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Lasers help drive growth at Laser AMP |
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by Jerry Cook
 Granby, QC-When Laser AMP wanted to shorten delivery times and move into laser cutting thicker materials, the firm implemented a new strategic plan in 2003 to meet those goals.
At the time, an important element of Laser AMP’s strategic plan called for the installation of a TRUMPF TRUMATIC L3050 laser cutting system.
There were two primary reasons behind the installation of the L3050 laser cutting system, says Marc Norris, vice president of Laser AMP. “Our main goal was to be more competitive on thicker materials above 1/2 in. Another goal was to shorten the time of delivery for parts.”
In fact, the company’s strategic plan worked so well that Laser AMP had to install a second TRUMATIC L3050 laser system last year.
“Since 2003, we attacked the market differently and we’ve doubled our growth in one year,” says André Moïse, president of Laser AMP.
However, Moïse notes that because of Laser AMP’s rapid growth, the first TRUMPF machine rapidly became a bottleneck.
“Another part of the strategic plan was overall production improvement, and the first machine helped us reduce lead times significantly,” he says.
Reducing delivery times is critical in Laser AMP’s business, adds Norris. “One of the key factors that allows us to keep our (existing) customers and get more new customers is respecting delivery times.
“For many of our customers those delivery times have continued to go down. Previously, our delivery times used to be six or seven days. Now, many of our customers are asking for delivery times of three or four days,” says Norris.
Moïse agrees with Norris about the impact that reducing delivery times has had on the firm’s operations. “The first TRUMPF machine allowed us to find new markets and new customers which is why we bought the second TRUMPF L3050 laser system,” says Moïse.
Laser AMP, which began operations in 1995, has 65 employees at its two facilities in Granby. The two facilities cover 27,000 sq. ft.
Laser AMP is a service center that specializes in laser cutting for a variety of markets including mining, agriculture, heavy truck, furniture, packaging, and more.
The company deals with material thicknesses ranging from 24 ga up to one in. Laser AMP cuts a variety of materials including mild steel, stainless steel, aluminum, and specialized steels including tubes, satin coat material, galvanized, perforated sheet, and more.
Other services provided by Laser AMP include bending, punching, machining, assembly, and welding.
“We focus primarily on the preparation of parts for manufacturers,” says Norris.
In addition to the two TRUMPF laser cutting systems, Laser AMP has also installed a TRUMPF V230 Series press brake.
“The TRUMPF V230 press brake was also installed to handle the increased production and keep our delivery times down,” says Norris.
Continues Norris, “Installing the press brake also helped to increase our share of the market because we could offer both laser cutting and bending services.”
All of the TRUMPF equipment was supplied by Finox Machinerie Ltée, Kirkland, QC.
Finox is the Quebec distributor for Mississauga, ON-based Advanced Fabricating Machinery Inc., the Canadian distributor for TRUMPF.
The TRUMATIC L3050 CO2 laser cutting system is 5,000 watts and can handle 5 ft. x 10 ft. sheets.
The system can accommodate a maximum workpiece weight of 1,980 lbs. and offers maximum positioning speed of 11,811 ipm.
The V230 Series press brake provides a maximum tonnage of 230 metric tons and an overall bending length of 121 in. The press brake offers ram repeatability of plus or minus .004 in.
Other features of the V230 press brake include hydraulic clamping and CNC crowning. The machine employs TRUMPF’s ToPs 600 offline software.
Including the two TRUMPF laser cutting systems, Laser AMP has a total of eight laser systems.
However, prior to installing the first TRUMPF laser in 2003, Laser AMP didn’t employ TRUMPF equipment.
According to Moïse, Laser AMP considered a number of competing laser systems before selecting the TRUMPF unit.
“For us it was a great change to go to a TRUMPF machine. It’s a new technology, it offers another way of programming, and it was a great move for us,” he says.
According to Norris, installing the TRUMPF laser systems has also helped Laser AMP to stay abreast of the fiercely competitive laser cutting segment of the market in Quebec.
“During the past five years, it has been incredible the number of laser systems that have been installed in Quebec-many of which are TRUMPF lasers.
“Our competitors were going with TRUMPF lasers and for us to have TRUMPF lasers inhouse means we can fight for the same market as our competitors,” he states.
In addition to helping to meet the growing volume of work as well as maintaining short delivery times, the TRUMPF equipment has also provided Laser AMP with other benefits.
For example, while Laser AMP did have bending capability prior to installing the V230 press brake last year, the company still had to outsource some of its bending work.
However, installing the TRUMPF press brake has enabled Laser AMP to bring this bending work back inhouse.
“Bringing the bending work back inhouse allowed us to have better control of the quality and save time through less moving of parts,” says Norris.
The TRUMPF lasers have also helped the company as far as cutting aluminum. “Previously, we weren’t comfortable working with aluminum using our other lasers.
“Since installing the TRUMPF laser, we are now comfortable handling aluminum work,” says Norris.
The versatility that the TRUMPF lasers provide Laser AMP is one of the major benefits that Laser AMP has achieved.
“The TRUMPF machines can do any kind of laser cutting,” says Moïse. “The lasers are very efficient cutting thinner material.”
Laser AMP has used the TRUMPF lasers to cut aluminum up to 3/8 in. thick and stainless steel up to 3/4 in.
Because of Laser AMP’s background with laser cutting, training on the new TRUMPF machines was a relatively simple and straightforward process, says Moïse.
“Our operators have experience with several competing laser systems so for them to learn the TRUMPF systems was very easy. The learning curve was very short,” he notes.
According to Moïse, the company sent two operators to TRUMPF’s headquarters in Farmington, CT for a week of training. In addition, Laser AMP’s operators received another week of training from TRUMPF inhouse.
Moïse and Norris both feel that the TRUMPF L3050 laser cutting systems are meeting their expectations in terms of performance.
afmcanada.com
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