TPT September 2017

T E CHNOLOG Y

Duright grows following investment in BLM all-electric benders

I would say that we have reduced set- up times by between 50 and 70 per cent compared to our old hydraulic machines, but the biggest advantage that we have seen is in getting the first-off part right.” Previously it may have been the case that between 10 and 20 parts had to be produced before consistent production was achieved. Now they are guaranteed that the second part off the machine will be exactly to drawing. The saving in material and time is significant. This speed and consistency of set-up fits well with Duright’s ‘just-in-time’ production mentality and with batch sizes varying from 20-off to 1,000-off efficiency in setting the machines is a valuable asset. An additional benefit to Duright was eliminating the need for hydraulic systems for bending. This has taken away the risk of oil leaks and the need for a pump to be constantly running, which in turn leads to a better and safer working environment. Electric operation also gives greater control over the bending process. Another factor in the success of the tube benders is the machine control and software system, which provides a seamless crossover between programs for the tube laser machines and the Elect benders. The control also provides detailed feedback to Duright. “Speed is key when it comes to quoting, but those quotations need to be accurate. To achieve speed and accuracy we invested in a multi-user licence for the BLM software and we gave all of our salesmen training in the application of it. So when a customer sends us a CAD 3D model (STEP or IGES) our salesmen can upload it to the software, which then analyses every option to bend that tube, whether it’s multi-stack, one centreline radius, multiple centreline radii, or variable radius bending, the software confirms if the bend is possible and outputs a reliable cycle time, which leads to an accurate quotation being produced.”

for our tube laser cutting capabilities and we could have opted to expand further on this, but as tube laser accounted for 70 per cent of our business we wanted to opt for a different strategy, and tube bending, particularly larger diameter tube bending, provided an opportunity to become a single-source option for a lot of customers, providing laser and bending under the same roof,” said Mr Taylor. Duright already operates four BLM tube laser machines 24 hours a day and six days per week. The latest of these is the Adige LT Fiber tube laser systems. This combined laser capability allows Duright to process round tube up to 154mm and square rectangular tube up to 120mm section in lengths up to 8.6m. Duright was one of the first in the UK to adopt fibre optic laser and it is unusual for the tube sector to be leading the flat sheet sector, but when it came to fibre laser the tube industry was ahead of the curve. “We had our first fibre laser from BLM four years ago and we are surprised that people still buy CO 2 tube lasers as we cannot see any downside with fibre, especially on the mix of materials that we are cutting.” After reviewing the market, the company spotted opportunities to develop by bending larger diameter tube. The decision, therefore, was taken to invest in two Elect all-electric, multi- stack tube benders from BLM. The first to be installed was an Elect 102 machine with capacity to bend tube up to 102mm diameter with a wall thickness up to 2.5mm. This was quickly followed by an Elect 130, which can bend up to 130mm diameter and 3mm wall thickness material. There are many advantages to an all-electric system, namely the elimination of hydraulics, lower power requirement, improved machine setting and component quality. “Competition is tough in the small diameter tube bending sector and chasing that volume work was not of interest to us,” said Mr Taylor. “However, there are few companies that have invested in larger capacity tube bending and we could see the benefits of going after what may be smaller volume work that would provide better margins.

UK-based Duright Engineering is a tube cutting and processing sub-contractor and was an early adopter of laser tube cutting in the UK. The family-owned business is looking to continue its growth strategy, so managing director Ross Taylor decided to diversify and expand the tube bending side of the business. This has resulted in a significant increase in turnover in the last financial year since the addition of two BLM Elect all- electric tube benders. “We are well known across our key industry sectors of automotive, rail, agricultural equipment and shopfitting

Duright team leader Daniel Ward (left) with engineering manager David Wright at the controls of the Elect 130

The powerful Elect 130 is capable of bending round tube up to 130mm diameter and the equivalent square or rectangular sections

BLM Group UK Ltd – UK Email: sales@blmgroup.uk.com Website: www.blmgroup.uk.com

Duright Engineering – UK Website: www.duright.co.uk

The efficiency of the Elect machines comes into its own on smaller batch sizes

42

www.read-tpt.com

SEPTEMBER 2017