Panels & Furniture Asia January/February 2024

FURNITURE MANUFACTURING
LEGEND
1 A sample of smart
factory using FMS
2 Sorting system
managed through FMS
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shaped materials, and FMS, the system
automatically calculates the optimal cutting
method and provides data to the panel saws
and storage and sorting system.
Packaging: Through packaging
optimisation, the FMS system can
automatically calculate each unique order:
How to use the least, fastest, and most
cost-effective way to package. The data
can be provided to the manual packaging
team in the shopfloor and also connected
to the automated packaging machine and
robot. The automated packaging line can
prepare customised cartons and packaging.
The above methods have been proven to
save up to 30% of the material compared to
traditional packaging methods, as claimed
by HOMAG.
Tracking: Additionally, the FMS will tag
each board with an identification label
from the moment the order enters the
smart production process. This instructs
the smart production line to carry out
intelligent operations in sorting, cutting,
edgebanding, drilling and other processes.
Rework requirements are generated and
circulated within the production process
automatically. The smart process will also
eliminate common pain points in panel
usage and selection, including the use
of less popular colours, missing panels,
misplaced panels and low-quality panels.
Integrating with ERP: As a production
information management system, FMS is
not an isolated system. It can be combined
with the ERP system. As both systems
now operate together, the data is centrally
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managed. Real-time and accurate production
data is readily available, and the management
has a precise understanding of the updated
production status. The companies can now
make decisions with real data, combined
with systematic analysis, so as to achieve
transparency in the smart factory.
IN CONCLUSION
The FMS not only emphasises process
integration, control and monitoring of the
production, allocates and organises all
resources, and improves the shopfloor’s
response and processing ability to unexpected
requests and random activities, but it also
helps companies build a digitalised production
management system characterised by lean
production and intelligent manufacturing.
And more importantly, the FMS is unlike
any “off-the-shelf” standardised software,
according to HOMAG. The key to the
success of the FMS lies in the ability of the
project team, to continuously improve and
upgrade the system to better fit furniture
manufacturers’ business needs. HOMAG has
integrated FMS to solve the manufacturing
problems of furniture manufacturers
to achieve breakthroughs amid keen
competition.
Furthermore, with the continuous product
development of recent years in HOMAG,
the company is now reportedly able to
offer more affordable solutions not just for
cutting, edgebanding and drilling, but also for
automation and software — for example, the
combination of automatic storage systems
with robot panel saw, edgebanding tandem
line with automatic loop interlinked with highspeed
four- and six-sided drilling machines,
decoupling buffers, sorting robots for a range
of products, as well as connected assembly
and packing lines. P
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2024 | PANELS & FURNITURE ASIA 43