Software Link to Soukup CNC Helps Timbawood to Grow

Timbawood, moved from installation to joinery production, 8 years ago, after getting fed up with poor quality and lead times from other suppliers. Since then it has built up a reputation for being experts in traditional windows and doors for period properties throughout London. It’s handcrafted joinery and excellent customer service has ensured that business is growing based purely on word of mouth recommendation.

Timbawood Director, Ian Selby says, “We try to deliver on time and customers like our quality.” Adding, “We invite everyone to come to our factory to show them our quality control, production methods and to meet our team. All this provides evidence that we’re a proper manufacturer.”

Four years ago Ian recognised the company needed software to help them with the time consuming process of quoting. He says, “There comes a point in your business where if you don’t have the right software you’ll fail; I was wasting so much time quoting that the cost of not having it outweighed the cost of purchasing JMS.”

Joinerysoft’s Joinery Management Software (JMS) was recommended by Timbawood’s production Director, Daniel Mehlberg, who had used the software at a previous company. Ian and Daniel looked at two different software solutions and chose Joinerysoft because it felt right. Ian says, “Joinerysoft was moving forward, developing new features and going somewhere. It seemed a good fit for our business.”

The resulting time and financial savings as a result of reduced errors have enabled Timbawood to expand further, taking the company to £3,000,000 turnover and forty staff, including fitters, office staff, design staff and a separate glass company.

Ian believes that JMS has made a big difference to customer service, but also has improved how staff feel about their job. The turnaround of quotes in just three to four days, rather than the two to three weeks it took previously, has given staff a new outlook on the way they work, and gives staff the confidence that they are better positioned within the market”.

JMS has been able to save time in all aspects of Timbawood’s business including, Quoting, job revisions, calculations, sending cutting sheets to the factory, and generating orders for glass and timber. As a result Ian says, “joiners can now spend more time with clients and provide better customer service by keeping a closer eye on production checking the right fittings and colours are used.”

The factory joiners have welcomed the production printouts from JMS, which according to Ian has brought more order to the workshop. Because of this Timbawood has been able to change the way that they order materials. Ian says, “We can now order our materials in batches as JMS allows us to better estimate the amount that we will need for each job.” He continues, “Ordering in this way means that we deal with less paperwork as we are ordering more, but less frequently”.

Timbawood’s latest investment has been the purchase of a Soukup ‘Crafter’ earlier this year. This window line has enabled them to introduce a new range of ‘traditional styled’ machined windows, which are more price competitive than their hand crafted counterpart, while still maintaining the high quality control that Timbawood are known for. Ian says, “From the very beginning we knew we needed our Joinerysoft software to run the machine.” He adds, “Fast moving joinery needs to be accurately priced to be profitably. JMS calculates production sheets and quickly feeds the machine directly, removing mistakes and assisting recruitment of staff by removing the need to employ joiners with traditional hand crafting skills which can be difficult to source and costly.”

The extra manufacturing capacity this has brought has enabled them to add 2 approved resellers to their group. Based in Brighton and South East London these resellers will keep the Soukup Crafter busy in a specially introduced 8 hr night shift, to cope with demand. Timbawood’s technical team and customer support will be fully supporting these new ventures.

Ian concludes, “JMS has grown with us as we’ve moved from a single user to a 3 user network and now purchased a Soukup machining link. I believe JMS is the best software on the market and works well because it is designed for joiners. I certainly wouldn’t change.” He adds, “JMS has helped us transform from a small business into a larger, more organised, and profitable business”.

Timbawood

Tel: 0208 893 4889

Ian@timbawood.co.uk

www.timbawood.co.uk