Page 24 - MetalForming September 2013

An Under-the-Floor-Mounted Conveying
Solution
...takes automated laser cutting to the next level, allowing this OEM to run lights-out and process 110,000 lbs. of sheet and plate per week.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
Central Minnesota is home to vast rolling prairies and lush forests, the perfect market for a guy like Dean Virnig, who along with his wife Lois launched Virnig Manufacturing, Inc., in 1989. Although Virnig Mfg. began as a weld shop working out of a garage on the family’s 5-acre lot in Pierz, MN, Dean quickly filled a lucra- tive niche when he developed a line of skid-steer loader attachments and dump trailers. Word spread quickly throughout the region, and the com-
pany has grown by leaps and bounds. What began in a little garage with a few welding machines has blossomed. As Virnig Manufacturing approaches its 25th anniversary, it now resides in 40,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space spread over two buildings in Rice, MN, and boasts 46 employees.
A Workhorse Laser-Cutting Machine
Virnig fabricates skid loader attach- ments primarily from Grade 50 mild
steel 3⁄16 to 1⁄2 in. thick. Some 110,000 lb. of steel pass through the shop per week, says Dean, and 70 percent of that runs through his workhorse cut- ting machine—a Bystronic Bystar 4020 (6000-W CO2 laser, with sheet capaci- ty to 2000 by 4000 mm). Virnig added the cutting machine, equipped with load-unload automation, in mid-2012 as a replacement for its 2004-vintage high-definition plasma-arc-cutting machine.
Virnig added this Bystronic Bystar 4020 laser-cutting machine, equipped with load-unload automation, in mid-2012 as a replacement for its 2004-vintage high-definition plasma-arc-cutting machine. Included is an under-machine-mounted shuffle-drive conveyor that moves parts, scrap and slag to the elevating conveyor shown here, which deposits everything into a bin.
22 MetalForming/September 2013 www.metalformingmagazine.com
“In 2010 our business picked up a head of steam com- ing out of the reces- sion,” says Virnig, “and we hit the wall with our plasma-cut- ting machine capaci- ty. So we outsourced some of the cutting to our local steel sup- plier (McNeilus Steel, in Dodge Center, MN). When McNeilus also became backed up with plasma work, it processed some of our material on its laser-cutting machines. We imme- diately noted the improved edge qual- ity and dimensional accuracy, and more importantly realized