Alpha Manufacturing, one of the UK’s largest precision sheet metal fabricators, has acquired a TruBend Cell 7000 high-speed robotic bending cell from Trumpf. The investment helps keep the company on track to achieve its ‘2020 Vision’ – a five-year plan to double turnover by 2020.

“We have for some time admired the TruBend Cell 7000 from afar, but had resisted as all of our existing bending machines [press brakes] are from another supplier,” explains operations director Paul Clews. “However, with press brake skills becoming increasingly hard to source, we knew it made sense to look closely at more automated solutions. At first we considered press brakes with automatic tool changers, but these did not compare with the TruBend Cell 7000. In my opinion, there is nothing else like it on the market.”
Clews and his team performed due diligence on the TruBend Cell 7000 and found the company would have no problem filling three shifts, 24-7, so the purchase decision was made. The machine is now hard at work bending a multitude of different parts.
“In comparison with a standard press brake, we are achieving 30-40% more efficiency,” says Clews. “However, it’s also about the skill set available on the machine. We now have complete peace-of-mind that no parts will be bent incorrectly. Such has been its impact that in 12 months we may look at taking another. Machines like the TruBend Cell form part of our long-term vision to deskill and automate.”
For further information www.trumpf.com