Ducret-Orges SA - Timber beam construction for architects and homes
Lamellar wood furnishes an aesthetic, lightness and a oneness with great structures. Its role is oriented toward building development. Famous architects worldwide have chosen lamellar wood to create works of art and to increase architectural value.
The company
Founded in 1984, Ducret-Orges SA is a Swiss company that, in the Orges plant, about 30 km from Losanna, produces engineered elements in lamellar wood for multipurpose rooms, industrial buildings, commercial centers, sports halls and stadiums, agricultural construction, bridges and catwalks. Strongly established on the Swiss market, Ducret is present also in other European countries, with local partnerships, in particular Italy, France, and Spain.
Ducret is positioned between the architect that conceives the manufacture and the company that installs; whether as a consultant in the engineering definition phase, for the study of the best composition of the structure, or as a supplier of single parts to assemble, worked with precision by numerical control. A deep understanding of the technology, efficient and on-time services are the genetic characteristics of Ducret and its way to work with the market as a partner in safe reliability and excellence.
Ferwood®,
the patented original assembly system by Ducret in 1993, is the company’s
pride. With this technology the hardware is completely hidden within the parts
to be joined, with a considerable aesthetic advantage in the manufactured item.
Why CMS
The processing of wood lamellar elements destined for large structures requires a combination of characteristics difficult to be obtained all on the same machine: guaranteed precision over huge work areas, working in 5 axes with powerful electrospindles; absolute reliability beyond discussion; speed in movement and in the tool changing. But also automation systems and specific software, studied for maximum productivity and simple programming.
CMS takes advantage of a decades’ long experience in this specific sector, that is completely transferred into the products it offers, constantly updating and enhanced, constituting a significant added value supplied to the customer. A CMS PMT does all the machining operations on the elements in Ducret’s current production. In particular, the customer selected CMS for the work area (40x5 m), together with a relatively reduced machine encumbrance, the speed of movement, tool changing and for its 28 kW power electrospindle. But fundamentally it rested on the precision and the quality of work necessary to guarantee the conformity to the Ferwood® system.
The first machine, destroyed in a 2003 fire that devastated the entire production plant, was substituted by another one, with a net increase in terms of productivity (about 20%), precision and quality of work. Satisfied by the results obtained, but also with the reliability demonstrated by the system and the timeliness of the service CMS provides through ANTB CMS-France, Ducret purchased a CMS SUPREMA for the production of straight elements, with automatic infeed and outfeed of the parts, and opted for the adoption of the programming system EASY BEAM and EASY WOOD, which were born in collaboration between CMS and DDX. The use of the new software, after only 2 months from installation, made it possible to reduce the time dedicated to programming by about 20-30%.