Cutting lead time in half with Lamont

Gerwyn credits the clamp and woodwelder
with cutting his lead time in half!

WITH 24 years of experience in joinery and carpentry, Timberworks Wales specialises in hand crafted, bespoke kitchens, windows, doors, frame and stairs, as well as offering a fast, responsive, subcontract CNC routing and cutting service from customers’ own stock or from bought-in materials on an Anderson PTP 3013 CNC router, believed to be unique.

“Owner and creator”, Gerwyn Lloyd, has recently invested in a range of equipment to improve the efficiency of the workshop and the service he can offer, including a matrix table and woodwelder from Alan Lamont. Gerwyn credits the clamp and woodwelder with cutting his lead time from 14-21 days to 7-11 days: in other words in half!

A keen reader of PW&SS, Gerwyn had been keeping his eye open over the past year for a vertical clamping system. He says, “We are very limited for space, so we needed something on wheels that could easily move about the workshop.” Alan’s system was the one that he read about most, so Gerwyn gave him a call to find out more.

He says, “Alan was brilliant. He brought some machines down, we had a demo and we were sold! We told him what we wanted by phone and email, and he answered all our emails really fast. He tells you what the machines can and cannot do, and then lets you make your own decision: he’s not pushy at all. We have had one or two issues, but those were our fault, not the product’s, and Alan helped out with those really quickly. He is an amazing guy!”

Indeed, Gerwyn has since ordered two additional rams, bringing the total up to six, so that more products can be clamped at once.

When asked to describe the advantages, Gerwyn had a long list: “Ease of use, and it speeds up the whole clamping process: also, we don’t have a workshop full of clamps spread around, everything is in one place. It also means a safer workshop, as we don’t have to worry about people tripping over pieces of timber. We use the RF gun [woodwelder] to prepare work for the CNC because it is so efficient and fast, and means that we can keep up with the CNC! And the time-saving is amazing: it will pay for itself in months.”

And the clamp and gun is used on a wide range of products: “Stair assembly, treads and strings; furniture assembly and parts; general laminating of timber to make decorative moulds; and a lot of kitchen tops. It makes everything twice as fast as previously. It works really well!”

Asked if he would recommend it, Gerwyn replied, “Oh yes, totally! If there were room I’d have another one.”

Stop Press: since this article was written, an additional woodwelder has been indeed purchased by Timberworks Wales!