54 | Sector Focus: Moulders & Mouldings
◄ setting system for an entire mouldings production company”.
“From drawing a profile in the CAD system, to producing a template, to grinding knives, through to setting data for the moulder, the data flow is electronic and efficient, with almost no scope for error,” said Mr Cuthbertson.
SCM’s new version of its Maestro active 4-side software system is now available in all its moulders.
“It further improves ease of use of the operator interface for more immediate and effective dialogue between machine and user,” said Mr de Col.
Environmental performance has been another focus of moulder development. “Leadermac’s technical improvements have also centred around improved energy efficiency, achieved through use of Siemens IE motors, improved dust extraction, and lower energy usage of both PLC operating systems and the Siemens inverter,” said Mr Cotterill. Weinig has worked on efficiency of dust extraction by refining the detail design of hoods and understanding air and chip flow in confined spaces.
“The result is machines that require lower air volumes and hence less energy consumption in the extraction system,” said Mr Cuthbertson.
SCM has introduced low-energy consumption motors across its range. “New features on our superset also enable the machine to communicate with the vacuum extraction system and activate a standby function when processing is interrupted,” said Mr de Col.
Suppliers also report advances in their machine fault diagnosis and machine maintenance services.
“The first step in fault diagnosis is now nearly always remote,” said Mr Cuthbertson. “More can now be diagnosed by simple error messages and online investigation. In addition to this, Weinig’s new WMC system can offer a service monitoring package that, like many modern cars, tells you when maintenance is required.”
SCM says its Maestro connect digital platform, with its Smart Maintenance function, provides the tools for operators to plan maintenance and prevent downtime “through the whole life cycle of the equipment”.
“Through intuitive smart documents, Maestro connect guides operators step by step through maintenance procedures and for additional support they can open a ticket in one click to get [assistance] from our experts,” said Mr de Col.
Leadermac has also seen an increase in requests for remote diagnostics to be fitted to new machines. It is increasing its team of maintenance engineers and has expanded services to include both machine and associated handling equipment relocation for any make of machinery. “We’ve also significantly expanded our spares department to offer in many cases next day delivery,” said Mr Cotterill. Daltons Wadkin reports demand for its Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) contracts continuing to grow. “We are seeing a general decline in the ability of wood processing companies to maintain and support production equipment in-house,” said Mr Dalton. “We’ve grown our Support Services department over the past 12 months, with several new engineers joining the team, some specific to the support of planer moulders.”
Even more evident, he said, was an
“exponential increase in demand for certificated operator training”. “The Daltons Wadkin ‘Red Team’ of dedicated trainers is now five strong,” he said. “They cover the UK and Ireland, carrying out practical, hands-on training and assessment on a range of woodworking machinery, not least planer moulders.”
And while the business environment may continue to be challenging through 2024, moulder suppliers continue to invest and are broadly upbeat about their prospects. Evidence of this at SCM was the opening last year of its new 4,000m2 Centre at its Rimini site.
Technology
“This offers customers the possibility of testing SCM moulders and other machines and also experiencing how development of our Maestro software suite is revolutionising solid timber processing,” said Mr de Col. Weinig has also made a “very significant investment” to expand production facilities at its factories in Germany and Austria and a multi-million [euro] new production and warehouse facility is set for completion at the main Tauberbischofscheim plant in 2024. “A tough year is on the cards,” said Mr Cuthbertson. “However, companies needing to make productivity improvements will gravitate to suppliers who have the in-depth knowledge of the market and fully understand application sales, so we don’t have negative outlook on potential for order inflow.” Leadermac is also optimistic, having just extended its Taiwan factory to increase spindle building and machine production. “Our outlook is very positive,” said Mr Cotterill. “We’re currently dealing with several large-scale enquiries and plan to develop our upward trajectory in high-speed machines.” ■
Above: SCM’s new version of its Maestro active 4-side software system is now available in all its moulders TTJ | March/April 2024 |
www.ttjonline.com
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