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Steel and aluminium
is cut and
drilled to length, put into product-specific jigs and welded.
It has to undergo stress testing next,
before its sent to the paint shop for powder coating.
The cut steel is powder coated to the
customer's specified finish- e.g. white. After the parts are sprayed
they will be baked in a very hot oven - the whole process takes
three to four days. |
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FACT - On a typical
electric couch there is over 60 individual steel
component parts which all need to be fabricated. |
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 Paul
is our senior fabricator and welder. He has
worked for Beautelle for seven years.
His wealth of experience has played a vital
role in our product development programme. |
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precision cutting |
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Because each couch design is different, the
supporting base boards for the couch
sections are precision cut and drilled to
the correct pattern and the foam is also
shape-cut. The boards and foam bundles are
now matched and stored ready for the
upholstery process.
Upholstery is precision-cut and
prepared for sewing. |
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FACT -
92% of our raw
materials are sourced from the UK. Over 60% of these
are sourced locally supporting local manufacturing
and reducing our carbon footprint. |
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 Ian
oversees
our parts buying. He is responsible for
maintaining stocks of all our raw materials and parts, testing new
supplies and sourcing new materials and components. |
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industrial sewing |
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The cut pieces of upholstery fabric are sewn
together to form a shell for each couch
section.
Every
section is sewn separately, together with face
bungs, chair tops etc.
Each
order is then matched to board and foam sets (above) ready
for upholstering. |
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FACT -
On average our machinist shop will sew over 20,000
metres of material per year. |
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 Yvette
has been our industrial sewer for 14 years. She
is a most experienced machinist who prior to joining
Beautelle worked for Jaguar
cars.
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upholstering |
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An
upholsterer takes the sewn shells for each section
of the couch, stool and chair and upholsters it onto
the cut board and foam.
This
process is timed as close as possible to despatch date
to keep the upholstery in pristine condition. |
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FACT - In a typical
week our upholsterers will use over 40,000 staples
to upholster a variety of equipment. |
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 John
has
worked for Beautelle for five years. He started with
Beautelle as an apprentice and has worked his way up to being our
chief upholsterer. |
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quality checks |
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Assembling the treated
steel couch parts is no mean feat - this is highly skilled work.
Quality control checks the framework for any
pit marks or scratches.
The hydraulic pumps and the electronic
motors are connected and tested before the final assembly process to
attach the upholstery sections. |
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FACT - There is 35
major parts plus over 50 subsidiary parts that go
into building an electric couch. It takes over 2
hours per couch just to build the framework and make
the QC checks. |
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 Andy
is our most senior technician. He has
worked for Beautelle for over 15 years since its
formation. He oversees the entire factory operation and is the main
company representative for on-site visits. |
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assembly |
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Upholstery sections are fitted to the
framework in the final part of the assembly process.
A technician and an upholsterer work
together in the final stages to ensure every section
is tailored to fit.
Final checks are made against the order
documentation, and the equipment undergoes final QC
inspection before being wrapped and boxed ready for
despatch /or installation. |
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FACT - In an average
week we make and despatch over 25 couches. With
other products such as stools and trolleys this adds
up to over 60 equipment orders produced by the
Beautelle factory weekly.
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 Bill
is our assembly line upholsterer. He works closely with the assembly
technicians for fitting and finishing. |
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