SAW CENTRE CUTS PATH TO PRODUCTIVITY WITH VOLLMER

As a company that has roots that date back to 1889, The Saw Centre and its growth trajectory really took off when the company was bought by a father and son partnership in the late 60’s. The company has grown exponentially since then and it now employs more than 30 staff in a 20,000sq/ft purpose built facility.

Now in its third generation of family ownership and jointly managed by David Stevenson and Tony Galbraith, the company has evolved with significant growth of its saw blade sharpening business bolstered with diversification into the sales and service of machinery for the wood, metal and UPVC sectors.

To expand the portfolio of services, the acquisition of a tooling service and manufacturing company in 2006 provided the staff with the skills and knowledge to service the needs of the precision engineering and panel processing industries. The purchase of a small tooling company enabled the Saw Centre to move work from traditional machines to a CNC grinding centre and subsequently become the only independent company in Scotland with this facility. However, the mainstay of the business remains as the name suggests, the Saw Centre – and it is here that grinding and sharpening machines from VOLLMER have made a significant impact.

It was back in 2001 the company made its first major investment in VOLLMER technology, purchasing a VOLLMER CHD 250 R2 TCT saw blade sharpening machine and a VOLLMER Loroch HSS saw sharpening machine that were both connected to a VOLLMER ND automation centre. At the time, it was the first VOLLMER automation station in the UK to simultaneously service both HSS and TCT saw blade sharpening machines.

That investment provided The Saw Centre with the facility for 24/7 operation, ramping up productivity levels and capacity. Most impressive was that the automated cell eradicated the need for 3 HSS saw blade sharpening machines and an additional 4 TCT saw sharpening machines. The cell removed seven machines from the shop floor, reduced costs, as well as power and consumable consumption and enabled the company to allocate two staff to alternate tasks whilst adding significant sharpening capacity.

The latest investment
Despite working around the clock for 20 years, saw blade technology has evolved and this required a new solution. As joint Managing Director, Mr Tony Galbraith says: “The evolution of saw blades for our primary industries of wood, metal cutting, construction and UPVC has moved on quite drastically in the last 20 years. To service the needs of our customers and streamline our productivity, we needed to upgrade our machinery. This upgrade was the VOLLMER CHD 270 with an ND 250 5-stack robot loading system that arrived in April 2021.”

Alluding to the evolution of saw blades, Tony continues: “As manufacturers strive to improve productivity and prolong saw blade life, the required geometries have become ever more complex. Unfortunately, the software, kinematics and machine movement of the old VOLLMER CHD 250 R2 meant that we either had to undertake two or three set-ups to complete complex saw blades, or we would subsequently subcontract the work out to another supplier. In some instances, we turned away the sharpening of certain blades. Now, we can regrind everything on the new CHD 270 and when it comes to TCT saw blade sharpening, I wouldn’t go to anyone but VOLLMER.”

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