CU1703

CASEstudy
Right in the frame
Pinewood Structures drives quality with Elecosoft Framing
Pinewood Structures has been
operating at the heart of the
growing UK timber frame
manufacturing market since 1981. It
has experienced ongoing
transformation which has already seen
it grow significantly, embrace
automation and digitise many
traditional processes.
Its use of software has been a
fundamental part of this change.
Framing software from Elecosoft has
played an increasing role in helping the
company achieve the quality production
for which the company is renowned.
Nick Worboys is Quality Manager at
Pinewood. He outlined his role as "To
make us the best we can possibly be,
and link all processes and systems
together," something he believes is
underpinned by software. He has been
involved throughout the company's
digitisation of its scheduling process: "It
was a journey that began by our
developing a piece of software to cut
panels for us, but then we realised
there were other systems that could do
that, and possibly more. We found
Framing, and have worked with
Elecosoft to help evolve the software
over time, to the point we are at today.
"Now, if you want to design for us you
have to use the Framing application. It
controls our design quality because we
can give them templates and materials
databases. It gives us a standardised
input to our factory - and, if you have
that, you get a standardised output."
PRODUCTION PRECISION AND
CONSISTENCY
Pinewood uses Framing software to
manage all the scheduling of its timber
frame wall outputs, and drive the
manufacturing process. The software
controls the generation of design
drawings, delivery tickets, bills of
materials and files for the cutting saws.
The use of Framing enables Pinewood
to deliver a completely consistent and
standardised product, including their
proprietary Quantum high
performance timber frame, since
everything is built in a controlled
environment.
Framing software supports the
production process from initial design
through to production, helping to turn
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March/April 2017