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Faster and more efficient production of aluminum windows and doors thanks to fully automated production line

As a manufacturing company, you have to keep investing in people and machines, especially if you want to increase capacity and speed on the shop floor. When the managers of Woodaluxe from Houthalen decided to shift their focus to professional customers, new machines were needed to machine profiles for the production of windows and doors. 

After a thorough comparison of different brands and solutions, they opted for a fully automatic, profile-independent production line from Soenen Hendrik. This allows more different profiles to be processed in a shorter time. Moreover, it can be produced unmanned, allowing experienced employees to be used at other points in the production process.

"Woodaluxe has been active in the supply and installation of custom-made windows and doors for decades with a focus on the private market. Recently, we decided to fully focus on professional customers under the name Woodaluxe Pro, for example construction companies that do not have their own production. Only we determined, that it was not possible to continue working in the same way and with our existing machinery. There was simply not enough capacity to get, say, 300 windows for a particular project ready on time," says Jan Engelen, who runs the company together with his wife Sarah Geuns and her sister Ellen. 

"Ultimately, we decided to invest in intelligent solutions to significantly improve speed, efficiency and productivity on the shop floor and handle larger, more complex projects. We first made an overview of the brands and machines on the market, including Soenen Hendrik's solutions. Their sales representative Pepijn Carlier had previously visited us, but at that time we had no needs. With our new strategy, the situation changed and there was contact again. We became impressed with the quality and performance of their automated, high-tech production lines for machining profiles."

Fast and accurate production, even unmanned

At Soenen Hendrik, every project is carried out in-house from A to Z: R&D, sales, production, software development and integration, assembly, installation, after-sales service,..., and even transportation. 

"We also developed a production line for Woodaluxe Pro that is specifically tailored to their needs and can machine all the necessary aluminum profiles. As always, the knowledge is in the machine, which is controlled directly from the software. It recognizes the profiles placed on the feed table by the operator and performs the job perfectly: milling, drilling, fluting, tapping, sawing and counter-profiling and finally fully automatic sorting on the output table. Control instruments, including cameras, prevent any error before and during profile processing. There is also self-optimization of profiles and automatic tool breakage detection. The machining of the tool, which needs to be replaced, is automatically taken over by other available tools, thus avoiding any machine downtime," explains Pepijn Carlier. 

"Since this Smart Machine operates unmanned, operators can be engaged at another point in the production process. Capacity is expanded, lead time reduced and output increased, significantly increasing efficiency and yield on the shop floor."

Direct contact with the manufacturer

For Woodaluxe Pro, this is a big investment, but the business owners are convinced it is necessary in order not to miss the automation wave and continue to grow. 

"We always want to get the most out of our machinery. Soenen Hendrik responded flexibly to our needs and developed a suitable profile-independent custom solution. By the way, the system's open source software seamlessly takes over everything from our Ramasoft drawing program," concludes Engelen. "Moreover, you speak directly to the manufacturer, without a distributor as an intermediary. Nobody knows his products better than the machine builder himself. In case of questions, we also get all the answers immediately and in our own language."