Telford-based Wrekin Sheet Metal has invested £1.1m in Amada automated punch-press and laser-cutting technology. An EMZ-3612MII electric punch press with AS-III MP300/40 tower and PR-III UL part remover, alongside a VENTIS-3015AJ fibre laser cutter with AS LUL3015 tower, arrived in August-September 2020. By leveraging the speed and capacity of these new machines, this progressive company is aiming to double its turnover to £5.5m within the coming 12 months.

“We see ourselves as an extension of our customers’ manufacturing facilities, with Amada machines central to this offer,” states sales director Simon Orpe. “We’ve been using Amada machines since day one, as we see them as the Rolls-Royce of manufacturing equipment. And although we assessed a range of machines from different suppliers, we favoured returning to Amada as they had solutions that were compatible with our shift to Industry 4.0. The new machines ticked a lot of boxes regarding data communication using Amada V-factory software.”

Wrekin Sheet Metal first decided it would move towards Industry 4.0 as part of its strategy to help combat the effects of Brexit.
“One of our major selling points is customer communication, and Industry 4.0 is very much that,” explains Orpe. “We recently set about investing in the necessary network and IT infrastructure that would be able to gather information for our customers. We typically have up to 400 different live parts in progress on our shop floor at any one time, and we want to reach a position where customers can log in and see the status of their components.”

With the arrival of the automated Amada EMZ-3612MII electric punch press and Amada Ventis-3015AJ fibre laser cutting machine – as well as the company’s investment in a powder-coating plant and new personnel – Wrekin Sheet Metal has spent circa £1.5m since the first COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020.

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