A little over 12 months since launching its new bend-tooling service,
Unison Ltd, the UK’s leading manufacturer of tube- and pipe-bending machinery, has invested further to meet increasing global demand for its consumable and high-precision bend tools.
Introduced in 2023, following the creation of a £1 million bend tooling centre at the company’s Scarborough headquarters, the aim of the service was to extend Unison’s already comprehensive tooling offering. Equipped with the latest manufacturing technologies, it has brought greater convenience to Unison customers, while also giving users of other makes of tube-bending machines rapid access to Unison’s high-quality consumable and long-life products.
Luke Gibson, Unison’s sales applications engineer, said: “Since starting the new tooling service, uptake has been phenomenal. So much so, we have just invested a further £750,000 in specialist bend tooling machinery to further increase our manufacturing capability. At full capacity, we can produce hundreds of individual tooling items each day, all ready for shipping. Fully tailored tooling agreements are prepared for customers to ensure the tooling they require is always available, while some £200,000 worth of tooling, including mandrel balls and wiper dies, is held in stock for immediate dispatch.
On-demand, next day and scheduled deliveriesBy holding pre-agreed stocks of consumable tooling on behalf of its customers, Unison ensures much faster delivery times than for tooling that is made to order. Unison’s consumable tooling agreements enable customers to minimise the volume of tooling they would typically keep on site and benefit from the associated cost savings. On-demand, next day and scheduled deliveries eliminate the risk of a tooling shortage stopping production and provide the opportunity to standardise tooling across different manufacturing sites. As part of the service, Unison also offers volume discounts and the convenience of easy budgeting through regular payment plans.
Mr Gibson said: “Regardless of a customer’s consumable bend tool requirements, be it wiper dies, mandrel balls or other goods, we will create an agreement that meets their needs perfectly. No matter where a customer is based, we will hold ample stocks of the bend tools they frequently require at one of our UK, US or partner facilities around the world, for dispatch as and when they are needed.”
As well as aluminium bronze consumable bend tooling, Unison also produces long-life precision tooling for the most challenging of tool manipulation applications. Mr Gibson continued: “Choosing Unison tooling means de-risking your processes, as we ensure every tool fits perfectly and makes parts accurately. We can also customise tool mounts so that new tooling can be used with existing machines, while our quick-change collets and mandrels, and bar-coded tooling further streamline the tube manipulation process and help businesses save time and money.”
Unison is the UK’s leading manufacturer of tube- and pipe-bending machines and continually innovates the tube- and pipe-bending marketplace. The company manufactured the world’s first all-electric tube bender in 1994, followed by the world’s first all-electric multi-stack tube bender, then the world’s largest all-electric tube bender for the shipbuilding industry.
Available in single-stack, multi-stack and right/left varieties, Unison machines are delivered to more than 20 countries worldwide. Furthermore, Unison’s tube-bending software is recognised as the most user-friendly control system for tube-bending machines. The software is written and supported by Unison, ensuring complete control of its evolution, with no need for third party support.