TPT September 2020

I NDUS T RY Optima Metal Services adds value with £3mn investment in BLM LaserTube technology

UK-BASED Optima Metal Services’ business strategy is to build on its existing customer base by adding value to the services it supplies. What started as a business selling nuts and bolts from a lock-up garage has turned in to one of the UK’s leading stockholders of stainless steel, steel and aluminium. It added to this by also investing in flat sheet laser, bending and deburring. Now, it is expanding its services further with a £3mn plus investment in a dedicated facility to house the arrival of 3D Tube Laser processing in the form of a LaserTube LT8 system from BLM Group. “With the investment we had made on the flat bed laser side of the business we had every aspect of that process covered and adding value to the tube material that we held for customers offered great potential to grow the business further,” said Optima’s operations manager, Andy Knowles. “The BLM LaserTube was the next logical step for us and, as soon as it was commissioned in January, it was in

production with the expectation that it will generate 10 per cent of the company’s turnover in its first year, a share that can only grow as we explain the significant benefits that laser cut tube can bring to their businesses.” Among those benefits is the ability to supply a complete cut list to customers with the BLM LaserTube LT8.10 going way beyond customers’ expectations of what can be achieved. The consistency and accuracy of the cut parts also assists in deskilling and expediting the final assembly of parts, as when they arrive at the customer, they are immediately ready to assemble or weld, without any further intervention. “Part of our work now is to explain to customers exactly what this machine can do. We achieve this in part by inviting customers on-site and producing sample parts while they stand in front of the LaserTube machine. This is a real eye opener for them,” said Clyde Stratton, Optima’s laser tube manager. The BLM LaserTube LT8 has an impressive mechanical specification with the capability to cut tube up to

240mm diameter (virtually any tube profile can be processed) and up to 12.5m in length, with a maximum unload length of 8.5m with tube weight of up to 40kg/m. It can also be specified with either a 3.5kW CO 2 or 3 or 4kW fibre laser source, delivered through a 3D tilt cutting head. While the mechanical specification is sector leading, it was BLM’s use of software to enhance the manufacturing process that was key in helping Optima Stainless make the final investment decision. “The BLM Artube software is excellent and extremely flexible, we particularly like the way you can import a Solidworks model and it will separate it into individual parts for production, on the fly. This saves lots of time and effort and, again, adds value for customers,” said Mr Stratton. “It’s not all about CAD systems though, we can just as easily create complex parts from pencil sketches.” The versatility or Artube allows the user to quickly add, edit or remove

The BLM Laser Tube LT8

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SEPTEMBER 2020