Fabrication specialist Hydram Engineering has invested £2 million in two automated sheet-metal-working cells at its factory in Chilton, County Durham.

One is an automated CNC punching cell with integrated 23-shelf tower store for material, which entered service in July 2016.

The other, supplied as a turn-key system by Bystronic UK and commissioned in September, comprises two of the Swiss manufacturer’s flat-bed fibre laser cutting machines fed automatically with sheet from a Remmert six-tower storage and retrieval system.

This year’s spend by Hydram follows substantial investment throughout 2014 and 2015, during which the business installed a panel bender, a second automated paint plant, a third robotic welding facility, a shot blasting machine, an eighth power press and a tenth press brake; it also added a further 20% of space to its 100,000ft² factory.

Moreover, further floor area has been made available due to the fibre laser cutting cell’s 30% smaller footprint
compared with that of the former laser cutting facility, which involved a pair of Bystronic CO₂ laser machines and manually accessed cantilever racking for sheet material.

One Bystronic CO₂ laser remains on site, a 4.4kW model with a ByTrans Xtended material-handling system. This was installed in 2012.

Founded in 1977, Hydram has offered sub-contract laser cutting for nearly 20 years as part of its services and is now one of the largest metal fabricators in the UK.

In addition to precision sheet-metal working, the privately owned company offers tubular metal working, welding, powder coating and assembly. Its customers include leading OEMs such as JCB, Mitsubishi Electric, Caterpillar, Ideal, Herman Miller and Alexander Dennis.

Most recently, Hydram was selected by Hitachi Rail Europe to supply sheet-metal assemblies for the £5.7 billion Intercity Express Project. The multi-million-pound contract is for hand poles, painted panels, bracketry and assemblies for the interiors of 866 carriages for the Great Western and East Coast main lines.

Hydram’s managing director, David Greatorex, said: “Against a background of strong business growth, we decided to upgrade and automate our sheet-metal processing to improve manufac turing efficiency.

“It will help us to keep down production costs and increase our competitiveness in the global market-place, which is important, as most of our customers are multi-nationals that can choose from suppliers internationally. Our customers demand flexibility, high quality and keen pricing.

“The investments we continue to make year after year help us to meet — if not exceed — their expectations. We had automated punching and laser cutting in our sights for several years; with hindsight, we should have moved ahead with it sooner, as the benefits are so far-reaching.”

Significant benefits

Andrew Jordan, the company’s systems and technical manager, said: “A major advantage of the automated supply of sheet metal to our Bystronic machines is that we have been able to do away with three fork-lift trucks that were previously needed to take pallets of material to the buffer stations.

“To keep the fibre laser cutting cell fed with material, we now only need one lift truck in the goods-in area to load sheet onto the Remmert input station. Manning levels are therefore reduced, added to which one operator can run both laser machines, whereas two were previously needed to attend their CO2 predecessors.

“I estimate that labour costs are 30% lower than before. Our health-and-safety manager tells us that fork-lift truck movements are the biggest single risk factor in our factory, and any reduction in their use is welcome.”

Due to the speed and reliability with which material is delivered on receipt of requests from the operator of the two new Bystronic BySprint Fiber 3015 4kW machines, sheet-metal component productivity has been increased significantly.

“There is minimal idle time while the integrated ByTrans sheet-handling systems wait for the next pack of sheet to arrive from the tower system, which has 120 shelves. Each of these can carry up to three tonnes of material from 0.8 to 6mm thick, or previously cut nests awaiting unloading.

About half of the aluminium, mild steel, Zintec and stainless steel that is held on site is now held in the Remmert tower system; the remainder is in the punch press tower or stored conventionally and can be up to 20mm thick.

At Hydram, a nest of components is cut from a 3,000 ¥ 1,500mm sheet on a BySprint Fiber 3015 in an average cycle time of 8min, with the time required before a cycle start shortened by Bystronic’s Detection Eye feature, which recognises sheet position on the table in 7sec by scanning it using a camera mounted on the cutting bridge. ByObserver is also fitted to both machines to allow remote monitoring from a mobile phone or PC.

Another advantage

A spin-off advantage of the fibre laser cell is that it avoids the previous issue of fork lift trucks having to transport pallets of material down a steep ramp or around the outside of the building to the former CO₂ laser machines, which were 1.5m below the level of the goods-in area, as are the fibre machines.

Potential conflict between material movement around the punch presses and the fibre laser cutting centres is also avoided, now that both cells are equipped with automated sheet handling.

David Larcombe, managing director of Bystronic UK (www.bystronic.com), said: “Hydram’s fibre laser cell, together with the Remmert storage system, is a superb installation. You would have thought the factory was built around the cell, as every bit of space is used to the full.

“Fibre laser cutting has been a great investment for many manufacturers in the UK, as it offers cutting speeds that are typically two- to three-times faster than on machines like those that Hydram replaced.

“Moreover, power consumption is around 60% lower than with CO2 lasers, and both servicing and consumable costs are significantly reduced.”

In conclusion, Mr Greatorex said: “We have taken a long-term view to secure our future with this latest round of investment. The automated sheet-metal processing cells have up-skilled the activities of our workforce and raised productivity.

They have also reduced the labour cost content of component manufacture through the ability to run overnight with minimal supervision and by drastically reducing the manual movement of material.

“It saves double-handling and ensures that we get the most out of the machines. “We feel that fibre technology has matured to a level where we are confident in its benefits over CO₂, which we were using exclusively until recently. With both fibre and CO₂ lasers on site, we can take advantage of the best of both technologies.”