Efficient sheet metal processing

There's a bright future for combined punching and laser cutting. Someone firmly convinced of this fact is Jörg Oberschmidt, owner of the company of the same name in the Westphalian town of Westerkappeln. To ensure adequate stiffness in spite of reduced thickness, beads have to be embossed into the sheet metal. At the same time, the costs per part must not rise. "This makes it quite clear that combined punching and laser cutting will be in demand in the future, in order to manufacture effectively. The combination of punching and laser cutting is more vital than ever before." more...

Ready for every eventuality

With the TruMatic 3000 the company known as “Metalle in Form Geräteteile GmbH” has taken up the challenges associated with combined punching and laser cutting technology – and hasn’t for a moment regretted that step.
“Buying a machine twice as expensive as its predecessor is certainly unsettling,” admits Hilmar F. John, General Manager at the Metalle in Form Geräteteile company in Karlsruhe. And despite all that he is thoroughly satisfied with his decision, made in 2009 and right in the middle of the crisis. more...

Precision machining for tubes in short production runs

With the installation of the newly-developed RotoLas chuck, the Keller GmbH can transition flexibly between working flat sheet and machining tubes on the new TruLaser 3030. “Being a small company means that we have to be very flexible,” says Harald Keller. Ever since 2003 he has captained the Keller Metallbau GmbH, located in the town of Endingen, and is the fourth generation to run the company, now employing a staff of thirty. Enduring ties to customers and suppliers are, to his mind, the foundation for a viable company. “We don’t want to get bigger, but rather to become more attractive and simply better,” is his watchword. That also means thinking outside the box and trying out new ideas. more...

Success despite the crisis

Robert Plersch hates saying no - especially to his customers. "You have to do what other people either can't or don't want to do," is the philosophy he applies when running the fifth-generation family business located in southern Germany. For him, flexibility is the name of the game and he covers the entire range of sheet metal machining operations. more...

A Pixbo every two minutes

Furniture at prices low enough to fit everyone's pocketbook - that's the Ikea success formula. This does not mean that the furniture has to come from low-wage countries. The foldaway mechanism on Ikea's Ektorp Pixbo convertible couch is manufactured by Sedac-Mecobel in Wevelgem, Belgium - a country with some of the highest wage levels in Europe. more...