FOCUS ON METALFORMING
Home gym package from Watson Gym Equipment .
Bending on the Jean Perrot press brake . week . However , since bringing in the new press brake , we realised that there were so many more things that we could be doing and how easy it is to do those things on the new machine . We therefore bought more and more tooling and now we use the press brake all the time . It has really opened things up for us over the last couple of years and made our products better as well as quicker and easier to make ,” he continued .
Most of the items bent on the press brake are brackets and components for bearing housings , mainly on 10mm , 5mm and 2mm sheet . However , Simon Watson has been able to bend more customised workpieces on the new press brake such as the guardings on his weight stack machines . The sheet is laser-cut on the Mazak machine ( with custom logos ) and then bent to fit better into the machine . The company also bends steel for various lockers and some gym furniture , that it was not able to make previously , on the new press brake .
“ The press brake has unlocked new product lines and markets for us . Now we know that we can accurately and consistently bend a large amount of products , we can manufacture
The press brake has unlocked new product lines for the company . things in a much quicker way . The products also look better for the customers ; smoother , tidier and neater than welded parts , for example . Because they are our own products , the set-up and tooling is easier because we know exactly what we need ,” explained Simon Watson , adding that he intends to buy another Jean Perrot press brake in three / four years ’ time .
In conclusion
The company ’ s most popular products are leg equipment , dumb-bells ( machined and laser-cut on Mazak machines ) and specialist lifting bars . Simon Watson continuously invests in new equipment and has just bought another small lathe from Mazak . He also intends to buy CNC routers in the near future and plans to invest in another tube laser cutting system in a year ’ s time .
Going forward , the plan is to keep expanding . “ The personal fitness equipment sector is growing all the time and we ’ ve only really scratched the surface of what is possible . There are a lot of markets we ’ ve either not yet tapped into or that we can exploit further . Australia is a particularly good market for us , while the Middle East also has huge potential ,” Simon outlined .
“ We always have more work coming in than we can produce so it drives us to find ways to increase capacity and become more efficient at what we do , as well as make big decisions for change . We generally grow at 25 / 30 % each year . Many of our customers are very passionate about fitness . Every now and then , we get a celebrity order which is great . I get a great deal of satisfaction from designing a product , producing it and then seeing people use it in a gym or post about it on social media ,” he concluded .
Mazak and Jean Perrot have been instrumental in helping him to realise his ambitions . n
Leg package bars from Watson Gym Equipment .
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Leverage squat from Watson Gym Equipment .
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110 | ismr . net | ISMR October 2023