Fabricator Very Glad to Be Operating at Only Half Capacity
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If the owner of a sheetmetal fabrication plant is over the moon because work demands dropped from full- to half-capacity overnight, you would normally associate the reaction as a sign of madness.
But not at Servgas Sheet Metal. The Sydney based company couldn't be any happier. This is because work hasn't dropped off at all, management just found a smarter way to handle production.
"It was all down to a straight out machinery upgrade," said Managing Director of the company, Mr Adam Veitch.
"We replaced our longstanding Finn Power TP 2000 punching machine with a new Finn Power E5x and immediately our existing work schedules began taking just half the time.
"I never thought I would be happy about having a machine sitting around idle for half the time, but the reality is our E5x is so efficient and fast it has opened up far more opportunities to take on new work across the industry spectrum."
"We had always run about 600 small/niche jobs a month through the plant at full capacity but now, incredibly, we have room for at least another 300 more sheets per month!"
As a contract manufacturer of production housing for electrical components such as alarm systems, hot water heaters (instantaneous ones) and other general work, Servgas Sheet Metal has scope to absorb orders across a wide range of industrial sectors.
The company's new E5x is a compact, high-performance servo electric turret punch press, rather than a hydraulic powered machine.
Servgas Sheet Metal's E5x provides fully automated material handling capabilities that arm this small/medium sized sheetmetal fabricator with a multi-purpose machine for bending, forming, tapping and marking.
Manufactured by leading global developer Finn Power, the E5x eliminates the bulk, noise and vibration issues of hydraulics by using servo-electric punching technology that arms the user with programmable punch modes, stepless adjustment of speed and position and accurate forming.
It also returns low energy consumption and low maintenance costs - both which are quantifiable by Maxitec's user-specific ROI analysis.
Providing a compact 1250mm x 2500mm working area that requires no repositioning of the job piece - the E5x provides Servgas Sheet Metal with high accuracy and productivity while operating in a tight workspace footprint.
"We find it has integrated seamlessly into our job demands and already we use it for a lot of different work," said Mr Veitch.
"It is very quick and very accurate with forming and there is a versatility with all the indexing. The previous machine was quite slow at with indexing by modern standards, but this E5x unit is a fixed station design that goes very fast and punches any angles.
"It is particularly good when punching stainless steel whereas the machine we had before caused us many jamming problems.
"The software is very easy to use and it takes care of most of the work. We don't have to change tools a lot because of the standard tool arrangements on this new equipment. It is also a lot quieter.
"We haven't used the scribe tool yet but we can etch and engrave for high-level design work as it comes on board.
"We needed versatility for an affordable price and we got it with the Finn Power E5x. We are a jobbing shop and we do a lot of work for joinery shops.
We also manufacture about 60 hot water heaters per month (the company's own brand - Servgas) as well as alarm system housings, housings for intricate cabling and can do mining industry work (such as brackets), items required by the railways industry, and have also done a lot of work for defibrillation unit housings.
"Ideally, we work with sheets ranging between 0.7mm - 3mm performing all the punching, folding, pressing, any etching and grading that might be required, and also the powder coating in house.
"E5x is an ideal and physically compact unit to meet these varied demands and, unlike the last machine we began to experience breakdowns as modern turnarounds pushed for faster output, this one I can't see it breaking down for a very long time."
Finn Power's E5x has a single water-cooled servo motor operating on a ball screw for its linear movement and a pneumatic RAM return movement. A pull movement provides strokeless wearing for the mechanics.
With fast punching speed, fully adjustable in both directions, the Finn Power E5x has a position above the sheet that is fully adjustable (S value) and a position under the sheet that is fully adjustable (P value).
A one-sided wedge system, with high static force in forming, facilitates low tonnage load for mechanics and has 17 or 23 ton punching force available. Closed-circuit water cooling means it is prepared for high ambient temperatures.
Pneumatic clamps with central locking and sheet security monitoring centres provide a safe production and fast setup with optional PCS and 3rd clamp with 'move'.
With brush tables, the system handles a maximum sheet weight of 200 kg and maximum sheet thickness of 8 mm, therefore a silent, scratch-free sheet motion with best sheet support is gained. Optional lifting brushes provide an extra safety for sensitive materials.
Optional vertically moving sheet supports make it easy to move heavy sheets on the table surface during loading. Overall, it combines best features of ball and brush tables.
A metal sheet support at table edge facilitates loading of heavy or large sheets. Plastic brush table segments are provided around the turret.
Sheet loading is assisted by a 5-position moving table; therefore simplified loading for all sheet sizes, affording higher productivity through fast operations.
The E5x has a turret with a total of 20 stations offering customisation. Fixed or indexed, as well as Multi-Tools®, can be chosen. The total number of tools can be increased to more than 100 by adding Multi-Tool stations. Indexable Multi-Tools are available as an option.
Easy touch screen operations, standard Windows functions, USB port and 100Mbs ethernet for data transfer are standard.
For more information, please contact Mr Andrew Bentrup, Maxitec Pty Ltd. Unit 2/29 Mangrove Lane, Taren Pt, NSW 2229. Ph: (02) 8536 5800, fax: (02) 8536 5840. Email: andrew@maxitec.com.au
In New Zealand:Maxitec NZ Ltd
PO Box 7786 Sydenham Christchurch NEW ZEALAND
Ph: (03) 341 1080Fax: (03) 341 1090
Val Pavlovic,
Omentum Media (Australia),
Ph: (02) 9744 7605,
(0413) 869 589,
email: admin@omentum.com.au
