TPT September 2012

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 Email: sales@sawcraft.co.uk Website: www.sawcraft.co.uk

81

www.read-tpt.com

S eptember 2012