FOCUS ON BENDING
The process of bending profiles on the P2.
Subcontractor of the Year 2024
In November 2024, Unifabs was honoured with the‘ Subcontractor of the Year’ award at the MMMA 75th Anniversary Gala Dinner and Awards for the UK subcontract manufacturing industry. The event, held by the The Metalforming Machinery Makers Association( MMMA) and sponsored by Prima Power, brought together industry leaders and innovators for a night dedicated to recognising excellence in the sheet metal, metal forming and fabrication industries.
In 2024, Unifabs expanded its manufacturing capacity to 60,840 sq. ft. and formed a new leadership team. The subcontract manufacturer works alongside a broad range of industries including agriculture; automotive; retail; HVAC, warehousing and white goods.
compared the cycle times to our existing pressbrake operations. When we saw how much faster and more efficient the P2 [ processed ] those same parts, it just made sense. It wasn’ t a gamble— it was a strategic solution,” he concluded.
Panel bender benefits
A profile example.
a key cabinet that had traditionally been assembled from five separate parts, riveted and welded together.
“ We reworked the design into a singlepiece bend using the Salvagnini panel bender,” explained Matt Grealy.“ We had to slightly reduce the cabinet depth to make it work but, in exchange, we eliminated welding, saved a huge amount of time and improved the structural integrity. That’ s the kind of value that makes a difference to them.”
According to Grealy, the customer didn’ t just approve the change— they embraced it.
“ They were so proud of the result that they even visited our site to film marketing videos of their cabinets being manufactured. All they wanted to see was the Salvagnini panel bender in action. That says it all,” offered Grealy.
In 2023, Unifabs purchased a second panel bender unit— a P2-2120 equipped purely with CLA blades.
“ We had already started to change the game. Bringing in the second machine accelerated what we were building,” confirmed Austin. This second panel bender features a configuration that is similar to that of the P2- 2516, but with different dimensional limits: it offers a maximum bending length of 2180mm and a maximum bending height of 203mm.
Finding the balance
Subcontractors face a constant balancing act— fast lead times, small batch sizes and constant variation. It’ s a world that demands flexibility and control.
Steve Williams, Managing Director, Salvagnini UK, highlighted this challenge:“ For
For Austin, the impact was immediate and transformative.
“ What we gained with Salvagnini was repeatability, speed and a level of design flexibility that we didn’ t think was possible before. Suddenly, we weren’ t just making the parts— we were helping our customers to rethink them …..”
Matt Grealy, Unifabs’ technical director, recalled a pivotal collaboration with a longstanding customer.“ They were growing fast and needed us to keep up— but we simply wouldn’ t have managed with conventional press brakes. They were also under constant pricing pressure and passed that challenge onto us, asking‘ What can you do to help?’ That’ s when we really leaned into what the panel bender could unlock.”
One of the breakthrough applications was
78 | ismr. net | ISMR September 2025