Page 26 - MetalForming-Dec-2018-issue

FABRICATION
Automated
Punch-Press Setup
Secures Production Boost
With a single-head punching machine, the entire punch moves the head up and down. This technology creates clearance for 90-deg. bends to 3 in. high, key to progressive bending.
The equipment punches, forms, taps and bends while a load/unload system eliminates manual handling. The result:
a 60-percent reduction in component production time for
a maker of safes, safe deposit boxes, vault panels/doors and more.
Securing the savings of individuals and industries just doesn’t happen automatically; or does it? For Fort Myers, FL-based Vault Structures, Inc. (VSI) (www.vault- structures.com), the answer is it does.
Founded in 1987, the company produces custom high- security blast panels, U.L.-listed modular vault panels, vault doors and safes, as well as lockers and safe deposit boxes for the banking, jewelry and pharmaceuticals industries. Business is so good that last year, with its safe-deposit-box output rivaling the industry’s biggest names, VSI recognized that in order to keep pace with increasing demand by com- mercial and financial institutions, it had to increase its automation efforts at its 40,000-sq.-ft. facility beyond the three older turret punches and press brakes, which are still in use.
As a result, CEO Kevin McNamara and design engineer Sara Cheney attended FABTECH 2017 in Chicago, where they evaluated systems by Akron, NY-based LVD Strippit, ultimately selecting a Model PX 1530, a 20-metric-ton single-head punch press that can punch, form, tap and progressively bend a 90-deg. angle to 10 ft. long. Paired with a stand-alone FA-P
24 MetalForming/December 2018
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