Software helps Paneltec design and quote within an hour

This year Clevedon-based Paneltec Manufacturing celebrates its 20th year in business and a strategic decision some eight years ago to change production methods has helped the company keep its place in a highly competitive environment. Today, Paneltec supplies to a diverse customer base, including dental cabinetry, health centres, hospitals, schools, bespoke furniture, washrooms, and contract panel processing.

Investment in CNC machinery supported by Cabinet Vision software from Planit has resulted in diversification, flexibility and higher output with turnover of around £1 million a year from a total staff of six. Office manager, Ian Larner, says: “After investing in CNC machinery it became clear there was no link between design in the office and the machinery on the shopfloor.” The company investigated software solutions and Cabinet Vision soon became the system of choice, because it offered the screen-to-machine capability that Paneltec was looking for in just one program.

“We invested in Cabinet Vision about five years ago,” says Ian Larner. At the time he was half way through his degree course, but he began training to use Cabinet Vision and the company soon came to rely on his skills. So his emphasis changed, and he began working full-time and finished the degree as a part-time student.

Now Ian Larner receives quotes from the company’s customers, ranging from rough sketches of rooms to a full CAD plan. He converts this to a detailed 3D room design fitted with units that match the customer’s specification. The company is currently working for a number of health authorities as well as dental practices, producing anywhere between one and four completely fitted rooms per week. “Normal cabinets are not used in the dental sector as they have to be special heights and there is special equipment that has to be housed in each cabinet. We also find that each dentist will want the design tweaked to suit their needs. Before using Cabinet Vision these tweaks would cause a huge problem because you have to change the program for each individual cabinet component which takes time and also opens up the chance of errors occurring,” Ian Larner points out.

He goes on to say: “Within Cabinet Vision you can store cabinet designs by type, so kitchen cabinets and dental cabinets can be held in different databases and pulled into the planned layout. Any changes to the standard cabinet structure can be quickly input parametrically and in the background the software is automatically writing the CNC programs for each component part. It’s simple to modify a design and you can be confident that it will run through the workshop and be 100 per cent correct. This is a key feature – how simple it is to modify a cabinet, changing not just the view of it but also the program to produce it.”

Designs are laid out in what looks like a 2D frame, but the software has the intelligence to know that these are 3D cabinets. Ian Larner sets the room out and places all the cabinets required according to the customers sketch or detailed plan. Cabinet Vision then allows him to very quickly generate a 3D realistic view of what the finished room will look like, complete with rendered cabinet doors or draw fronts, worktops, sinks and so on. This is supplied to the customer along with fully dimensioned plan and elevation views as well as lists of the cabinets and the materials that will be used. “With Cabinet Vision the fully detailed drawing and quote with itemised costs are sent back to the customer within an hour and this level of detail and quick turnaround has secured orders for the company,” confirms Ian Larner.

The quotation is also generated by Cabinet Vision because he uses the software to calculate the cost to produce each cabinet, although the software can also calculate the cost based on type of material and how much is used. It has been configured this way to match how Paneltec’s customers want to see the price per item displayed.

Savings have also been made on raw material costs thanks to Cabinet Vision. Prior to using the software raw material calculations were performed as a separate, time consuming process. As Cabinet Vision knows exactly what is required and optimises sheets to provide an exact count, the correct amount of stock can be ordered.

The system also highlights how much edging is required and how many handles are needed. This material accuracy means Paneltec can order on a just-in-time basis and not have to rely on emergency stock material, which disrupts the cash flow and eats up valuable floor space.

Cabinet Vision is hardwired to the machines on the shopfloor and the optimised sheet cutting code is sent to the beam saw while the drilling program is sent to the drill via the company’s NC link.

Each cabinet produced is numbered and each panel for that cabinet carries the same ID number. As it cuts, the beam saw prints a bar code label which also has a drawing of the panel with details of which sides need edging strips. Ian Larner explains: “You can pick up any panel on the shopfloor and you will know what type of cabinet it’s for, which job and how it should be edged. Scanning the bar code at the CNC drill automatically pulls the correct program up and even tells the operator where on the machine to load the panel.”

The labelling also aids the on-site installation because the drawing contains the same cabinet numbering used in production, so the fitter can easily follow which cabinet goes in which location, avoiding cabinets which look very similar getting mixed up.

Cabinet Vision provides the flexibility to turn jobs around in a very tight time scale. “We have had a sketch in the morning and shipped the complete surgery in the same afternoon, this would have not been possible without Cabinet Vision.” Ian Larner confirms.

The software also provides a secure historical record of jobs that have been completed, and this allows the company to quickly supply replacement panels or cabinets if they have become damaged during fitting or in use.

Ian Larner concludes: “I have used other 3D programs and you can’t beat the speed of Cabinet Vision for programming and generating a rendered design. The fact that Cabinet Vision offered everything – the front end, the design, the manufacturing – is what sold it to us.”

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