The operator unloads one panel of two dozen cut frame pieces while the router cuts pieces on a second panel. A robotic arm helps lift the panels into place, an innovation that improved on the Japanese company's design. The company hasn't sold all its old equipment. Mechanical wood-cutting machinery has been retrofitted with electronic controls that allow other operators to cut, bore, squirt glue and drive dowels into wood parts in one operation. On an older machine that took 45 minutes to set up automated boring, the company needed a 1,000 board-order to justify such a setup.
Speed allows flexibility.
The quick turnaround time on the electronic mill equipment means smaller custom furniture orders can be handled along with large volume orders. The future The plant produces more than 250 styles of furniture. Customization and small orders should become increasingly important if furniture orders from Internet buyers rise. To accommodate that changing consumer demand, companies likely will get bigger and bigger, he believes. But with furniture manufacturers consolidating as well, Franklin doesn't rule out the possibility his company will become part of a bigger company.