Bystronic UK sees best-ever sales performance in 2014

Managing director David Larcombe says, "I think the higher level of sales is down partly to government initiatives, such as raising the capital allowance to £250,000. It helped to boost our order intake in December to three times budget, despite only three weeks of trading.

"Politicians seem to be taking manufacturing far more seriously now and continue to support the private sector with regional growth funding in England, helping to create economic prosperity and employment."

One driver for Bystronic's growth worldwide, and particularly in the UK, has been the phenomenal uptake in fibre laser profiling at the expense of machines powered by CO2 lasers. Sales of the latter practically halved between 2012 and 2014, whereas BySprint Fiber machine sales rocketed in the UK from 15 to 54.

The attraction of these machines is that they can cut thinner materials two to three times faster than when using a CO2 laser source, they are able to process reflective materials like copper and aluminium without risk of damaging the optics, and power consumption is lower. Profiling thicker materials may be slightly slower but even in this area, the higher power fibre lasers hold their own well. A 6 kW model was introduced at EuroBlech 2014, 50% more powerful than the previous maximum fibre laser source which gives increased cutting speeds even when cutting thicker materials.

Increasingly, laser cutting companies are adding value to their products by bending them after profiling, which has led to an increase in sales of Bystronic's press brakes, particularly if the customer is already using the manufacturer's laser profilers. It is down to the commonality of control software on both types of machine, which speeds subsequent bending operations.

Water jet machine sales are also holding up well. A 3-axis CNC head for 3D cutting on a ByJet Flex was introduced recently, allowing bevelled edges to be produced, for example. There will be further initiatives regarding water jet cutting during 2015.

Larcombe concludes, "These new technologies and other advances from Bystronic, notably in automation of our sheet metalworking machines, have significantly increased our installed base in the UK in recent years.

"We have had to be careful to match this success with the deployment of enough applications and service engineers to look after both our existing and new customers.

"We have recruited several new members of staff in these areas recently and are also fortunate to have the resources of the Swiss parent company at our disposal when needed.

"All of our customers seem to be busy at the moment, both OEMs and subcontractors, and we are hoping this continues throughout 2015."