No More Spring Shutdowns!

You may remember last year, when we asked our customers their thoughts on our annual spring shutdown.

We received some helpful feedback and the general view was that it seemed to cause some delays for customers, so after consulting with our workforce we have chosen to change our yearly routine and will no longer be shutting down at the end of May.

We are sure this will be welcome news to many of our valued customers, meaning that we can continue with our quality production throughout the year, with Christmas being the only time we will be closed. This is also great news for our loyal staff that will now have a more flexible approach to taking holidays.

2mm Veneer Edging

2mm Veneer Edging

One of the many benefits of our new edge banding machine we purchased last year is that we can now edge panels with a thicker 2mm real veneer.

This gives the edges of our panels a much more durable and protective layer whilst still maintaining the same flexibility as our usual 0.6mm veneer edging.

As well as being a cost effective alternative to hardwood edging we are also able to put a 2mm radius along the 2mm edge, giving a much smoother feel, similar to modern trends of Laminate and MFC furniture.

For more information on edging options available please visit our Edging page
 

Merry Christmas 2017!

We would like to wish all of our customers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

We are looking forward to 2018 and keeping you informed of our continued growth throughout the year as well as any exciting news and promotions from Griffiths & Hood.

Other Products - Waste Bins

Here at Griffiths & Hood we do not only make office furniture. Our factory team are encouraged to develop their veneering techniques by working on projects for either our office of their homes.

One of 2017's creations comes from Paul who (amongst a great deal of other things!) translates your drawings and our specification sheets into drawings for our CNC machine. Paul has developed two veneered waste paper bins that are now proudly sitting under the Directors' desks! 

The first of the two bins is produced from an engineered veneer designed to appear like Wenge. The dark colour of the engineered Wenge gives a solid and sturdy appearance.

The second is produced from Cherry, a natural veneer that (as with all natural veneers) produces a unique design.

Products from our factory are available to purchase, with all items priced on request. We are able to produce these bins in any engineered or natural veneer. Please visit our Veneer Page for a sample of the natural veneers we can offer.

Factory Shutdowns - Cleaning, Servicing & Tradition

Griffiths & Hood, as with most manufacturing companies, traditionally had two shutdowns a year, one in summer and one over Christmas.

Historically these were a chance to take a step back from the hectic nature of the day-to-day work and to assess our operation as a whole. The method in this shutdown was to ensure our facilities were in perfect working order and make large-scale adjustments to the factory structure. Ultimately the purpose is to ensure we were operating at full capacity for the remainder of the year.

Some machines required a lengthy cleaning procedure that meant they could not be used for an extended period of time. It made sense to shutdown the entire operation and thoroughly check, clean and service all machines at the same time. The alternative of halting one stage at a time would lead to backlogs, bottlenecks and most importantly, poor quality of finished item.

New machinery typically, whilst by no means perfect, does not require the same depth of cleaning and/or servicing. One of the appealing features of new machinery is their improved reliability and designs that lean towards ease of cleaning/servicing. These days a computer program is more likely to clean itself out overnight than a hydraulic press need a good sweeping!

There are times when we can identify a reordering of the factory set-up will lead to an increase in efficiency and/or safety. Recently this has revolved around the arrival of machinery; namely the arrival of our new CNC Router and Edge Bander in Winter 2016. Clearing a space for the new additions was a three day job, with another two weeks before they were fully installed, calibrated and working. Over a year later we are still finding new possibilities on the machines as we continue to push their limitations.

Since 2015 Griffiths & Hood no longer undertake a summer shutdown, we recognised the additional delay was causing problems for our customers. Modern manufacturing is as much about reliability and speed as it is quality. We do believe our regular customers understood it was an industry standard and not uncommon, however understandably their clients did not accept delays caused by manufacturing plants shutting down! In light of this, we only shutdown for two weeks over Christmas, in 2017 these dates are from 22 December 2017 until 03 January 2018.

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What is Laminate?

Laminate or HPL (High Pressure Laminate) sheets are generally constructed of three layers. A base layer of kraft paper is soaked in a vat of phenolic resin making it ready to bond to the second decorative layer whilst also adding strength and flexibility to the sheet. The final, clear layer is passed through a vat of melamine and added to the sheet to create the clear protective coating that gives laminate sheets their desired durability and resistance to abrasions and scratches.

The layers of paper, phenol and melamine are then placed in a hydraulic press to be compressed under roughly 1,400 psi and at a temperature of around 134 degrees Celsius. The heat is the necessary catalyst for the resins and melamine to bond on a molecular level. This process of turning resin soaked paper sheets into a solid sheet of laminate is known as Thermosetting.

The phenolic resin used to soak the laminate sheets was the key to its creation. It was originally formulated in the early 20th century by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland, he used this to create the world’s first fully synthetic plastic, the world famous Bakerlite.

Bakerlite boasted un-paralleled levels of protection and insulation against heat, water, solvents and electrical currents and soon replaced hard rubber for such tasks.

Leo Bakeland was the first to experiment with making laminate sheets but it was two engineers by the names of Herbert A. Faber and Daniel J. O’Conor who patented this process around 1913. They called their new product “Formica”. These sheets were originally designed as insulation for electrical products, but the trend to use laminate for decorative purposes soon caught on, and has been here ever since.

Perhaps some of the most desirable traits of laminate sheets are its uniform finish and that it is available in a wide variety of colours, textures and designs, with something to suit any project. 

Samples available on request.