Worcester-based A13 Engineering moved from plasma cutting to laser cutting in October 2023 with the installation of a Bodor 12kW laser profiling machine and Lantek Expert CADCAM nesting software.

Harry Hodgetts, managing director at A13 Engineering, says: “We found that high-definition plasma wasn’t suitable for about 10% of our production, driving us to invest in a laser cutter that would give higher accuracy and automatic part etching for easy component identification.”

He continues: “We were already aware of Lantek and chose it without hesitation because it met all our needs. Laser cutting allows us to handle a variety of materials and, with Lantek Expertsoftware, we can seamlessly import customer CAD files. The majority of our work is cutting mild steel between 2 and 30mm thick, and stainless steel between 1 and 10mm. The machine has a shuttle table so we can unload parts while cutting the next sheet. With Lantek’s nesting we can tag parts in the sheet and nest parts in larger holes [which would otherwise be scrap], add the odd part in a spare area, and have the flexibility to use up material remnants.”

The subcontract side of the business requires A13 Engineering to generate a large volume of quotations. Using spreadsheets previously took over 20 minutes for each quotation. In contrast, the company can generate quotes in just 5 minutes with Lantek iQuoting. The software holds material prices and allocations of material, and simulatesnesting and machining times.

“In our fast-paced industry, Lantek Expert and iQuoting have become indispensable to our business,” concludes Hodgetts.

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