TPT January 2009

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39 January 2009
Technology Update
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In its move away from traditional methods, the company has
embraced CNC sawing and CNC tube laser cutting and profiling,
using equipment supplied by BLM Group UK Ltd, as well as
installing robotic welding cells in its recently completed 65,000ft2
manufacturing facility. The latest development on the new site
also provides covered storage for more than 2,500 tonnes of raw
material, which is moved throughout the building on eight remote-
controlled cranes.
IAE took delivery of its first BLM machine, a TS71 CNC saw, in
the mid-1990s, and it is still in use. “It was a big investment at
the time,” commented Frank Klucznik, “but we currently sell 3,000
gates a week on just one line and each gate has seven bars. Even
then, it was a lot of tube and a lot of cuts needing to be made. After
that, my father pushed for the lasers and we bought an LT652
tube laser some
five years ago.
It did everything
we expected it to
do and we kept
putting more and
more work through
it. We moved to
12-hour days, then
24-hour operation,
and even worked
weekends…until
we bought our
second laser.”
The second BLM Adige tube laser, a larger LT712D model, was
installed six months ago and sits alongside the LT652 tube laser
and a BLM TS72 CNC saw in the new manufacturing facility. With
a capacity up to 152mm diameter and maximum tube lengths
of either 6.5m or 8.5m, the LT712D features fully automated
bar handling throughout the entire sequence of load, measure,
feed, cut and unload. The TS72 CNC saw is able to cut four
different programmable lengths out of the same bar, and unload
the cut tube into four separate locations. Brush deburring, in-line
measuring, washing systems and collecting devices are all fully
integrated. The TS72 has a capacity of 8-102mm OD, with a
choice of cutting length of 1.5m, 3m or 4.5m.
All IAE products, from gates to cattle grids, are hot dip zinc
galvanised inside and out to prevent corrosion, using a tank
containing 310 tonnes
of molten zinc. When
the tank was first
filled back in 2002,
zinc cost around
£650 per tonne;
today it is around
£2,000 per tonne.
However, the switch
to laser cutting and
profiling has enabled
larger vent holes to
be cut in individual
components, allowing more of the molten zinc to drain back into
the tank after hot dipping, resulting in overall cost savings.
BLM Group UK Ltd – UK
Fax: +44 1525 402 312
Email: • Website:
 The Adige LT712D LaserTube installed in IAE’s
new 65,000ft2 manufacturing facility can cut and
profile tube up to 152mm diameter
 IAE’s new BLM TS72 CNC saw sits between
the LT712D LaserTube (right) and the smaller
LT652 tube laser