Established in 1967, Stevens & Carlotti produces metal fabrications at its Sandwich (Kent) factory for customers in the UK and continental Europe.

A 25% increase in turnover in 2017 (compared with 2016) looks set to be followed by a further 50% increase this year.

It also resulted in an increase in staff numbers from 70 to 100 in the last 18 months, as well as a £1.5 million investment in new machinery since September 2017.

Part of this sum was for the purchase (in October 2017) of a Bystronic fibre laser cutting machine with a sheet capacity of 3 x 1.5m, together with two press brakes from the same Swiss manufacturer, which has a UK subsidiary in Coventry (www.bystronic.com).

These three machines form a ‘lean production cell’ for processing mild steel and aluminium from 1 to 25mm thick and stainless steel up to 15mm thick.

Managing director Marco Carlotti said: “Orders have flooded in recently across the board for batch sizes ranging from one-off to several thousand.

"They are being placed by existing customers — and new ones — from the power-gen, pumps, street furniture, road sweepers, electronics, filtration and building sectors.

"Our success is partly because we offer a complete sub-contract solution that includes cutting, bending, machining, welding, assembly and painting.

“Several cutting methods are in use here, each of which has specific advantages that give our customers best value for money.

“Laser cutting is the lead technology, and we have been using CO2-powered equipment for nearly 20 years.

"Due to the current higher level of business, we decided to replace one of our two second-generation 4kW CO2 machines with a Bystronic ByStar Fiber 3015 with a 6kW power source and a ByTrans Extended automated sheet-loading and unloading system.

“The benefits have been astounding. On thinner sheets — about 5mm thick — the new fibre laser is four- to five-times faster than a CO₂ machine; moreover, the accuracy of cut is better — and it is possible to produce finer
detail.

"Fibre laser cutting also costs less to run, as it consumes less electricity and does not need any laser assist gases — plus maintenance costs are lower.”

Fibre on show

At the end of 2016, Mr Carlotti visited the Euroblech exhibition in Hannover with two of his machine operators; it was obvious to them that fibre technology had moved forward so quickly that it had become the new standard
in laser cutting.

"The suppliers of both his incumbent CO₂ laser cutting machines offered a fibre alternative with automation, but he decided in favour of Bystronic after a visit to see the machines being built at the Swiss factory, which was “impressive”.

The ByTrans handling system provides what Mr Carlotti describes as “the best of both worlds”, in that it stores up to six tonnes of material — enough for typically a couple of hours of ‘lights out’ production at the end of a day shift — but allows manual intervention at a moment’s notice “to fulfil a rush job if necessary.

"A tower system would not have been so flexible, due to the difficulty of accessing the shuttle table to place a sheet by hand.”

Another feature of the ByStar Fiber that Mr Carlotti likes is the control system, which has an interface that is more akin to that of a tablet than a PC, making entering a program for an interim run easy.

Furthermore, the same BySoft 7 software in the fibre laser’s CNC system is also used in the controls of the latest Bystronic Xpert 150-tonne 3m and 40-tonne 1m press brakes on site (Stevens & Carlotti’s fourth and fifth press brakes from Bystronic over the last 10 years).

This software synergy speeds throughput when a component needs to be both laser-cut and folded.

An extra piece of Bystronic software that is about to be introduced at the Sandwich facility is Plant Manager; this will provide visual support to the machine operator when planning which materials to stock near the machine for the next jobs, and when unloading cut parts.

All components belonging to a particular customer order can be colour-coded on the cutting plan, so that they are distinguishable from parts associated with other orders.

Moreover, the first and last cut part can be labelled, so that the operator knows when an order begins and when it is completed.

In conclusion, Mr Carlotti said: “We have been impressed with the performance of the ByStar Fiber. The only problem we have is that it is so fast it can be difficult at times to feed the machine with the next sheet quickly enough. We are currently going through a major reorganisation of our site.

"As a result, we will be re-arranging the cantilever racking that holds material for supply to the ByStar Fiber; we will also be redesigning the break-out area to speed up parts removal.

"If business remains buoyant and carries on increasing the way it has over the last couple of years, we will be looking to add an extension to the factory unit and integrate a tower storage system with the ByTrans to expand the cell’s automated-production capability.

“Overall, the efficiency and accuracy of fibre-laser cutting is allowing us to deliver competitively priced goods in a highly competitive industry, without having to compromise on quality or service.

"Fibre-laser cutting is also helping to mitigate today’s higher material costs, so we do not have to eat into our margins too much.”