Lean fabrication cell

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A lean laser cutting and bending cell at Stevens & Carlotti is helping the Sandwich-based metal fabrication company cope with a major increase in business.

The company produces metal fabrications for customers in the UK and continental Europe. A jump in turnover of 25% 2017 compared with the previous year looks set to be followed by a further 50% increase in 2018, which has unsurprisingly caused some production and logistical issues. The situation has resulted in an increase in headcount from 70 to 100 staff in the last 18 months as well as a £1.5 million investment in new machinery since September 2017.

Part of this sum was allocated for the purchase in October 2017 of a Bystronic fibre laser cutting machine of 3 metre by 1.5 metre sheet capacity, together with two press brakes from the same Swiss manufacturer. The three machines are installed in one unit, forming a lean production cell on the Sandwich site for processing mild steel and aluminium from 1 mm to 25 mm thick and stainless steel up to 15 mm.

Managing director Marco Carlotti commented, "Orders have flooded in recently across the board for batch sizes ranging from one-off to several thousand.

"They are being placed by existing and new customers, from powergen and pumps to street furniture and road sweepers to electronics, filtration and building. Our success is partly because we offer a complete subcontract solution including cutting, bending, machining, welding, assembly and painting.

"Several cutting methods are in use here, each of which has specific advantages that give our customers best value for money. Laser cutting is the lead technology, however, and we have been using CO2-powered equipment for nearly 20 years.

"Due to the current higher level of business, we decided to replace one of our two second-generation 4kW CO2 machines with a Bystronic ByStar Fiber 3015 fitted with a 6kW power source and a ByTrans Extended automated sheet loading and unloading system.

"The benefits have been astounding. On thinner sheets, say around 5 mm, the machine is four to five times faster, accuracy of cut is better and it is possible to produce finer detail than on a CO2 machine. Fibre laser cutting is also not so expensive to run, as it consumes less electricity, does not need any laser assist gases and maintenance costs are lower."

The ByTrans handling system stores up to six tonnes of material, enough for typically a couple of hours' lights-out production at the end of a day shift, yet it allows convenient manual intervention at a moment's notice to fulfil a rush job if necessary.

An extra piece of Bystronic software that is about to be harnessed at the Sandwich facility is Plant Manager, which will provide visual support to the machine operator when planning which materials to stock near the machine for the next jobs and when unloading cut parts. All components belonging to a particular customer order can be colour-coded on the cutting plan so that they are distinguishable from parts associated with other orders. Moreover, the first and last cut part can be labelled so that the operator knows when an order begins and when it is completed.

Mr Carlotti concluded: "Overall, the efficiency and accuracy of fibre laser cutting are allowing us to deliver competitively priced goods in a highly competitive industry, without having to compromise on quality or service. It is also helping to mitigate today's higher material costs, so we do not have to eat into our margins too much."

www.stevens-and-carlotti.co.uk

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