Automatic Edgebanding

The success of the Revolution Series of automatic edgebanders has been driven by design led manufacturers.

Shaped panels are making up a greater proportion of components manufactured in the joinery industry as businesses look to reflect customer preferences. Our customers are differentiating their products for competitive advantage and better financial performance.

Essentially, we make edge-banding easy. In particular, the edge-banding of curved shapes has been regarded as a difficult process in manufacturing environments. The Vector Revolution machines have transformed this thinking and our clients consider their ability to effortlessly edge-band a wide range products, of varying shapes and sizes, an important competitive advantage.

With manual edgebanding is there is no way to consistently produce high-quality product. This is unlike many other wood-working operations which can be done accurately and to a high standard through the use of jigs and fixtures.

While semi-automatic edgebanders provide an entry level solution for manufacturers who are gaining scale, practically there are real issues on the factory floor which impacts business performance and customer satisfaction:

• As with manual machines, they require the operator to apply extra pressure and assist the machine to manipulate the panel around tighter radiuses.
• They are very dependent on the operators skills, which means quality can vary significantly between operators.
• Edge pressure is relatively low, which typically require the use of Flex Edge to bend banding for anything other than large radiuses.
• Radiuses less than 50 mm external and 100mm internal are typically not possible.
• Semi-automatics are unable to vary speed according to corner radius, which significantly limits the ability to handle complex shapes.
• Butt joins are not as accurate or repeatable as fully controlled automatic machines.
• There is are limits the range of suppliers for banding which can be more expensive than standard banding materials.
• Trimming finishes are variable versus main-stream edge-band materials due to plasticisers used in production.
• Typically, these niche materials are not available in more sustainable or recyclable materials.

In larger manufacturing environments there are additional benefits to move to machines dedicated to automatic contour edgebanding.

This often involves separation of the banding process from the shape cutting, which can mean higher productivity for both the shape cutting and edgebanding machines.

• We are compatible with nested based manufacturing. With shaped components, enormous time and material savings can be made by nesting the shapes.
• The Vector Revolution machines perform the edgebanding processes without any issues of panel alignment.
• Routing dust does not interfere with the edge-bander performance.
• CNC router capacity is optimised as a process and matched to cutting requirements.
• The capital costs for hybrid CNC contour banders and their ongoing running costs are significantly higher than a Vector Contour solution.

The advantages of the Vector Contour automatic edgebanding system are compelling:

• It is simple to operate with no programming required, which delivers cost advantages and time savings.
• Small batch runs are easy to accommodate.
• The Vector Contour allows components to be manufactured with minimal or no setup.
• The Vector Revolution machines use a patented pressure system utilising AI algorithms to automatically analyse the shape of the panel as the head progresses around the panel, providing the best possible glue bond and glue line thickness.
• The banding, trimming and surface scrapping are all performed precisely and simultaneously, resulting in fast cycle times.
• This process delivers consistently high quality butt joins, a key element in the finished product presentation.

By automating the contour banding process, you will reduce rework and your customers will notice the huge improvement in the quality and consistency of your products.

Automatic edge-banding also unlocks manufacturing scale and flexibility, transforming slow and labour intensive component manufacture into an efficient operational process. Our clients can seek larger and more complex projects without worrying about production constraints associated with semi-automatic and manual edgebanding.

We understand there are intricacies in every manufacturing situation. However, with over 100 machines deployed globally at 80 manufacturing sites, we are confident we can work with you to understand how to enhance your manufacturing processes for better business results.