Bystronic Voice Blog

What does your metal fabricating value chain look like? Do you need to make improvements? Have you pinpointed where your improvements would come from?

The foundation of a Smart Factory lies in the ability to harness a digitalized production process from end to end—business software and programming systems, machines, automation, and machine data to enhance efficiency and productivity.

High-power fiber laser cutting generates a “pull” and a “push” capacity demand dynamic in the end-to-end sheet metal fabrication process

Fiber lasers consume up to three times less energy than CO2 and are capable of up to five times faster speeds depending on power and material thickness.

As a shop owner, executive, or manager, one of your many priorities includes evaluating existing machines on the shop floor and when necessary, replacing them with newer, more efficient, and productive machinery.

Selecting the right tool is pivotal in optimizing manufacturing processes, and press brakes play a crucial role in bending operations.

In the realm of laser cutting systems, the quest for efficiency is often hampered by bottlenecks in material handling processes.

One of the most influential and effective technologies that have been incorporated into machine controls has been the use of AI or artificial intelligence.

Fiber laser technology has been the most significant driver for producing the technology needed to automate laser cutting machine operations due to its high productivity.

How does the cost to operate older CO2 laser cutting machines compare to today’s Fiber laser cutting machines?

Advancements in Fiber laser cutting technologies continue at an incredible pace and the benefits are quickly being realized by fabricators.

Innovations in software technologies have been the real driving force behind manufacturers realizing the full potential of new hardware innovations in the metal fabricating industry.

One way to increase efficiency in laser cutting systems is to eliminate bottlenecks by incorporating material handling automation.

Automating the retrieval, load, and unload cycles is the key to maintaining the productivity of today’s fiber laser cutting machines.

Gaining the edge in today’s competitive market requires intelligence derived from data and the ability to act upon information to improve processes and machine performance.

As mentioned in our previous series, we’ve identified some of the most common areas for process variability and bottlenecks in the metal fabricating value chain. Press brake efficiency and capacity are at the top of most fabricator’s minds when bottlenecks are in question.

In continuation of our multi-part series on analyzing the value chain, we now look at manual CNC press brake bending operations. CNC bending operations continue to be a mostly manually intensive task for the majority of fabrication shops, although advancements in technology have reduced the overall setup time associated with press brake operations.

In Part 2 of our multi-part blog series on analyzing the metal fabricating value chain, we will analyze the flow of the raw material. More specifically, how efficiently is material being presented to the laser cutting system and how efficient is the unloading, sorting, and stacking of the finished cut parts.

So what does your metal fabricating value chain look like? Can you already determine where your improvements will come from?

As laser cutting technology has evolved over the years, so too have the machine and control technologies associated with automating laser cutting machine operations.

When planning for a Fiber laser cutting system, it becomes critical to look at automating material storage and retrieval systems and material load/unload systems.