same material may be planned together for improved cutting performance.
Simon said
With the optimiser in place we are able to make a significant cost saving with the saw purchase confident that we know the real additional saw capacity that we require. Although every saw manufacturer offers optimising as a part of their saw package, the interfaces are now fairly standard and we have experienced very little reluctance to integrating instead with our chosen software solution.
Also, the program is very easy to use and PSL have been very flexible in tailoring the package to our operation, with some useful shortcuts to eliminate mistakes, and make finding the solution easy. The answer to every question I ask seems to be “yes, it is built in” or “yes we can do it for you”.