New BLM lasers and tube cutting and processing specialist Duright have increased manufacturing efficiency and improved performance on exotic materials.
While Covid had a negative impact on many manufacturing companies, Duright saw business grow thanks to its exposure to the medical equipment sector, where it was involved manufacturing parts for beds for the Nightingale hospitals, among many other medical-related projects.
“The period of the pandemic proved to be some of our busiest years and in part drove our decision to invest in our first BLM LT7, as it provided a step-change in technology in terms of how easy and quick it was to set and improved performance on a lot of the exotic materials that we cut,” says Ross Taylor, Managing Director, Duright Engineering. “The technology and inbuilt control software enhances the ability of our operators.”
Ross Taylor was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the operators adapted to the new technology of the BLM LT7 fiber laser, such that within 12 months a second machine was ordered.
The machine have increased capacity and, in conjunction with an inhouse nitrogen generating system, have also allowed it to offer more competitive rates.
The BLM LT7 Laser Tube features a 3D cutting head equipped with a 3kW fibre laser, efficiencies are created through innovative design features such as the automatic setting of the tube loader, spindle, steady rest and intermediate supports in preparation for the next job with no interruption to the production cycle. The automatic tube loader can handle round and square tubes, rectangular profiles, open profiles, or special sections weighing up to 23 kg/metre and up to 8.5 metres in length, while tube between 12 mm and 152.4 mm can be cut.
“At Duright we run an extremely tight production system with every job, every operation, barcoded so everything has an allocated time whether that be set-up or production. Our target is to achieve 80% efficiency on a daily basis, with 80 to 84% being the typical figure. The new BLM LT7 machines are achieving 93% efficiency, even with 10 or 12 changeovers in a 24 hour period, the machines are much more streamlined. For us this is a big benefit as we operate 24/6 pushing machines as hard as they can go with no spare time,” says Ross Taylor.
The new machines supersede 14-year-old BLM machines. “The LT7 cuts so much faster than the old machine, but speed isn’t everything, everything else is. The fibre laser technology has come on leaps and bounds and the speed at which we can change from one job to another, with limited operator input is major step forward,” says Ross Taylor.