The future of framing is here: the newest generation of framing equipment brings more time and less hassle to the modern picture framing shop

Art Business News, Dec, 2001 by Tricia Bisoux

It's clear that the pace of innovation in the framing industry has quickened as manufacturers' research and development departments raise the stakes in framing equipment design. However, their goal is not so much to design new equipment, but to make frame shop mainstays faster, better and, most importantly, smarter.

"We've established a really solid base for our products," said Shawn Rolfe, operations manager of H.F. Esterly in Wiscasset, Maine. "Now, the emphasis is more on enhancing the equipment to make it more user-friendly, more adaptable."

To some extent, the "automatic frame shop" is already a reality, said manufacturers. Already available to retailers are saws, joiners and mat cutters that can move automatically to the appropriate settings, and make precise, error-free maneuvers. In the works are designs that take this idea one step further, with machines that can indicate the materials required and network with other machines so that inventory is updated automatically and a retailer can track every step of an order's progress electronically.

More importantly, the "faster-better-smarter" mantra of manufacturers is not focused on high-volume framers only. Rather, most of the innovations mentioned in this article specifically target the operations of smaller frame shops. Companies realize that the industry is driven by small, neighborhood framing operations and are developing ways to serve them.

"There is not a big market for $20,000 computerized mat cutting machines" said Curt Brey, director of marketing for The Fletcher-Terry Co. in Farmington, Conn. "Competition is increasing for the cottage industry framer. These framers need to spend more time on sales and design so they can expand their businesses. We're creating tools to give framers more time with their customers."

What's new this year from the industry's equipment manufacturers? Naturally, computer technology and the Internet are playing big roles in the new options available to framers. As the stakes go up, framers can expect a whirlwind of change. But they also can expect to benefit from a widening array of cost-cutting, time-saving options for their back rooms and bottom lines.

Employee-Friendly Features

Several manufacturers are taking great pains to create machines that answer one of the central challenges for today's framers: hiring and training staff. Hard-to-find hires, high turnover and increasing labor costs make easy-to-learn, easy-to-use equipment a must for frame shops of all sizes.

The research and development departments of many suppliers have been increasingly busy "pushing for more features and capacities," said Clay Simpson of Active Sales Co. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif. For example, the company's line of joiners, including the MitreNailer[TM] Step-Master and Double Shooter, as well as its line of Cassese[R] machines, are currently being upgraded to increase speed and maintain accuracy.

"The joiners now have the capacity for mouldings of greater heights and widths, better damping and drive systems, better reliability and less maintenance. They're faster in operations, setup and changeover times," said Simpson. "In addition, we've added more features such as computer controlled memory machines with bar code reading abilities. Computerized joiners and mat cutters are the rage right now."

These changes not only reduce waste, but also are a response to labor concerns in the framing industry. "Time is money" emphasized Simpson. "Employees are harder to find and take longer to train."

Machines that require less direction from an operator are essential, added Simpson, so that a change in staff does not require hours of retraining to keep a frame shop up to speed.

The Automatic Frame Shop

Robert Pistorius, owner of Pistorius Machine Co. in Hauppauge, N.Y., agreed that employee-based innovation through automation is now a central target for innovation for his company's R&D efforts. (See "Pistorius Machine Makes Strides in Automation," FBN August 2001, page 6.) For example, Pistorius now offers its #10G Electronic DigiMiter[TM] gage, which fits Pistorius double miter saws and may be adapted to other similar machines. The electronic gage includes an interface, through which the operator can enter settings to make automatic, error-free cuts.

Pistorius hopes to take this idea several steps further, with similar gages that will be able to attach to almost any large piece of framing equipment. Each time an operator enters a job number or scans a bar code, the machine will tell the operator what materials are needed for the job and where they are stored, and then automatically move to the settings required to complete it. Eventually, those gages will be able to network other machines in the shop, including a central computer. A frame shop owner could track any job throughout the process from a networked computer.

Automation and custom framing may seem contradictory, but are not mutually exclusive terms, Pistorius noted. "The automation process has been in use in the custom window industry for years," he explained. "A computer batches the custom orders to cut lengths of vinyl extrusion in order to get the most yield and less waste. We can't do that in framing because the operator has to remove imperfections from the moulding--but we're trying to tailor the same idea to this industry."