We use a beam saw to get the sheets cut to near size then use a pod CNC milling center to do all the rest.

Jerry -

Why are you not cutting to size and taking advantage of the time savings of sized parts moving through the work center ?

Rob -

Yes, but you are leaving out that all software is in place and the shops software is posting properly to each machine or labels are affixed to scan the part (all do able) but it is a lot of work All software must be in place

Ok, so a little more information; My shop is currently only 2,500 sqft. A beam saw is an overkill and way to big. How many panels do I currently process? It's only me and a helper 1/2 the time and just me the other half. I don't think I process more than 100 sheets a month. It might be a lot less but the list of clients are waiting an average of 6 months to a year for me and it is quite a long list. I have a friend close by that is about to retire and has offered to help with the setup. He has (and recommends) the shopsabre nested machine paired with a boring machine. He is quite successful and would be available to help. So I'm considering that as an option.

I own a decently productive 2 man shop
750k in sales/yr in frameless and inset cabinetry, doors, and dovetail drawer boxes all in house including install.
I run a Striebig vertical typically ripping and end cutting two sheets at a time and boring for assembly, line boring and hardware on a Weeke BP60 pod and rail
Horizontal boring is done on a Maggi 23 spindle borer for screw assembly.
The Striebig is much faster than a sliding panel saw for cutting rectangular parts (I had an SCMI slider that I NEVER liked ) which comprise 99% of the work processed.
It is obviously much slower than a beam panel saw, but for my volume a huge step up from the slider and much safer in my opinion.
Might be some middle ground to contemplate.
I don't think two men can fully utilize the capacity of a beam panel saw and point to point...simply not enough labor standing in front of it.
Interesting thread though.

We do cut most to size but there times when we need to do other edge profiles

I'm biased because I tend to collect machines.

We're primarily a CNC house.

Had 1 5X10 Biesse Arrow. Covered all our needs.

At an auction 18 months ago picked up a panel saw and a little Rover 20. Can't figure out how we managed without them.

Last fall we inherited an old Andi 5X10 we have it permanently set up for 4X8 because we do a lot of plywood.

Can't figure out how we managed without that one either.

Same with the dowel machine we picked up from a guy who was cleaning out his shop.

There are times when I'm alone in the shop with 2 CNC's running long jobs (45 minutes or more), the panel saw cutting lots of small pieces (1" strips from the long way on a 4X8 sheet) and doweling on the dowel machine.

Machines create opportunities.

I have run both set ups and currently running a new Anderson 5x10 nested base machine.
Beam saw takes up a lot of space. Yes you can cut 3 high with it, but that doesn’t mean you actually increase output. You can take a big stack of material and creat a bunch of small stack really fast, that you then have to move around. It’s also can become very slower to cut single pieces of individual sizes. Lastly you still have to take that part to another machine or 2 to complete the part.
PTP is nice, but now you are handling individual parts again, not to mention moving pods around to fit those parts that also result in running into those pods. Size wise it’s about the same as you will have with nested base. The only benefit for most of us is it can do horizontal drills no of items where a nested base can’t in less you creat fixtures and have a drill head that can do it. Many ptp come with factory installed software that allow you to run a single part from machine. If your doing this you can spend a lot of time programming parts not running parts
Nested base requires software of some type to work effectively. When your software is set up properly, all operation happen on that machine. We typically run a 4x8 sheet with lots of line boring and other operations on it in 5-8 minutes. We push off onto a roller table right now, my previous machine had auto load and unload, see the video in my other thread on cheap loading. When the finished sheet is pushed off the operator has 5-8 minutes to label, edgeband and sort the parts. When our parts come off the Vander they are ready for assembly (your construction method may vary). We ran 60 sheets yesterday and 50 the day before with 2 guys in the shop. A router doesn’t produce huge stacks of equipment nfinished goods in big batches, they roll off the line at a steady manageable pace and go right through the bander
I originally thoughtt I would keep my beam saw when I went nested base. 5 days after we started I had it for n the market and it was gone a few weeks later.
After the fact I did a time study. With beam saw PTP set up an average job had us touching parts 39 times and nested base we touch them 13 times. Your results may vary! One downside is you generate 3-4 times as much sawdust 1/8” saw blade vs 3/8 or 1/2” router tool and we had to adjust some sizes of parts for best yield

If you are serious, feel free to message me and I can share more

Good luck

I would say in your case, just get a nesting cnc, it can cut and machine all shelf and hardware holes. It will exceed your demand by a mile.
When you decide to multiply your shop and people by at least 10 times, then you can look at a beam saw and a vertical cnc along with a dedicated dowel machine and case clamps, etc.