December 6, 2017
Frameport’s production shoots up as a result of a few manufacturing process modifications
By Malene Bou Zeid
As part of its plan to decrease manual cross-cutting, Frameport has merged its existing machinery with that of System TM’s. Besides cutting labor costs, System TM’s four cross-cut lines have been designed to maximize lumber utilization and to raise production capacities to a great extent.
Focus on optimal manufacturing processes
Frameport doors are made of solid pine in a state-of-the-art facility in Caçador, a municipality located in the State of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Frameport is renowned for its high-quality and beautifully crafted doors which come in various styles and finishes. Established in 1979, Frameport is currently one of the most innovative and experienced door manufacturers in Latin America. Attention to detail and high-yield production are just some of the many focus areas for Frameport when turning fresh cut logs into products of unrivaled quality. Thus, applying optimum manufacturing processes serves as a vital factor for Frameport’s development and growth.
Decreasing manual defect-marking
As part of its ongoing transformation to do away with manual marking of defects, Frameport has extended its former machinery with that of System TM’s and ultimately, altered its production processes. As a result, Frameport will be benefitting from significant labor cost savings, increased production capacity and optimal lumber utilization due to the exceptional speed and efficiency of the optimizing Opti-Kap 5003 cross-cut saws in conjunction with Microtec’s lumber scanning technology.
A custom-built solution on all levels
Due to the amount of involvement required to meet customer demands for performance, features and customized capabilities, many providers tend to fall short when customer requirements become complex. This is never the case for System TM. System TM has designed and developed an elaborate solution that consists of four cross-cut lines, each of which consist of a Microtec scanner, model GE301 and two optimizing Opti-Kap 5003 cross-cut saws – in total, four scanners and eight optimizing cross-cut saws. So far, two of the four lines have been installed, while the installation of the remaining two is set to take place soon. With just a little fine-tuning of the solution and an expanding of line operator experience, maximum production capacity will be achieved in just a matter of time.
Although this solution includes standard main machines, it is highly customized when it comes to the rest of its material handling system; particularly the material handling equipment. This has been custom-designed to process Frameport’s high volumes of workpieces with workpiece conditions that are intricate to some degree, as they are often curved and small in terms of thickness, width and length.
As for the optimizing Opti-Kap 5003 cross-cut saws, these have been custom-made by modifying the standard design of their cross-cutting units. This has proved to be highly valuable to Frameport, as the optimizing Opti-Kap 5003 cross-cut saws can now cut through thin lamellas with perfection and process much larger volumes than the standard Opti-Kap 5003 cross-cut saw.
To work out space shortages, System TM has configured the solution to fit into the available space at Frameport’s facilities. This has been achieved by merging together cross-cut systems and by building sorting belt conveyors that run over each other. In conclusion, close collaboration between Frameport and System TM has brought about a solution that will be fully optimizing wood resources, workpiece quality and production capacity.