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Saw/waterjet technology has been on the rise, with more and more shops across the country using it. Stone World recently asked a group of fabricators who use the technology why they decided to purchase it in the first place, what operations they use it for, and how they have seen the technology change. Participants in the discussion include Jon Ryan of Inspiration Design Center in Minnesota, Karen Roe of NS Motif in Florida, and Geoffrey Gran of The Countertop Factory Midwest in Illinois.
Ryan: We purchased the BACA Robo sawjet, which was put into service in December of 2017.
Roe: Baca sawjet.
Gran: We currently have two Park Industries Fusion 4245s sawjets — both dual tables.
Ryan: We saw the efficiency of adding the sawjet’s capabilities, which would save us on material handling costs, and also take the pressure/load off our CNC routers and enable more efficient nesting.
Roe: Material yield when nesting, time and labor, and maintenance.
Gran: Early on, we were committed to being a fully automated fabrication plant, and we needed the speed and accuracy of a sawjet to keep up with our growing demand. As we grow, we continually seek to infuse technology into our business to increase our customer base (market share) without always having to increase headcount. This makes us more reliable and more profitable.
Ryan: Having a dual-capability machine is more efficient in the shop. It allows for tighter nesting, resulting in higher material yield. Also, there is less material handling. They are more efficient, with fewer opportunities for breakage due to handling the material; you save footprint in the shop; a saw blade is more efficient to operate and will chew more material than a waterjet. In general, we strive to use the water jet less than 20% of the time due to operational efficiency relative to saw cuts and also the cost of operation/maintenance. As a result, there really isn’t enough work in a typical day to necessitate a dedicated waterjet.
Roe: It speeds up the entire process. The saw does its first pass with all the straight cuts, and the waterjet finishes everything. Faucet and sink hole cutouts are done on our machine to save on sink-hole bits. At $85 a pop, this is a huge savings.
Gran: Since we are a large production facility, we need to ensure we meet a certain production volume per shift to keep up with current demand and future sales. While a waterjet is great for accuracy, the sawjet is faster. The sawjet combines the accuracy and nesting capabilities of a waterjet with the speed of a saw blade, enabling faster cutting times, since 80% of our cuts are straight (using the blade rather than the waterjet).
Ryan: We use it for vanity cutouts, radius and arc cuts, connecting saw cuts, drop-in pre-cuts, and sintered material seems to cut cleaner and more efficiently on waterjets.
Roe: We use it for all cutting on the slab. It cuts each slab, including all cutouts and faucet holes,s in 20 to 30 minutes, depending. In my opinion, the sawjet should be used for faster cutting, leaving mitering to a separate machine dedicated to that. One, it is a better miter, and two, it doesn’t slow your production.
Gran: Every single one of our jobs starts on our sawjet. We cut every piece to size and complete all cutouts. We do not perform miter cuts on our sawjet because that is valuable time we can use to cut more jobs. We use the Baca Systems miter saw to cut all our miters because it is fast and the cut quality is phenomenal.
Ryan: Reliability, uptime statistics, and mechanical simplicity. How quickly can we complete basic repairs and/or rebuild? Consumable items cost and availability. Is there local distribution, and what are the costs of the most common and frequent items?
Roe: Maintenance, service, dependability, precision, labor, and material savings.
Gran: While acquisition price plays a role in every capital purchase, we really focused on several key factors: Reliability – since we produce 2,000 square feet per day, we need machines that will run at all times and perform every day. Customer Service – we understand that nothing is perfect and that we will have issues with our machinery. Buying equipment from a manufacturer with world-class customer service, like TCF, is a must. Capabilities: We need machinery that can interact with our different software, such as Moraware and SlabSmith. We also use software developed by Fifth Gear Technologies to improve production processes at a countertop fabrication company. One such software is SPEEDdraw, which reduces the time a field measurer needs to capture data at a jobsite and cuts the CAD process by 90%, while eliminating some of the common errors made by fabricators across the country. SPEEDdraw converts the DXF file from the digital measuring system into a final shop ticket, along with G-Code-ready files, in just a few minutes (compared to 45 to 60 minutes).
Ryan: Adding more planes of movement increases the applications where a waterjet can be used in the shop. Also, I’ve heard of new technology on the horizon in which current hydraulic systems are being replaced by servo motors, which are more efficient and do not require the frequent rebuilds that the current systems do.
Roe: I’ve seen some products trying to implement the miter on a machine. Again, my belief is that it should be used to increase production speed and savings. Larger robots in place of smaller ones, which is unnecessary; in fact, the larger ones are not as fast and do not have as good a reach.
Gran: As with anything, technology is ever-changing. We are seeing larger-format tables, faster traverse times, bigger intensifier pumps, which can cut faster, and, of course, robotic technologies.
Ryan: Waterjet and sawjets are like any other piece of equipment in your shop. You must be keenly aware of the strengths and shortfalls, so that you’re not deploying resources in an inefficient manner
Gran: For fabricators to continue to thrive and grow in this market, we must continually integrate technology into our businesses and processes. Change is not always easy, but running your business “because that is the way we have always done it” can be a recipe for disaster if competitors in the market are integrating technology into their processes.
This content is a feature from the Stone World.
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