Results that make a difference
Fleet of four MultiCam machines help produce around 30,000 bathrooms per year
CNC machines precision, speed and ensure consistency of quality
Ability to cut, press and bend has fuelled business growth and accelerated development of new product lines
Specialist bathroom manufacturer embraces MultiCam speed and accuracy to drive production
A small privately held business serving a customer base across the US and Canada, Design Imaging supplies bathroom remodelers with wall and base material for approximately 30,000 bathrooms each year. In the two decades since its launch, the company’s Sentrel product has been refined and developed into its best version yet.
“The Sentrel panel itself is about 5-6mm thick,” said Caleb Duncan, Vice President of Manufacturing at Design Imaging. “It has the look of stone or marble, but is made of plastic so it is much easier to install, clean, and maintain. We believe we have one of the best products on the market but are never satisfied and are constantly trying to improve our processes and products. This drive for growth and improvement led us to investigate how we could automate parts of the process to increase our production while maintaining the finest highest quality.
“We bought our first MultiCam – the 3000 Series – in 2018, and haven’t looked back since, acquiring three more over the last five years,” said Caleb. “Using the routers we can create bends, grooves, even cut circular paths, with total precision. We now use the machines to make our shower bases, cutting ‘the pocket’ for drain, then pressing and bending the panel into the shower tray to produce the base.”
Meeting demand, planning for growth
“As many people focused on home improvements during the pandemic, we were fortunate to remain very busy throughout that uncertain time,” said Caleb. “We were still growing very quickly and although we had already added a MultiCam Apex3R CNC router to our production line, we quickly realized we needed a third machine to help meet the growing demand.
“When we ordered our second Apex3R, we were aware of supply issues across the world and this - coupled with our projected growth and strategic plans for the future - led us to order our third Apex3R at the same time, bringing our fleet up to four machines!”
The reason we bought a fourth MultiCam is for the volume – currently we have three machines working all the time, and we bought our newest Apex3R for future growth.
Inspiring innovation
Caleb joined Design Imaging in 2018, and although his arrival coincided with the installation of the first MultiCam CNC routers, he had never used these particular machines before.
“When we bought the first 300 Series back then, we weren’t exactly sure what we were going to do with it,” he joked. “We hadn’t actually developed a way to manufacture the bases at that point. We did have 12”x 12” samples which we sent out to demonstrate the quality of the finished product, and we didn’t have a process in place to make those, so we initially bought it so we could produce some really nice looking samples - then we would just figure out what else to do with it. In effect we took a leap of faith and turned it into a whole new revenue stream.
Having the routers has allowed us to develop entirely new product lines. The shower bases that we had never been able to produce, made up 20% of our revenue last year!
Capacity, consistency and ease of use
Caleb said that for Design Imaging, the biggest benefit of using the MultiCams is in terms of capacity. “Although there’s obviously a difference between the new Apex3R and the 3000 Series in terms of speed, it’s not just this that makes such a massive difference. It’s the combination of that speed difference with the increase in quality, accuracy and consistency that has really helped boost production.
“The reliability is also great, which of course is important for maintaining optimized production,” said Caleb. “Another big selling point for us is that we’re all hugely comfortable with the machines, both in terms of ease of operation and also maintenance. While we have an in-house team that know the machines well, there’s great customer service and if we ever have a problem the MultiCam team always get straight on the phone and help sort it out.”
With the fleet of four MultiCam machines at the heart of its production, the future is looking bright for Design Imaging!
About the customer
Founded in Utah in 2004, Design Imaging created a new wet wall product that captures the beauty of natural stone, but is much easier to install and maintain - and at a much more affordable price. Developing a new digital printing process for its bespoke product, Design Imaging launched its Sentrel range to market – and used MultiCam CNC routers to optimize and improve its production.
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