My counter blog...

Inspired by a comment on the silver bullet blog, a company we get solid surface tops from has always used the 'template method' of manufacture. They send a technician to the jobsite right after base cabinets are installed. He brings 1/4" thick strips of wood that are 3" wide by 96" long and lays them over the cabinets to simulate the finished size of the countertop they are going to fabricate. With a hot melt glue gun, all the pieces are joined. He carries the finished template to his factory where they lay the templates on the slab(s) of stone to decide how they are to be fabricated. If there is a special grain or pattern in the stone slabs they may ask the client to visit the factory to 'map out' the cuts, especially if any of the pattern needs to be matched. An example would be a diagonal stripe in the slab could be continued into the backsplash. That often requires additional material and the customer would have to approve changes.
We recently updated one of our vignettes and the technician was there today to template for a new countertop. Instead of the normal template, he had a laser scanning device designed to replace the template. At the corners where the top was to go, he attached some brightly colored tabs that reflected back to the scanner and the image of the top appeared on the screen. Newly implemented less than a month ago, the technician checked and rechecked physical measurements against the scanned measurements.
It was a simple straight top with a farm sink cutout. It probably would have been 10 minutes with the strips. Today, it was easily 45 minutes with the laser scanner.
I researched the price of the scanner with software and it's $12,000. There are other modules needed control computerized cutting. Full implementation of a computerized scanning to cutting system could be in the $100,000 to $200,000 range. Obviously, they need to work on the details of being cost effective and replacing the archaic system of saws and templates. Especially in small to medium companies who don't have the volume to justify such large purchases.
Over the years I've heard success and horror stories about implementation of (emerging) technology. The same machinery in one factory makes them successful and in another factory go bankrupt.

So ends my counter blog...