In business, success is often the product of a company’s vision – the aspirations for the future and the plans for creating opportunities and managing growth. Differentiation from the competition is an important factor in uncovering and realising those opportunities.
This typically means doing things better, more efficiently, and more economically than anyone else. Continually challenging the way things have been done in the past and viewing them from a new perspective ultimately lead to innovation and a strong competitive edge.
Fabricators are constantly searching for ways to manufacture things faster, more economically, and with even higher quality. Properly integrating a new technology requires a disciplined analysis to assess its effect on the existing process and the business as a whole.

 Fabricators are constantly searching for ways to manufacture things faster, more economically, and with even higher quality.

Fab shops are busy, and it’s easier to maintain the status quo than find time to engage in such an assessment. But this is the first step toward differentiation. Developing and executing a strategy for implementing new technologies propel a metal fabricator forward and separate it from the competition.
What such a strategy would look like and the hidden benefits and opportunities it might provide are best illustrated with an example. In this instance, we have Carl, an owner of a midsized job shop called “The Fab House”.

The Fab House recently was awarded a long-term contract to fabricate a high volume of complex parts in sheet metal thicknesses from 0.040 in. to 0.375 in. He is contemplating upgrading his shop’s cutting capabilities with the addition of a fibre laser.

 High-speed fibre lasers have had a significant impact on the fabrication industry, and the introduction of one in his shop would create immediate differentiation.

High-speed fibre lasers have had a significant impact on the fabrication industry, and the introduction of one in his shop would create immediate differentiation. Carl’s decision to purchase a fibre laser was based on pretty obvious features that the cutting technology demonstrates:
1.    Fibre lasers in the 6-kW power range are up to 400 percent faster in cutting thin sheet and also faster across a large majority of metal thicknesses when compared to the industry-standard 4-kW class of CO2 lasers.
2.    Fibre laser technology requires 1.5 times less electrical energy to produce the same wattage and overall consumes about 50 percent less in hourly operating costs. Because the fibre laser uses highly efficient laser diodes to initiate the lasing process instead of high voltage or radio frequency, the electrical input requirements and consumptions are far less compared to CO2 technology. In addition, the fibre does not require the use of gas turbines because there are no lasing gases, unlike the CO2, which utilises lasing gases and turbines.
3.    Maintenance tasks that would normally consume several hours per month, such as beam alignments on a CO2 laser, are not required in the routine maintenance of a fibre laser.
4.    Consumable costs such as mirrors, lasing gases, and beam delivery bellows disappear because fibre lasers don’t have these elements.
5.    The combination of faster cutting speeds and reduced maintenance time increases machine availability and capacity when compared to a similarly powered CO2 machine.
When looking at a reduction in overall operating expenses and the prospect of up to three times faster feed rates, he recognised that he could reduce his cost per part while producing more parts per hour. The big question remained: What kind of an impact would the fibre laser have on his overall production process?

The Front-End Pull

Carl runs an efficient, modern job shop in which business software systems process orders into bills of materials and job routings and programming software automatically sets up machine tools for production jobs. All of these systems, however, need to keep up with the increased throughput and capacity made possible by the new laser cutting technology.
How quickly can an order be translated into a job ready to process? This is an important question for him because a bottleneck results if the fibre laser produces parts faster than nests can be queued in the production pipeline. Once jobs have been released to production, the nesting software needs to create programs that are ready to process on the fibre laser.

The major portion of part cost ties directly to the cost of the material itself, followed by the labour and process time consumed in fabricating the part.

In addition to creating timely nests, programming systems also need to make the most of sheet material utilisation because this is a key element in the overall cost per part. Like most fabricators, he knew that the major portion of part cost ties directly to the cost of the material itself, followed by the labour and process time consumed in fabricating the part.
The time it takes to process the nest is also important. (This is a function of the laser processing speeds and cut path optimisation.) Reducing material utilisation costs and processing times are key elements in reducing the overall cost per part.
Optimising material utilisation. With the faster cutting rates made possible by his new fibre laser, he wondered if something could be done to carry nest optimisation to a higher level. He discovered that by subscribing to a “software as a service” (SaaS) provider, more complex optimisation algorithms could be run using high-end computer hardware and software systems. This web-based arrangement allows complex calculations to be performed quickly on multiple computers and then captured onto a central processor for final optimisation.

