Kitchen Contours
Creating the final outcome
Once the design is resolved and accepted by a client, it is booked into the system. Depending on workload, the product will be delivered and installed in about four weeks.
"We try to deliver the day we've put on the calendar – always! We try to deliver on the day we say so; that's all part of the service expectations."
Factory staff visit the job site, take measurements and note the position of doors, windows and establish how best the cabinetry should fit together. David always visits the site himself to confirm measurements.
Once the measurements are confirmed, they are fed in to the high-end design package used to map out client ideas, that then automatically calculates the number of sheets of MDF required for the job, and generates a cutting list for the project showing the best way to cut components from the sheets with the minimum of waste, detailed assembly instructions that explain how each unit is to be put together, and labels for all of the individual parts.
Typically, the factory has about 20 jobs on the go at a time. Each job has an information sheet, showing client name, job number, and all the rest of the information about that job, including a floor plan of what the kitchen is going to look like, including elevations and perspectives. A big job may use 45 sheets of MDF, with each panel yielding 10 to 15 parts, so a simple but effective tracking system is essential to keep track of things.
It takes around three hours to cut the material for a "typical" kitchen.
All the pieces leave the cutting area labelled, and the complete job, along with its documentation, is loaded onto a trolley (or two).
It takes one person about a day to assemble all the cabinet carcasses in a standard kitchen. In theory, the factory could be run with three people in the machine shop: one cutter, one assembler, and a person laminating, but typically Kitchen Contours has seven or eight people in the assembly parts of the factory at a time, where to mix things up a little they work on a variety of different jobs during the day.
Maintaining smooth workflow and achieving on-time delivery requires careful planning. Besides meeting promises to customers, workflow must be organised to suit the availability of outside contractors such as painters and cartage operators.
Kitchen Contours sticks with an established group of suppliers: "If things go wrong, they're much more likely to help you out, if you use them all the time."
The company manages all of its own installations but will call in specialist builders or plumbers if need be.
In the past, kitchens were built out of a fairly limited range of materials, but in recent years, the range has widened and now includes a lot more glass and aluminium. This has challenged factories and in some cases required them to invest in new machines capable of handling these new materials.
"Often we'll get asked to do something that we've never done before and you just try different techniques and work out the best way of doing it. There can be pitfalls in using new products that you haven't fully tested. Sometimes what the client has asked for just won't work and we have to come up with other options that will work."
