Sutton-based Designplan Lighting Ltd, a designer and manufacturer of robust lighting solutions for demanding environments, has invested in a Trumpf TruPunch 3000 to replace two older turret punch machines supplied by another machine provider. The move has led to a plethora of important benefits, not least a significant increase in productivity, a reduction in the amount of manual labour required, fewer secondary operations and lower noise levels.

“We had two older turret punches that began causing problems, particularly in terms of reliability,” says production engineering manager Rob Aldred. “In addition, as we started adopting more bespoke work, the number of tool changes became prohibitive to achieving the levels of throughput required.”
When one of the machines stopped working altogether, the decision was made to call time and invest in a better resource. However, there was a caveat.
“We didn’t want a like-for-like solution, we wanted to move forward and bring in a machine that could increase productivity and reduce our second operation work,” explains Aldred. “To make sure we got the right machine, we looked at all the major players and Trumpf came out on top, not just for flexibility, speed and efficiency, but for our entire wish list.”
Installed in May 2019, the machine has been set to work producing main bodies for the company’s light fittings, along with internal metalwork such as gear trays and brackets.
“In particular, the new Trumpf TruPunch has taken a big bite out of our studding and bushing requirements, and this will continue as we move through parts, while noise levels have reduced dramatically,” says Aldred. “Overall, we are two or three levels up on where we were – across all aspects of our punching operations.”
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