Bystronic Mobile Bending Cell milestone

In 2024, Bystronic says it delivered its 300thMobile Bending Cell:German company Josef Wiegand GmbH ordered the landmark automated system. Wiegand, a business based in Rasdorf,  is known for its toboggan runs, slides for children and special events, as well as water slides, which it supplies all around the world.

Around 350 employees produce leisure equipment in Rasdorf, partly by hand. The products find use in the mountains of China, at European amusement parks, at American ski resorts, in shopping malls, on playgrounds, and even on cruise ships. Now the company has decided to automate certain manufacturing processes so it can react to customer requests better and faster.

“We were always satisfied with Bystronic press brakes and laser cutters, and the software was also impressive,” says CEO Hendrik Wiegand. “So it was clear that we had to go with another Bystronic. We’re particularly pleased to be the 300th recipient of this machine.” 

Bystronic duly delivered the milestone Bystronic Mobile Bending Cell – along with a ByBend Star 80 and a Mobile Bending Robot – to Wiegand. The machine was presented in a small ceremony, specially finished in Wiegand’s colours.

“The delivery of the 300thMobile Bending Cell shows that Bystronic is meeting a clear need in the sheet metal processing industry,” says Marcel Fiedler, global product line manager for automation at Bystronic. “We’re happy to support our customers with their plans for growth.” 

More information www.bystronic.com

Productive solutions for smart manufacturing

At the EuroBLECH exhibition in Germany towards the end of last year, Belgium-based LVD opted to highlight productivity solutions for smart manufacturing on its stand, where new products included a high-tonnage Easy-Form press brake, an Easy-Cell robotic bending cell and a fully-automatic panel bender.

The Easy-Form 9 400/40 press brake was the largest high-tonnage press brake LVD has ever exhibited at EuroBLECH. The 400-ton machine is floor mounted, meaning no foundation is necessary. It features a six-axis modular back-gauge for high application versatility and a total of 10 axes for the precise bending of large and long parts. A built-in Easy-Form Laser adaptive bending system guarantees repeatable accuracy for quality assurance.

Also at the show, visitors could see how LVD’s Easy-Cell 80/25 combines an Easy-Form 80-ton press brake with a Kuka industrial robot to automate the bending of parts from 100 x 100 mm up to 1600 x 1200 mm – weighing up to 25 kg. The press brake offers a 2500 mm bend length, five-axis back-gauge and 2500 mm crowning table, providing the flexibility to accommodate a wide scope of applications. Easy-Cell features an adaptive bending system which ensures bend angle accuracy from the first part. LVD CADMAN software provides fast, simple offline programming of both press brake and robot.

Elsewhere on the stand, LVD’s Multifold 2111 panel bender demonstrated the fully automatic loading, folding and stacking of workpieces up to a maximum bend length of 2100 mm in thicknesses up to 2 mm cold rolled steel with bend heights up to 110 mm. A flexible and time-efficient alternative to die bending for many applications, Multifold requires only one set of tooling – a universal set of servo-operated up-and-down folding blades – to produce numerous profiles and various types of bends.

More information www.lvdgroup.com

Cobot welding open day

On 26 March (10:00-14:30), Fronius UK will host an insightful collaborative robot (cobot)welding cell open day at its facility in Milton Keynes. The free-to-attend event offers an opportunity to see the CWC-S and mobile cobot welding cells in action. Fronius cobot welding cells enhance production processes by delivering precision, efficiency and safety. The cobots are suitable for both small components and larger, more challenging fabrications, ensuring a versatile solution. They also eliminate the need for extensive programming skills thanks to their intuitive drag-and-drop interface.

Register at www.bit.ly/4hRpvPu

Atkin lands biggest export contract

The Atkin Automation division of Group Rhodes is celebrating a record seven-figure export contract win. A North American customer has placed an order for three special-purpose laser processing cells together with three additional process lines comprising a fleet of 36 decoilers, recoilers and associated products. The substantial contract, secured with a repeat customer, will support the creation of three new material processing lines.Atkin Automation, originally the combined WT Atkin & BHP brands, says it is renowned for the quality of its coil processing line equipment.

More information www.bit.ly/3CycnQn

Funds support large-scale manufacturing

Swiss start-up SAEKI has closed a $6.7mseed fundinground that it says will support the company’s efforts in helping totransform large-scale manufacturing. As AI accelerates design capabilities, manufacturing must evolve to keep pace. SAEKI is addressing this challenge head-on, developing autonomous factories that integrate quoting, 3D printing, machining and inspection into a fully automated process.

“There’s an exponential and widening divide between what we can design and what we can actually build,” says co-founder and CEO Andrea Perissinotto. “While engineers can use AI to create hundreds of optimised designs, legacy manufacturing simply can’t deliver these components cost-effectively. By automating the entire process, from quoting to final inspection, we can make these advanced designs manufacturable at scale.”

More information www.saeki.ch