Worthington Specialty Processing has placed an order for a coil-fed laser cutting system from LaserCoil Technologies.
LaserCoil Technologies LLC has received an order for a LaserCoil coil-fed blanking system from Worthington Specialty Processing (WSP), a toll processor for the automotive industry. The 2,100 mm wide dual-head system, featuring two 6 kW lasers, is being installed at the company's Jackson, MI, facility. It will help expand WSP's capacity, especially in the production of advanced high strength steel (AHSS) blanks, which can challenge traditional mechanical presses.
"As we partner with our automotive customers to develop solutions for reducing the weight of vehicles, this laser blanking system will give us the flexibility to run a variety of materials, including AHSS and aluminum," said Greg Shakley, General Manager at Worthington Specialty Processing.
"The increased tensile and yield strength of AHSS has little to no impact on laser cutting speeds, so the cost of laser consumables is much less than maintaining the die and tooling," said a LaserCoil spokesperson. "Additionally, the ease of the LaserCoil system programming enables production changeovers in less than a day, significantly reducing the typical 14 - 16 weeks required to produce a final blanking die."
Gantry-mounted laser heads stationed in multiple cutting cells travel along the moving strip to balance the workload for improved productivity. The system's dynamic profile conveyor features adjustable lanes that support the coil strip while automatically repositioning as needed to clear a path for the laser cut. This feature also facilitates gravity-shedding of scrap and offal, delivering only finished blanks at the end of the process.
"This robust design enables higher yield rates than other systems - into the 60,000 piece range - making it a viable alternative for processing a wide variety of coil material in aluminum, mild steel, high-strength steels and other materials, as well as structural components in thicknesses from 0.5 to 3.5 mm and up to 2,100 mm coil at any length," said the spokesperson.
The coil fed laser blanking line will combine LaserCoil's laser blanking technology along with leveling equipment supplied by the Automatic Feed Company (Napoleon, OH). The new line at WSP is expected to be running production by early 2016.
For more information contact:
Jay Finn
LaserCoil
7401 Ponderosa Rd
Perrysburg, OH 43551
419-591-7012
www.lasercoil.com