Doorset specialist Unity Group boosts production by investing in British innovation

British composite doorset and fire doorset specialists Unity Group has capped a £600,000 investment in production equipment and technology with the commissioning of a new machine that has doubled output.

Made in Britain members Unity Group, which comprises Unity Doors and JCK Joinery (a bespoke timber door specialist for more than 150 years), chose a fellow British manufacturer, Stuga Machinery, for its latest investment – Stuga’s best-selling ZX5 sawing and machining centre.

The ZX5 separates the machining and sawing functions, and by running both concurrently, Unity meets its daily requirements in one shift, with time to spare, when previously it was two shifts.

Stuga’s ZX5 joins several other acquisitions over the past 18 months, including a new twin-bed vacuum forming machine to process PVC door skins, a double-bed CNC machining centre, new lifting and handling equipment, and a new packaging machine.

In a further effort to meet increasing demand, and improve reliability and accuracy, Unity Group will also be acquiring a new sawing centre for manufacturing timber sub frames and an additional press for manufacturing door slabs.

In addition to the machinery, Unity Group has also invested in a new website which features a 24/7 door designer, allowing customers to create and order composite doors for both new-build and refurbishment applications, and behind-the-scenes videos of both Unity Doors and JCK Joinery, in which the new Stuga machine can be seen in action.

Unity Group managing director Graham Hughes said: “This new equipment represents a significant investment in our manufacturing capabilities and ultimately enables us to continue to deliver a premium and effective service.

“It took the operators a little time to get used to how fast the profiles are processed but they soon rose to the challenge and have been able to keep the new machine running at its optimum output. While it was being commissioned, we were able to run both the old and new machines in parallel which meant we didn’t lose any capacity during the transition.”

Unity Group has worked with Stuga since 2008 and was keen to stay with a fellow British manufacturer for this latest acquisition.

“Stuga’s design philosophy, which has informed 40 years’ of expertise, is to utilise innovative technology to simplify problems. This makes potentially complex machinery intuitively easy to use,” said Graham.

www.unitydoors.com