Grant Westfield, manufacturer of the UK bathroom wall panel brand, Multipanel, has invested in technology from Biesse, a company that designs and manufactures systems and machines for machining wood and other materials. The state-of-the-art machinery is used to etch decorative grout lines into Multipanel’s new Tile Collection wall panels, resulting in an industry leading tile-effect panel, without the need for grout.
Biesse’s ‘Rover B’ machine engraves a 2.5mm decorative grout line in the laminate surface of the fully waterproof bathroom wall panel with laser precision. As Multipanel’s Tile-Effect wall panels feature a unique multi-layer high pressure laminate surface, Grant Westfield required machinery that would accurately cut through a few microns of surface material to create the etched decorative grout line. The Rover B machine is specifically designed to achieve this level of precision even on textured surfaces. Using this technology, both the aesthetic and feel of tiles is achieved, creating an authentic tile-effect surface that’s perfect for bathroom walls.
David Gordon, Operations Director, Grant Westfield, said: “As market leaders, we take pride in the quality of our manufacturing processes. We had a range of high-quality design-led decors available at Multipanel, but we wanted to offer customers the option of a Tile-effect décor, with all the benefits of choosing a wall panel over individual tiles.
When exploring how best to produce Tile-effect panels, we didn’t want to simply create the look using printing technology—we wanted to go a step further and create a realistic grout line. We investigated sawing and laser-cutting the grout lines, but based on years of experience with laminates we knew a CNC would be the better solution. We wanted to take a multi-layer laminate sheet and etch through the top layer to create a grout line, which is why we chose Biesse’s Rover B machine to produce our Tile Collection.
We also wanted to automate the machine, to optimise efficiency and enable single person operation. Biesse added on a synchro component, which is a loading and unloading device that transforms the Rover machining centre into an automatic cell and enables it to machine a stack of panels autonomously without the need for an operator. This was a first in the UK for a Biesse CNC machine.
Investing in new materials is a vital part of making sure we are constantly innovating and producing the best products on the market. Biesse are leaders in their field, and we couldn’t be more pleased with our Tile collection that the Biesse technology has helped us to produce.”
John Mortimer, Sales Director commented “The Multipanel Tile collection is the first tile-effect wall panel to be both Made in Britain and Forestry Stewardship Council certified (FSC C128180). The response from customers has been phenomenal. Multipanel is routinely specified in the housing and hospitality sectors, but the launch of our Tile Collection was to tap into demand for a tile aesthetic with all the benefits of wall panels, from ease of installation to ease of maintenance.”
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