Birmingham-based metal-stamping specialist Brandauer (www.brandauer.co.uk) has invested £600,000 in a Yamada Dobby NXT 80XL press as part of a three-year plan to boost its capacity and its production flexibility.

This ‘state of the art’ technology gives it ‘patented repeatability on quality’ and a 100% reduction in press setting time; it also frees up manufacturing space to take on new contract wins in the plumbing, automotive motor laminations and fuel cell sectors.

It tops off a £2 million modernisation of the company’s Birmingham facility that has also included a new GF wire-cut EDM machine, two Andmar surface grinders and an OGP Smartscope Vantage 250 to help with quality inspection.

Operations manager Don Walters said: “We first came across the press at Blechexpo and were impressed with what we saw in terms of its speed, repeatable quality and how user-friendly it appeared.

"A visit to the firm’s showroom in Italy gave us the chance to see the Yamada in all its glory, and we worked with the company to configure the machine so that it delivers the accuracy and performance we were looking to achieve.”

It took just nine months from the order being placed to the NXT 80XL press being installed and commissioned, and the machine is now working on components that use material ranging in thickness from 0.2 to 0.8mm.

Its 1.5m bed is the largest the company currently has available, and it can operate at speeds up to 800 strokes per min.

Press shop team leader Karl Jeavons said: “The quality is second to none, and we run off thousands of parts every day, thanks in part to the double-link motion mechanism that delivers Yamada’s patented repeatability, while also helping to prolong the life of the tool.”