Melvin Discher knows something about bicycles. He also knows the value of automation and the role it plays in a manufacturer’s ability to produce custom and standard products in a high-production, yet craftsman-like, environment.

First, there’s the bicycle story.

When Discher returned from World War II in 1945, his employment prospects were few. Post-war America was suffering economically as the military effort had drained domestic resources for the war effort. There was a recession going on. “After the war, my brother Gilbert and I started doing odd jobs for friends and family,” Melvin recalls. “I bought my first skill saw after I tried to cut off a 2 ½-in. thick garage door with a hand saw. Obviously, it didn’t work, so I upgraded.”

With some experience in carpentry, Melvin and his brother Gilbert (now retired) started building cabinets, while acting as general contractors for residential projects in their home town of Oshkosh, Wis. But gasoline and money were scarce. Even if there was gasoline available, they couldn’t afford it, much less a vehicle to deliver their cabinets to their growing list of customers.

“We didn’t have a truck, much less a car, to deliver what we made,” Melvin explains. “But we did have this bicycle. We’d balance the cabinets on bike and take them to the jobsite, one by one or maybe two at a time. It wasn’t easy, but it got the job done.”

And where is the bicycle now?

“We still have it. In fact, we had it restored. It’s a real beauty.”

The shiny Cadillac brand bicycle sits proudly in the company’s conference room, having been restored by some Discher Millwork employees to its pre-WWII likeness.

Move to automation

Over the years, the bicycle has come to symbolize Discher Millwork’s creativity and ingenuity when it comes to serving a broad customer base that includes medical, institutional (court houses, school, municipal buildings) and offices.

“We like having it around to remind us where we came from,” says Melvin.

After moving away from the building contractor sectors, Discher Millwork moved into its first permanent facility in the early ’60s. That’s when the two brothers began to produce its architectural products. In 1990, the company moved to its current site in an industrial park. Since then, there have been four expansions.

In the early ’70s, Melvin’s son, Bruce, started with the company. He is now the president. And, Bruce’s son John works at the business when he is not attending college at University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Over the years, Bruce, with Melvin and Gilbert’s guidance, began to automate the plant, which up until then was pretty much a manual operation with a few saws, a jointer, planer, shaper and some other standard machines, including a moulder/shaper that dates from the early 20th century.

Bruce explains the evolution to automation: “Over the years, we’ve seen the tremendous production potential through automation, and the ability to produce more products with fewer people in a very tight labor market.”

Discher purchased its first CNC machines in the mid-’80s — a beam saw and a point-to-point machine. Since then the level of automation has increased steadily.

“We upgraded those CNC machines over the years. We recently switched to mostly nested-base machining using two flat table routers,” Bruce explains, adding that his father has been the driving force behind the company’s move to automated manufacturing — something that is somewhat uncommon for an AWI (Architectural Woodwork Institute) shop.

“My dad has always been interested in doing things in the best way possible. He’s a very forward thinker, enabling him to see that there are ways to do things better than ‘the way we always did it.’ ”

The current lineup of equipment includes: Homag KL 78/A20/SA single- sided edgebander with automatic panel return, a Weeke BEK Optimat 100 CNC horizontal boring and dowel insertion machine, a Weeke BHC 550 NB 5/10 Optimat CNC machining center, a Weeke BHP200 Optimat CNC Machining Center, a Bütfering SCO 313 QCE Diamond widebelt sander, a Ligmatech MPH-400 case clamp, and a Holzma HPP 82-38 Optimat panel saw.

All automated equipment was purchased from Stiles Machinery, Grand Rapids, Mich. “Since day one, Stiles has been a very loyal supplier,” Bruce says. “We feel that a good long-term working relationship far outweighs the benefit of a one-time lower price. Parts and service are paramount; our machines are our lifeblood, and they can not be down for extended periods of time.”

Linked system

The panel saw, machining centers, bore and dowel and edgebander are electronically linked, forming one integrated system. A barcode label is created at the saw or machining center. The other machines are programmed from that one bar code, which is generated off the shop floor using Pattern Systems production control software. Design software is AutoCAD-based. The company recently switched to a Microvellum software program to handle all design and production tasks.

Stickers are generated and attached to each finished piece in an order. “Orders are tracked with stickers — a white one for internal use only,” says Bruce. “The colored sticker is our means of communicating with our customers for what they have received and where on the jobsite it goes.”

Bruce says work in progress for any one job can be three days or three years, depending on the size of the order.

Discher Millwork recently switched from a standard panel processing method to break up panels to a nested-base method. Bruce Discher explains why that was done. “The two main advantages of standard panel processing are the speed of stack cutting at the panel saw and the ability to horizontal bore at the point-to-point,” he says. “We don’t do a lot of repetitive products there, so we don’t get the advantage of stack cutting at the panel saw. Plus, we use a horizontal bore and insertion machine so we have no need to horizontal bore on a point-to-point.

“After starting to do some nesting on our original flat table router, we noticed that we could cut and machine parts almost twice as fast. At that point we made the commitment to nesting and purchased another flat table router and went to almost strictly nesting.”

Now at any one time, just one operator can load and unload parts from both machining centers.

The plant is divided into two departments — solid wood specialty products and high production panel processing. Most machine operators are cross-trained.