There is still a place for punching in fabrication, and here are some practices and applications to get the best performance out of your punching equipment.

For years punch presses were at the forefront of sheet metal fabrication for versatile part manufacturing. Since the introduction of the laser, however, the punch press has slowly been losing work to the newer technology. Still, many shops continue to see the value of the punch for the consistency of part, cost of equipment and operation, and the ability to eliminate secondary operations.

Today’s fabricators look to automation to deal with complex parts, shorter batches, and reduced lead times. One way to improve production performance is to decrease bottlenecks in the production cycle. Because bottlenecks often occur at the press brake stage, adding automation to a press brake can alleviate this stress and increase productivity.