My company makes mostly POP type displays. Our workflow is very centered around cam and dowel RTA style construction and we typically do parts using a mixture of nested base processing on our two flat table machines and some two stage machining using our point to point pod and rail machines.
We have seen a huge rise in demand for "native wood," "distressed wood," or "crate like" displays from our customers of late. We have most cases found ways of staying in a panel processing way of working.
A new project has come up that is just going to force us to work with boards, we have no option that is economical to replace 1x6 pine boards here. We basically need to assemble almost picket fence style panels with 3 40" long pine boards with a 2" gap between them and stringers connecting them.
I'm trying to find automation solutions to help us here. There are some nice pieces of rapid assembly hardware, or at the very least dowels to help us assemble the pieces. I'd like to end trim, drill and pocket the panels on my point to point centers, but I have had very bad luck thus far with using any routing tools on the pine as the grain just tears away and leaves a crap result, especially for end trimming. I do have a saw aggregate, but I'm not sure if that's the ticket either. I'm also having difficulty getting the boards to stay down on the pods reliably.
I'm looking for people who work with these materials on machinery like we have. I am interested in experiences and ideas to help me get this project more automated and efficient because I fear it devolving in to lots of workers on chop saws and table saws which is a recipe for disaster (financial and otherwise).
I'm also interested in what others do for production stapling / brad nailing. We typically make jigs that locate hand held pneumatic guns, but it seems like there should be some better solutions out there.
All insights and thoughts are appreciated.