FOCUS ON BENDING
GLA-WEL operators on one of the company ’ s Easy-Form press brakes . Sheet metal bending at GLA-WEL .
A DIGITAL PROCESS FLOW
GLA-WEL GmbH has taken significant strides towards creating an automated , digitalised workflow after integrating LVD bending technology and software into its production processes .
COMPANY GLA-WEL GmbH
WORKS WITH
Mild steel , stainless steel , aluminium
INDUSTRY
Sheet metalworking subcontractor to a wide range of industries including wastewater technology , automotive industry , sports equipment , machines and special systems .
EQUIPMENT
Easy-Form 135 / 30 press brake . Easy-Form 320 / 45 press brake . ToolCell 220 Plus / 40 press brake . CADMAN-SDI , CADMAN-B , CADMAN-JOB software .
Based in Melle , Lower Saxony ( Germany ), GLA-WEL is a medium-sized , familyrun business focused on sheet metal cutting , forming and fabrication . What sets it apart from its peers is its own software house , Octoflex , which has created an ERP system that is currently being used by about 100 customers .
GLA-WEL runs three LVD bending systems , a 220t ToolCell with automatic tool changer and two Easy-Form press brakes ( 135 and 320 tons ). It is also making extensive use of LVD ’ s CADMAN ® -SDI file importing and calculating software , CADMAN-B offline programming software and CADMAN-JOB workflow software .
An eye on flexibility
GLA-WEL commercial director , Marcel Kemner , confirmed that , as a family business , GLA-WEL is run in a very person-to-person way , which means it can be very flexible and responsive .
“ We do a lot of small series work to short timescales , so this is important . But the bigger we got , the less flexible we became . So , it became vital to make our processes leaner so that we could manufacture more quickly and efficiently . This is where
“ The German manufacturer is offering its Octoflex package to other sheet metalworking companies so that they can use the ERP system and portal for their own customers .”
digitalisation comes into play . Building on our Octoflex ERP system , we are creating a digital process flow so that we can automate a lot of our operations and administrative tasks ,” he explained .
He added that the decision to work with LVD came down to the ability of its software to support this .
Stephan Glahs and Simon Welkener are two of the managing directors of the business , and also head Octoflex .
“ We deal with a lot of customers in the sheet metal sector and have to integrate our ERP system with different manufacturers ’ software . We saw that the connectivity of the LVD software could significantly improve our manufacturing capabilities . For example , it would also allow us to connect to non-LVD laser cutting machines ,” explained Stephan Glahs .
34 | sheetmetalplus . com | ISMR March 2021