Fiber laser cutting offers cutting speeds typically two to three times faster than on older CO2 counterparts, as well as power consumption around 60% lower and reduced servicing and consumable costs. The trend seems to be reflected in the hard statistics of sales figures: the UK arm of Swiss laser cutting machine manufacturer Bystronic reportedly has not sold a CO2 machine in the country since August 2015.

Bystronic’s flat-bed, fiber laser cutting machine.Bystronic’s flat-bed, fiber laser cutting machine.Fabrication specialist Hydram Engineering in September 2016 commissioned a new manufacturing cell containing two of Bystronic’s flat-bed, fiber laser cutting machines fed automatically with sheet from a six-tower storage and retrieval system. The machine frees up floor area due to the fiber laser cell’s 30% smaller footprint compared with that of the previous facility.

The new fiber lasers are BySprint Fiber 3015 4kW machines. Hydram uses them to cut a nest of components from a 3,000x1,500mm sheet in an average cycle time of eight minutes. Initiation of the cutting cycle is speeded by a vision system which recognizes sheet position on the table in seven seconds by scanning it using a camera mounted on the cutting bridge. Remote monitoring from a mobile phone or PC from any location is also supported.

The company has done away with three fork lift trucks that were previously needed to take pallets of material to the buffer stations. A single lift truck in the goods-in area now loads sheet onto the input station. Labor costs are 30% lower than previously, the company says.

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