Ventora, known as Jeld-Wen Australasia or Stegbar before July 2023, is leading the way in the development and production of doors and windows. With an established reputation for innovative design, unrivalled craftsmanship and outstanding customer service, the company has been providing reliable doors and windows for homes, apartments and commercial buildings for over 50 years.
Dave Pakeman has been working as Operations Manager at Ventora in Rowville, Australia, since 2014 and can draw on decades of experience in the glass industry.
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When he started out in the 1980s, he was still being confronted with manual production processes in glass finishing. Following a sideways career move into window production, he returned to find that the world of glass finishing had developed significantly – and had become mechanised and interlinked. Today, the aim is to manufacture products in highly automated processes and deliver them to the end customer as quickly as possible.
A highly integrated plant that supports the machine cells in the production flow by means of slot rack cart logistics and a Lisec automation solution is indispensable; this is how the Ventora plant (back then still JELD-WEN Australasia) became the first highly automated plant for the production of shower doors and more at that time.
How do you maximise production capacity in limited production space?
There's no such thing as impossible! Making the most of limited space requires extensive experience, product knowledge, as well as creativity, outside-the-box thinking and unorthodox ideas when implementing solutions.
The highlight of Ventora's production: a buffer store installed on the mezzanine level, which can supply the machines on the ground floor via a Lisec SHL lifter, thereby offering more options in a limited space. This finally opened up the third dimension in glass finishing.
What are the specifics of the process at Ventora?
Downstream of a Lisec PKL glass storage system with remnant plate storage, there is a GFB for cutting float glass and a Lisec ESL cutting table with an automatic X, Y, Z breakout system, which in turn is connected to a Lisec KSR and KSV, i.e. a glass edge seaming machine for rectangles and shapes.
Instead of a normal sorting system, a Lisec slot rack cart automation system (FWA) was installed, which is docked to various stations: a Lisec WSL, i.e. a water jet cutting system from Lisec, as well as various grinding machines and a tempering oven. The tempering oven is automatically loaded by the slot rack carts, the tempering bed is automatically created, moved into the tempering oven and automatically removed again with Lisec roller/belt tables (RWF).
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The sheets are then sorted, which is where Lisec's innovative solution for Ventora begins: The sheets are either placed in packing sequence on the Lisec GAL (a packing line that places the sheets on the rack using cord layers), or the sheets are transported up to the mezzanine level, where an additional storage unit is installed, via a Lisec SHL lifter. Both the Lisec VSA insulating glass line and a line at the other end of the hall can be loaded in the correct sequence via this mezzanine level. The transport routes therefore offer the option of connecting machine areas on the ground floor via the mezzanine floor without taking up or blocking production space. The buffers have been optimally planned.
