Now available from the German high-technology company
Trumpf, which offers manufacturing solutions in the fields of machine tools and laser technology, is an automated, interlinking system that combines the company’s next-generation TruBend Center 7030 panel-bending machines and TruMatic 5000 punching and laser machines with the ‘STOPA flex’ automated storage system. This stores parts between the individual production steps, thereby offering the flexibility of individual machines with the efficiency of production lines.
Stephan Mayer, CEO of Trumpf Machine Tools, said: “An important step toward further increasing efficiency in sheet metal production is the direct interlinking of cutting, punching, and bending with the smallest possible batch sizes — right down to one-piece flow. This saves space costs, internal logistics, and unnecessary parts inventories; and thanks to our integrated, fully flexible software, new parts can be programmed in no time at all — and the networked system manufactures both individual parts and high-volume series economically and efficiently.”
Mr Mayer went on to say that ‘classic’ interlinked production lines provide continuous production, with all components in a series passing sequentially through a fixed sequence of process steps until the end product is reached. “Such production systems are rigid and therefore unsuitable for small batch sizes and a high variety of variants; and with the cutting and bending process steps being interdependent, there can be a negative impact on the productivity of the entire system because the machines must wait for each other due to different cycle times — or even a machine being idle.
Manufacturing flexibility“In line with ‘batch production’, the first machine in the production system produces a certain number of components, which the STOPA storage system temporarily stores before transporting them to the next machine, thereby allowing the process steps run independently of each other and enabling even small quantities to be manufactured flexibly — down to a batch size of one.”
Trumpf’s interlinking solution is networked via the company’s Oseon software, which not only allows users to control the material flow flexibly but also gives them complete transparency over production. Trumpf says the solution is particularly suitable for small and medium-size companies that want to expand their production capacity.
Trumpf Group, which in 2024/25 employed 17,750 people and generated sales of 4.3 billion euros (preliminary figures), has some 90 companies and is represented in nearly every European country, as well as in North America, South America and Asia. It has production facilities in Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, the United States, Mexico, and China.