Page 34 - MetalForming January 2017

Fiber-Laser Cutting to
the Rescue
Quicker lead time, faster response to part design changes,
better service for low-volume customers...for these reasons and more, Weber Specialties couldn’t be happier about its new addition.
BY LOUIS A. KREN, SENIOR EDITOR
Adoption of leading-edge tech- nology can be an intimidating process. Lack of familiarity, trep- idation surrounding what may be a steep learning curve and the ability to leverage such an investment into suc- cess, to say nothing of the level of investment itself, causes many man- ufacturers to stick with what’s tried
A 3-kW fiber-laser cutting machine has allowed Weber Spe-
cialties to serve low- volume customers while gaining flexi- bility to produce prototypes and adapt quickly to changes in part designs, all while cutting lead time in part production.
and true. Tried-and-true, though a comforting proposition, often steers companies into the slow lane, as more agile competitors adopt and adapt, and speed on past along the manufacturing highway.
Weber Specialties Co., brought to life as a tool-and-die partnership in 1943, incorporated in 1955 and even-
tually evolving into a supplier of stamped and fabricated components, found itself in the position of having to adopt and adapt. And that it has done with the early-2016 addition of a fiber-laser cutting machine. The tech- nology has filled a production hole at the Schoolcraft, MI, based manufac- turer while also delivering flexibility as
32 MetalForming/January 2017
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