PRECISION METALFORMING
the website of German architects Gerkan, Marg and Partners. Together with Spanish project partners, these architects won the competition for the stadium revamp.
But behind this description is a project that posed a huge challenge to Lasercor as a supplier.“ It was very, very difficult,” confirmed Jiménez Barroso.
The new roof alone required 8,880 metal louvres, with a lot more needed for the facade. The initial specifications stated that all – or at least many – of the louvres would be identical. But during the cutting process, it emerged that each louvre was slightly different, often by just a few millimetres. And each one had to slot into position perfectly. There were also six different surfaces that were designed to reflect light in different ways.
Lasercor used a TruLaser 5030 fiber lasercutting machine with a 12-kilowatt laser to precision-cut 4,400 of the louvres, as well as parts for the north and east facades. The company responsible for constructing the facade provided Lasercor with the metal sheets and dimensions. Lasercor then input everything into the TruLaser machines and cut the parts with millimetre precision.
The company spent 18 months working on the project and only had to replace 60 of the 4,400 parts it produced, mostly due to damage during transport.“ Casi perfecto,” said Jiménez Barroso:“ Almost perfect”.
Lasercor worked so fast that it was even able to lend its support to some of the other fabricators involved in the project.
“ It was a complicated job,” confirmed Jiménez Barroso. Only after seven months of negotiations was the contract finally signed.“ It was too much for a single company to manage. And awarding the contract to four companies was also a kind of precaution to ensure that the project would not be hampered by delivery problems,” he added.
Almost every department in Lasercor was involved, from the sales team to the department specialising in precision cutting, which was constantly faced with new
All TRUMPF machines at Lasercor are networked with each other.
Lasercor cut around half of the almost 9,000 lamallae for the spectacular outer shell of the Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain.
Every part of the Spanish company was involved in the stadium project.
challenges due to the delicate nature of the material used.
Investing for success
“ We’ re a family business, just like TRUMPF,” said Jiménez Barroso. Everyone plays their part, and they trust each other to come up with pragmatic solutions. Quality is the priority.
“ If one machine isn’ t up to the job, then we look for another one; if the material isn’ t good enough, we find a better option,” he explained.
None of Lasercor’ s machines are more than four years old.“ We never stop investing.
And if we make a mistake, we learn how to do it better next time,” Barroso added.
Lasercor is exploring the concept of the smart factory. All its TRUMPF machines are already connected in a network. Some, such as the TruLaser Weld 5000 and the TruBend Cell 7000, are largely automated anyway. The TRUMPF Smart Factory Consulting team has been supporting Lasercor ever since it embarked on its smart factory journey. Lasercor’ s next goal is to eliminate paper from the entire plant and achieve full digitalisation.“ We’ re already close to achieving that,” confirmed Jiménez Barroso.
The roof and facade of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium were completed in early 2023. Jiménez Barroso is a big Real Madrid fan who attends every match; at home games, he never tires of seeing the contribution that Lasercor made to revamping this iconic stadium.
“ All the fans think it’ s fantastic, even Pep Guardiola [ the former head coach of Madrid’ s arch-rivals, FC Barcelona – Ed.] thinks it’ s great. It feels good to be part of that,” he concluded proudly. n
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40 | ismr. net | ISMR April 2025