Ellis Furniture, a high quality furniture manufacturer based in Huddersfield, handles 400,000 kg of chipboard and hardwood per year.  Woodworking machinery used to process such large volumes of wood requires efficient dust extraction systems. For this reason Ellis Furniture has servicing, maintenance and on-call emergency breakdown contracts with leading fan manufacturer Woodcock & Wilson.

Manufacturing industries that produce wood dust are subject to controls that include providing dust extraction at woodworking machines to remove dust at source before it can be breathed in. It’s important therefore, to keep extraction and collection systems properly maintained to ensure they continue to work efficiently.

At Ellis Furniture in Huddersfield, dust extraction involves two transport fans and 15 extraction fans, each producing power outputs of between 11kw and 45kw.

Ellis Furniture is a long-established, bulk solids company, manufacturing high quality furniture and supplying the residential, hotel, educational, domestic kitchen and bathroom markets. 

The fans are an integral part of Ellis Furniture’s production system and are used to extract wood dust and chippings from melamine faced chipboard, raw chipboard and hardwood lippings.

If a fan fails it can put one or more woodworking machines out of action because they fail to meet dust extraction regulations. As a responsible company that considers the welfare of its employees a major priority, Ellis Furniture have their fans regularly serviced and maintained by leading fan manufacturer Woodcock & Wilson, also based in Huddersfield. Regular fan servicing can also avoid loss of valuable production time. The benefits of regular servicing by a specialist company, reduces downtime caused by fan, bearing or V-belt failure.

Ellis Furniture’s fans are serviced on an annual basis. The service includes a complete check of all aspects of fans, from the drive motor, pulleys, belts, shafts and bearings to the fan balance.

As well as breaking dust extraction regulations, neglecting to maintain a fan can lead to a noisy and uncomfortable working environment due to increased vibration. There is then a risk of breaking Noise and Vibration Legislation and the danger from critical failure to rotating parts. On-site fan maintenance and servicing is a serious health and safety issue and preventing potential problems also saves time and money.

A typical service by Woodcock & Wilson at Ellis Furniture takes three full days and involves:

-  inspecting the overall condition of fans
-  inspecting fan bearings for wear and re-greasing or replacing where necessary
-  inspecting, adjusting or replacing drive belts on belt driven fans
- inspecting and checking alignment of couplings on direct coupled fans and replacing coupling if necessary
- removing access doors and checking impeller for wear or damage
- test running fans and monitoring vibration levels. Fans are balanced if vibration is above permitted level. 

“Our annual fan service and maintenance by Woodcock & Wilson during the Christmas shut down has proved to be a vital plant maintenance function, enabling us to keep up the output from our production plant which operates on a double day shift for five to five and a half days a week, in a lean manufacturing environment,” says Ellis Furniture’s Engineering Director, Gordon Hart.

“Any loss of output affects our very tight production schedules and it is vital that the work carried out is done quickly and efficiently and any intermediate response is readily available should it be necessary. To this end, we have found Woodcock & Wilson satisfy all our criteria and have done for many years.”

Woodcock & Wilson has seen significant growth in its fan servicing operation this year, as more companies realise that having their fans maintained and serviced regularly can prevent serious health and safety issues, as well as save time and money. This growth also reflects the fact that the engineers at Woodcock & Wilson understand the construction principals of fan manufacturing and design, allowing them to draw on their in-house expertise when inspecting fans on site.

Mark Jones, Woodcock & Wilson’s managing director says: “We are renowned for manufacturing high quality, reliable fans. Our aim is to build on that reputation and educate companies that neglecting to maintain a fan can lead to critical failure of rotating parts and cause fatal accidents, not to mention the costs associated with repair and lost production time when fans break down.”

Woodcock & Wilson was established more than 35 years ago. The company designs and manufactures industrial centrifugal and axial fans for an extensive range of applications, including heating and ventilation, air pollution control, petro-chemical, offshore and process engineering. Its dedicated contract maintenance and repair service enables fan users to maintain and maximise performance levels.

Woodcock & Wilson is a member of SHAPA, the Solids Handling and Processing Association, the UK’s leading specialist association for the industry.

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