The first Salvagnini P4Lean-3216 automatic bending cell equipped with an HPT loading and unloading table. The machine is used to bend, among other products, Lautex’s patented new-generation thin, self-supporting Sandwich panels that open from the joint, whose bending profile includes demanding geometries following an offset bend. The machine also clearly strengthens the company’s efficiency and capacity as a sheet metal subcontractor, as this state-of-the-art new investment is the largest Salvagnini panel bender in the Nordic countries within the Lean model family. Salvagnini enabled new geometries in Lautex’s product design and significantly accelerated the manufacturing process – in certain parts by as much as fivefold.
A couple of years ago, when Oy Lautex Ab transferred into the ownership of Teknoma Oy, the company underwent a significant change of course, and today the winds at Lautex are highly favourable. Managing Director Arvid Segercrantz outlines the effects of the change in ownership as follows: – For several years before the change in ownership structure, Lautex had continued in the same way as before. In order for us to remain among the world’s leading operators in our industry, major changes were required in almost everything: management, organisation and production. These changes required capital investments, which became possible when Teknoma Oy became the owner of Lautex. Now the company’s balance sheet and cash position are on a healthy footing, and the focus on production can be seen in investments.
Production Director Ari Ågren, who has worked at Lautex for many years, sees the changes brought by the new ownership structure as positive. – Teknoma brought new ideas with it. Among other things, production layout changes have improved efficiency, and once additional capital became available, we were also able to acquire the latest technology to enhance our production. Teknoma’s arrival has had only a positive impact on our operations.
Products for the shipbuilding and construction industries, as well as subcontracting
Oy Lautex Ab manufactures and markets metal suspended ceilings for both the building construction and shipbuilding industries. Lautex also operates as a subcontractor for industry. – Our own extensive product range covers even the most demanding needs. Our products include panel, baffle, cassette and grating ceilings as complete suspended ceiling systems. We also manufacture customer-specific special components for suspended ceilings, says Segercrantz.
Customers in the shipbuilding industry account for two thirds of Lautex’s approximately EUR 7 million turnover, and around half of production, carried out by the company’s 55 employees, is exported.
Lean bending cell
Lautex took one major technological leap at the beginning of the year by acquiring the largest Lean-model Salvagnini automatic panel bender in the Nordic countries for its production. The Salvagnini P4Lean-3216 automatic panel bender is the first delivery to Finland in the 3200 mm bending length size range of the new hydraulics-free P4Lean product family. The material thicknesses handled with the new P4Lean are up to 3.2 mm for steel, 2.5 mm for stainless steel and 4 mm for aluminium.
The automatic bending cell is equipped with an HPT loading and unloading table, which is a flexible way to implement a Lean production cell. Salvagnini’s patented MAC feature, Material Adaptive Compensation, measures the change in springback caused by material variations for each blank during the bending cycle and corrects the angle correctly in a single pass. This means that part of Lautex’s quality assurance is also built directly into the bending process itself.
More versatile bending geometries
One of the most important starting points for the investment project was also to achieve new types of possibilities in bending geometries, both in terms of bend forms and part dimensions. Critical geometries for Lautex include a thin and short offset bend enabled by a narrow seam, as well as various open and closed profiles. Salvagnini’s patented, precise Direct Drive power generation and bending blade control are perfectly suited to producing these with their standard features.
Industry 4.0 in use
The control system and software package of the automatic panel bender make extensive use of Industry 4.0 environment features. Response times and unnecessary movement by maintenance personnel are reduced by the remote connection interface of the control system, developed for rapid factory service diagnostics. Salvagnini Scandinavia provides local service support with three service technicians and, when needed, with the assistance of FredBest customer service. Fredko Group is responsible for Salvagnini sales in both Finland and Estonia.
Speed and new possibilities
– Salvagnini brings efficiency to our production, and with it we can manufacture the products our customers need. One of our strengths is definitely our own design capability, which develops our customers’ products together with them. Through its versatility, Salvagnini creates opportunities for carrying out increasingly demanding bending operations, which also opens up new possibilities for our design work. In this way, we can serve our customers even better, Segercrantz assesses.
According to Ågren, product lead times have also been significantly shortened thanks to Salvagnini. – First of all, setup times have been substantially reduced. In previously profiled products, pre-production preparations and roll-forming runs that could take up to 16 hours are now completed on Salvagnini in one hour for the same production batch. Production speed has also increased compared with press brakes, at best by as much as fivefold compared with the previous method. Savings are also achieved in personnel costs and through more flexible job rotation, as the products now automatically bent on Salvagnini were previously manufactured on press brakes requiring several pairs of hands and on roll-forming machines requiring specialist operators.
According to Segercrantz, the Salvagnini P4Lean-3216 automatic panel bender corresponds extremely well to Lautex’s small-series production needs. – Our production batches are mainly 1–100 pieces, and most of these are customised products tailored to customer requirements. Salvagnini’s short setup times, combined with its speed and the challenging bends enabled by its high technology, meet these needs excellently.
New momentum for subcontracting work as well
– With Salvagnini, we can also serve our customers better as a subcontractor. The table of this Salvagnini P4Lean-3216 automatic panel bender can accommodate a 3.5-metre sheet blank, and the machine can bend sheets up to 3.2 metres. The machine’s accuracy, speed and material-adaptive corrections in a single pass raise manufacturing cost-efficiency to an entirely new level, even by Nordic standards. It is definitely worth contacting us so that we can evaluate together how the new Salvagnini, combined with Lautex’s comprehensive manufacturing process all the way through to surface treatment, could improve the manufacturing competitiveness of your products. Salvagnini is working hard as one of the core machines in our production, but there is still capacity available on the machine for subcontracting work when utilised in shift production. There is also plenty of room in our 10,000 m² premises for new customers, Segercrantz hints.
