TPT November 2024

INDUSTRY

Eggleston Steel has invested around £3mn in a trio of TRUMPF laser cutters, receiving a welcome boost in uptime and speed

Eggleston Steel chooses TRUMPF for tube and sheet laser cutting machines

with TRUMPF TruLaser 3040 and 3060 12kW fibre models, which arrived in December 2023 and January 2024. The company deploys the machines across the entire range of sheet thicknesses, from 2 to 25mm, on a daily basis. “The quality and reliability of the machines is absolutely fantastic,” said Mr Ready. “We receive very good customer feedback about our sheet profiling capabilities,” he added. In total, the ISO9001 and ISO14001 accredited business invested around £3mn in its new TRUMPF machines and has now reinstated TRUMPF as its sole laser supplier. The company cites machine uptime and quality as the major benefits of this decision, along with speed. “The TRUMPF machines cut a lot quicker than our previous laser cutters. We had to slow the speed of our previous machines to get a better cut, whereas we can run at optimal speeds with TRUMPF laser cutters. We’re profiling at least four times faster on our core thicknesses of 6-12mm. With improved cutting speeds and production efficiencies, we roll these benefits out to our customer pricing structures,” Mr Ready added.

saw us add a night shift, rent a nearby satellite facility and expand our main site.” Eggleston Steel’s first TRUMPF laser cutter was approaching the company’s five-year replacement policy. However, around the same time, an unforeseen set of circumstances prompted the business to undertake a full review of the marketplace for laser cutters. After looking elsewhere and encountering workflow problems, Eggleston Steel started its new investment programme with a TRUMPF TruLaser Tube 7000 tube laser featuring 10m infeed and 6m outfeed, the first such model in the UK. Installed during the summer of 2023, the business uses the machine to process 50 to 120mm diameter tube/box, with up to 12mm wall thickness. Although designed as a tube laser, the company also uses the machine to cut angle bar, channel sections and non-standard items. “TRUMPF have been amazing at problem-solving; they find a solution for every application,” said Mr Ready. “Tube cutting was a new service for us, but since investing in the TruLaser Tube 7000 this activity now represents 10 to 15 per cent of our business. Customers are really impressed with the cut quality.” Eggleston Steel subsequently replaced its two flat-bed laser cutters

EGGLESTON Steel, which stocks, processes and supplies a wide range of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, has returned to TRUMPF as its sole provider of CNC laser cutting machines. The company has invested around £3mn in three TRUMPF laser cutters, receiving a boost in uptime, quality and speed, the company said. With a reputation among customers for high quality manufacturing, Eggleston Steel is a family-owned company with 54 employees that help generate annual turnover of more than £13mn. Although the core business is general fabrication, Eggleston Steel serves a wide range of sectors that include architecture, construction, yellow goods, rail and aerospace. To help boost revenue, 15 years ago the company took the strategic decision to migrate steadily from its stockholding only business model towards added value processing, notably profiling. “We started with a plasma cutter and within three years added our first TRUMPF laser – a new 6kW, 4x2m CO 2 model – to deliver higher levels of precision,” said operations director John Ready. “The machine proved successful and it changed our fortunes quite dramatically. We soon introduced a second (pre-owned) TRUMPF laser to support our growth in a busy period that

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NOVEMBER 2024