Panels & Furniture Asia November/December 2023

FURNITURE MANUFACTURING
PROJECT STAGES
First, increase productivity per
employee: Al Joaib’s assignment to
Schuler Consulting was to develop
a future-proof production concept
for manufacturing. The first step
was not to increase capacity, but to
increase productivity per worker: in
other words, to achieve the same
output with a smaller workforce.
As such, the goal was to reduce the
workforce by 30%. Through the
analysis of all production processes
and the optimisations derived from
it, the target value was exceeded:
The planned value in the optimised
production concept became 37% less
in manpower.
The next step was to set up the
production concept in a scalable
way to enable future development
steps. For example, Al Joaib could
double the capacity in single-shift
operation by investing step by step in
known bottlenecks. Through these
investments, Al Joaib was able to
eliminate bottlenecks in production
and was able to achieve double the
output with a minimal increase in
workforce.
Second, optimisations in the area of
cutting, edging, and assembly: In the
cutting department, parts handling
was made more efficient; fewer
employees are now needed to stack
the cut parts. In addition, a softwaresupported
cutting optimisation with
an import function from the work
preparation should simplify and
optimise the processes at the saw in
the future.
In the edgebanding step, the
investment in a new edgebander is
necessary because their edgebanders
do not deliver satisfactory
edgebanding quality, resulting in a
lot of reworks due to the removal of
adhesive residue in their current dayto-day
business. A new edgebander
can potentially eliminate this rework
and also minimise setup times. In
addition, a recirculation system is
being implemented, which increased
the efficiency in parts handling.
The biggest structural change is
taking place in assembly: Here, a new
assembly concept, a flow production
with carcase press, is currently being
implemented. At the moment, the
employees assemble the cabinets
manually at different assembly
stations in production. This is more
flexible, but not efficient. In the new
concept, the individual assembly steps
in a flow production are arranged
in optimised work areas along an
assembly line. This includes separate
pre-assembly for drawers and front
fittings, as well as an optimised
pre-insertion area, front and drawer
assembly and attached packaging.
Kitchen and bathroom cabinets are
currently screwed together by hand
during assembly. In the future, the
cabinets can be pressed together
using a carcase press with a pure
dowel connection. There will also be
a commissioning area for the carcase
parts and fronts upstream of the
assembly. Following assembly, the
packaging has been designed in such
a way that both assembled carcasses
and flat packs can be efficiently
packed.
In the future, Al Joaib will also
consistently use a transport
and buffer system in the form of
roller conveyors for logistics in
prefabrication. Currently, transport
is done manually with lift trucks.
In addition, there is a lack of buffer
spaces between processes, which
is problematic when it comes
to balancing out production
fluctuations. Newly arranged, fixed
buffer locations allow, on the one
hand, simpler intermediate storage
of components between processes,
and on the other, they can limit the
production quantities in upstream
processes and thus prevent
overproduction. The new logistics
concept simplifies the material flow
in production so that parts can flow
through production more efficiently
and in a more regulated manner. This
regulation enables better control
of the production process and also
creates more transparency in the
production performance.
Third, flexible drilling concept for
production: To improve flexibility,
accuracy and quality in drilling, Al
Joaib is investing in new drilling
machines. Although the investment
The first goal in
the optimisation
project with Schuler
Consulting was to
save personnel
Panels & Furniture Asia | November / December 2023 45