Another major investment by KMF

KMF (Precision Sheet Metal) (www.kmf.co.uk) has installed the latest in laser profiling technology at its headquarters in Newcastle under Lyme — a 3kW Trumpf TruLaser 5030 Fiber Laser and a 3.2kW TruLaser 3030 L20 plus a Trustore 3030 Storage Tower system, which can store up to 168 tonnes of material in the form of sheets measuring up to 3,000 × 1,500mm.

This material is automatically picked from one of 56 locations and transferred to the laser by a LiftMaster Linear Store system. The total cost of this equipment was more than £1.3 million; a further £1.2 million was spent on a 17,000ft2 extension that also houses a programming department, plus a ‘goods in’ and material-loading area.

This facility gives KMF a ‘lights out’ solution to processing a wide range of materials, including copper, brass and aluminium, as well as ferrous and stainless-steel sheet. Combined with maximum axis speeds of 235m/min on the TruLaser 5030 Fiber, this will lead to much-improved productivity, while the automation will allow for greater flexibility in terms of batch size. KMF purchasing manager Terry Stanway says: “The productivity savings that will be generated — complemented by Trumpf’s forecasted reduction in energy consumption and maintenance requirements — helped make the decision to commit to this level of investment relatively straightforward.”