ACM integrates plasma cutting machine into Roll Forming line
A common goal of all companies from steel service centres to fabrication shops is to increase their margins. Increasing margins not only improves profitability but also provides the opportunity to be more competitive in their respective fields winning business that may not have been previously achievable.
CASE STUDY
Recently a large roll forming company approached Automated Cutting Machinery Inc with a unique problem – how to process holes, slots and various other features in a roll formed product at a reasonable cost and with the flexibility to easily adapt to varying products. The margins on their upcoming contracts were tight and the old methods which required expensive punch and die tooling in addition to labour intensive post processing re-work were no longer acceptable.
The team at Automated Cutting Machinery Inc were eager to solve this problem and with the help of the engineering department at Messer Cutting Systems Inc custom configured a solution for the customer.
Messer PlateMASTER Plasma cutting machine
SOLUTION
The solution process all the profile cuts and stitch cuts while the material is still flat and travelling inline with the roll forming machine. Cutting these features prior to forming ensures accurate and repeatable finished parts and eliminates the need to cut features from a 3 dimensional finished part. A Messer “PlateMASTER” plasma cutting machine configured with a Hypertherm HPR130XD HyDefinition plasma system was used for this purpose and optimized by Automated Cutting Machinery Inc engineers to produce dross free profiles cuts suitable for the roll forming process. The PlateMASTER was configured to process material up to 10′ wide which is the maximum that particular roll forming line will support.
Not only has this customer increased their margins on this particular contract their Messer PlateMASTER plasma cutting machine can be easily and quickly re-programmed for the next upcoming job enabling future savings as well as faster and less expensive changeovers.
Another happy customer making $$ with their Messer machines.
For more information on the PlateMASTER