Manufacturing
Investing in future furniture Southern Cross Catholic Vocational College saved more than $100,000 on the establishment of its furniture making workshop thanks to the professional approach of supplier, the Gabbett Group. The college’s furniture making learning facilitator, Paul Spicer said that even though the college elected to go exclusively with Gabbett, the company created extraordinary savings by resisting any temptation to over-specify. “They helped not only in the choice of equipment types but also by recommending specific models,” Paul said. “We went to them with my ideas and they came back with alternative recommendations that saved us money. “For example, their advice on the edge banding machine and the CNC flatbed router easily saved us in the order of $100,000.” Established three years ago on the site of the former Burwood Christian Brothers College, Southern Cross is a senior high school and trade training school for Years 11 and 12. Students undertake trades courses in fields as diverse as construction, automotive, hair dressing, entertainment and furniture making. The college was built at a cost of more than $20m and
28 | SupplierJan/Feb 2014
funded by a number of feeder schools combining monies received under the BER program. “From the start the whole idea was to feature state-ofthe-art facilities, so when we started planning the furniture making facility we spoke to at least three suppliers and looked at a range of workshops to determine the equipment we needed to outfit a modern joinery,” Paul said. “While looking at trade training facilities we determined that Gabbett was the principal supplier and, after visiting a Gabbett field day, decided to make all of our equipment purchases from them. “It was very much a quality based decision based on the fact that Gabbett was supplying equipment to learning institutions from schools to prison workshops. “There’s a big difference between companies supplying just to commercial joineries and those supplying to both the industry and to educational institutions,” said Paul, who has been on the site for six years (previously
having worked at Christian Brothers) and has been teaching furniture making for 12 years. A cabinet maker by trade, Paul has a degree in Industrial Design, majoring in Furniture Design, and a post graduate Diploma in Education. Although he was not widely experienced in CNC equipment, Gabbett took the pain from the choice and the uncertainty from the training. “Our brief was to create a working joinery. We needed equipment that would not only enable us to deliver the course, but it had to be capable of commercial operations as the school has set up an enterprise office to enable us to undertake real commercial contracts,” he said. “Gabbett’s recommendations have proved spot on, providing everything we needed at a very realistic price. “When it came to the training, I really have to praise them. The training I received was fantastic and extensive such that it allowed us to start operating the CNC almost immediately.” The school’s decision to go
with Gabbett’s experience proved fortuitous when it came to supply, delivery and installation. “The school was under construction but also operating as a school. Deliveries were in a very tight time frame and installation presented no end of headaches. Paths and driveways hadn’t been completed and the renovated building into which equipment had to be installed had low ceilings, numerous supporting columns and access only through a standard garage roller door and a smaller roller door. “They had some amazing solutions to their logistical problems, particularly when it came to the big flatbed router.” Although the workshop has been an operational reality for almost three years, Paul admits he still pinches himself daily. “I visit a lot of schools and we get a lot of teachers and commercial workshop owners coming here. Without a shadow of a doubt this workshop is like no other in any school in Australia,” Paul said. ●
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