C ASE STU DY
Grand Kitchens Handles Diverse Demands with Greater Automation with Cabinet Vision
Continuous growth is an ongoing goal at Grand Kitchens, where technology is paired with standards of high-quality, traditional craftsmanship to deliver superior results. The business was founded in Adelaide by entrepreneurs Len and Julie in 1997. What began as a partnership has expanded to include over 20 employees who serve a range of reputable commercials builders and fulfill the intricate, custom demands of the domestic market. Grand Kitchens tried its hand at a couple of solutions that replaced pencil and paper, but ultimately needed a system that could handle both “front end” design work and the “back end” generation of accurate G-code used to program 64 | SupplierMarch/April 2018
machinery. After searching for a solution that could handle both vital aspects of its jobs, Grand Kitchens chose the Cabinet Vision Screen to Machine™ solution, by Planit Cutting Edge Solutions. “There were a couple of small versions [of software] before Cabinet Vision, which was 3D front-end drawing and then you still had the manual data entry to get things machined,” says Jason Gregory, who has been a member of the “Grand family” team for nine years. Jason started his career with Grand Kitchens on the factory floor, and has since taken on drawing and quoting duties, leading the team of Cabinet Vision users. Including Jason, there are three Grand Kitchens team members who utilise Cabinet
Vision to design and program everything from stockstandard kitchens to high-end joinery and beyond. “The focus was the integration, not so much how the front-end works, but how the back end connects to the factory so that what you are drawing was then able to not have someone in between doing data entry, but go straight to the machines,” Gregory says. “It’s proved to be really good.” Since the implementation of Cabinet Vision, the Grand Kitchens crew are now focused on continuous business growth and the expansion of CNC functionality to include automation. As Cabinet Vision is capable of handling multiple job aspects — including design and the generation of realistic
renderings, material lists, cut lists, assembly sheets, and more — guesswork and errors are reduced and efficiency is improved. By taking advantage of the solution’s nesting capability, the company has maximised both time and materials. It’s also able to handle the different demands of fulfilling both large commercial orders and very custom residential work. “The time savers would be cabinets that are possibly on the more difficult side to manufacture can be moved through and built quicker because of the detail that the program has, as opposed to organising a standard cabinet and then manually having to cut angles on it. The optimisation — being able to tightly nest things together — has helped out.” www.suppliermagazine.com.au