Combining the engineering expertise of company directors Ian Hazlehurst and Russ Canner, a new and expanding sheet metal subcontractor, Proform Group, has opened on the Wirral, Merseyside. With the assistance of a regional growth fund grant, Proform has invested over £2.5m in premises and machinery, creating 28 jobs in the process.

A turnover of £1.2m is expected in the first year of trading, which has been supported by a fibre laser cutting machine, two press brakes and a twin-head 3D waterjet cutting machine, all supplied by Bystronic UK.
The press braking function is the remit of an Xpert 250 tonne machine, capable of bending components up to 4.1 m long, and an Xpert 40, the supplier’s smallest model, of 40 tonnes/1 m capacity. Around half of the output from the laser cutting centre is folded on these two machines.
Hazlehurst states that an integral feature of the bigger CNC press brake is the large depth of the back-gauge, which maximises the range of parts that can be produced. He also appreciates the LED lights along the upper beam that show where the bending tools should be placed for any particular job, as well as the cameras at either side of the machine, verifying that the correct punch and die have been selected. The result of these safety measures is that damage to tooling is avoided and scrap is eliminated.
Regarding the Xpert 40, highlights are its user friendliness and speed when bending parts up to 1 m, particularly of the CNC back-gauge fingers. The 25 mm/s stroke is two and a half times faster than on the Xpert 250, while the tooling is interchangeable and power consumption is low.
For further information www.bystronic.co.uk