Manufacturing domestic heaters can be demanding at the best of times, but now that the colder months are setting in, the market pressure for output is even greater. Shamic Sheetmetal (Aust) Pty Ltd identified the need to invest in sheetmetal automation to put distance between itself and competitors.
Managing Director of the company, Mr Eric Woodgate, says extensive consultation with sheetmetal machinery specialist Maxitec ensured the ideal solution was sourced for minimal cost.
“Before Maxitec’s solution, we were always slightly behind in our deliveries but now we have eliminated that.”
Shamic uses the FINN-POWER Ebe Express Bender for sheetmetal bending and shaping applications.
Ebe uses servo controllers instead of commonplace hydraulic controllers. The result is a completely accurate automation of complex tasks, better bending quality, increased flexibility, environmentally friendly operation, reduction in tedious and costly stoppages, less vibration and noise, and much lesser use of electricity and oil.
Maxitec calculates that savings of more than $100,000 over the life of the equipment can be expected when compared to fully hydraulic machines.
“I believe that the machine produces 10 times faster than our previously manual operation,” said Mr Woodgate. “The Ebe Express Bender is very good with small batches - we put batches through in quantities as low as 50 and every part comes out identical and in high quality, and that is a major benefit.”
“We manufacture both wood and gas heaters and this one machine bends most of the panels up to 3 mm thickness."
FINN-POWER’s Ebe almost fully automates the bending cycle from the initial stage when a blank sheet is loaded right to the point of finalising the bent part, and the entire sequence can be achieved in a continuous lights-out automated process.
It is a high performance in-line express bender that enhances productivity by bending extremely high quality parts in an unmanned environment in any quantity.
The Ebe technology is essential for benders of polished materials, stainless steel, catering and food processing machinery, whitegoods panels and air conditioning units.
The sheet metal machinery has the ability to bend the most imaginative profiles, giving the user unprecedented opportunity and flexibility with its product design and allows full integration with other processes such as engraving, embossing, cutting and forming.
Advancements made in flexibility provide many more gains. These advancements include:
- More production in the automatic cycle of the parts
- Reduced delivery time to client
- Increased internal process flow
- Database auto updating for different code of the material produced and the time of the production
- Possibility to change parts in order to give new, easy assembly (kit of parts) solution for products
- Wide bending capability
- Time saving
- Excellent quality of the products for all materials