Stonesbridge

During Tuesdays site visit to Ocee Design, we were fortunate enough to also visit Stonesbridge. Stonesbridge are a company that produce and manufacture parts that Ocee design cannot make. The visit was of real interest and was an insight to how companies work within the furniture industry.  Most of the parts needed will be made by a 2 part high frequency mold. The company use high frequency to cure the glue, this takes around 5-6 minutes. Each cycle would roughly be around 10-12 minutes. Once the plywood has been formed in the mold, several of the designs would be sent to a large CNC router to be cut into the correct shape. Birch and Beech are used for their plywood.

The shape after the plywood has been molded.

The final outcome once the piece has been machined on the router.

Beneath the beauty of Ocee’s furniture range.

The visit to the warehouse at Ocee, was a real insight for me as I was given the opportunity to see how furniture is constructed. We were given a tour to show their production line which was interesting as you could see how many stages are needed to create the final outcome. The ‘Henray’ range of seating was one of the designs that was on production at the time of our visit. We were informed that each chair that is produced can be expected to take around 6 hours (this would be the ‘Henray’ model with the high back and two arms).

Here is the base of the seating in its true form, without the upholstery covering.

 

Another example of what we were shown was the ‘Chamfer’ seating. The basic structure of the seating would be made on site at stonesbridge. These are a company that Ocee design work alongside with so that they can produce the items Ocee don’t have the facilities for.

The basic structures can be expected to be made up of Plywood sheeting. Stonesbridge use 1.5mm thickness ply, which are C grade Beech and Birch. Another material that can be found for the making of basic structures, is Millboard. The ‘Klub’ seating range use this material as it is much more efficient and flexible with the shape of the seat. However, Stonesbridge don’t use this material.

Site Visit

During the visit to Ocee Design we were given a briefing to inform us more on what the company are about. It was an opportunity to gain a better outlook on the company and to clear up any queries that we had.

I had learnt that Ocee design take great pride in the service element to the distribution of their products to their clients. This is a real quality to the business and puts Ocee Design ahead of most competitor companies. Depending on the product, deliveries are made in a week of the order being made, these are mainly the simple designs such as chairs. The more complex to produce such as sofa’s are put on a 4 week delivery wait.

When thinking about the style of the all the products made at Ocee Design, the style tends to be vibrant, smart and responsive. This tends to make the customers enthusiastic with the bold colours, reassured and also cared for with the smart and responsive design.