Guiding your business through the change

Business is going great for Platinum EDGECAM | Designer Joinery. Frank Ammirato is a hands-on type of owner, who still loves getting into the factory and going onsite. The business has been operating for 8 years, and is based in Croydon Park, South Australia. Alongside his team of 4 other workers, Frank focuses on complete house fitouts, with joinery for the kitchen, wardrobe, laundry, etc. Some of their latest work included completing an installation at the Ronald McDonald House in Adelaide. 

The manufacturing was running smoothly, however things were not perfect. Frank wanted to improve the efficiency of his manufacturing. Frank explained “The information coming out of the office was accurate, but sometimes the boys couldn’t understand my drawings and notes. This meant problems were arising down in the factory. We were looking for software that would eliminate this”.  The information coming out of the office was rushed, which just created more bottlenecks in the factory.

Having met Tony Vella, South Australia Territory Manager for Planit, through an industry contact, Tony began to understand the bottlenecks that Frank was facing. Frank also shared with Tony some of his plans for the business, including that he wanted to purchase a CNC. “Tony suggested to start with the drawings and cutting lists, and then add the CNC when we were ready, advising us not to rush things”. Tony understood that for Frank, it was important to do things in stages; not just with software, but his whole business.

So Frank started with Solid Essential and began to build his skills in drawing his designs and producing cutting lists. Throughout the whole process, Planit was there to help guide and ­­­assist them though the whole process, to ensure everything went smoothly. The bottlenecks that Frank experienced with the flow of information to the factory were removed thanks to easy to understand drawings and the reports Cabinet Vision was able to produce. 

At the beginning of 2014, Tony caught up with Frank to assess how they were doing with their software. During their discussions, the pair spoke about some of the limitations that Frank was finding, and discussed the options available. Frank joked “Tony’s always asking us WHY? He’s always asking us ‘why do we need it?’ But it’s a good thing, it means we’re sure about the next step”. The next step for Frank was to upgrade to Solid Advanced, allowing him greater control over shaping cabinets and adding greater detail for high-end jobs.

Looking back at the journey he has taken, Frank makes the comment that doing the software in stages “is probably the best way of doing it because I wouldn’t have appreciated what I have now, because I understand what we have, and value what the software is doing”.