CNC laser profiler selected for ‘lights out’ work
By admin at 26 September, 2008, 4:22 pm
Impressed by a CNC laser profiling system’s speed and accuracy, a sheet metal subcontractor selected a 4kW system complete with a 10-storey automated work handling system for ‘lights out’ working.
UK sheet metal working subcontractor, Stevens and Carlotti, said that investment in high capability CNC production technology, such as its latest integrated CNC laser cutting and work handling system, has proven to be decisive in competing against low wage economies in Eastern Europe and Asia Established 40 years ago in Sandwich, Kent, Stevens and Carlotti has grown to 75 employees The company provides a comprehensive service of cutting, punching, folding, machining, assembly and paintshop facilities.
Its products range from simple brackets and assemblies up to 2mm thick mild steel and 8mm thick stainless steel, to complete control panels, fuel tanks and canopies.
Customers include industries as diverse as power generation, pump manufacture and aircraft ground support equipment. director of Stevens and Carlotti, Marco Carlotti, said: “Our wide range of services has enabled us to establish a ‘complete job’ mentality, both with our customers and workforce.
By undertaking virtually everything in-house, we maintain much greater control over quality and delivery lead times on all our orders”.
Carlotti said that the company was an early user of NC technology and installed its first NC turret punch presses more than 25 years ago.
Today, the punch presses are augmented by a large number of automated presses and folding machines.
* Out-sourced work brought back in-house – until 10 years ago Stevens and Carlotti subcontracted out all of its laser cutting requirements.
But with growing demand for profiling work, the company started to look seriously at investing in its own equipment.
The company made its first laser cutting equipment purchase in 1998.
It was a manually-fed 2kW LVD machine.
A year later, a second machine was added to service further business growth.
Equipped with a shuttle table loading and unloading system, the second machine represented the company’s first steps in work handling automation.
But as its profiling requirements continued to expand, Stevens and Carlotti looked again at ways of increasing productivity and throughput.
Carlotti recalled: “As part of my search, I visited Prima’s stand at MACH 2004 to check out the capabilities of its Platino machine.
I was immediately impressed by its speed and accuracy, as well as its ability to be equipped with a series of work handling solutions”.
He continued: “I originally anticipated purchasing another shuttle fed machine.
But after evaluating the Platino’s price/performance, low maintenance requirements and compact footprint against competitive equipment, we selected a 4kW Prima machine, complete with 10-storey TowerServer automated work handling system capable of ‘lights out’ operation”.
* Cost benefits – the ability to extend unmanned running beyond the normal working day offered significant cost benefits.
Yet it took a while, and the installation of a webcam monitoring system enabled Carlotti to check the status of the machine from home.
It built confidence in the Prima installation that it would really run for hour after hour unmanned.
Carlotti said that the Platino system transformed the company’s laser cutting capabilities.
The factory can load the TowerServer with up to 30 tonnes of raw material, program the machine to produce a variety of jobs in different material specifications and gauges, press the start button and walk away.
He added: “The machine will simply continue to run until it has completed all of its jobs, or it runs out of material.
I estimate that the shorter cycle times of the Prima machine, combined with its automated work handling system, have resulted in a 10-fold increase in productivity over the previous manually fed lasers we had on site”.
* More CNC laser replacements – within a year, the second ageing LVD machine had been replaced by a further Platino installation this time featuring one of Prim’’s latest CompactServer units.
One of the key benefits of this work handling solution is that it has been designed to both fit above and integrate with the laser machine’s pallet changer without requiring any additional floor space.
It is suitable for sheets up to 1500mm x 3000mm and features two shelves, each with a 3000kg payload and a maximum raw or finished material stack height of 150mm.
Like Stevens and Carlotti’s previous Platino/TowerServer combination, the CompactServer equipped machine will also run under ‘lights out’ conditions.
Carlotti observed: “Although it doesn’t have the capacity or quite the sophistication of the Tower unit, the CompactServer does have the merit of being extremely robust and simple to use.
Crucially, it also has the benefit of fitting under our overhead crane, which eventually became an important factor in its selection”.
Stevens and Carlotti’s work handling systems reflect other investments made throughout the company, such as in automated paint plant, robotic welding and latest generation press brakes.
The company regarded these investments as essential for maintaining competitiveness, particularly against suppliers from Eastern Europe or further afield in Asia.
In parallel, the company is looking to update and streamline a number of its commercial systems.
“New production control software is already in hand,” said Carlotti.
“We’re also working smarter in other areas too such as the use of common blanked parts on a number of jobs”.
He said that many of Stevens and Carlotti’s contracts are for repeat work and although batch quantities are not very large, typically between 30 and 100 units, the ability to respond quickly and flexibly to customers’ needs can often make the difference between winning or losing the business.
Carlotti said: “Technology like Prima’s high speed laser cutting and work handling systems will continue to be at the heart of our capabilities as we aim to expand our operations further during the next two years”.
* About Prima Industrie UK – Coventry-based Prima Industrie UK draws on the established track record of its Italian parent organisation, Prima Industrie, a world leader with 30 years experience in the design, development and manufacture of laser cutting machines and automation solutions.
Prima UK provides sales, installation and servicing for a wide range of new and pre-owned 2D and 3D cutting machines that are used by customers in industries as diverse as aerospace, automotive, marine and electrical equipment manufacture.
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