Article from the K&BZINE

When, in 1969, Geoff Oman and his brother invested £250 in a small kitchen retail shop and started the Kitchen Design Centre they could never have envisaged the path that this would lead down – to becoming one of Britain’s premier manufacturers of high quality kitchens and bedrooms with some of the most advanced manufacturing facilities in the country.

Based in the north east of England, the Kitchen Design Centre swiftly expanded from one to three or four retail outlets mainly supplying high quality Continental brands. So when, in 1981, the decision was made to start in manufacturing for the company’s own showrooms Roundel was born with a pedigree in terms of the quality level that it had to produce. In 1983 production had increased to the extent that Roundel started to supply the independent retail sector but the main break came a year later when a major supply contract to National Home Builders Persimmon Homes opened the gateway to this market and Roundel then entered a period of rapid expansion and investment in production.

Geoff Oman says that originally the pace of the expansion didn’t follow a strategic pattern in terms of sites and machinery. But, through experience and consolidation, Roundel now operates four high-tech facilities almost entirely fitted out with Homag Group technology as part of a deliberate policy to invest in what Roundel considers to be the best and most integrated production machinery available.

The range and diversity of Roundel’s product requires enormous flexibility – the 2004 door collection alone represents 33 designs – and, as a primarily bespoke manufacturer of rigid products, the demands on production are enormous.

Roundel’s workforce currently numbers some 130 deployed in various departments and Factory Manager Roy Ramshaw has responsibility for the 20, 000 square feet main mill and the state-of-the-art 60,000 square feet assembly plant and dispatch bays.

Over the last two years Roundel has undertaken a targeted project of investment in machinery and technology to equip the company for the future. In this it has been professionally partnered by Homag U.K.’s John Shepherd and the associated technical advisers from the various Homag Group manufacturing companies involved.

The company says that the result is one of the most modern panel processing facilities in the UK and the largest, most advanced automated Ligmatech assembly and packaging line in the country.

All of Roundel’s production reflects its ability to produce both in volume or on a bespoke basis. Therefore, in the main mill, two Holzma beam saws size panels for downstream processing: The Holzma HPL11 with a rear lift feed, cuts boards in a high capacity scenario with fast saw carriage and program fence feeds combining with a deep saw blade projection to offer optimum cycle times. The more compact Holzma HPP380 is designed for smaller more flexible dimensioning work and equipped with CadMatic software and CNC controls ideally suited to this end.

Both saws benefit from the Holzma engineering and specification. In particular the patented mono-rail saw carriage guidance system that ensures perpetual alignment of main and scoring blades for a chip-free cut. Special side pressure devices and a contactless magnetic encoding system for the positioning of the program fence all contribute to ensuring absolute, long-term dimensional accuracy – crucial for downstream processing activity and final product assembly.

Drilling, shaping, routing and cut-outs are equally accurate as the main machine is the Weeke CNC BHC350 machining centre with a heavy, cross-braced bed and optimal clamping, tool selection and processing speeds. Roundel has installed a smaller but equally efficient Weeke BHC250 CNC machining centre in the assembly area for performing jobbing or customised work on certain products.

Carcase components, shelves and all other parts are edged on a Homag KFL260 combination edgebander with central processing, line control and in-line units for contour trimming and finishing. The latest KFL526 machine had the capability of edging with a range of materials from ABS thick edgings right down to 0.4mm melamine.

With these and a number of smaller machines the Roundel panel processing mill presents a flexible production environment. This gives the company the confidence to say ‘yes’ to new, diverse orders and break into new markets where it will be assured of supplying a top quality product.

The processed components are then assembled in an advanced and automated environment. John Shepherd and the Ligmatech engineers worked closely with Roy Ramshaw and his team to design two almost parallel lines that would offer the greatest possible flexibility without inhibiting cycle times and volume. The parallel and in-line Ligmatech carcase presses are integrated into the automated conveyor system which moves assembled carcasses further into the factory for fitting and final packaging. The lines converge at a point where a special, automatic ‘T-Car’ designed by Ligmatech co-ordinates the operation.

Roundel went to great pains to research the machinery market before making this substantial investment. Homag was selected as the only group of manufacturers with a sufficiently technically integrated ‘family’ of products that offered the required performance, flexibility, reliability and long term solutions. The other criteria central to the investment decision was the UK-based engineering and service operation that has been established by Paul Newman at Homag U.K.’s Castle Donington headquarters.

In establishing its advanced production facility, Roundel was looking for a genuine and ongoing technical partnership with a high level of expertise. As a result the company has been able to move its business forward to target a £10 million turnover figure and establish 85% of this in the contract sector