Product category:
Machinery and Production Equipment
News Release from: Kasto | Subject: Flexal 8000P Dubus cell
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 14 July 2000
Dubus machine cuts shower component
costs
Sequential sawing, drilling and notching of aluminium extrusions on separate machines have been replaced by multiple machining in a single clamping in a Dubus cell at Coram (UK)
Sequential sawing, drilling and notching of aluminium extrusions on separate machines have been replaced by multiple machining in a single clamping in a Dubus cell at the Bridgnorth factory of Coram (UK), one of Europe's largest manufacturers of shower cubicles and screens Supplied by Rivers Machinery, the French-built Flexal 8000P cell is essentially a standard machine configured to process a variety of aluminium profiles falling within a 50 mm by 50 mm cross section
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 14 Jul 2000 at 8.00am (UK)
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The only bespoke equipment is a front-end magazine for extrusions up to four metres long and a special clamping arrangement.
Said Dennis Burden, Production Director at Coram (UK), "This facility was economically priced compared with a competitive Italian machine we looked at, both being used extensively in the window and door manufacturing industries.
"Our Dubus machine runs 24 hours a day, four days a week, and has proven to be very reliable.
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We have been able to reduce considerably the labour content of shower component manufacture and sub-assembly, particularly as some assembly is now carried out during the automatic machining process.
As a result, machine payback is under two years." At the outset Coram (UK) was looking to increase plant capacity, which the Dubus cell succeeded in doing immediately after installation.
It produces 100 finished components per hour in a size range up to one metre long.
All come off fully machined, so queuing between workstations is a thing of the past.
Other advantages include reduced component damage and better machining accuracy owing to the elimination of repeated handling and clamping.
Coram's modern designs stipulate accuracy of length and hole position of ñ 0.2 mm, which is easily held.
Mr Burden thinks that they achieve half that figure.
Another benefit of the Flexal 8000P is the speed of changeover.
It takes under 10 minutes to change the drill size, change the clamping pressure to suit the new profile and download the program from a PC to the machines control system.
Around 100 part programs are stored on the hard drive.
Economical batch size is now significantly lower than before; runs of 400-off are typical.
It helps Coram (UK) to respond quickly to the ever shorter delivery times being demanded by its customers, principally house builders via national and regional merchants.
Order to delivery is typically 10 to 12 days, a lead time which is met in over 90 per cent of cases, due in part to the flexibility of the Flexal cell.
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