Leading European flightcase manufacturer 5 Star Cases kicks off 2012 with a new, much larger, custom designed sanding booth area at its Wisbech, UK, headquarters.
This is to help increase capacity, turnaround and the service for which 5 Star is renowned, and with a very healthy order book following one of the company's busiest years of its 30 year history in 2011. It is also in line with continued on-going expansion plans.
5 Star themselves undertook the main build of the new booth area, in the process removing the existing sanding and spray booths to make way for the much extended facility containing three dust extraction systems.
The new booth enclosure occupies a total area of 35 square metres and has been designed to ensure that there is plenty of room to manoeuvre …. as well as for future expansion.
Air Bench Ltd. from Colchester, Essex was commissioned by 5 Star to specify the three new downdraught tables that form the basis of the sanding booths. They supplied two of their FN126784s and one of their FN189784 products, which extract the dust and fumes away from the workspace by drawing them down through the work surface into the internal filters, simultaneously returning clean air into the room.
The sanding booth plays a central role in 5 Star's case production process, as all the specialist woodwork passes through it to be prepped prior to final spraying and finishing.
The majority of specialist woodwork is produced on one of 5 Star's three Thermwood CNC machining centres, and usually requires various stages before it is completed.
Audio console side cheeks, stage manager desks, 19" rack-mount inner sleeves and top end DJ consoles are just a few regular 5 Star items that rely on specialist woodwork fitted inside the flight cases.
Once the woodworked elements are glued and pinned together to make the required sub-structure, they head for the sanding booth where they are filled, sanded and sealed ……. ready for the spray booth.
Phil Bailey, 5 Star's resident engineer project managed the installation, with assistance from other 5 Star production staff. A primary consideration was keeping workflow disruption to an absolute minimum, so the majority of the work was completed during the Festive period.
Ingus Lasinskis, 5 Star's cutting shop supervisor, was a key advisor in the design and layout of the new booth area. "Over the last two years or so, we have seen a huge increase in the amount of specialist woodwork required for our projects. We started to outgrow the old booth and needed a new facility," he explained, “With the new system we can work faster and smarter, which will benefit all our clients and the diverse selection of projects with which we deal day-to-day”.
For more press info on 5 Star Cases, please call Louise Stickland on +44 (0)1865 202679 or +44 (0)7831 329888 or Email ‘[email protected]'. Contact 5 Star direct on +44 (0)1945 427000 or check www.5star-cases.com.
Pictured – Ingus Lasinskis (seated) with Rokas, Vytas and Valerijs from 5 Star's woodwork department,