Accurate Laser Cutting, a sheet metal laser-profiling and bending sub-contractor that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has invested £2.5 million to upgrade the services that it offers and position the company for the next decade.
One-fifth of the total was spent at the firm’s Rotherham facility, with the remainder invested at its main site in Oldbury, West Midlands.
Two Bystronic Xpert CNC press brakes from Coventry-based Bystronic UK Ltd (
www.bystronic.com) were installed in May this year; a month later, the company’s first fibre laser machine was delivered — a 6kW BySprint 4020 Fiber from the same supplier.
This latest addition, one of the largest such machines in the UK, raises the maximum size of sheet that Accurate Laser Cutting can handle from 3 x 1.5m to 4 x 2m.
These three machines account for half of the latest investment in Oldbury. The remainder was spent on acquiring 15,000sq ft of freehold factory and office space, plus a 199kW biomass boiler with a zero-carbon ‘footprint’.
Sales Director John Till says: “For a 35-person company like ours to be prepared to commit more than half a year’s turnover to its future is indicative of the high level of confidence right across British manufacturing since it emerged from recession. Our company has grown quickly, with turnover up by 50% since 2013.
“We are confident of achieving £4.5 million this year; and with a weekend shift introduced at the end of 2013, we are now a 24/7 operation. Indeed, we now offer customers a 4hr quotation service and a three-day turn-round as standard — three-times quicker than most of our competitors — or next day delivery for rush jobs.”
Technical director Steve Morgan added: “Our investments have proved a huge success, with overall production efficiencies increasing by 40-50% in the last few years.
“In the case of the fibre laser, we are looking at a 300% increase in cutting speed when processing thinner materials — and the machine will cut 15mm-thick brass plate and 12mm copper, compared with a maximum sheet thickness of 2-3mm when processing those materials on our CO2 laser cutters.
Previously, we had to turn away much of this type of work, whereas now we are cutting thick reflective materials every week.”
Bending material is another important part of Accurate Laser Cutting’s service, with around three-quarters of the company’s throughput visiting one of its press brakes and only one-quarter delivered flat.
Fewer customers these days want to bend material themselves, and they value the accuracy that the sub-contractor can achieve, with a ±0.1mm cutting tolerance routinely achieved and ±0.25deg when folding.
The level of precision is highest when parallel processing a component, whereby a single cutting and bending program is prepared and the component is transferred between a Bystronic laser cutting machine and press brake, both of which run the same Bysoft software.
It was with this in mind that Accurate Laser Cutting bought the two Bystronic Xpert seven-axis CNC press brakes — one 320-tonne machine with a 4m bending length and one 150-tonne 3m model.
Both have hydraulic crowning and are equipped with hydraulic quick-change top tooling for rapid set-up and economical small-batch runs.
General fabricators are Accurate Laser Cutting’s main customers, so the firm rarely knows what jobs will come in next. It could be a thin-gauge sign for a restaurant frontage or a heavy chassis member for a JCB earthmover.
The sub-contractor has relied on the versatility of Bystronic laser cutting equipment since 2008, when it purchased two machines powered by a 4.4kW and a 6kW CO2 laser source respectively.
By 2012, a night shift had been added, so the company uprated both machines to more modern BySpeed 3015 CO2 models rated at 6kW. Mr Morgan says that increasing the laser power from 4.4 to 6kW results in a 20% increase in productivity, while the better beam quality produces a more accurate cut across a range of materials.
This is a significant advantage, as it does away with the need to remove burrs from the edges of some thicker components with an angle grinder — a finish that customers do not like.
In conclusion, Mr Till said: “We pride ourselves on the high level of service we provide, so customers keep coming back. Our employees also tend to stay a long time; some have been with the company since it was formed, and we recruited another five staff over the summer.
“We are confident that our decision to invest in people and top-end machines will enable us to grow by penetrating new industries and offering our customers the very best in quality, service and price.”