Comment by Doug Bateson managing director of PROCAM CNC Australia.

Early 2002, there was a new catch phrase introduced into the Cabinet Making industry in Australia. "Nested Based Manufacturing (NBM)" and there has been a lot discussion over the years scince. So how come after all this information is the question still raised "How does this system of manufacture fit into my particular style of manufacture?" The answer is: "It depends on whether you can think outside of the square. Lateral thinking on the nested based manufacture principle will save you many thousands of dollars and thousands of hours. Flexibility becomes the key word around your workshops!"

First of all we need to determine how many processes are required in your current manufacturing process to complete a given product or products?

For example, conventionally, the manufacture of MDF vinyl or two pack sprayed doors required rough cutting of door sizes out of, 2400 x 1200 or 3600 x 1800mm sheets. This required either the use of panel saws or beam saws, then each door would be individually placed into a point to point machine for profiling etc.

The Procam NBM system eliminates the panel saw operation altogether. The full sheet goes straight to the PROCAM CNC router where sizing and profiling of the door component takes place.

This one work centre procedure has many benefits in terms of cost savings and production efficiency:

• Click on image for detail

  Handling is dramatically reduced.
  
• Labour involvement is drastically reduced.
  
• Less factory floor space is required:
  
• Greater accuracy is achieved
  
• Machining time is cut and so are related costs.
  
• At least 25% material savings

So what do you achieve as a door manufacturer? The answer, for example is a door costing $10.00 compared with $20.00 using the old method.

The carcass component manufacturer makes similar production savings using the NBM procedure.

The overall use of Edge Drilling seems to be a thing of the past. Most cam-lock manufacturers have introduced Face Drilled fittings which are every bit as good as the old style of edge drilled fixings. These New fixings require NO edge drilling and Any cabinet can be assembled using these fixings.

The Kitchen Factory in Melbourne (www.thekitchenfactory.com.au) have embraced NBM and they are one of the leaders in NBM. Managing director Sonny Salahi commissioned a PROCAM CNC dedicated NBM programmed work centre in January 2006 has substantially improved productivity. The new machine with automatic tool change has replaced an existing panel saw operation. They are now using a hybrid construction of tennon and mortice as well as cam-lock fixings. This versatility is only possible with nested base manufacture!

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Partly assembled cabinet showing tennon and mortice construction.

Sonny says that the economies in workplace operation have been enormous. "There are the savings in relation to the total panel saw operation and transport of the individual panels to other work centres where panels had to be handled and processed. Downloading of a full days NBM processing now takes place straight from the office to the PROCAM machines.

Summarising the benefits of NBM on the PROCAM CNC Doug says that 23 cabinet doors were nested onto a 2750x1830 sheet and the total cutting time to complete the doors was 16 minutes. This means you can cut a door ready for vinyl wrapping in less than one minute!

If this does not show the benefits of PROCAM NBM then nothing else will be convincing!