 This web-based arrangement allows complex calculations to be performed quickly on multiple computers and then captured onto a central processor for final optimisation.

This enhanced process produces a better material yield and a much faster optimisation than can be achieved using a conventional, stand-alone PC. Carl found that it also reduces the required cutting time because of optimised cutting paths. A database with more than 300 parameters provides him with comprehensive information about the material behaviour and ideal cutting paths. The result of this advanced optimisation is not only a safe cutting process, but one that leaves very little in the way of material waste per sheet and reduces total cutting times. On average, an additional 10 percent material savings and 15 percent savings in processing time can be realised over conventional PC-based algorithms.

Push Demand With Press Brakes

With parts being cut faster than ever before, it was important that Carl adapt his downstream processes to meet push demand created by the fibre laser. Press brake setup time, in particular, is an easily identifiable target for improvement, given the different tooling setups and the variety of programs that must be processed each day. When the machine is not bending parts, it is both a non-productive and a non-revenue-generating asset. he began looking for ways to increase the utilisation of his press brakes.
Cutting down on non-productive time
The most important aspect of reducing non-productive time on press brakes is the incorporation of offline programming capabilities, particularly in today’s predominantly high-mix, low-volume environment. Although he was aware of the benefits of offline programming, he had not taken the step of introducing it to his press brake operations. When an operator uses a press brake control for programming, he takes away valuable processing time, produces fewer parts per day, and reduces the capacity for processing other jobs.

It was also possible to set up tool mapping and automatically set up additional tool stations along the table to accommodate all of the required bends.

He decided to make the move and soon learned that good offline programming would do more than just select the correct tools and generate bend deductions. It was also possible to set up tool mapping and automatically set up additional tool stations along the table to accommodate all of the required bends.
Additionally, the back gauge could be automatically programmed as each bend is set. In addition, the programmer may choose to change any bend sequence that the software has calculated automatically and simulate the final program as it will be used at the brake. During this simulation, the software will check for possible collisions of the part against the tooling, the table, or the ram, allowing for corrections to be made before the program is sent to the press brake for final production. This also reduces the non-productive bending time.
Increasing press brake productivity
In addition to reducing downtime through sequencing and offline programming, Carl discovered the availability of productivity packages for press brakes that can drastically improve setup times. He saw quick-change tooling, for example, as a must-have feature. A safety mechanism is part of the top tool, enabling the vertical changeover of tool segments by simply clicking them in and out of the holder.
Combined with hydraulic clamping systems, this makes fast tool changes possible – 80 percent faster than with conventional tool holders, in most cases. Moreover, upper and lower hydraulic tool clamping systems can seat, align, and clamp the complete upper and lower set of tools with the push of a button.
Another safety feature that was appealing was an advanced camera-based system capable of reading the tip of the tool prior to starting the job, ensuring that the operator has set the proper tool in the machine. If not, it simply won’t start the job and sends an error message to the operator.

A variety of technological advancements in press brake design address a troubling issue for many other fabricators: the critical shortage of trained and skilled operators.

A variety of technological advancements in press brake design address a troubling issue for many other fabricators: the critical shortage of trained and skilled operators. Among these advances are dynamic hydraulic crowning systems, thickness measuring, and angle measuring. These can automatically account for all of the variability that once required operator adjustments when transitioning from one job to the next. All of this information is now stored in the press brake control, which means that the operators can quickly produce quality parts.

Automating For Part Consistency

The changes to his front-end, cutting, and back-end operations have positioned Carl to consider the final step for increasing productivity, economy, and quality: automation. After all, addressing the pull demand on the front end does not end with a finished cutting program. The raw material must be ready without delays in presenting it to the laser for processing. Once the laser begins processing the jobs, the consistency of the cut material unloading and raw material loading cycle times becomes critical. Completing the unload/load cycles while the machine is still processing the current sheet is critical to maintaining the advantages gained from high-speed fibre laser processing.
Automation is the key to creating consistency in the manufacturing process. Removing variability from each and every aspect of the process ensures that process times become more predictable and accurate.

Removing variability from each and every aspect of the process ensures that process times become more predictable and accurate.

In short, faster cutting means that all processes need to keep pace. Having the right technology in place to maintain consistency with new large-machine investments provides fabricators with the ability to reduce their cost per part, increase their profit potential, and stay ahead of the competitive curve.