HK Laser opens new U.S. headquarters

Figure 1. With HK Laser & Systems’ CEO Jay Kay looking on, Robert Won, HK Laser’s vice president, shares details about the company’s Falcon 4-kW fiber laser cutting machine with customers at the company’s grand opening celebration.

Three months into being in his new office in Bartlett, Ill., and a day after hosting dealers there, Robert Won, HK Laser & Systems’ vice president, believes that the future looks bright for the company.

“We’re doing very well in 2018, and our dealers are very excited,” Won said.

From the standpoint of a physical presence in the U.S., the new location is a much larger commitment to the metal fabricating market. At 25,000 sq. ft., the facility dwarfs the former home of HK Laser, which was also in Chicago’s western suburbs.

The facility has a large showroom where metal fabricators can see various types of laser cutting machines in operation. For the grand opening celebration on Sept. 28, HK Laser ran four different machines:

• A Falcon 4-kW fiber laser (see Figure 1) with a Corona laser generator from nLIGHT, which adjusts the size of the beam in the generator compartment, not the cutting head, making it possible to cut thin and thick materials with the efficiency and performance expected from conventional fiber laser cutting machines. Won said the laser generating technology can deliver cutting performance similar to that of a 5- or 6-kW CO₂ machine.
• A PS 3015 10-kW fiber laser that can cut 0.25-in. mild steel at 400 inches per minute (IPM). It can cut material up to 1.125 in.
• A Falcon 2.5-kW fiber laser that is proving to be very popular for metal fabricators looking to get into laser cutting for the first time or replacing older CO₂ technology. Won said that HK Laser has a program whereby a fabricator can buy the 2.5-kW fiber but later have that changed out to a 6-kW fiber generator, if the decision is made within two years of the original purchase.
• An FL 3015 6-kW fiber laser attached to an eight-shelf tower (see Figure 2).

The new facility also has a parts storage area, which allows for quick delivery of commonly needed parts, and a training room where fabricators can send operators to get up to speed on equipment controls and CAD programs, such as SigmaNest. Won said that service efforts will be “taken to another level” when the company finishes its control center, where HK Laser personnel will be able to call up performance data from customers’ laser cutting machines on big screens that will line the wall.

Won said he expected about 120 customers over the two-day grand opening celebration.

Figure 2. HK Laser’s new facility has high ceilings, making it a suitable place to demonstrate the company’s automated material storage and retrieval system.