Following Alpha Manufacturing’s investment in a STOPA four-bay automated material handling and storage system from Trumpf in 2016, the company has extended to a 10-bay system that now runs 62m down the centre of its factory near Stafford. The STOPA – which serves Trumpf machines such as a TruLaser 3030 Fiber, TruMatic 6000 laser/punch combination, TruPunch 5000 and TruBend Cell 7000 – houses more than 600 tonnes of raw material and part-processed items in a total of 207 available pallet spaces.

Plans for the large-scale installation were first set out in 2015. The aim was to make Alpha Manufacturing the UK’s foremost precision sheet-metal fabricator in just five years, doubling turnover in the process. With the completion of the STOPA system extension in July 2020, the total investment is close to £4m, securing what Alpha describes as one of the most technically advanced factories in the industry.

For further information www.uk.trumpf.com