Many small job shops all over the world are still working with old mechanical press brakes with tooling from a different time, though both the machine and tooling have been well-maintained. I am sure many of us are still using these older mechanical press brakes, or press brakes that are just a little more basic than the state-of-the-art systems the articles usually discuss.

Good warehouse organisation is a critical success factor for your business strategy and can be a competitive advantage over the long term. The aim of this management is to be able to optimise three main aspects in order to ensure maximum accessibility to each item and reduce administrative costs.

To gain efficiencies for complex jobs, fabricators turn to staged bending. Multiple tool sets are arranged next to each other across the press brake bed, allowing an operator to run a complex part, or a series of different parts, all in one setup.

When you need a new CNC machine, either to replace an existing one that has reached the end of its life cycle or to expand production, you have to consider all the factors that impact productivity, output quality and economic viability. Ideally your new machine will be able to carry out tasks that you currently handle and add a few new functions.

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.

With the large increase in productivity fabricators have experienced with the advent of faster laser cutting systems, press brake operations have increasingly been considered a key bottleneck on production floors. Many shops are investing in newer press brakes that allow for faster setup times. If that isn’t yet an option for your shop, however, it’s still important to ensure your press brake is running at peak efficiency. Here are four ways in which you can make certain you are getting the most out of your existing system.

Choosing to invest in an automatic warehouse is generally motivated by the desire to improve your warehouse’s organisation and management, increase its performance and how it serves you, by minimising errors and optimising costs.

Metal fabrication is a broad business, and additive manufacturing has serious potential for a surprising number of applications, from scale models of large fabrications to a variety of tools and fixtures.

Our website recently published an article looking into issues which may arise between engineers and machinists in manufacturing companies, and possible solutions. The author came to a conclusion that one of the most important factors is a knowledge gap between engineers and machinists, which does not allow them to understand each other fully. In today's part of the article we will look into what can be done to eliminate this gap.

Engineers and machinists might come from the same company, but they are often on the different sides of the barricades when it comes to cooperation. Understanding and working together is crucial for achieving a common goals, so this article looks into ways to improve the situation.