Founded over 30 years ago, CLH Trailers has grown into one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of trailers for the agriculture, fishing, marine, sport, leisure and farming industries.

As the product range has grown, so has the factory, staff levels and investment in technology, with the latest addition to the plant list in West Wales being a plasma-cutting machine from Kerf Developments.

Shop-floor foreman Mark Reynolds says: “First and foremost, we wanted to buy British. We looked for a viable option and realised that laser cutting wasn’t suited to our business, whereas plasma was a perfect fit. We found several vendors and then spoke with customers for their testimonials. Out of the UK manufacturers, it was Kerf that had a reputation above all others.”

The company’s new Kerf RUR 2500p plasma machine with 4 x 2 m bed arrived in July. Primarily cutting black steel and aluminium in thicknesses from 1.5 to 25 mm, CLH Trailers specified the RUR2500p with the user-friendly Burny 10 LCD CNC, the 275 A Lincoln Spirit II 275 plasma unit and Lantek software to drive the high-definition Ultrasharp cutting technology.

Building a new factory unit specifically for the Kerf machine, managing director Chris Hussell says: “I wanted a plasma cutter with a robust build quality that was capable of running all day, every day. The Kerf machine has certainly given us that. The plasma unit can cut steel beyond 60 mm thick, which is more than we need, while the precision, repeatability and edge finishes are exceptional. We predict that the machine will pay for itself in less than 2 years.”

Adds Reynolds: “We’ve only had the Kerf machine a matter of weeks but it has already lightened the workload of our staff and machines, streamlining production in the process.”

For further information
www.kerfdevelopments.com