A Customer Story from Morro Partnerships Group
When it comes to cutting sheet materials, experience matters—and so does choosing equipment that won’t let you down. Just ask Dave Thacker of the Morro Innovation Hub.
Video Transcript
My advice to anyone who’s cutting sheet material is not to waste your time on any other machine than a Striebig and an AL-KO dust extractor.
Hi, I’m Dave Thacker. This is the Morro Innovation Hub and we’re part of the Morro Partnerships Group. We manufacture open panel timber frame for our parent company, Morro Partnerships. We have a timber frame facility, which is supplying homes to the affordable market through our parent group.
We are in control of the supply chain. It’s all about getting it right first time. The machines that we have in here are reliable machines, which can deliver exactly what they say they can do. I can’t afford downtime, I can’t afford breakdowns. This is a very small, compact environment.
Our choice of machines, it’s relatively simple based on experience and knowledge over the last 20, 25 years, and reliability in the supply chain to make sure that when we purchase, we purchase the right product. Everything drove us towards the Striebig saw. We first came across Striebig and AL-KO when I met TM machinery 20 years ago.
The main requirement of the saw that we required was for nine mil OSB eight by four sheets, 18 mil OSB sheet products that can go into our product. And the requirement was to improve on what was on normal. We can’t afford to have a bad cut. We cannot afford to throw materials away.
With the Striebig, one of the advantages is it’s accuracy. We do not have any mistakes. If they are, they’re normally a human one in some shape or form, but the machines themselves, they are fabulous. They are right on the mark.
One of the advantages of that is, is our cutting workflow. Previously, everything was paper. Everything’s paperless now. We now have a direct line from our design software straight to the Striebig.
The advantage of a Striebig saw for my team, they are now capable of doing their work quicker, which will give them more time to develop and innovate the way we do the rest of our job.
We have to balance manufacturing. It’s a real hybrid of construction and manufacturing and the flow time through the whole of the factory. And the balance that the Striebig gives us is second to none. Its capabilities are far greater than the speed that we are using at, as our efficiencies improve, we will be able to use the full capabilities of the Striebig.
We knew from TM machinery, the compatibility of the AL-KO dust extraction was perfect for us. There are many benefits that go with the AL-KO. First thing was the size. Getting that AL-KO into the position that we wanted on our floor space was hugely important. It’s like almost like the golden goose, it kept on giving when we put it into place.
Since the installation of the AL-KO dust extraction, we have visibly noticed cleaner air cleaner environment. It’s been wonderful. Safety is paramount in anything we do. The combustion of sawdust in itself has to be monitored. The AL-KO does that. It was the perfect machine for this environment and I would recommend it. The Striebig saw in line with the AL-KO dust extraction gives us a security that however our efficiencies improve, the saw and the extractors are both future-proofed.
The service agreement is very simple. It takes a risk out of downtime. If we don’t have it serviced, it breaks down. Now, if we are proactive and we realise that there are wearing parts in any sort of machine, then we can overcome that and then there is no downtime.
The reason I say that is reliability, honesty in the supply chain from TM machinery. Perfectly structured service and maintenance schedules put in place, and a product that is at the upper end of its environment. There is continuous development of the product, which we’ve seen since our first Striebig saw 20 years ago.
Sustainability comes in many forms, in my opinion. If you buy cheap, it’s not very sustainable, is it? We need to rely on our machines to be future-proofed. They have to be part of our whole strategy for the business. We are pushing every parameter we possibly can to reach net zero in this factory. If you are still using a manual vertical saw, instead of Striebig, you’re missing a real trick. It’s just a gift that keeps on giving.
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