Lots of shops battle traffic jams not only on their commute to and from work but on the job itself. Trying to move parts from manufacturing to assembly often means carts rolling all over the place and frequently not where you need them when you need them. At Kevin Ward’s shop, A Ward Design in Winter Haven, Fla., that problem was solved with a pass-through system that makes the hand-off between manufacturing and assembly efficient.
A two-sided pass-through rack makes quick work of moving parts from manufacturing to assembly.
Lots of shops battle traffic jams not only on their commute to and from work but on the job itself. Trying to move parts from manufacturing to assembly often means carts rolling all over the place and frequently not where you need them when you need them. At Kevin Ward’s shop, A Ward Design in Winter Haven, Fla., that problem was solved with a pass-through system that makes the hand-off between manufacturing and assembly efficient.
The key to the system is a big vertical parts rack that forms a wall between the manufacturing area and the assembly area. The rack is open on two sides so parts can slide all the way through it. As soon as parts are cut and edgebanded, they are slid into numbered slots in the parts rack, which is just a couple of steps away from the beam saw and edgebander. When the assembler is ready to start putting cabinets together, he just pulls the parts from his side of the rack, just a step away from his assembly table. This way parts move efficiently where they need to go, and there are no rolling carts to trip over in the shop.
Updated: Sep 11, 2011
This article appeared in CabinetMakerFDM, February 2011. ©Copyright 2013, All Rights Reserved.