Bystronic UK Limited

It is all very well investing in a fast ten kilowatt fibre laser cutting machine, which following its introduction by Swiss firm Bystronic is extremely high power and available in the sheet metalworking industry, but how can users feed it with material fast enough? If they cannot, customers might just as well have bought a lower cost machine with six kilowatts of power or less.

Daniel Thombs, 45, has been appointed Managing Director of Coventry-based Bystronic UK, a subsidiary of Swiss group Bystronic Laser AG, which specialises in manufacturing high technology sheet metalworking machinery, notably flat-bed laser cutting machines, tube laser cutting machines, material storage automation and pressbrakes.

A new loading and unloading system, ByTrans Cross has been developed by Swiss sheet metalworking equipment manufacturer, Bystronic, for its fibre laser cutting machines. It offers users full automation for producing long runs of components while retaining the flexibility of manual handling for fulfilling smaller jobs.

Sheet metal working machine manufacturer, Bystronic, has launched a new press brake that can be moved around a factory by fork lift truck. In a footprint of less than three square metres, it offers a bending capacity of 80 tonnes over 1.5m. Called Xpert 80, it joins the smaller 40-tonne, one-metre Xpert 40 model that can be similarly repositioned and has proved popular since its introduction at the 2014 EuroBlech exhibition in Hannover.

At Northern Manufacturing 2017, a compact, automated bending cell for producing 3D sheet metal components, comprising a Bystronic one-metre / 40-tonne capacity Xpert 40 press brake fitted with the manufacturer’s new Mobile Bending Robot will be showcasing. The automation module is wheeled in front of the press brake and simply interfaced to it in a plug-and-play arrangement.

At the Bolton factory of trailer manufacturer, Indespension, sheet metal cutting productivity has doubled following the replacement of a CO2 laser-powered machine with a fibre laser profiling centre costing nearly £800,000. Manufactured by Bystronic in Switzerland, it was delivered in December 2016 and, following training of Indespension’s shop floor staff, entered full production during the second week of January.

Introducing a new app that works in real time, Swiss sheet metalworking machinery manufacturer, Bystronic has developed the app to monitor all processes taking place within its laser cutting machines, press brakes and water jet cutting machines. Called ByCockpit, the software fits neatly with the digital networking requirements of Industry 4.0. It evaluates the collected data and generates status reports, allowing factory output to be optimised.

With company directors’ Ian Hazlehurst and Russ Canner’s engineering expertise, a new and expanding specialist manufacturing centre and sheet metal subcontractor, Proform Group, has opened on the Wirral, Merseyside. Through his own subcontracting firm Machfab Engineering, established in 2004, Hazlehurst has an extensive background in traditional precision engineering.

Bicycle aftermarket component manufacturer, Hope Technology was based on a quest to make mountain biking safer by developing an alternative to cantilever brakes. To meet demand, the Barnoldswick factory in Lancashire operates around the clock. Even so, by mid-2015 one of the 70 CNC machine tools on the shop floor, a BySprint CO2 laser cutting machine from Bystronic UK, was struggling to keep up. 

Fibre laser technology has taken over from the CO2 laser power source when cutting sheet metal and plate into components of simple or complex shape. David Larcombe, Managing Director of Bystronic, revealed that since August 2015 the company has not sold a single CO2 laser cutting machine in Britain or Ireland.

Back in 2012, the doors were opened at FC Laser, by Danny Fantom, with a single Bystronic Bysprint Pro 4.4kW CO2 laser cutting machine. Since then the company has invested in two further laser machines, two press brakes and a move in 2015 to larger premises in Draycott, Derbyshire.

Southern Manufacturing will see Bystronic’s Xpert 40 press brake demonstrating this year. Being just one metre and 40 tonne in capacity, it is the Swiss company‘s smallest press brake, of which more than 300 have been sold worldwide in the last two years, 26 of them in Britain and Ireland.

Backed by a modern enterprise resource planning system, as well as three decades of experience in cutting, forming, welding and assembly of sheet metal components, Grenville Engineering installed its first fibre laser cutting centre back in November 2016, a 3kW BySprint Fiber 3015 from Bystronic UK.

After the launch of 10kW fibre laser cutting technology at EuroBlech back in October, from Bystronic, Jon Till believes the last possible reason to by a CO2 laser cutting machine, namely to process thicker materials economically, has been removed. Till, joint owner together with technical director Steve Morgan of Accurate Laser Cutting, Oldbury, has recently become a fibre-only subcontractor.

  Two automated sheet metalworking cells from Bystronic UK worth £2m have been added to Hydram Engineering’s factory in Chilton, County Durham.

A 10kW fibre laser has been introduced to increase dramatically the speed with which sheet metal parts can be produced on a ByStar Fiber laser cutting machine, from Bystronic, as the previous maximum power was 6kW. Additionally the ByStar Fiber is now available with a sheet capacity of 4x2m in addition to the 3x1.5m version.

  Based on Bob Dylan’s 1964 hit, The Times They Are a-Changin' was this year’s theme of Bystronic UK’s latest sheet metalworking machinery open house, held during September 2016 at the company's Coventry headquarters and technical centre.

  Head of Development at Bystronic, a company that develops and sells systems for sheet processing, based in Switzerland, Dr Jürgen Hohnhaus, speaks in an interview on the topic of Industry 4.0:

Bystronic UK, sheet metalworking machine supplier, welcomed more than 80 visitors to its latest open house, held at the company's Coventry headquarters and technical centre, 12-14th July. During the week of the event, orders were placed for three laser cutting machines, indicating that UK manufacturing still has a positive outlook post-Brexit.

After extensive research into fibre laser cutting machines on the market, subcontractor McAuley Engineering in Northern Ireland concluded that the 6 kW BySprint Fiber from Bystronic UK offered the best performance. During cutting trials at three potential suppliers, average production cost per laser-cut part was lower using the Bystronic machine than on the other shortlisted models.