Integerated By: Bubush Material Handling Systems (Sussex,
WI)
Mastercraft Increases their Production
Rate by 25% by Utilizing Babush
Mastercraft Industries is one of the top 10 custom cabinet manufacturers in the country. It is the home of Holiday Kitchens and Mastercraft Shutters - a manufacturer of kitchen cabinets, interior shutters and cabinet refacing. With 130,000 square feet of manufacturing space and 275 employees, Mastercraft looked to Babush Material Handling Systems for a newly designed state-of-the-art Flat Line Finishing System.
The main objective for the Flat Line Project was to eliminate a handling process. Mastercraft wanted to maximize the quantity of doors they could load onto the conveyors to increase their production rates and make the system flow, without interruptions from machine to machine. To accomplish this, new belt conveyors were required to transport the product between and through the pieces of production equipment. It was also necessary to incorporate belt conveyors between the various pieces of production equipment to transport products from operation to operation.
How the System Works:
Mastercraft had some existing belt conveyors that were integrated into the new system. There were breaks in the existing system which caused the additional handling of product. Babush utilized a series of Hytrol Slider Bed Belt Conveyors and Belted Curve Conveyors the Flat Line Project. The belt conveyors are 48" wide and equipped with a white PVC belting to eliminate the possibility of marring the doors. Mastercraft also purchased a new finish spray machine to handle the increased production rates and received additional benefits with this new machine due to a faster cleaning process.
This system was designed to allow the operator to load all the various size cabinet doors (largest are 96" long X 24" wide X 15 lbs and smallest is 12" X 6" x 1 lb) on to one main conveyor line. The doors are sprayed with a clear finish, and then proceed through a series of three drying ovens (approx.100°F). Babush Material Handling Systems designed and installed a special slave driven transfer roller between each belt conveyor to insure the smooth transfer of the various door sizes as the products travel through the conveyor system. After the doors exit the last drying oven, they are turned with a curved belt conveyor and continue on a straight belt conveyor to the finish sanding machine. Finally, the doors are removed from the conveyor line, placed into racked carts and transported to the final assembly area.
Through the implementation of this system engineered by Babush Material Handling Systems, Mastercraft was able to reduce their labor requirements by one person position per shift and increase their production rate by 25%.
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