Advanced Furniture CNC Technician Apprenticeship

Course Overview

An Advanced Furniture CNC Technician manufactures furniture and furniture components, such as desk lids, doors, casings or legs, using Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) machinery to perform precision tasks. This includes setting, loading and proving (testing) CNC programmes to produce furniture and/or components, setting up, operating and maintaining CNC furniture production machinery, improving CNC processes to produce furniture efficiently and finding and rectifying faults with furniture production machinery. Advanced Furniture CNC Technicians also produce and maintain jigs and templates to produce furniture components and create and modify programmes for producing furniture using Computer Aided Design (CAD).

In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with a range of colleagues including production/manufacturing managers, quality technicians, production leaders, designers, product developers, training coordinators, production operatives and engineers.

Advanced Furniture CNC Technicians can work in a range of environments from small workshops to large factories and may be required to work various shift patterns. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for producing machined components to meet specifications, maintaining quality and safety standards and maintaining equipment. They may also be responsible for a team, coaching, mentoring, training and developing individuals depending on the size of the organisation they work in.

Typical job titles include:
• Furniture CNC Machinist
• Furniture CNC Programmer
• Furniture CNC Operator
• Furniture CNC Manager
• Furniture CNC Supervisors
• Furniture CNC Team Leader
• Furniture CNC Wood Machinist
• CNC Wood Machinist
• CNC Setter

The Content

Advanced Furniture CNC Technicians will develop the following skills, knowledge and behaviours:

Skills
• Set tool compensation data
• Set tool data and parameters
• Optimise machinery for the best yield of materials
• Set, load, prove and optimise CNC programmes
• Manage resources effectively
• Select tooling suitable for use with materials being processed
• Set up and operate furniture CNC/NC machinery
• Maintain furniture CNC/NC machinery responsibly
• Apply improvement techniques to manufacturing processes
• Work safely at all times
• Follow Safe Systems of work for the relevant processes
• Produce and maintain jigs and holding devices
• Develop and modify CAD drawings to suit CNC processes
• Read and interpret furniture specifications and drawings
• Use editor software to modify or create CNC programmes
• Rectify simple machine faults
• Manage yourself and others
• Apply coaching, mentoring and team development techniques
• Develop own skills to improve CNC performance
• Train others to use machinery
• Record information required accurately
• Set tooling in various holders
• Able to check furniture products meet quality standards and furniture specifications

Knowledge
• Tool compensation
• Tool data
• Parameters of machines
• Optimisation for best yield of materials
• How to set, load, prove and optimise of CNC programmes
• Technical processes
• Tooling and operational process
• Furniture industry materials and furniture manufacturing methods
• How to maintain furniture CNC/NC machinery
• Acceptable tolerances of items manufactured
• Process improvement techniques
• Lean manufacturing techniques,
• Health, safety and environmental management and risk assessment
• Safe Systems of Work for relevant processes
• How to produce and maintain jigs and holding devices
• How to develop and modify furniture CAD drawings
• Machine editor software for programme production
• Machine tooling used
• Machine fault finding techniques and programming fault finding
• Common error codes
• Grievance and discipline procedures
• Coaching, mentoring and team development techniques
• Where to send products for next process
• Measuring devices
• Standard tooling on relevant machinery
• How to run test pieces
• Where to find relevant furniture specifications and drawings
• Product quality standards

Behaviours
• Thorough and accurate when accomplishing CNC tasks
• Safety-first attitude
• Shows integrity and good time management
• Keen to improve processes
• Professional, motivated and organised
• Focused
• Fair, consistent and reliable
• Responsible for meeting objectives
• Flexible
• Mature attitude
• Able to work independently

Functional Skills in English and Maths
Where an Advanced Furniture CNC Technician has not already achieved Level 2 English and Maths, they must do so before taking the End Point Assessment.

The Assessment

Learners will need to undertake an End Point Assessment which consists of the following 3 elements:
• Multiple choice test
• Observation with questions
• Professional discussion