Kitchen Manufacturer Steams Ahead With FANUC Robots
Dovy Keukens
In 1980, the first Dovy kitchen was born in an old flax shed owned by trained furniture maker Donald Muylle and his wife Yvette Claeys. Family and friends soon asked the couple to create their dream kitchen, and these satisfied customers quickly brought in new clients. Some 44 years later, Dovy Keukens has become one of the largest producers of high-quality custom kitchens. With circa 430 employees at its headquarters and manufacturing facility in Roeselare, Belgium, the company produces and installs around 25 bespoke kitchens every day.
FANUC Robots Provide Meal Ticket for Kitchen Manufacturer
Dovy Keukens is a family business with more than 40 years of craftsmanship that have helped to shape a progressive, high-tech manufacturer of custom kitchens. The company undertakes in-house production processes that include sawing, milling, assembly, painting and installation for customers throughout Belgium.
Controlling everything internally helps Dovy ensure prices remain affordable for customers. Over the course of the past decade, this ethos has seen the company adopt an increasing number of FANUC robots across its production processes, boosting both quality and quantity.
Christ Muylle, who runs Dovy together with his father and brother, says that continuous growth over the years is driving the need for faster and more efficient manufacturing.
Chris Muylle
Owner Dovy Keukens
“We chose robots because we were convinced they offer the best and most effective solution to this need,” he says. “I find it remarkable how robots can work quickly, efficiently and with very high reliability. We have several different applications for our robots. For instance, a FANUC paint robot applies high-gloss varnish to our kitchen cabinet doors. We use three more FANUC robots to facilitate a type of return system, where kitchen pieces exiting the machines are laid in the right orientation and returned to the operator.”
Among several FANUC six-axis industrial robots on site today are M-410𝑖B/140H, M-410𝑖C/185 and M-710𝑖C/70 models. Some take advantage of a seventh axis linear rail.
“By using robots in our production we’ve been able to achieve a serious increase in our quality and quantities, not to mention the fact that robots don’t need wages,” says Muylle. “A robot is an ideal employee for Dovy, one who is never ill or absent.”
As a final point of note, after more than a decade of working with these robots, the company reports complete satisfaction with the FANUC service team. In fact, due to the adoption of preventative maintenance strategies, Dovy has only called upon FANUC service once in all that time.
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M-410𝑖B/140H
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