Laser cutting and welding shops fight tough competition.

This laser welder integrated into a cold-roll mill is the result of Jac Products going above and beyond the competition to fulfill a customer's part requirements.

The Gas House stays one step ahead of the competition using the latest in laser-cutting technology.

The Gas House Inc. of Fort Payne, Ala., and Mich.- based Jac Products are two shops following a plan for increased productivity. They invest in the latest technology, automate that technology, strive to improve overall manufacturing processes, and completely understand what customers want.

For many other laser cutting and welding shops like The Gas House and Jac, new technology frequently reduces setup time, increases part accuracies, and speeds processes. However, shops often mistakenly focus on accelerating specific processes, such as laser cutting or punching, and purchase new equipment for speed and reducing cycle times per operation.

When it comes to laser cutting and welding equipment, increased power is sometimes thought of as the only way to accelerate production. But buying the highest wattage laser isn't always the right solution for all manufacturing problems. Speed, although a key factor, is just one means of gaining productivity.

Investing in new laser-cutting technology lets The Gas House compete and expand its business. The high-volume metal fabrication and stamping company uses eight laser-cutting machines from Trumpf Inc., Farmington, Conn., to process over 12,000 ton of intermediate to heavy (up to 1-in.-thick) steel yearly.

The shop's machines feature the latest advancements in motion system speed, laser power, and control technology. They also incorporate flying optics, which move their cutting heads while workpieces are stationary. And one of the systems sports tube-cutting capabilities. During a typical week, the equipment runs 20 hr/day, five days/week, and 10 hr on Saturdays.

Automation is crucial to productivity because it increases production without adding labor costs, and most shops automate to eliminate nonproductive time. Automated laser systems, for instance, work during breaks, shift changes, and on weekends. They also reduce workloads (particularly labor-intensive chores) and allow operators to perform additional tasks.

But how do laser cutting and welding shops differentiate themselves from others having the same machines, cutting just as fast, and generating the equally high-quality parts? They do it, according to Trumpf, by providing a wider range of manufacturing solutions.

Such shops go beyond just developing a better nest of parts, for example, and work toward optimizing machine use for overall production. They also understand customer jobs from design to finished product and use technology and lights-out operations to efficiently complete them.

Reaching this level of under-standing — raw material to finished product — takes communication between shops and their customers. It also requires getting involved earlier in the process, ideally during the design phase.

When tools are considered in the design process, parts are optimized based on machine capabilities. In addition, shops reduce downstream operations and overall production costs.

Jac understands customer needs and benefits from it. For example, the supplier of automotive-trim components and luggage carriers real-ized the complexity of a customers new design and didn't want to risk outsourcing the complex welding job. So the shop developed an innovative way to accomplish it in-house — incorporating a laser-welding system into a cold-roll mill.

The roll mill formed the parts, which then required a joining process to affix them to finished designs. Typically Jac would use a mechanical lock seam for such a job, but it wanted to decrease part weight and increase throughput.

To integrate the two systems, Jac worked closely with Trumpf and tube-mill maker Formtek Inc. of Cleveland. Trumpf suggested a TLF 3,200 CO2 laser coupled with a TLW 60 CT (an integrated tube-mill welding station) and an optical seam tracker to follow the weld seam. Formtek had integrated welding into roll mills, but not lasers. Together, both companies successfully resolved facility and interface issues and installed the system in three days. Currently, the Jac system welds at speeds over 40 ft/min.