Tipper body builder Thompsons Group installs Bystronic Autonom 3015 laser cutter

One of its largest ever single investments for the company at some £450,000, it has been purchased to significantly increase the production rate of the wide range of ancillary parts needed for full body assembly. Three times faster than Thompsons' first LVD laser cutter purchased in 2005, the new Bystronic will be able to supply parts much more quickly, not just to the Croydon production line, but also to other Thompsons Group factories in Blackburn and Dover. As well as greatly improved speed, the new machine 'pushes the envelope' even further with additional improvements in laser cutting technology. First, it can cut steel up to 25 mm thick, providing a valuable insurance capacity for any as-yet unspecified future requirements. The quality of cut is also greatly improved, by up to 50% on plate above 12.5 mm thick. Improved quality of this magnitude means that scrap from sub-standard parts is reduced to almost zero. Fully programmable across a wide range of different tasks, the new laser cutter provides high levels of automation. Cutting heads and nozzles can also be changed automatically. As a result, the Bystronic has the capacity to work unattended for long periods, such as during the night or at weekends. Thompsons director Bernard Mullaney, who oversees all the company's factory activities, comments: "By once again investing in the best machine tools available, Thompsons is able to further improve both the quality of its product and the speed of our response to market demand. We can, if required, produce new parts within a couple of hours. Working alongside the existing LVD machine, the new Bystronic therefore enables us to supply all our factories much more quickly and efficiently - in a real sense, we have actually doubled our production capacity across many items. In particular, it is now our aim to produce every part of a Thompsons body in-house, with no sub - contracting at all. This way, we can now achieve total quality control over everything we produce."