Machinery
Bespoke Cutting / Welding for Serial Innovator
» SEAN PRESON IS A SERIAL INVENtor and innovator . The energetic head of Leicester-based Eco Plastic Wood Ltd is a committed environmentalist and through his firm offers a range of garden products , including benches , gates , sheds and other outbuildings , all manufactured using recycled plastics .
So when Sean decided to manufacture a range of outbuildings using fence panels manufactured using recycled , lead-free PVC-U that replicate tongue and grooved planks , welded together to produce larger sections for the buildings , he needed a fast , reliable solution for an application that simply did not exist . He called in Coventry-based Jade Engineering , with whom Sean had a previous relationship as suppliers of machine tools for Sean ’ s frame manufacturing business . He presented the challenge to them : “ I had this idea of cutting then welding multiple fence panels together using existing V-notch saws , that could be combined together to cut left and right-hand mitres without having to re-position the panels
each time ,” explained Sean . “ And then to present the panels together for welding into larger sections . But I needed someone with the expertise to make this work . And I knew that Jade Engineering liked a challenge ,” added Sean mischievously .
After Sean fabricated a steel frame onto which the mitre saws were mounted , Jade designed and manufactured the clamps to secure the panels during cutting . The welding , however , required more significant input , explains Jade Engineering ’ s Adam Jones : “ Initially we considered using a standard single head welder from our SALtech range . However , the size of the panels to be welded required a solution that was almost bespoke .”
Jade therefore developed and manufactured oversized clamps and heater plates to weld the combined panels together , with the SALtech welder heavily re-engineered to perform repeat welds , accurately and reliably . The result , says Sean Preson , works superbly : “ Jade have done a superb job . They understood what I wanted to do , realised issues that would be encountered in executing such an unusual task and produced an ideal solution . It works perfectly , every time .”
www . jade-eng . co . uk
The Only Way is UP
Drastic changes to customers ’ ordering patterns gave rise to some head scratching at VBH ’ s sales and distribution centre in Swansea recently .
» THE SWANSEA CENTRE SERVES VBH ’ S customers in Wales and South West England , and it had become apparent that more stock needed to be held locally to help react most efficiently to the requirements of customers whose hardware uptake had rapidly increased or , in some cases , had become erratic .
The focus was to ensure that sales orders from Welsh and South Western customers in 2022 and beyond would be supplied complete first time from Swansea , without the need to ship part orders from other VBH sites .
Floor area was at maximum capacity so Dave Prout , VBH Operations Manager - Swansea , and his team decided that the only way was up .
They designed and installed high level picking spaces and pallet racking to take full advantage of the building height .
The re-design has allowed for a deeper stock holding of VBH Swansea ’ s most popular lines , including those from the greenteQ brand , and has created an extra 120 pallet spaces with no loss of picking shelves for smaller , slower moving products .
As part of the warehouse upgrade VBH have also invested in a new high-level order picker to be used in the narrow aisle design layout . The picker is capable of reaching all levels of racking and is computer guided to allow for safe working in narrow aisles .
Dave told us “ The whole changeover was carried out in just two weeks and we are happy to say that disruption to the depot ’ s customers was kept to an absolute minimum . In fact , we are very proud to say we never missed one consignment throughout the whole process .”
www . vbhgb . com
68 FEBRUARY 2022 CLEARVIEW-UK . COM