When producing over 170 bedrooms a day, production has to be slick to maximise output and maintain high standards, so when when faced with an aging angle plant that was proving unreliable, Sharps Bedrooms turned to reconditioned machinery supplier, Ferwood UK, to find a solution.
"We'd never worked with used machinery before," admits David Lloyd, Factory Operations Manager for Sharps Bedrooms. "In the past, when a machine needed replacing, we would go directly to the machinery manufacturer and purchase a new machine." It was following a chance encounter at the woodworking machinery and materials show, the W Exhibition, that Sharps started to take a greater interest in the Ferwood Group and its Ferwood Approved service – a service that sees second-hand machinery follow a strict 10-step process to ensure each one is stripped and rebuilt to the highest standard.
"It was the cost saving element that first attracted us to the idea of a second-hand machine, but it didn't take us long to realise that we weren't just talking about a 'used machine' that had been given a quick clean with an oily rag. We were talking about a machine that had been rebuilt from the ground up and reconditioned to within an inch of it's life. We didn't expect this from a second-hand machinery supplier and we were kicking ourselves that we hadn’t looked into this market sooner."
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Sharps knew what they wanted: a like-for-like Holzma angle plant that could continue to work with five 2.8 metre sheets at a time for up to 15 hours a day. Thanks to its vast global machinery inventory, a replica was sourced within three weeks and ready for David and his team to view in Ferwood’s 18,600 square metre showroom in Pollenzo, Italy.
"The team flew us out there to see it and took us though each step of the reconditioning process," explains David. "From the initial handling, cleaning, sanding and painting to disassembling the complete machine and checking every component, the lengths Ferwood go to when reconditioning a machine is phenomenal. Seeing really is believing and it certainly made us re-evaluate our thoughts on Ferwood's approach to used machinery. After experiencing this for ourselves, the decision to work with Ferwood was inevitable."
Once rebuilt, Sharps Bedrooms were invited to view the Holzma angle plant in action and run their own materials through it. "We shipped our materials to the factory so we could see how the machine would work with our board," explains David. "We cut over 2,500 square metres of board a day and, as a result, we can’t afford to be let down by our machines. Ferwood's approach left nothing to chance and the team were on hand throughout the process to answer any questions we might have had. It's simple actions like this that gave us confidence in both the machine and Ferwood."
To limit downtime, work planned to be carried out on the old machine was subcontracted, giving Ferwood time to install and test the machine in the factory. David adds: "Sharps Bedrooms work direct with the public so we have to work to a given time scale and delivery dates must be met. Ferwood took this into consideration and worked around us. Their engineers also didn’t leave until we were happy and the operators were confident using the machine."
David concludes: "This experience has opened my eyes to Ferwood Approved machinery and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another machine from them. I've already recommended them to somebody else. I couldn’t fault the service and the team is always on hand to help. The machine is also exactly what we needed. In fact, it's a higher spec than our old machine – thanks to the addition of a wood chopper - but purchased for a fraction of the price. This has allowed us to keep investing in our manufacturing facilities and new machinery."
To find out how Ferwood can help you source the right machinery at the right price, please visit www.ferwoodgroup.com, call 01132866689 or tweet us at @FerwoodGroupUK.
