Monster, The Netherlands - Ferral Systems B.V., established in 2001, is a designer, producer, and supplier of steel and aluminum structures for the steel and horticultural industries, specifically for the greenhouse market. The company is located west of Rotterdam in an area known as Westland that is famous for its greenhouses. In 2004 the company, which employs a staff of 21, purchased a Balliu LTC 13000 tube cutting laser machine that is capable of cutting 13m length tubes-the longest of its type in the world. This length is significant as the tubes are delivered on 13m length trucks-a standard shipping length. Camtek, through its local reseller, worked closely with Balliu to provide support for the machine’s advanced features within TubeCut, PEPS SolidCut Laser’s tube cutting system.
The laser system is 31.5 m in length and 9 m wide, a size that allows the cutting of square tubing up to 150 x 150 mm, rectangular tubing 180 x 100 mm, and round tubes up to 215 mm, all in lengths to 13m. Tubes are rotated while being cut and the cutting heads can be tilted to cut at an angle.
Many of the structures that Ferral manufactures require parts to be welded together. A new product was designed using SolidCut Laser that allows items to be slotted and screwed in place. This provided several benefits to its customers; items were easier to pack and ship, they were less prone to damage, and customers could assemble the items easier. A major benefit is that items now only require 4 to 5 minutes additional laser time as opposed to 20 minutes of manual welding.
Ferral (www.ferralsystems.nl) is looking into the possibility of expanding production capacity by adding a second tube cutting machine, as it is already running at 90 percent capacity across two shifts. According to Main Programmer Guido Hofstede, “We have seen a 30 percent increase in business over the last 12 months, and in that time we have seen many changes within the SolidCut Laser program. We chose the system for two main reasons; Camtek has experience in creating software for cutting machines, and the line of communication between software and hardware vendor is short. We’ve been able to increase our customer base because of the new services we can provide in tube cutting.”
For more information on SolidCut, contact Martin Bailey, group marketing manager for Camtek at [email protected].