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Maton Guitars
Maton Guitars is widely regarded as Australia’s favourite and most successful maker of guitars and have become an icon of the Australian music industry – played by world-renowned artists including Tommy Emmanuel, John Williamson, Neil Finn, Paul Kelly and Melinda Schneider. Indeed, such has been Bill May’s importance to Australian music that the Australian Music Association Awards posthumously inducted him into its hall of fame.
Today, Maton Guitars remains in the family with each instrument hand-crafted from local timber in a purpose-built factory in Box Hill.
Recognising the importance of climate control in its manufacturing process, Maton Guitars reached out to A.G. Coombs in late 2020 for assistance in improving the internal space conditions of the factory. This led A.G. Coombs Advisory to complete a mechanical services asset audit and condition review, and present a range of options to improve conditions, controls and efficiency as well as address operational issues and risk.
Following the review, A.G. Coombs made a series of recommendations that could achieve improved reliability and operational control while minimising capital expenditure.
These included the enhancement and refurbishment of the existing dehumidification unit with the provision of a new thermal wheel and an upgrade of its control panel and the HVAC control system with the deployment of additional temperature sensors to monitor internal conditions across the factory, including the timber drying area.
Improvements to controls have seen internal space conditions maintained within an optimal range of 43 to 45% relative humidity at 20-degrees celcius and enhanced the visibility of conditions and access to settings, including remote monitoring.
Additionally, A.G. Coombs recommended a number of access, maintenance and safety improvements including the installation of safe maintenance access for long term maintainability of plant within the factory.
A.G. Coombs Advisory also proposed non-HVAC initiatives such as leak sealing of roller doors and spraying the external roof with a membrane product for improved seal and reflective properties, for additional energy savings.
While these improvement works were being carried out, the sudden departure of the incumbent mechanical services contractor in December 2020 saw A.G. Coombs respond quickly to Maton Guitar’s request for service through the summer period leading to an agreement for ongoing mechanical services maintenance at the Box Hill facility being formalised in early 2021.
As well as service and maintenance, A.G. Coombs is providing building tuning advice with consideration to energy efficiency and the whole-of-life operation of plant and equipment.
