Unique LDF Line Opens Doors For Millwork Manufacturer

Well known in the Southeast for its moulding, millwork, hardwood entry doors, and panelized MDF doors, Precision Architectural Products has introduced a light density fiberboard (LDF) door as the key to its expansion across the country.

"We're bridging the gap between commodity and value-added," said David Whelchel, v.p. of sales & marketing. "We remain competitive in the LDF category, but we build so many 'extras' into our LDF product line. The quality is unparalleled."

The panels feature a solid LDF core with a routed surface, providing weight, a desirable raised panel appearance, affordability and limitless variety. "We can offer more options in the type of route, profile and pattern," Whelchel said. "We have 143 different standard patterns as well as the ability to customize,"

The flexibility, high quality and low cost are possible because of the unique equipment at Precision Architectural Products' new plant in North Largo, Fl.

The facility is a marvel of automation. More than 1,000 completed doors a day can be produced with little human interaction required along the production line. An operator programs the specs for the final product desired on the front end, and the equipment takes over.

The system will optimize raw material usage and sequence production to gain the most efficiency. An angular saw system with two sets of overhead vacuum loaders cuts the door width and length. The drops are routed to specific bins and are used in

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The door slabs are then prepped and forwarded to one of two sets of CNC routers. After one side is routed, the board is flipped, and the second face is routed. The second router also bores out holes for hinge blocks. Hinge blocks are inserted and pressure-glued in.

"We can locate the hinge blocks to our customer's specifications," Whelchel said. "That's important to dealers who pre-hang, because they won't have to do special set-ups on their own equipment."

A sander then prepares the doors for painting, cleaning, and smoothing the faces and edges. Primer is swept across the surface for a consistent finish even in the routes. After heat curing, doors are flipped so the other side can be primed. The slabs are double sanded on the surface and route areas with a 220 grit to create a consistent smooth finish.

The panels are finally palletized, banded, and shrinkwrapped for damage-free delivery.

There are also several stations along the production line dedicated to further customization utilizins raised mouldings, glass, or other custom features, or for pre-hanging specials.

The one-year-old facility currently serves the Eastern U.S., but plans are underway to replicate the process and facility at another site in 2005.

BMC Upgrading Near Austin

BMC West Corp. starts construc- tion this summer on a 75,000-sq. ft. regional operations center in Cedar Park, Tx.

The new site, to open early next year, will consolidate two existing locations in N. Austin, Tx.-the BMC Millwork door/millwork plant and the former Stripling Blake Lumber yard/door/mil lwork facility.

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