FOCUS ON BENDING
The solution, as it turned out, wasn’ t just more machines. It was a different way of thinking about sheet metal.
Penn Elcom had made its first steps into automation with punching and laser systems. However, bending remained a bottleneck. The complexity of managing tool changes, operator variability and long set-up times made pressbrake productivity highly dependent upon skilled labour that was becoming increasingly hard to find and train.
Faced with this labour shortage, growing demand and shrinking lead times, Penn Elcom needed to find a more efficient, flexible production model.
“ We knew that we had to reduce manual handling, improve consistency and increase throughput,” explained Rafal Parda, Managing Director, Penn Elcom.“ But more than that, we wanted to create a system that was futureproof, capable of scaling with the business and responsive to any product change.”
At the time, Penn Elcom was operating over a dozen press brakes. But traditional bending methods could no longer keep up. What the company needed was a technology that could eliminate set-up times, standardise quality and decouple production from labour variability. In 2018, the decision was made: Penn Elcom would invest in panel bending technology from Italian manufacturer, Salvagnini.
Salvagnini panel bender.
Embracing flexible automation
Penn Elcom’ s first Salvagnini installation was a P4-2516 panel bender, a fully automatic bending machine with universal tools and
A bent sheet metal part on a panel bender. adaptive technologies. It was a decisive shift.
“ We told them honestly that we don’ t know what we’ re doing,” recalled Willems.“ But we knew Salvagnini could offer us flexible automation.”
The P4 proved to be a turning point. Thanks to its automatic ABA blankholder and universal tools, the machine requires no manual retooling. This capability alone enabled Penn Elcom to rethink part design and process flow.“ We went from five operations to one, from 4-5 minutes of manual work to 40 seconds of automated precision,” Willems continued.
Today, Penn Elcom operates an advanced fleet of Salvagnini machinery that includes two medium-sized P4 panel benders, a compact and versatile P1 panel bender that is suitable for smaller components and a B3 pressbrake equipped with the ATA automatic tool adjuster. All machines are managed through the STREAM software suite, enabling offline programming from 3D models, and OPS,
Panel bending at Penn Elcom.
The P4-2120 panel bender at Penn Elcom.
ISMR December 2025 / January 2026 | ismr. net | 37