Duncan Reeds’ first dealings with Biesse UK date back 30 years - when both businesses were in their infancy and compact laminates didn’t even exist. In Daventry, Biesse UK was in the early stages of establishing itself as a subsidiary of its Italian parent company - a leader in machining technology for wood, stone, glass and advanced materials. Meanwhile, from a modest unit in West Sussex, Duncan Reeds was building a business producing and sizing laminated boards. 

As its business started to take off, Duncan Reeds decided to replace its table saws with a beam saw and opted for Biesse’s Selco brand. This marked the start of an ongoing investment policy that has continued to the present day. 

“We started with simple table saws and an 8ft press. When we could afford it we bought a 10ft press and a beam saw, adding to that as capacity increased,” recalls Andy Bilton (Director), who has been at Duncan Reeds since it was founded in 1989 by his brother-in-law and father-in-law. 

Andy says that Biesse’s support was invaluable to Duncan Reeds during those early days. Fast forward to 2023 and once again, Biesse is supporting Duncan Reeds during another formative period - its transition to a highly flexible operation that can cater for batch one scenarios through digitalisation of certain processes. 

30 years on…
In the interim both companies have grown considerably. Biesse UK, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year, now boasts a turnover of £30m+ and employs 100 members of staff. Duncan Reeds has grown its turnover progressively year on year and evolved into a dynamic operation with three sites across the UK. It has built up a reputation as a leading fabricator of bespoke laminated products for a diverse range of applications and industries. 

“One day we might get an enquiry for 50 panels drilled with inserts for a furniture job and the next day we might be profiling the edges of a compact laminate or producing acrylic hygiene screens,” says Dean Harkess-Cowlyn (Director), illustrating the variety of jobs that make up the company’s workflow. 

He adds: “Whether we are dealing with washroom companies, shop fitters, laboratory fitters or joinery companies, we need machines that are versatile enough to accommodate any profile, any material, any size and any tool.”

Regular contact by Biesse’s sales team meant that Duncan Reeds was aware of the progress the machine manufacturer had made in terms of adapting to flexible, batch one production. Therefore, when it came to replacing a 20 year-old edgebander, Biesse was the first (and only) port of call.

A UK first: the AR70
In January 2023, Duncan Reeds became the first UK company to take delivery of a Stream A edgebander with Biesse’s innovative new AR70 high speed corner rounding unit. 

This NC controlled unit enables users to switch quickly between different radii (3mm, 2mm, 1.5mm and 1mm) or a chamfer finish for the corners of the panel, plus it rounds the top and bottom corners in one unit. This means that rather than having to change the tooling to accommodate different tape thicknesses or round off the corners, the machine does this automatically, reducing job changeover time. 

Andy says the flexibility afforded by the AR70 was a key factor in the decision to invest in the Stream A edgebander. 

“One minute we will be applying 2mm ABS edging, then will need to switch to 12mm trims on solid fire doors the next. Before, it was a case of making manual adjustments and running test pieces. Now, with the AR70, because the machine is numerically controlled, our operators just call up the preset programme and the machine recalibrates. Switching from one job to another can be done in a matter of minutes, seamlessly with no set up time hindering manufacturing.”

Working with wider panels
He adds that the Stream A’s flexibility will support the growing demand the company is seeing for floor to ceiling high end cubicles with 44mm solid floors and 15mm door rebates. 

“Our previous machine could only accommodate timber of up to 19mm in width. Once we had put the timber on, dressed it, sized it and put a 15mm rebate on, there wasn’t a lot of margin - it was very tight. The Stream A can work with 22mm wide timber which gives us a lot more flexibility.”

Whilst the machine was being built, Duncan Reeds sent a pallet of samples to Biesse’s HQ in Italy. The load contained a diverse range of panels and edging materials - everything from ABS to timber lipping, laminate lipping, real wood edging, veneer panels, plain chipboards and laminated MDF. 

This gave Duncan Reeds confidence that the machine they had ordered was going to be able to cope with any job that was thrown at it. 

“It was sent back to us, we checked it all and it looked absolutely fine,” says Andy.