Better production: counterpoint defines JIT with every order.

Counterpoint supplies some of the biggest names in the furniture industry with commercial furniture components from its Grand Haven, Mich.-area facilities. The company develops prototypes and produces system furniture for end users in the office, medical and banking worlds.

A majority of the work is contract, made up of small-batch, quick-turnaround orders. All three Counterpoint plants are running three full-capacity shifts, working 5 1/2 days a week to keep up with demand.

Plant Two, in Grand Haven, specializes in work surfaces in finished form. Counterpoint's work surfaces are unique in the industry and are part of the company's overall success.

"When we started the company in 1988, we bought the rights to an idea that had a lot of potential but wasn't yet perfected," said Ken Hopwood, CNC coordinator. "We made it our goal to perfect a process of putting rounded injection-molded urethane edges on surface panels and we've succeeded." The "liquid" edge is ergonomically friendly, very resilient and resistant to wear and abuse.

Laminating, edge treating and machining take place in Plant Two. Hopwood oversees the machining of the work surfaces on the company's four CNC routers: three Motionmasters and an older Harvey II. Counterpoint is growing rapidly, constantly taking on a wider variety of design orders, which keeps Hopwood and his department plenty busy.

"We run JIT for all our customers, making one of this, one of that, two of this, five of another," says Hopwood. "We're getting to the point where we can look ahead enough to group two or three days together, but even then the runs are pretty small." Add to this prototypes on demand, especially during the several months leading up to NeoCon (an office furniture show held each June in Chicago), and you get a pretty hectic scene in the router department.

"We have to switch fixturing on the routers between 30 and 50 times per shift to keep product moving. Many times the same size blanks will have different part numbers, requiring different grommet configurations, cutouts or edge machining. And some of the shapes we do are tough to work with."

Rapid setup required

To deal gracefully with the volume and variety of parts, Hopwood has designated each of the four CNC routers with specific tasks. The smaller Motionmaster constantly runs one common part, the Harvey II runs a handful of semi-standard parts; and the two larger Motionmasters do just about everything else.

The two routers have 5-foot by 5-foot tables, fitted with flexible hold-down systems that speed setups and changeovers without sacrificing the accuracy Counterpoint's customers demand. Hopwood says these systems - Flip-Pod Systems from Carter Products - are important to Counterpoint's machining operation.

The Flip-Pod concept uses reversible molded cups, or pods, seated in specific patterns in a pod panel. The pod panel is in turn mounted to the router machining bed. Users design and machine their own pod panels right on the router to conform to their specific needs. Counterpoint uses ultra high molecular weight polyethylene, which is easily machined and air-tight.

In the "up" position, the pods hold the workpiece in place, and channel vacuum from the machine bed to the workpiece. Rubber extension cups seal the pod to the part; a gasket seals the pod to the panel, and a filter keeps sawdust from entering the vacuum system. In the "down" or stored position, the pods are flush with the pod panel, and a ball check in the pod seals it off so no holding power is lost.

Since the pods and the pod panel are made from plastic, they won't destroy tooling when accidentally struck...and the pods themselves are easily replaced, the company says.

"We had an operator accidentally program the diameter of a 1 1/2-inch cutter as negative 1 1/2 inches," says Hopwood. "When he ran it, it tore up the spoilboard. If this had happened to the pods, all we'd have had to do is replace three pods, or even just the rubber extension cups."

The system includes retractable and fixed locator pods for positioning workpieces, but Hopwood doesn't use them - most of the pieces that reach his routers have laminate overhand, so he has developed his own "vertical swing" locators that position the panel without touching the laminate.

The pod system naturally elevates the workpiece, which Hopwood says benefits his work. "Almost all of our products require cutting under the edges. Plus, it's nice to have extra room in the Z-axis in case of programming errors."

A new versatility

To set up for each new piece, router operators match the part number to its corresponding pod setup in a diagram book and flip the appropriate pods. Cutout and grommet variations in same size blanks only require flipping a few pods, rather than scrambling for a different spoilboard.

"Some of the cutout variations are different by only 1 1/2 or 1 1/2 inches," says Hopwood. "For just one new product, we'd need 15 to 20 spoilboards. We tried to lay them out on cardboard, and it looked like Swiss cheese. We do 400 pieces a week for this product."

The Flip-Pod System has also been useful for Counterpoint's prototype work, Hopwood says. "We needed to make these tear-drop shaped desk surfaces. We wrote the programs, took them down to the machine and were running within minutes. We never had this kind of versatility before."

When a pod needs replacing, Hopwood says, tolerances don't suffer. "The depth cuts on our boards always stay within two or three thousandths of an inch. The replacement pods are always in tolerance.

"The whole Flip-Pod System gives us the flexibility and speed we need for JIT manufacturing," he added. "We get very few 'production'-type orders. And a growing company like ours can't afford to waste any valuable floor space storing the number of spoilboards we'd need."