Cost-effective automation and flexibility from LVD

The company has improved its cost-effective laser profiling machine – Orion - to deliver the Orion 3015Plus, and has added a compact sheet loader/unloader. The aim was to get the combined package below the £300,000 figure, offered Matt Fowles, sales and marketing manager. In the event, the total investment is £285,000 for the 1,500 by 3,000 sheet size, 4 kW Orion 3015Plus machine and automation, which makes this package some £100,000 to £150,000 less than an equivalent Axel laser profiler plus automation. The achievement owes much to the manufacture of the automation equipment in LVD’s Slovakian plant, although the final package is configured in Belgium. There is also a limitation on sheet thickness for automatic handling – 12 mm – although the machine will tackle thicker, of course. Load/unload time is more sedate than the Axel package at almost 2.5 minutes versus 45 secs, too. Although on show for the first time, there is currently one system installed and another already ordered, confirmed Mr Fowles. Press brake automation was an additional development for LVD, building on its existing RoboFormer development with robot maker Kuka and Italian sheet metal specialist Salvagninni. The RoboCell is based around an LVD PPEB press brake, Kuka robot and the company’s newv CADMAN Touch control system. LVD’s CADMAN-B programming software integrates with the Kuka Sim software to additionally generate the robot program. There are two press brakes available: 80 tonne by 2.5 m and 110 tonne by 3 m, and the automated system will handle parts up to 15 kg. The system can be operated manually. Shown at MACH was a system based around the 110 tonne machine and featuring the optional Easy-Form system. The cost of this set-up is around £200,000.