FACE TO FACE
ISMR : What is your strategic and technical focus for the company ? Please elaborate .
FM : Produtech ’ s core business is the production of a wide range of machines and systems for sheet metal cutting and processing , but with a particular feature ; direct feed from coil . This production method ( which includes punching systems , lasercutting systems and systems with EffiCOIL “ combined ” machines ) avoids the preliminary processing of raw material cutting to obtain the “ sheets ” and therefore the handling needed to load sheet into metalworking machines for the required processes .
Coil feeding of machine tools therefore results in significant savings of raw material ; less occupied production space ; labour reductions ; energy savings and less environmental impact , with waste reduction and lower CO ² emissions . In fact , production with direct raw material feed from coil enables optimisation of workpiece cutting with nesting programs working on long coil lengths , compared to sheet metal blanks with limited lengths . It also avoids generating the head and tail scrap which is typically found in sheet metal blank production .
Direct coil feeding also reduces the frequency of labour interventions because it avoids all operations that relate to the loading of raw material in sheet form . Produtech machines evacuate any metal scrap generated ,
EffiCOIL specifications
■ Laser source : Fibre optic .
■ Laser source power : From 400W to 10kW .
■ Punching unit work force : From 5 to 40 tons .
■ Mechanical tools : All rotating continuously over 360 degrees .
■ Number of installed tools : Variable , depending upon machine model , max . 25 .
■ Max . working width : Variable , depending upon machine model , max . 3000mm .
■ Max . working length : Without limit ( from coil ).
■ Sheet support surface for cutting : Smooth top , no slats ( no ‘ bed of nails ’).
■ X and Y axis speed : 100m / minute .
■ Axis acceleration : 15m / sec ².
■ Sheet advancement speed : 50m / minute .
■ Axis repeatability accuracy : ± 0.02mm .
■ Working precision on sheet metal : ± 0.1mm / 1000mm during the production of useful workpieces , through a trap-door and can unload the useful workpieces produced , minus any metal scrap , as part of a completely automatic cycle . This production process avoids the complex activities of separating useful workpieces from scrap and their manual or automated unloading processes .
ISMR : Which issues are of prime importance for your customers right now and how are you addressing these issues for them ?
FM : In a phase of economic growth that follows a period of crisis and , with the economic incentives provided by governments , our customers are making the machinery purchases they had planned for some time but which the pandemic had led them to suspend . With this resumption of work , the need arises for tools which respond to market demands . So , our customers ’ immediate need is speed of delivery , so they can start using their ordered machinery as quickly as possible and solve the most important challenge of the moment ; namely , responding positively to the supply requests of their customers , by exploiting the recovery phase .
Thanks to the choices we made during the acute phase of the pandemic , and the consequent slowdown in production , we are now able to give quicker responses to our customers ’ requests by improving the organisation of our production processes and making them more effective through completely digitised networks . We are now working with numerous partner and supply companies on a series of external processes that will contribute to the further shortening of construction times of the machines / systems that we provide . Combining product quality with speed of supply is now the challenge that we want to master .
ISMR : What prompted the development of your EffiCOIL coil-fed punch-laser system , and which benefits / advantages does it bring to sheet metal manufacturers ?
FM : The long experience we have gained over the years in the design and construction of coilfed punching systems , coil-fed laser production systems and the production needs of the metal components market , led us to design and build EffiCOIL . This system combines the two most important technologies for metal component production : punching / forming with mechanical tools and fibre optic laser cutting . These two different technologies interact on a single machine and operate over a single work area , but with another additional feature that makes this machine unique on the market : direct coil feeding .
The result of this technological innovation is the EffiCOIL , a coil-fed “ combined ” machine . This technology offers significant advantages in processing high production volumes , thanks to a high degree of production cycle automation from the continuous feeding of raw material from coil . This technology is used to produce structures for household appliances ; steel furniture ; shelving and work tools ’ drawer units ; electrical equipment and lighting components as well as panels and structures for building construction .
An EffiCOIL system offers important benefits for heterogeneous orders with small and diversified quantities obtained in real-time , thanks to high operational flexibility , wide availability and programming simplicity . The ability to optimise the raw material obtained from direct coil feeding makes it possible to create nests of different shapes on a large sheet metal surface with no head and tail waste ( common with sheet-fed production ). All this allows us to produce in “ Just in Time ” mode with enormous benefits in terms of response to a market that increasingly requires speed and flexibility .
ISMR : What , in your view , are important industry trends , challenges and opportunities ? How are you responding to these ?
FM : The current standard technologies for sheet metal processing are based on the use of sheet obtained from coil and involve a series of different operations performed on raw material ( coil ). Initial operations in the standard process are performed with cutting lines that include sheet metal straightening and cutting units . The metal sheets obtained must be picked up and palletised to be relocated to loading points on the processing machines
32 | sheetmetalplus . com | ISMR September 2021