TruBend Series 5000
The versatile, productive jack of all trades mehr ...
Complex parts as success factor
PreTec thinks long-term, and buys a new bending machine
You could call his behavior "courage in crisis." Steffen Albrecht just calls his approach "anticyclical." Case in point: A professor once told him that he should study engineering when the market was looking for lawyers, remembers the founder and CEO of PreTec Schneidtechnologien GmbH. And, in January 2009, he invested in two new machines, a TruBend 5130 press brake and a TruLaser 5030 2-D laser cutting system.
Given the state of the economy, the reason for his purchases sounds surprising.. He did it for the cost savings. Since his production facilities still have enough room for both machines, his per-machine costs for space, software, and personnel are now lower. And that leads to lower costs for his customers. "I can shorten my delivery times, too. For the 1500 or so different parts we fabricate per month, we can use additional machines and thus better reaction options. That's the secret to our success: flexibility through redundancy, or, in other words, more reliability for the customer."
Laser instead of water-jet cutting
Steffen Albrecht started in 1995 with water-jet cutting. His first TRUMPF machine, acquired two years later, was a Trumatic 2530, which is still in use today.At the time, he wanted to buy a second water-jet cutting system. However, the laser proved significantly more cost-effective due to its higher productivity - so the first laser machine moved in. And with it came new customers. Now that Albrecht could also process cuts in thin sheets, his business was impacted in a positive way.
Over time, PreTec continued to expand its spectrum of technology, and in 2000 it purchased its first bending machine from TRUMPF. "This press brake was a logical consequence of the development we have made so far. In the final analysis, we wanted to be able to offer the whole process chain, everything from one shop," reports Albrecht. At first, only simple parts were bent. Only TruTops Bend software made more complicated parts an option, which represented a more lucrative business.
Reliability and delivery
And not only that. The complete processing of even demanding parts and assemblies, according to Steffen Albrecht, is among the most important needs of his customers. He uses regular systematic analysis to check the expectations and experiences of his customers. He's not worried about fabrication quality, but reliability and delivery: "Even the preparation of an offer has to be quick. With TruTops Bend, I can evaluate the feasibility of bent parts faster than others." His enthusiasm for TRUMPF software and complete consultation is so great that he even handles design for some of his customers. Ninety-eight percent of all parts are programmed by PreTec using TruTops, and only two percent on the machine - which are generally very simple applications. The operators of all machines still have separate PCs available for work with TruTops. Up to 80 percent of the programs created offline with TruTops are used on the bending machines with no correction, estimates Albrecht. That shortens the run-time immensely - and scrap has been reduced, too.
Developments of tomorrow
It has proved advantageous to be a customer of TRUMPF. "This company has a drive towards innovation that gives me, as customer, the secure knowledge that the investments I make today will bring me the developments of tomorrow, and that I'll get them by means of updates or upgrades," says Albrecht. "The TruTops Fab control and planning software is the best example of this. In the last two years alone, it has improved significantly."
Automated process with TruTops Fab
That's why Steffen Albrecht just invested again in TruTops products for PreTec. With TruTops Fab, he can control his entire fabrication process, from the creation of a bid right up to the shipping papers. At the same time, he has been able to simplify his procedures, reduce interfaces, eliminate sources of error, and, in the final analysis, has minimized waste. "In principle, we've automated our processes," summarizes the fabrication process designer. "This is the perfect complement to the fully automated process chain we created, thanks to a new high-bay warehouse. Because today, it's not just hardware automation you have to think about - there is also enormous potential in software automation."
