Cabinet Vision Proves Easy to Use
James Yang from JJ Cabinets & Stone in Auckland and Steve Walak from Steve’s Joinery in Queenstown both found the move to a CNC set up made a lot easier through their purchase of Cabinet Vision. We spoke to them about their selection process and experience in learning to use Cabinet Vision.
Previously from a construction background James Yang set up JJ Cabinets & Stone two years ago with the North Shore based Auckland company predominantly manufacturing kitchens, wardrobes and vanities. Needing a software package for design and to run his CNC James spoke to those around him and researched on line, googling joinery forums and blogs for information and opinion on diff rent programmes.
“I read all I could on peoples experience with CNC software, watched demos and sought advice from Machines R Us who sold us our CNC. Weighing it all up I settled on Cabinet Vision. I liked that it was a specific product for cabinet construction and from the demonstrations I had seen it appeared relatively simple to use and very practical in the manner it transferred information through to the CNC. With a background in architecture and building James was familiar with software use but new to Cabinet Vision. “I was designing straight away,” says James.
“I had a day on site training with Phil Smith and Jason (from Joinery IT who represent Cabinet Vision in New Zealand) plus a couple of online sessions and found from there I could pretty much work through it myself.
“I am now using the software every day and I love it. It is great from a sales, design and production viewpoint. It is a good selling tool as clients can see exactly what their kitchen will look like and can make live changes regarding colours and textures or indeed layout.
“Material and cutting lists are automatically generated from the design process and easily readied and transferred through to our CNC ensuring no duplication of data entry or error opportunity.
“Where I have found Phil and Jason’s ongoing support very good is in their assistance in upgrading our hardware library. If we start to use a new piece of hardware I simply give the manufacturer’s supplier code to Joinery It and using TeamViewer they upload it to our system very quickly and it is ready to use.”
Steve Walak from Steve’s Joinery in Queenstown has also been using Cabinet Vision for around a year and a half and has a similar story to tell. The company whose work is split around 50/50 between residential and commercial work moved to a CNC nesting set up in 2014 and use Cabinet Vision for design and manufacture.
“When we first looked at changing our manufacturing process I was looking at a second hand machine and the guy I was looking to buy off was using Cabinet Vision and I was struck by how easy it looked to use,” says Steve. “I then went online and trialled a sample copy so by the time I purchased my own copy I was pretty aware of what I was buying and what it could do. To be honest I didn’t have too many questions for Phil and Jason during the training period but they have been great on the occasions since when I have needed guidance I have simply rung up and they have gone online and sorted it out.”
“It does almost everything we need, once you have set your library and methods the way you want, designing and drawing up a job can be very quick and automatically generates the material, parts and cutting lists. I give the guys on the floor a USB stick which is all the information or instruction they need.
“I wish we had made the move earlier it makes my job a lot easier and saves a lot of time both in the office and on the factory floor. Cabinet Vision is awesome and I have found the Joinery IT guys great to deal with.”