TruLaser 3030 / 3040
Redefining the standard mehr ...
Reliability at top speed
Kempf GmbH & Co. KG was a test customer for the TruLaser 3030 NEW
"The machine was put in full three-shift production after just a week, and it's plugged along ever since." That's the simple summary Andreas Kempf makes of the test run of the TruLaser 3030 NEW, which started in July, 2008, at his company Kempf GmbH & Co. KG. "The machine is supposed to be just as robust and reliable as its predecessor - and that's still the most-sold laser cutting system in the world. I don't have any in my shop, but I can confirm that process reliability can absolutely be taken as a given for the TruLaser 3030 NEW."
Impressed by single-cutting-head strategy
Andreas Kempf and his employees have been particularly impressed by the single-cutting-head strategy familiar in high-end machines, which is now available for the first time on the "middle-class models" of the TruLaser series 3000. Their advantages are primarily evident for less expert personnel and in automatic operation. "The machine operators have told me that cutting with just one head significantly simplifies their work, and also has a positive effect on the cleaning needed for the lenses. The dirt you get from frequent changes is a thing of the past," says Kempf.
The 50-person family operation of Andreas Kempf processes a variety of sheet metals, with thicknesses of up to ten millimeters. So the five-kilowatt laser of the TruLaser 3030 NEW was just right. To cover the whole range of materials, Kempf needs all that laser power. Almost more important for him, however, is the increase in cutting productivity due to faster feed rates. The topic of speed is near and dear to him: "The fact that the new machine works with linear and torque drives instead of AC servo motors is obvious from its astounding positioning speed. Especially in thin sheet metal, the increases in speed from the new FastLine process can be seen from the fact that the transition from piercing to cutting is faster."
Satisfied with new operation concept
Kempf and his employees were initially skeptical about the machine's new operating concept. "What I saw in the controller took a little getting used to at first," admits Kempf. But after only a day, all nine operators had been trained. The graphical support and simple menu operation was something they no longer wanted to do without. And the same applies to the good accessibility of the machine,
manifested in a broad conveyor belt, a maintenance access on the side, and a large door. For the TruLaser 3030 NEW now putting in its hours at Kempf GmbH & Co. KG, these optimizations have already paid off. Because the elimination of the slanted partition and the broad conveyor belt make it so cleaning-friendly, it's no problem to clean it thoroughly every week.
As satisfied as Andreas Kempf is with his new laser cutting system, he still hasn't exhausted all its application options. As the next step, he wants to equip the machine for fully automated fabrication with a LiftMaster Compact loader/unloader and a TruStore modular storage tower. "The very short 80-second cycle time of the LiftMaster Compact is an outstanding match for my fast new laser cutting system," says Kempf, who is not ruling out the purchase of second TruLaser 3030 NEW.
Laser tube cutting as a future technology
But his view of the future is even better. Comprehensive services and high fabrication depth are the central requirements for the next few years for Andreas Kempf. He has started to prepare by establishing an all-around service offering which includes laser cutting to combination processing, CNC bending, welding, surface treatment, and even CAD design. "The customer wants a finished part - not an intermediate stage," says Kempf. The addition of an area for tube machining and its recent reorganization as a separate company are steps in that direction.
Performance at its peak
A few months ago, the Kempf company bought another laser tube cutting system and a bending machine from TRUMPF. Plus it just built a new facility with more than 4000 square meters of space. So where's the economic crisis? "Thanks to the wide variety of industries in our customer base and very intensive marketing and sales activities, we have a relatively constant supply of orders. This means that we can invest, even in times like these. The performance of our machine fleet should always be as high as possible, and correspond to our requirements as well as possible," says Kempf. That's why he is relying on a very young machine fleet, where machines stay only three years, on average, so that they can then be resold in top condition. "That makes investment planable, so it doesn't pile up. At the same time, our performance is always at its peak. And since the resale values of TRUMPF machines are far above the level of the competition, this approach gives me the best possible security".
