As an advanced technology, what advantages can a fiber laser cutter offer to manufacturers? This case study demonstrates how a century-old U.S. manufacturer successfully upgraded from traditional cutting methods to fiber laser technology.
Customer Background
The customer, a U.S.-based manufacturer with over 100 years of experience, operates across the textile, plastic, and metal processing industries. In terms of metal processing, the customer’s factory operates multiple plasma and CO2 laser cutting machines, offering customized cutting services for metal sheets and tubes. They serve a wide range of industries, including kitchenware, appliances, construction, automotive, and more. In 2024, seeking to enhance its traditional metal cutting methods and improve precision and efficiency, the company turned to SENFENG for a solution—the SF3015C laser sheet & tube combo.
The Project
Country: USA
Industry: Metal processing services
Existing Equipment: Plasma cutting machines, CO₂ laser cutting machines
SENFENG Equipment: SF3015C
Application: Cutting MS and SS up to 10mm thick, as well as square and round tubes with a diameter of less than 100mm.
Challenges Faced
The customer’s production line used to rely on traditional cutting equipment like plasma and CO₂ laser cutting. However, as market competition grew more intense, the challenges they faced became increasingly evident.
Limited Processing Efficiency
Traditional cutting methods struggle to complete processing tasks efficiently due to low cutting speeds, thermal deformation, and high scrap rates. This makes it challenging for the customer to handle urgent orders.
High Maintenance Costs
Although traditional cutting equipment had lower upfront costs, their long-term maintenance expenses were substantial. CO₂ laser cutters, in particular, required frequent and costly upkeep, including replacing essential components like laser tubes, cooling systems, mirrors, lenses, and auxiliary gas supplies.
Poor Cutting Precision
Traditional cutting methods lacked the required accuracy, often resulting in rough edges, slag buildup, and thermal distortion. These issues made it difficult for the customer to take on high-precision machining orders.
Heavy Smoke
Traditional cutting methods, especially plasma cutting, produce a lot of smoke and dust, which not only pollutes the factory environment but also poses health risks to workers.
Inconsistent Cutting Quality
Plasma cutting, in particular, produced wider kerfs and rougher edges, requiring additional finishing processes. Meanwhile, CO₂ lasers often faced beam instability, impacting cutting consistency.
The Solution
The customer mainly processes carbon steel and stainless steel plates up to 8mm thick, as well as aluminum up to 3mm. Occasionally, they work with metal plates thicker than 10mm. For tube processing, they handle both square and round tubes up to 100mm, although sheet processing makes up the majority of their workload. They needed a solution capable of cutting both plates and tubes, with high precision to enable the processing of more complex tasks.
The SENFENG team suggested the SF3015C laser sheet & tube combo, a versatile machine designed for both sheet and tube cutting. The SENFENG SF3015C features an open design with a single platform, making it more compact and space-efficient. The 3kW fiber laser is capable of handling 80% of the customer’s processing needs.
To help the customer further assess the machine’s true cutting capabilities, SENFENG’s technical team organized an online session with a live demonstration, cutting 8mm carbon steel and stainless steel samples. The customer was impressed by the precision and efficiency, which sparked additional questions about the machine’s key specifications.
On-site Technical Support
To provide comprehensive technical support, SENFENG’s team visited the customer’s factory for an on-site consultation. This face-to-face discussion proved more effective in resolving the customer’s issues, such as equipment layout, factory power specifications, daily production estimates, and laser cutter cost analysis. The visit allowed the SENFENG team to tailor the processing plan based on the customer’s specific situation, ensuring it met their requirements.
Live Demo at the Exhibition
At the end of 2024, the customer visited a SENFENG exhibition in the U.S. to see the SF3015C laser sheet & tube combo in person. During the live demo, the technical team conducted a 20mm carbon steel cutting test, pushing the machine to its extreme cutting limits, which only allowed for localized processing rather than full-sheet cutting. The customer was pleased with the minimal slag formation, even under such demanding conditions.
After evaluating the machine’s cutting performance, features, competitive pricing, and the availability of SENFENG’s U.S. branch for on-site and prompt after-sales service, the customer chose SENFENG over other cutting machine manufacturers and decided to place an order for the SF3015C 3kW tube and plate laser cutter.
Production Launch
After a 10-day installation and technical training session by the SENFENG technical team, the customer’s team successfully mastered the basic operation and daily maintenance of the laser plate & tube combo, allowing the equipment to be officially put into production.
Once the SF3015C laser cutting machine was integrated into the customer’s production line, overall processing efficiency improved by 30%. This improvement was driven by the high cutting speeds offered by laser technology, especially when cutting 1-7mm medium-thick plates, where the speed increased by 1 to 1.5 times compared to their previous methods. Additionally, the customer’s production capacity expanded, enabling them to take on more precise and complex processing tasks.
Conclusion
With the SF3015C laser cutting machine now fully integrated into the customer’s production line, they have experienced a significant boost in both efficiency and capacity. The advanced fiber laser technology has not only increased their cutting speeds but also enhanced precision, enabling them to tackle more complex and precise tasks. This upgrade has positioned the customer to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market, providing them with the tools needed to meet growing demands and deliver high-quality results to their diverse range of industries. The SENFENG SF3015C fiber laser cutter continues to play a pivotal role in their ongoing success and growth.
