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Economical Raw Material Cutting in Solid Wood Furniture Production
2021-04-21
Economical Raw Material Cutting in Solid Wood Furniture ProductionNewly developed ZSA auto stackers

The company Möbelwerke A. Decker GmbH manufactures timelessly modern home furnishings made of solid wood. Production takes place in Germany, from the raw wood material to the finished piece of furniture. The company was founded in 1915 as a basket-making shop and is now run in the third generation by Andreas Decker. In the meantime, pieces of furniture and upholstered furniture have been produced in this family business for over 100 years. A total of around 250 employees work as a team to meet the challenges of today and the future. In 2016, Decker was honoured as the first climate-neutral furniture manufacturer. The long-term goal is to produce 100% CO2-free, which places high demands on the company itself and on their suppliers. Sustainability is very important to Möbelwerke A. Decker, which is why they place a high value on environmental protection, climate protection, product responsibility as well as social commitment.

An important part of achieving this goal is the resource-saving and economical cutting of raw materials. In the past, three employees manually operated a high-maintenance chain bed machine. They aligned each workpiece individually, separated the waste and stacked the sawn products by hand. The remedy here is a POWER_RIP from Paul Maschinenfabrik (Dürmentingen, Germany). The automatic edging line for hardwoods consists of an AB920 infeed system, a CGL-1110 rip saw and two ZSA auto stackers. The raw material (pre-edged boards) continues to be transferred to the infeed system by a vacuum destacker. The AB920 measures each individual board fully automatically, detecting the geometry and calculating the highest possible yield. It then aligns the workpieces in front of the circular saw, independent of the wane. The CGL rip saw positions the saw blades on the four adjustable saw bushes and rips the workpieces exactly according to the previously calculated result. This edging process produces only very little residual material (chips, splinters, etc.), which is automatically fed to the residual timber disposal system. The finished timber strips with glue-line cut are then sorted according to width by two newly developed ZSA auto stackers. They place the workpieces on top of each other layer by layer and offer a range of advantages and options, depending on the application. In the basic version, they stack the workpieces offset or twisted and optionally with sticks. Due to the design, it is possible to place all conceivable workpiece lengths, even mixed. The setting of the stack length and the discharge take place automatically. If height compensation is required, the auto stackers are also optionally available with a paternoster.

With the new fully automatic edging line from Paul, Möbelwerke Decker was able to increase their output. The waste was thereby reduced to a minimum. Of the original three operators, only one is now needed to monitor the line, supply raw materials and remove finished workpieces. The employees who are now free and available can take on other, more valuable activities in the company and accompany it into a well-prepared future.