Furniture Maker - Striebig takes control at busy furniture maker

An extremely successful London-based furniture designer and manufacturer specialising in high quality tables and benches is benefiting from the considerable versatility of a Striebig Control vertical panel saw. James Burleigh has been designing and making furniture for over 20 years. In 2012 he moved from a small design studio to an industrial unit in north west London to harmonise the design and manufacturing processes. The operation is soon to expand still further into an adjoining unit which will more than double the available space. Now employing 12 men in the workshop, the range of tables and benches produced by hand are highly distinctive with their hardwood edges capped by laminate. They are supplied for use in bars, boardrooms, break-out spaces, museums, offices, restaurants, schools and universities. Said workshop supervisor Chris Price: “We had two flat bed saws but because a lot of the work we do requires the cutting of 3m x 1.5m laminate panels, it was a two-man job to load the panels onto the saws. As we needed another saw to keep up with an increasing workload, it was decided that a labour-saving model would be a better option.” As the staff had worked with a variety of saws at different companies over the years they agreed that a Striebig offered the best quality. In order to see the latest models in action company owner James Burleigh, together with production manager Nick Robinson and Chris Price, visited Striebig’s stand at the W14 exhibition at Birmingham. “The trip reinforced our initial decision that a Striebig represented the best option for us,” said Chris Price. “When you looked at all the different makes of saw on show, the high quality build of the Striebig really stood out.” Because of the large dimensions of the 3mm thick laminate panels they need to size, a Control 5168 model with its maximum cut size of 4300 x 1680mm coupled with a maximum depth of cut of 80mm was chosen. To everyone’s delight they soon discovered a valuable added bonus. The Control could trim the 40mm thick sections of the laminate-faced solid wood frames – mainly oak or walnut – used in the construction of the tables and benches. This task was previously carried out manually. “Although we bought the Striebig for laminate sizing in order to take the pressure off our two flat bed saws, we thought we would try it out with a frame component and to our great surprise we found it did the job perfectly,” said Chris Price. “As with laminate panel sizing – we can put up to eight 3mm panels on at a time – trimming the frames has now become a one-man job, freeing up someone for other work. It’s a fantastic piece of kit which is totally accurate every time we use it.” The Striebig Control represents the cutting edge in vertical panel saw technology. It sets itself apart from other makes with its high degree of automation and user-friendly operations that delivers risk-free operation. Features include an electronic position system (EPS) which is fully integrated into the touch screen panel. It allows the simple positioning of both horizontal and vertical cutting axes with 1/10 mm precision. It also has a fully automatic roller locking function, an auxiliary stop section with its own tape measure, three additional auxiliary stops for repeat cuts and small work piece support, and automatic moving backing support. An invaluable accessory specified by James Burleigh is the unique 4SB four-sided trimming unit. This enables the bottom trim cut to be carried out automatically without having to lift or turn the panel, eliminating manual handling, damaged edges and lost time. Striebig’s sole UK supplier T.M. Machinery, who provided full operating training, also installed a stand-alone Al-Ko dust extraction unit for use with the Control. For further information contact Matt Pearce, Sales Director on 0116 271 7155 or email sales@tmservices.co.uk Issued by Stephen Barry Publicity. Tel: 020 8341 6660. Email: stephenbarry@clara.co.uk

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