The Covid pandemic has had some major disruptions to the “normal” day to day for many businesses across the UK. This has resulted in some challenging commercial situations. To boost the economy and manufacturing in general, the Government announced a “Super Deduction Tax Break”. This tax break is eligible for new machinery in place by the end of March 2023. This prompted an internal discussion surrounding our two existing edgebanders. The machines are still producing quality products, but have started to show their age.
So, rather than risk serious future mechanical or electrical breakdowns, especially with Homag quoting very long lead times ( 12 months +), we have taken the decision to capitalise on the tax break and place an order.
We have debated the machine specification for some time and with the help of the production team, we now have final layout on order.
This will be a complete departure from our current way of working – where we have a double and single sided machine for panel edgebanding. We believe this new investment and way of working will give us increased capacity & efficiency going forward.
Machine Specification
The edgebanding cell will consist of the following 3 machines:
- Homag WZ14 – Automated in-feed sizing to ensure square and parallel panels
- Homag S-800 – Single Sided Edgebander
- Loop Tec O-600 (Homag) – Automated component handling on the out-feed, with return to the operator and stacking positions for finished panels
Glue Specification
The machine will also operate with 3 different adhesion systems and will have a 24 coil edging magazine setup.
- LaserTec – Technology which requires no adhesive for the ultimate in edge banding quality. Marketed as ZEROedge® through Starbank.
- Standard PUR – To continue with our current PURedge edgebanding offer
- Tinted PUR – To offer a mid-way price and quality improvement for standard white panels for example.
The Laser edge capability will compliment with the Centateq E-700 CNC Hot Air system, which will be delivered at the end of 2022. This machine is also benefitting from being swapped out early, prior to it giving us any serious issues.
Full sales team training will ensure we are able to continue to advise our customer’s on the best options for their projects.