Wembley-based
Fit Out UK, a leader in retail unit displays, last year installed one of the largest MSS Nitrocube systems in the UK to supply high-pressure nitrogen for its laser-cutting operation as part of a major facility upgrade programme. Prior to the investment, Fit Out was operating three fibre lasers 24/7 and was consuming around 14 multi-cylinder packs of nitrogen each day. This gas supply presented a major operational problem with very high costs, disruption to laser cutting for regular daily cylinder changeovers, manual handling risks and serious space lost through gas pack storage requirements.
Following detailed consultation with MSS, it was decided that the estimated cost savings benefit alone justified the relatively quick decision to press ahead with a high-volume, triple Nitrocube system. Chris Smith, MSS head of sales, said: “Fit Out needed a reliable solution from a known supplier that would give them a dependable, high-quality gas supply with built in redundancy to guarantee 24/7 supply. The Nitrocube 9 system with extended CP72 high-pressure storage comfortably met these demanding requirements.
Cost savings and production efficiencyMartin Kirby, Fit Out UK’s operations director, said: “On average our lasers currently run between 18 and 24hrs each a day, cutting mainly 6-10mm carbon steel using the nitrogen generated. We were using cylinders packs and the new Nitrocube installation saves our business over £400,000 per year in gas costs which gave us payback on the capital investment of under 18 months. We have plenty of high-quality nitrogen for cutting without having to worry about any supply issues and laser stoppages for cylinder pack changeovers. These cost savings and production efficiency benefits were both key factors in our decision to move all of our nitrogen supply over to the MSS Nitrocube equipment and we have not been disappointed.”
The Nitrocube 9 system supplied provides high-pressure nitrogen at 150m
3/hour flow and 99.9975% purity (Grade 4.75) which is ideal for high-quality laser cutting, especially for thicker stainless steel. The system features 1728m
3 of storage at 300-bar pressure when full. All the latest generation MSS Nitrogen systems use the very best components available today which combine to make each system super-efficient.
Typically using 25-40% less energy to generate higher purity nitrogen than other generation systems available and saving between eight and 10-times the cost of multi-cylinder pack nitrogen users. Furthermore, the system also features MSS’s unique touchscreen control panel that allows remote system performance and status monitoring.
With over 1,200 systems installed in the UK and the USA, MSS are global leaders in high-pressure generation systems for laser applications. Over 22 years of experience manufacturing in this market now results in MSS equipment being considered as one of the most-efficient and advanced nitrogen generation systems available today.