Beam Shop - 36' x 65' open truss shop
Timber Frame Production Process
Our production process starts with the customer inquiry. (Many times the inquiry results in a meeting to discuss how R. Jemithan can help our contractor client develop new business.) For timber frame projects, the customer inquiry generates a routing request for CAD drawings of a project. We complete our preliminary CAD drawings and return to the contractor for review. Either revision or acceptance is the typical course of action. We work closely with the contractor from the very beginning to fully understand their project, to maximize our support and to minimize costly in-progress changes.
When our collaborative design is accepted, we either select logs from our yard or contact our local forester and order logs. We custom saw our logs into beams and timbers. Depending on the project, we either use them in the rough sawed state for a rustic finish or we send them to our on site planer for a satiny smooth finish.
We use our CAD drawings to develop 'job travellers' that govern our manufacturing and quality processes.
The first process in the Beam Shop is to layout, measure and mark timbers for joinery work. We use custom machined metal jigs to ensure accuracy and consistency in our layout process
Next, the timbers go to the joinery area to cut the mortise and tenons, focusing on completing one 'bent' at a time (single piece flow). We check each mortise with a tenon stub jig to ensure proper fit. We also check tenon with mortise jig for proper fit. We document our 'functional' quality checks on our job travellers.
When each 'bent' is complete from the joinery area, it is moved to our in-door pre-assembly area. Here we assemble the 'bent', check joinery fit, and tune as necessary. Upon complete of this process, we treat the 'bent' members and prepare them for transportation to the job site.