Some 20 years ago, Alistair Bailey became disillusioned with working long hours for the benefit of someone else’s business, so he made the break and created JML Engineering to specialise in tube bending and tubular fabrications.

The business developed through investment in several pre-owned hydraulic tube-bending machines, with key customers providing steady orders for security (bollards and crash protection) and safety (hand railings and cages) products.
These old hydraulic machines served the business well, but as with all things, age started to tell and support for them from the manufacturers became non-existent. Recognising it was time to invest further in the business to improve productivity, Bailey researched the market and identified that a switch from hydraulically operated benders to all-electric was the way to go, a realisation which saw the arrival of his first BLM all-electric multi-stack tube bender, an Elect 52.
“The arrival of the BLM Elect 52 certainly eased the demands being placed on production due to business growing rapidly, and the machine handled the bending of smaller handrails with ease,” he says.
A key advantage of the BLM all-electric Elect machines is the speed at which they can be set-up and the guarantee that bends will be consistent, without any need for adjustment from the start of a batch to the last tube.
“On our hydraulic machines, on which we were very well versed, it could take 45 minutes to achieve a first off, after which there would be a degree of trial and error before we got the bend just as we wanted it. Now, we can complete the set-up in less than 15 minutes and know that the first tube will be within specification.”
For further information www.blmgroup.com