Case Study: Benchmark Furniture achieves major time savings and complex CNC production for V&A exhibit with Vero Software's Alphacam

Alphacam Creates Unique Items for Conran Brainchild

Benchmark Furniture, a UK-based designer and manufacturer with a 50-strong team, partnered with designer Sir Terence Conran on The Wish List project to produce two highly sculptural wooden vessels for the V&A’s London Design Festival. The pieces, conceived by Zaha Hadid and Gareth Neal, featured complex surfaces made up of grooves of varying diameters and radii, tight one-week production windows and the need to machine multiple billets without outsourcing—challenging the capabilities of their SCM Record 220 P router and existing workflows.

Using Alphacam CAD/CAM, Benchmark imported Maya models as Parasolids, adopted 3+2 machining, added workplanes to reach difficult areas, and developed multi-stage toolpaths with Vortex bullnose cutters (20 mm, 12 mm, 4 mm) after prototyping and simulation. The result: two exhibition-quality vessels produced in-house on time, significant time and cost savings versus manual work or outsourcing, greater confidence in Alphacam and a faster, more reliable process for future complex projects.

Benchmark Furniture

Colin White

Programmer/Operator