The Minister of Industry at FURX: the line, station by station

The delegation was met on the street of single-storey factory units, where a vertical FURX banner and Egyptian flags hung on the facade. Eng. Waleed El-Banna greeted the minister with a handshake as the governor stood alongside FIG 01. Twenty-four seconds later the group was inside, at the first machine.

The first stop was the flatbed CNC router FIG 02. This is where sheet stock is nested and cut: part outlines are laid out close together on one board, then cut from it. The sheet on the bed carried the nested cut lines of curved parts. Under the FURX wall mark, Eng. Waleed El-Banna briefed the minister and the governor at the machine FIG 03.

From the router, the delegation crossed the solid-wood frame workshop, along an aisle lined with stacked raw sofa and tub-chair frames FIG 04. This is where sofas and chairs take shape as bare wooden structures, before any springs, foam or fabric are added. General Manager Hadi El-Daghidi walked with the group, and the minister spoke with Eng. Waleed El-Banna beside the stacked chair frames FIG 05.

The upholstery line is where frames get their suspension. At two neighbouring stations, one technician fitted sinuous springs to a curved frame while another worked elastic webbing across a second FIG 06. This layer gives the seat its support before the foam goes on. Half a minute later the delegation crossed the line past raw curved frames, as a technician in a FURX vest kept working at his bench FIG 07.

In the upholstery finishing hall, covered pieces receive their final work and stand ready as sofas. The minister and the governor walked between rows of bouclé sofas as Eng. Waleed El-Banna spoke with the minister FIG 08. Ahmed Hamdy of the Damietta Furniture City administration walked alongside.

At kiosk KSK-001 on the production floor, a FURX technician, paper slips in hand, showed the delegation how a job is logged FIG 09. Its wall poster sets out four steps: look at the camera, scan the job code, start work, done. Status buttons cover paused, continue and no work, and a separate button reports a defect.

The padding and foam hall is where foam is cut, bonded in layers and shaped before the cover goes on. The delegation walked past laminated foam components on wooden bases, some wrapped in wadding, under another FURX wall mark FIG 10. In production this stage comes before the finishing hall; the route simply reached it later.

The visit closed back on the street, about eleven minutes after arrival, with a group photo: the minister, the governor and Eng. Waleed El-Banna among FURX workers and staff, between the rows of factory units FIG 11. The same day, Youm7 published the group photo taken outside FURX as the closing shot of the minister's tour of Damietta Furniture City.