Page 50 - MetalForming Magazine June/July 2022 80th Anniversary Issue

all for internal use.
The company has remained con-
stantly on the lookout for more forming and fabrication equipment as work continues to build. A big part of that: the growth of projects from prototypes to initial runs, and periodic ups in the volume needs from customers.
“When a customer looks for a new automotive seat assembly, for exam- ple,” Peterson says, “we may start with 20 prototype seats, which is a fair amount of work starting from scratch. Then, the customer might say, ‘we need 100,’ and we’ll make those. Then the customer needs 1200, then 1800. Quite often, volumes start off low, and then build. It’s a little tricky making lower volumes knowing that you might have to make thousands and thousands. Some of our programs extend to 50,000 assemblies and beyond, so we must always be ready to produce more as needed.”
This business reality spurred 3- Dimensional Services, in 2013, accord-
ing to Peterson, to search the world for fiber laser cutting technology, which promised higher speeds, thus greater productivity.
“We bought a flat-sheet laser cutting machine from Trumpf, a 3-kW TruLaser 2030 fiber with a 5 by 10-ft. bed, which dramatically increased our cutting speeds, to five times what we had, and the same amount of volume gains,” he recalls. “We saw the demos and thought, ‘that’s great,’ but to see the fiber laser cutting machines match the demos during production, holy cow!”
With jobs coming and coming, 3- Dimensional Services invested in more Trumpf machines, using them not only to cut steel but aluminum as well—at high speeds and with high quality.
“We can cut aluminum with CO2 laser machines, but the edges are a bit ragged,” Peterson says. “The fiber laser cutting machines, on the other hand, just eat aluminum and leave beautiful finishes. And, CO2 machines struggle with copper, but not the fiber laser
machines.”
Getting jobs out quicker meant the
need to get more work, which meant the need for more machines.
“So we’d buy the fourth, then the fifth...it just keeps going,” says Peter- son. “That’s what happened with Trumpf—we searched the world for machines, and we keep doing that, but the Trumpf machines work all day every day, and Trumpf comes out to conduct training, which is excellent.”
Five-Axis Binge
With multiple Trumpf flat-sheet fiber laser machines inhouse, Peterson and the 3-Dimensional Services team decided, in 2015, that it needed to get into five-axis fiber laser machines, and did it ever.
As of May 2022, the company claims 19 Trumpf five-axis fiber laser cutting machines, along with six Trumpf flat- sheet fiber machines, including 3- to 5-kW TruLaser 2030, 3040 and 5040 models. Rochester Hills houses five of
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Fabrication: Laser Cutting