Family-owned fabricating company finds new flexibility and opportunities with fiber laser

JC Engineering found new flexibility and opportunities with an LVD fiber laser.

Situation

For brothers Darren and Ashley Churchill, going to work each day is more than just a job. Their company, JC Engineering, based in Reading, U.K., was started 51 years ago by their father John Churchill, who is still very active within the business.

JC Engineering became a customer of Shape Machines in the early 1980s, and remained a customer when Shape became part of LVD in the 1990s. It bought its first CNC machine from LVD, a Delta 1000 turret punch, as well as an LVD press brake, and both are in use every day.

In 2005 the company added a second CNC punch press, an LVD 1250 machine, and an Easy-Form® press brake with CADMAN® B software.

The company recently acquired a local competitor, Just Precision Sheet Metal, and invested in a complete refurbishment of its Easy-Form press brake, bringing it up to the specification of a new machine with the latest CADMAN Touch-B intuitive touchscreen control.

Darren explained that the decision to buy Just Precision was partly driven by the difficulty of finding skilled staff. He added that the upgraded press brake also helps with this challenge, as it can be run by less-skilled operators.

One thing still missing was a laser system.

“We hadn’t bought a laser before because we felt that the technology wasn’t right for us,” Darren explained. “We were carrying out a lot of second and third operations on the punch—countersinking, forming, putting on part identification, and so on. This meant we could keep the parts on the punching machine for all these operations and keep our labor costs down.”

He added that the company does a lot of work in aluminum, which again suited the punching technology.

“If stainless steel had been a big part of our business, then we would probably have bought a laser 10 to 15 years ago, but until now we felt that the technology and running costs for cutting aluminum was not going to give us any benefit over what we had.”

That changed with the advent of fiber laser technology. The company works with materials up to 6 mm thick, with most 3 mm or thinner, and its research showed that a fiber laser’s speed would make it a cost-effective choice for part production. It also would help the company gain control of its production processes.

“We were subcontracting work to laser companies, and we felt the quality wasn’t there, so we were losing control of what we could do for our customers,” said Ashley. “We felt that the next step for us was to have control in-house so that we were not reliant on subcontractors. “

Resolution

Darren was initially attracted to LVD’s Electra laser, a high-speed machine for fast cutting of thin material. But because LVD knew the type of products JC Engineering manufactures, it was able to suggest that the Phoenix 3015 4-kW fiber laser might be more suitable and cost-effective.

“For us, quality is the priority rather than pure speed,” said Darren. “The better the part that comes off the machine, the less time we have to spend ensuring the customer gets a good product.”

The new laser can cut up to 12-mm-thick aluminum, 15-mm stainless steel, and 20-mm steel, as well as copper and brass, which the company couldn’t previously offer.

With both punching and laser cutting capability, the company can select the technology best suited for the job.

“Having both the laser and the punch presses gives us the flexibility to decide what is the most cost-effective way of making any part,” said Darren. “The laser is best at complex profiles, while the punch is best at internal details and formed features. The point is that we can choose to do it how we want so that we can get it out of the door in the most cost-effective way.”

“We cover a lot of areas—aircraft work, the computer industry, point of sale, we do anything really,” Ashley concluded. “You never know what the next job is going to be. There are jobs we have shied away from in the past that we are now taking on because we now have the laser. The laser has transformed the way we do things.”