Page 24 - MetalForming June 2015

Metalformer Sings
the Praises of its
Laser-Cutting Duo
Fabrication, along with production machining, is driving growth at Tella Tool &
Manufacturing, where a pair of high-power laser-cutting machines—a CO2 model and a new fiber-laser model—have opened doors to new industries and customers, allowed the firm to grow its prototype and low-
volume business, and produce reflective-metal parts.
BY BRAD F. KUVIN, EDITOR
Much changed for Tella Tool & Manufacturing in 2012. That’s when the Lombard, IL, metal- former set a course for diversification. Early that year the 55-yr-.old-company replaced its aging laser-cutting machine with a new 2500-W CO2-laser cutting machine. Then in rapid-fire succession Tella added two new machining centers, and in 2015 a sec- ond laser-cutting machine. That 3-kW fiber capped its all-in move into a new level of laser cutting and production machining.
“Since 2012 revenue has grown by 24 percent,” says Tella Tool president and COO Scott Prince. And almost all of that growth, he says, has come from the fabrication and machining sectors of the firm’s three-sector business (stamp- ing being the third).
“Diversification into fabrication and machining has allowed us to become less reliant on any one market,” says Prince. He notes that at one time the firm was 75 to 80 percent automotive.
Tella Tool added this 3000-W fiber-laser cutting machine to its production floor in March 2015. While it significantly out- shines the company’s CO2-laser machine when processing thin-gauge sheet, Tella also finds it performs well on plate. Here the machine cuts 0.312-in. cold-rolled steel parts that then are press-brake formed into brackets, as seen in the accompanying photo of the formed brackets undergoing inspection in Tella Tool’s new coordinate-measuring machine (a Brown & Sharpe Global Performance Silver Edition).
Now that ratio is near 55 percent, just where Prince prefers it to be.
Opened Doors
That initial CO2-laser machine hit the ground running in 2012, as Tella Tool within less than one year filled it
with work from primarily new cus- tomers. Within two years the machine was churning out parts for two 10-hr. shifts per day, and on weekends. So says operations manager Richard Wagy.
“We found that the laser opened up
22 MetalForming/June 2015
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