Profiling subcontractor chooses Kerf again

The growth of Wigan-based sheet metal profiling subcontractor Made Profiles has so exceeded its expectations that it has ordered its second profiling machine in six months. The offshore, automotive, rail, construction and bridge building subcontractor opened for business in March profiling steel plates up to 250 mm thick, and performing quick, high quality cuts in sheets up to 25 mm thick. It initially ordered a Kerf RUM3500 machine with four flame cutting heads for simultaneously profiling multiple parts, plus one high definition plasma head for high speed cutting of thinner profiles. The fast turnaround service at Made Profiles - 2-3 days - has enabled it to exceed its growth expectations in year one. As a result, delivery of a second Kerf RUM3500 machine is imminent. Founder Mark Derbyshire says: "Now we have been operational for a number of months, we have a better projection of what materials, thicknesses and profiles our customers require. Up to 75% of our year one work is precision steel profiles up to 25 mm thick, so we have ordered a second RUM3500 with a single 275 A plasma cutting head. More powerful than the existing 150 A plasma head, the new machine will allow us to cut high quality profiles up to 40 mm thick whereas the existing 150 A head is limited to 25 mm thicknesses." Kerf will add the second RUM machine to the existing cutting table, which is a particularly large at 12 by 3 m. Derbyshire explains why: "I wanted a large bed machine for two reasons. Firstly, it would allow us to cut very large profiles whilst also catering for small parts in larger batch sizes using the multiple heads. Most importantly, I wanted a large bed for flexibility and work flow purposes. For example, we are continually growing and the large bed enables us to prepare up to three jobs simultaneously on the machine. This allows us to set-up at one end of the bed whilst an operator is cutting profiles at the other end. This reduces our set-up and lead times drastically, and it improves our workflow through the shopfloor." Kerf will also extend the current 12 m bed to 15 m. This will effectively provide Made Profiles with the flexibility to manufacture components up to 15 m or, alternately, use the bed as two individual 7.5 m machines on a single platform. Derbyshire says: "We are cutting anything from mild and stainless steel through to Hardox, Durbar and boiler plates, and the new plasma head will improve our through-flow of work and enable us to maintain our benchmark in the industry as a supplier that can consistently meet short lead times."