Case Study — Grand Kitchens Adelaide
Diverse demands met with Cabinet Vision and Planit
“The focus was the integration, not so much how the front-end works, but how the back end connects to the factory so that what you are drawing was then able to not have someone in between doing data entry, but go straight to the machines”
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Jason Gregory
Grand Kitchens Designer
Initial Engagement.
Continuous growth is an ongoing goal at Grand Kitchens, where technology is paired with standards of high-quality, traditional craftsmanship to deliver superior results.
The business was founded in Adelaide by entrepreneurs Len and Julie in ‘97. What began as a partnership has expanded to include over 20 employees who serve a range of reputable commercial builders and fulfill the intricate, custom demands of the domestic market.
Grand Kitchens tried it’s hand at a couple of solutions, that replaced pencil and paper, but ultimately needed a system that could handle both “front end” design work and teh “back end” generation of accurate G-code used to program machinery. After searching for a solution that could handle both vital aspects of its jobs, Grand Kitchens chose the Cabinet Vision Screen Machine solution, by Planit Australia.
Understanding the needs.
“There are a couple of small versions of software before Cabinet Vision, which was 3D front-end drawing and then you still had the manual data entry to get things machined,” says Jason Gregory, who has been a member of the “Grand Family” team for over nine years. Jason started his career with GK on the factory floor, and has taken on drawing and quoting duties, leading the Cabinet Vision users.
Including Jason, there are three GK team members who utiles Cabinet Vision to design and program everything from stock-standard kitchens to high-end joinery and beyond.
“The focus was the integration, not so much how the front-end works, but how the back end connects to the factory so that what you are drawing was then able to not have someone in between doing data entry, but go straight to the machines,” Gregory says. “It’s proved to be really good.”
Since the implementation of Cabinet Vision, the Grand Kitchens crew are now focused on continuous business growth and the expansion of CNC functionality to include automation. As Cabinet Vision is capable of handling multiple job aspects — including design and the generation of realistic renderings, material lists, cut lists, assembly sheets, and more — guesswork and errors are reduced and efficiency is improved.
By taking advantage of the solution’s nesting capability, the company has maximised both time and materials. It’s also able to handle the different demands of fulfilling both large commercial orders and very custom residential work.
“The time savers would be cabinets that are possibly on the more difficult side to manufacture can be moved through and built quicker because of the detail that the program has, as opposed to organising a standard cabinet and then manually having to cut angles on it. The optimisation — being able to tightly nest things together — has helped out.”
Paired with Cabinet Vision functionality, the addition of an on-site spray booth has enabled the company to produce its own doors without any outsourcing.
“Starting from Cabinet Vision, being able to draw and machine our own batch of doors that we created and being able to paint them in house gives us great turnaround time,” Jason shares.
Clear Achievements
Since the implementation of Cabinet Vision, the Grand Kitchens crew are now focused on continuous business growth and the expansion of CNC functionality to include automation. As Cabinet Vision is capable of handling multiple job aspects — including design and the generation of realistic renderings, material lists, cut lists, assembly sheets, and more — guesswork and errors are reduced and efficiency is improved.
“It would be a great advantage for lots of batched work if we went down that road of batching things together — multiple units, now that’s where that would be fantastic, as well as the one-off jobs where the customer needs the attention.”
Grand Kitchens will take greater advantage of the automation tools within Cabinet Vision as the business continues to grow. While the company already heavily utilises Cabinet Vision’s nesting capabilities — which maximises both time and materials — it plans to take greater advantage of the software’s batching functionality, which is used to combine jobs that require the same material type, as the need arises.
“It would be a great advantage for lots of batched work if we went down that road of batching things together — multiple units, now that’s where that would be fantastic, as well as the one-off jobs where the customer needs the attention.”
Throughout the conversation, Jason often referred to the support Planit has provided Grand Kitchens throughout the whole journey. “The guys are always a phone call or an e-mail away, always quite happy to help and engage, and problem solve, and move things on to the next level,” Jason says of support, which is provided by both staff in South Australia and right across Australia. “It’s been great — absolutely fantastic.”
