TPT September 2012

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September 2012 81
Technology News
Cooper and Turner
Ltd chooses
RALC-Conni
COOPER and Turner Ltd, an industrial fastener manufacturer
from Sheffield, UK, can trace its manufacturing roots back to
the 1800s, and has supplied products from historical icons
such as the Model ‘T’ Ford car to modern day icons such as
the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
The company has developed into a global manufacturing
business with production facilities around the world. It focuses
on meeting the quality, performance and service demands of
its customer base, which has involved projects as diverse
as bridges, tunnels, railways, skyscrapers and wind turbines,
both on-shore and off-shore. These new, high-specification
and engineered bolts have required Cooper and Turner to
re-think its existing production methods, and this has led to
the conclusion that new investment in the latest technology is
required to further develop these new products.
Having manufactured bolts at its Sheffield facility for
literally hundreds of years, there is little about sawing solid
materials that Cooper and Turner has not experienced.
Today the company uses several modern carbide technology
sawing machines. Paul Marston, Cooper and Turner Ltd’s
works manager, said, “After reviewing possible solutions
for this application, we quickly arrived at the conclusion
that we required a machine supplier capable of thinking
outside the standard specification box. Amongst the many
potential suppliers we contacted was Sawcraft UK Ltd, who
we have known for many years. Sawcraft UK Ltd listened
to our requirements and suggested the renowned Italian
manufacturer RALC-Conni as the ideal supplier to meet our
needs. After studying their initial proposals and realising that
they had the technology to incorporate additional processes
such as product identification within a fully automated line,
we realised that we had found our supplier.”
The final specification RALC-Conni Gemini 802 HM
carbide machine, which has now been installed, is a
testament to this flexibility and includes many customer
specific modifications designed to optimise the processing
of the new Cooper and Turner products.
Examples of these modifications include: front-loading 8m
length, 5t weight capacity automatic bundle loader with an
increased bundle storage capacity to hold two full bundles of
material; extended electric axis carriage feed stroke of 1m to
increase output rates on the longer length products; a unique
‘moving’ cutting vice to allow maximum material utilisation
with the minimum possible scrap ends; a customer-specific
powered off-loading system capable of handling cut lengths of
up to 4m long; programmable in-line product identification with
corporate logo and part number ID; and magazine storage
with operator controlled product release.
The complete line has been designed and built by RALC-
Conni and is totally integrated into the sawing machine's PLC
and operator control panel.
Sawcraft UK Ltd – UK
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