Integrated Cutting System Helps Deliver Orders Faster

Plasma table log jam is converted into free-flowing production center

plasma system

A new plasma system, control, and nesting software updated the cutting process on Metal Corbert’s outdated conventional plasma table to eliminate the plasma cutting bottleneck, expand capacity, and improve cut quality.

Metal Corbert, a custom fabrication shop in Shawinigan, Quebec, was having a hard time keeping up with production. The company, which specializes in metal part production, takes customer visions from CAD through production, painting, and delivery.

Though quite successful, the company had an outdated conventional plasma table that wasn’t keeping up with the work load. In addition, cut quality from the older system didn’t meet the quality standards some customers required.

Those two issues caused the company to outsource much of its cutting and propelled General Manager Lucie Godin to shop for a new system.

More Parts, Better Cuts

Metal Corbert purchased a suite of Hypertherm Built for Business™ products designed to work together to increase equipment efficiency and output of the shop’s Machitech Automation DC400 plasma table and provide cleaner, more vertical cuts for components produced from plate up to 2 in. thick. Upgrades to the 10-ft. by 30-ft. table included a HyPerformance ® HPR400XD® plasma system with True Hole® technology for better hole quality; an EDGE Pro® CNC to integrate the cutting technology with the table; and ProNest® software to reduce material waste and shorten the time from order to delivery.

The fact that training time to bring operators up-to-speed on the new system wasn’t extensive was also a factor in the selection. “ProNest has been very easy to program, and it allows us to get our parts cut faster,” said Godin. “We’re also using the Plate Inventory option, which has improved our traceability.”

Increased consumable life was an added benefit. “We’re already getting 50 percent better consumable life than what was offered by some other manufacturers,” Godin added.

Quick Results

A few months after installing the upgrades, higher cutting speeds, better quality, efficient use of material, and more accurate inventory management allowed the company to bring all of the overflow work back in-house plus take on new customers.

For Metal Corbert the upgrades have lowered production costs since it no longer pays another company to cuts its parts, and improved turnaround time so customers get their orders faster.

The end result: higher profitability and happier customers.

www.hypertherm.com

www.metalcorbert.com