Page 27 - MetalForming May 2013
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ness has drifted away from a customer base requesting high volumes to a more diverse customer base looking for lower volumes.
“We stamp and fabricate primarily mild steel, as well as some stainless and aluminum, from 16 to 6 gauge,” Kaiser says. “We make a lot of seat com- ponents for the ag, construction and truck industry, as well as emission- control parts and assemblies. A day’s worth of work might mean 1000 rela- tively large parts, or 10,000 smaller parts, and for some of our projects it no longer makes sense to build dies.”
After evaluating several suppliers from which to source its laser-cutting machine, Premier settled on a 5- by 10-ft. Fibermak model from Ermak- san, outfitted with a 3-kW laser source. Included in the deal is CAD/CAM pro- gramming software from Lantek that houses built-in process-parameter charts based on workpiece material type and thickness, as well as the abil- ity to automatically generate parts nests. The software also accommodates unique requirements such as film burning and common-line cutting.
Busy from Day One
Almost from the day the machine was brought up to speed by Premier’s production team, it’s been churning out parts for a solid shift five days/week. At that rate, Seemann calculates an effi- cient return on investment of around 3 yr. But, he expects that since the laser work has only been, so far, mostly for existing customers, as the firm’s mar- keting efforts begin to pay off new cus- tomers will eventually allow the addi- tion of a second shift of laser cutting.
“We don’t see other shops in this area operating fiber-laser machines,” he says, “so we expect to quickly lever- age a competitive advantage with our machine. That advantage comes since these machines, compared to CO2, con- sume less energy and require less main- tenance.”
The firm’s competitive advantage also continues to grow as Premier’s staff climbs the learning curve and finds ways to squeeze every ounce of
productivity from its new machine. Knowing that such a learning curve often can take considerable time to navigate, we were excited to hear of a few notable nuggets of gold the com- pany already has mined as it’s refined its procedures. Kaiser explains.
“We’re learning all the time, trying to cut faster than the charts say we should. And, another focus has been on reduc- ing, or even eliminating, pierce times. For example, on one nested sheet of 8-gauge steel that we process often and which contains hundreds of holes, we fine-tuned the laser focal point and the assist-gas pressure and shaved pierce time from 8 sec. down to 3 sec. That alone trimmed 20 min. from the overall cycle time for the job.
“We’re also cutting thin-gauge sheet (0.071 in. or less) without piercing at all,” Kaiser continues. “On 16-gauge steel, for example, the laser originally was set up to cut at 280 in./min. After removing the pierce, as well as change nozzle style and, again, fine-tuning process parameters, we’re cutting 16 gauge at 1180 in./min.”
One last little efficiency nugget that’s helping quicken the laser’s payback peri- od: Premier has requested that cus- tomers order parts in full-sheet quanti- ties. “All of our jobs are quoted per sheet,” Seemann says, “so if a sheet nest can fit 10 parts, that’s the minimum order quan- tity. We avoid remnant issues—handling, storing, tracking etc.—and in most cases have been able to achieve 90-percent material utilization.”
What’s Next?
Continuing his look up the learning curve, Kaiser says the emphasis now has shifted to better-utilizing the Lantek software, more fine-tuning of the process-parameter database, and learning more about using common- line cutting.
“We’re also taking a look at our cell layout to optimize product flow (the laser shares space with three press brakes and a small mechanical press) and adjusting our preventive-mainte- nance schedule to avoid unplanned downtime.” MF
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