The BLM ELECT 150 all-electric bender installed at Lander Tubular Products Malvern facility

With the acquisition of Malvern Tubular Products and Maxpower Automotive from Tricorn UK towards the end of 2021, the Lander Group furthered its ambition become a single source of supply for tube-based assemblies.

Now, under the branding of Lander Tubular Products (LTP), and with the latest investment in BLM tube bending equipment supplied by Bedford-based BLM Group UK Ltd, the group has the capability to provide automated tubular solutions from 4mm through to 152mm diameter in a range of materials, including steel, stainless steel and aluminium.

With a two-year investment plan in place, the decision was taken to initially bring the systems and processes of the two new group factories, as well as those at their sister plants in the USA, in line with Lander’s head office facility in Birmingham.

With that process well under way, the time was right to start the investment in machinery. David Alexander, LTPs' sales and marketing manager, said: “When Lander Group acquired Malvern Tubular Products and Maxpower Automotive it was evident that they had suffered from a significant lack of investment in capital equipment over recent years. Our vision is to upgrade all of our facilities, within the constraints of the current economic climate.”

Further expansion
The first major investment as part of that plan saw the arrival of a BLM ELECT 150 all-electric CNC tube bender. With capacity to bend tube up to 152mm diameter — with added efficiency delivered by the multi-stack tooling system, where up to eight tool sets can be mounted simultaneously — the BLM ELECT 150 will add to the group’s overall capability and allow the further expansion of its growing customer base.

“At Malvern we focus on lower-volume production of larger tube diameters, often with higher complexity of bends, mainly for the off-highway, construction and power generation industries, with the new BLM machine we can look to expand into new market segments with our fully finished tubular products.”

Given the scale of the BLM ELECT 150, some 18,000kg, this puts LTP in a strong position to win new work by combining its now extended bending capabilities with its existing customer support for design, prototype development through to full production. While large scale, the machine is extremely versatile and brings greater control to production through its control system. Furthermore, BLM’s software systems ensure that quality, repeatability and right-first-time every time are guaranteed, which will be invaluable in the low-volume environment at the Malvern site.

Boosting that quality promise is the ability to use the machine’s variable torque system that allows torque to vary between 2 and 6 tonnes to eliminate part deformation, even on tight radius bends and the surface finish of the tube is maintained to the highest levels.

The machine features a Siemens Simotion control, which in conjunction with BLM’s proprietary VGP3D programming and 3-D simulation software makes set-up and operation efficient and can generate accurate cycle time estimates.

Mr Alexander concluded: “We see many positives in the arrival of the BLM ELECT 150, and with many other BLM machines within the group we already have a good understanding of how to maximise their potential. This new machine will add to our lower-volume, high-complexity work at Malvern through consistent quality, reduced potential leak paths by eliminating the need to fabricate, cut and weld larger diameter tubes, reduced process times and the confidence we have from our experience of working with BLM.”