As announced last month, Falcon Precision are building an extension to our sheet metal production factory, in Chandlers Ford. Building work has now started on schedule, with ground being broken week beginning 23-09-19. All pilot holes have now been drilled and piling has been completed on 8 of the 18 holes with the remaining 10 expected to be completed by the end of Thursday 3rd October.
The 1250sq.ft extension shown below will be used to house all of our sheet metal stock. Keeping all our raw material in one location will help improve the efficiency of two of our key work centres, the laser cutter and our CNC punch turret.
Benefits
- All sheet metal will now be stored directly next to the main three work centres that use it. Currently only our most frequently used materials were stored next to these work centres due to a lack of space. To process other materials, pallets needed to be transported between two separate roller doors. The Bystronic fiber laser, Motorum CNC turret punch and the guillotine operations will all benefit. This reduction in down-time means that more of the operator’s time can be spent at the machine, cutting parts.
- Two additional closed off bays will be added to our sheet metal fabrication area. A welding bay and a separate grinding/polishing bay will be added alongside our current work centre. This increase in our sheet metal fabrication capabilities is a reflection of a number of successful years in this department.
- Our in-house assembly work centre will be gaining more floor space. Falcon has seen a rise in customers wanting us to pre-assemble their sheet metal computer cases. This can be to aid quality checks, reduce the shipping/storage size or to speed up assembly in their production line. This extension will allow us to take on more of this type of work, with our reputation as a specialist in sheet metal fabrication growing year on year.
- Our ‘key walkways’ will all be widened throughout the factory. All key walkways will now be wide enough for a large pallet to move easily to all work centres. These will also be clearly colour coded for health and safety considerations.
- The extra space will also facilitate the investment of new machinery in the future, helping further modernise and increase production.
These initial two weeks will be the most challenging build, due to the amount of machinery required to deposit material. Once these two weeks are clear our sheet metal production should be back up to normal.
The extension to the factory is the second major improvement to be carried out at Falcon this year, with high spec LED lighting having been fitted in February 2019. This has proven to be a popular decision with both our staff and our customers since the installation. See our post from earlier this year for more information. https://www.falconprecision.co.uk/news/led-floodlights-sheet-metal
To see how Hampshire’s most progressive sheet metal fabricator can help your requirements, click the link below to contact us directly.
