Cabinet Vision Software Helps Educational Furniture Manufacturer to Top Class Performance

CAD/CAM software from Cabinet Vision has enabled Witley Jones Furniture to streamline its complete design to manufacturing process, while also significantly enhancing the company’s marketing and commercial operations.

“Much of our business involves customising relatively high value furniture products, such as desks, chairs, dormitory equipment and storage units to specific installations,” says managing director Chris Jones. “No two projects are ever the same, so when we started looking seriously at investing in CAD/CAM technology, design flexibility was high on our list of requirements. Likewise, the ability to link from design proposals seamlessly through to manufacturing – with automatic generation of machining programmes – was regarded as equally essential.”

After evaluating a number of alternatives, Witley Jones selected Cabinet Vision – not only to meet its immediate requirements, but as a system that would underpin the company’s future growth.

Initially, the system was employed to speed the generation of design proposals and cutting lists. But within 12 months, the company had invested in an SCM CNC board cutting machine – opening the way for major improvements in its manufacturing operations.

“One of Cabinet Vision’s strengths is its ability to handle families of products,” adds Jones. “Using the system’s parametric modelling capabilities, it is simply a matter of entering the required dimensions in order to quickly modify products to fit the available space.”

The software not only updates each item’s external dimensions, it also automatically generates the machining programme for its constituent parts. This saves a huge amount of design time on each job and ensures that errors due to mismatched components are eliminated. Likewise, the system’s interfacing with the SCM machine enables the most efficient sheet nest to be determined and verified on-screen – allowing complete kits of parts to be manufactured with minimal operator input.

“Effectively, we have a fully integrated process from initial proposal right through to manufacture and installation, without the need for data re-entry,” explains Jones.

Substantial improvements in utilisation and production throughput over the past two years have been matched by reduced manufacturing and rework costs. In addition, Cabinet Vision’s ability to accurately plan material requirements has enabled Witley Jones to achieve further savings, by reducing raw material stock holding and purchasing board on a ‘Just in Time’ basis.

“We aim to double turnover in the next five years by increasing our market share in the state schooling and higher educational sectors,” says Jones. “The application of Cabinet Vision CAD/CAM technology at the heart of our operations makes that entirely achievable.”

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