Paul Munson has dramatically transformed his custom woodworking business since installing a Rover A 5-axis router and implementing bSolid CAD/CAM software from Biesse America. Already, Munson Joinery of Oakland, CA, has transitioned from making furniture for architects and designers to becoming a go-to source of 3D wood parts and architectural components designed with bSolid and fabricated on the Rover A.
Build-to-Order Furniture app in the Works
Munson is working with web developers on a new “configurator” app that will allow customers to quickly and easily design a custom furniture piece online. “A different configuration of the same design can make a coffee table, a console table, or for that matter a chest of drawers. It’s all about proportions and dimensions and whether or not the piece has drawers, doors or shelves. I got to thinking, ‘Maybe I could come up with a design and let the user determine how they would want to use it in their environment.’” Using the configurator app, a customer chooses one of Munson’s Radius designs then builds a piece of furniture tailored to their needs. “You can adjust the height, length and width within parameters that we set,” Munson said. “You can add the number of drawers, doors or shelves you want. The configurator will show you what the piece looks like with each change and generate a final price based on all of the selected properties so that we can deliver that fine piece of furniture to you.”
The bSolid CAD/CAM software, with its parametric modeling ability, will create each of the component designs and code to be fabricated by the Rover A. Walnut will be the main species. Munson said he will outsource some parts, such as architectural-grade veneer panels from Artistic Veneers. A neighboring shop will be contracted to provide a hand-rubbed oil finish. Anticipated lead times from placing an order to deliver is six to eight weeks, Munson said. “We can produce a kit of parts so quickly to go to the bench that I can’t imagine that it will take us longer than the standard time.” “Our first market will be the B2B community including residential, commercial and hospitality designers,” Munson said. “Right now, I’m thinking the Bay area but after that I guess we’ll deliver to wherever.”
Source: Rich Christianson June 2017
“As I looked closer at the Rover A’s capability, I began to think this is not such a big leap to get into this more robust industrial technology and come out with so much more product. The Rover A coupled with the Biesse bSolid software plus the fact that Biesse owns the whole kit and caboodle made me realize that they could solve a lot of problems for me.”
