MACHINING TECHNOLOGY
MACHINING TECHNOLOGY Modular expansion of production at Zimmerei Hamdorf Artisanal timber construction 4.0 At Zimmerei Hamdorf, there is an excellent tradition of reinvesting a large proportion of the profits back into the company. As a result, it has expanded continuously since it was founded. The last two growth phrases have seen the company automate its entire production environment and springboard into the digital future. All signs in the timber construction industry point toward growth. Yet given the ongoing coronavirus crisis, the number of voices warning of a potential drop in orders is increasing. Against this backdrop, it would seem sensible to pursue modular, step-by-step growth that is based on the existing order volume and allows firms to adapt to the market situation through manageable investments. This concept draws a pinch of inspiration from visionary entrepreneurship, because it makes sense to use today’s investment to lay the foundation for tomorrow’s developments. Ten times the number of units A good example of this kind of growth is Zimmerei Hamdorf, located in Fahrenkrug in Schleswig-Holstein. The company focuses on residential and commercial construction and on producing timber frame elements for smaller carpentry firms. With a workforce of 46 people, it also manufactures and assembles nail plate binders, covers roofs and constructs facades. This year marks a good decade since managing director Daniel Hamdorf first reached his company’s limits in terms of production capacity for timber frame elements. At that time, Zimmerei Hamdorf produced about six timber frame houses a year – with demand rising strongly in his region. To take advantage of this upswing, Hamdorf built a new production facility and invested in a WEINMANN three-table system. The company’s existing WEINMANN assembly table was incorporated into the new production line as a table for frame work production, and a fifth table was added a little later. This fifth table was used as a buffer table and for special processing, such as producing facades. All things considered, the new production line increased the carpentry firm’s timber construction capacity tenfold: from 6 to 60 houses a year. This enabled the Fahrenkrug-based company to pull through until around 2019 when – even though capacity had been increased to around 100 houses per year through the introduction of two-shift operation – the firm once again reached the limits of its growth. Modular expansion In view of this good business development, Daniel Hamdorf considered upgrading his firm’s timber frame production facilities again in 2020. In dialog with WEINMANN, he developed a customized production line. It consists of five work tables that – unlike in the previous version – all have multifunction bridges running over the top of them. Two of these bridges are new: A WEINMANN WALLTEQ M-310 insuFill reduces the working time in preparation and production by a good 80 percent by blowing in insulating materials completely automatically, while a WALLTEQ M-120 processes the sheathing at the first two work tables. Having been given new software for this purpose, the mul- 16 No. 3 • August 2021
MACHINING TECHNOLOGY tifunction bridge of the former three-table system now does its job on the two rear tables. The existing work tables have likewise been modernized to a large extent. For example, they have been equipped with longitudinal transport systems that enable central control of the workflow in the long term. The two oldest work tables have been replaced by new acquisitions but are still put to good use today in a separate floor element production line. Daniel was particularly impressed with “how seamlessly the existing production units were able to be integrated into the new line. With the multifunction bridge and the tables, it became abundantly clear that the modular expansion potential offered by WEINMANN machines wasn‘t just an empty advertising promise.” The system‘s peripherals have been refined in order to optimize the flow of materials around the production environment too. With the exception of the insulation station, each table is now operated by a panel lifter, enabling material to be placed on four stations close by and processed by a multifunction bridge. Looking to the future By investing in a Granit MES production control station, Daniel Hamdorf has tapped into yet another potential way to increase his firm’s capacity. “For me, Granit was initially synonymous with multiwall,” explains the master carpenter when discussing the investment. The advantages of multiwalls lie mainly in the faster work cycles: “If I combine three or four shorter inner walls into one multiwall, I no longer have to have separate cycles for them – instead, they progress through the production line in a single work cycle,” explains WEINMANN project manager Jörg Groß. “If a system like this works efficiently, using multiwalls can improve a production line‘s performance by up to 20 or 25 percent, depending on the average wall length. This makes Granit equally of interest to companies who like to be able to monitor the profit from other modules of the software.” It goes without saying that the visionary aspect plays a part too. It‘s about getting carpentry firms using the software now so that they can familiarize themselves with the system. If unit sales then continue to increase, firms are already familiar with the system and do not have to learn it while under pressure. This is a common line of thought that Daniel too is quite familiar with: “Our company has grown steadily over the decades, and from today´s point of view, the future could well look like it become much bigger. Then a central production control could be an interesting possibility too.” Furthermore, Granit is already part of a comprehensive digitalization process that is preparing the team in Fahrenkrug for future challenges. Artisanry 4.0 Or rather Industry 4.0? In principle, they are the same thing; but despite all the automation and digitalization, Zimmerei Hamdorf wants to remain an artisanal workshop. First and foremost, this means not offering customers standard solutions, but delivering what each individual wants – for which the new line offers maximum flexibility. “Needless to say, this is important for contract production too,” explains Daniel Hamdorf. “When a carpenter orders their elements from us, they give us a good share of their added value and they place a lot of trust in us. Our goal here and in the other areas must be to make customers willing to pay a little more, because our added value in terms of individuality and safety is worth it.” On the issue of safety, digitalization and production control will also make production easier to plan – with all the positive side effects that brings, such as even higher costing accuracy and precisely scheduled delivery of components, where today there is still a margin of five to six days either side of the estimated date. Until this point is reached, there are still a few kinks to be worked out in Fahrenkrug, but the first step has been taken: “After a seamless transition, we were able to quickly return to production in one-shift operation,” explains Daniel. “Since then, we have been producing the same number of elements with four employees that we previously made in two shifts with two or three employees. For starters, we have reduced the cost of running the system, and using Granit will further increase our throughput as well as our savings in the near future. In the long term, the production line will give us the option of doubling our previous output in two-shift operation if demand continues to rise. Our target figure will then be 200 homes a year.” www.weinmann-partner.com No. 3 • August 2021 17
