PRECISION METALFORMING announced that it could no longer provide suitable sheet metal parts for the machines.
The father and sons decided that they needed a laser cutting machine to close the supply gap and produce suitable sheet metal parts themselves.
A job for the family
The father and his two sons decided that the only way to solve this supply problem was by acquiring a laser cutting machine and producing their own sheet metal parts. Right from the start, they knew that quality was vital so decided to make a major investment in a 2D laser-cutting machine from TRUMPF. This was shortly before the euro was introduced, and Jiménez Barroso quotes a high eight-figure sum in old Spanish currency which, at the time, would have been enough to buy a car.
Despite their enthusiasm to innovate and take risks, the family felt uncomfortable about investing such a large amount of money, especially since they knew relatively little about the machine and the wider industry.
It was here that the sister and wife of the current CEO stepped in to help. The two women carried out a market study to answer some key questions. Which companies in the Madrid region were able to cut sheet metal? Which companies needed precisioncut parts? What kind of order volumes could they expect? What were the typical delivery times? In which sectors were cut metal parts being used? Which niches could be exploited?
After collecting, organising and analysing all the data, they could see that there was a market and enough demand for additional competitors.
From food retail to sheet metal
In 2000, Julián Jiménez Candano founded Lasercor with his two sons. They had a TRUMPF machine, the slot-machine manufacturer as their first customer and – initially, at least – lots of time where the machine was standing idle. It was clear that they needed to bring in more orders.
Press brake bending at Lasercor.
Lasercor has been on a growth trajectory.
“ I sometimes think our background in a totally different industry actually gave us an advantage,” said the Lasercor CEO.“ In the food trade, your focus is always on the customer and that wasn’ t the way that the Madrid sheet metal sector worked at the time.”
The family launched a marketing campaign, emphasizing their customer focus and transparency, and even ran some radio and TV commercials. The plan worked.
“ Orders flooded in and suddenly our TRUMPF machine was running around the clock, month after month,” confirmed Jiménez Barroso.
Lasercor has been on a growth trajectory
ever since. It replaced its 400-square metre workshop with a 16,000-square metre production site, and the company now has 23 TRUMPF machines. These range from the TruBend 5130 and TruLaser 5030 fiber to the TruLaser Weld 5000 and TruMark Station 7000.
Today, the company employs 170 people and has an annual turnover of 30 million euros. Using TRUMPF machines, Lasercor has cut, bent, engraved and welded parts of all shapes and sizes for some 8,000 customers. Their work ranges from one-off jobs for small businesses to standing orders for major corporations. Their customers make everything from road signs and household appliances to machines, entire plants and large wind turbines. Now that list includes the world-famous Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid.
Gently curved metal louvres
The Bernabéu’ s new wraparound shell has cemented its status as one of Madrid’ s most important landmarks.
“ As a sculptural envelope of subtly curved diagonal metal louvres, the perforated layer varies in its degrees of translucence [ the degree to which it lets through light – Ed.], offering a multitude of different views,” said
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