Weinig at LIGNA: combating challenges

This year, Weinig’s stand centred around the industry’s skills and labour shortage. Presenting over 50 machines on its 5000m² stand, visitors were presented with a wealth of innovations designed to combat the challenges facing today’s industry and solutions to future-proof their production.

“With visitors embracing the power of automation and digitalisation, the Conturex range has certainly caught the attention of window and door manufacturers at LIGNA thanks to its unwavering speed and flexibility,” begins Malcolm Cuthbertson, Managing Director of Weinig UK. “Due to its size and ability to manufacturer virtually unlimited window styles, the UK market has seen growing interest in the smaller Conturex Artis+ model, with impressive sales forecast over the next 12 months. Why? Because the flexible CNC system is really only constrained by the physical working envelope of lengths from 175-3500mm, widths from 40-260 mm and thickness of 25-150 mm – and the tools available.”

Its capacity to run true batch size one production is also undeniable. Malcolm explains,: “As the Conturex does not rely on any jigs or fixtures, it can go from any one window component to another without downtime. This doesn’t just refer to end or length profiles. It includes all the other ancillary operations like mortice or dowel for mullions/ transoms, hinge recesses, vent slots and many more.”

As well as offering compressive machining, the Conturex’s office based programming software eradicates the need for machine programming on site, reducing the need for skilled labour. Malcolm says: “The operator is really only responsible for making sure the correct piece of timber is loaded onto the machine and the tooling is maintained. What’s more, if the component isn’t within tolerance, it won’t be machined - leaving no space for human error. Even the basic Conturex Artis is equipped so that it can typically run for 20-30 mins without any human intervention or, on larger models, up to three hours when equipped with an automatic loading system. From our real-world experience, it is realistic to say the machine can be used for over 90% of the working day compared to machine averages of 50-80%. This impacts hugely on production efficiency and profitability.”

Continuing its push on the benefits of automation, the Opticut S90 cross cut saw –which offers flexibility from single-item batches and reduced unit costs through one-person operation – was demonstrated at LIGNA with automation on the in-feed and robotic stacking on the out-feed. “This is the first time we’ve presented this degree of automation on this model. It offers a cost-effective solution for those looking to automate their processes further.”

Malcolm continues, “Whereas the Conturex virtually becomes an un-manned machine cell, the universal Opticut S90 cross cut saw optimises material waste and reduces cutting times – whether you’re cutting a single board, board packages or profiles from solid wood, panels or other materials. With a very extensive range of options available for the S90 it can be tailored to virtually any application that requires cross cutting.

Similarly, the newly launched Cube 3 four-sided planer was also presented with an RFC 15 return conveyor. “This year the Cube has turned 10 and to mark the occasion Weinig has launched the new Cube 3,” says Malcolm. “Now in its third generation, the compact planer continues to be hugely popular with smaller workshop and large timber merchants alike thanks to its one-man operation and simple ‘plug and play’ concept. Since it was launched, we have easily sold nearly 250 Cube’s in the UK alone. This is because of its impressive working dimensions that allow workpieces to be planed perfectly on four sides in a single pass and its proven ability to be ten times faster than conventional machines. With the addition of the RFC 15 return conveyor, operation and handling has been simplified even more, allowing companies to realistically see a payback on their investment in less than one year.”

Malcolm adds: “LIGNA 2023 gave us a platform to showcase our growing range of products to the woodworking industry. We took this opportunity to present solutions that will help combat the skills and labour shortage and with high numbers of visitors from the UK and Ireland on our stand and quality leads to follow-up, there was no better place to do this. From the Conturex Artis – which offers the benefits of five machines in one – to the compact Cube 3 that continues to champion the smaller workshop, our forward-thinking machinery ranges are being designed and developed to futureproof your production processes. That’s why you should always Think Weinig.” www.weinig.co.uk

For more information on any of the products shown on Weinig’s LIGNA 2023 stand please visit the company’s website.