Issue n. 3 - April 2005Download pdf - BLM GROUP

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Weland, Sweden, production is based exclusively on laser technology and cutting process automation INSPIRED FOR TUBE Construction Flexibility and Personalised Manufacture When Mr Welansson founded Weland AB in Smalandsstenar, Sweden in 1947, it was immediately successful and now the company has grown into a group of 25 different companies employing 800 people with a turnover of 170 million last year. This growth and marketing success has been realised by developing products tailored to customers’ needs and delivering them in as quickly as possible and at a competitive cost. There are three main production lines: staircases for both internal and external use, metal railings, and ramps for use inside and outdoors. The group’s main markets are in central and northern Europe and in North America. There has also been a significant growth in subcontract work separate from their normal product range in the tubular furniture, automotive and security sectors. product costing are a fact of their commercial life. This is further complicated by the fact that, although Weland are a large company operating in an industrialised country like Sweden, there are few opportunities for sales in their native land. These apparently conflicting factors have actually come together and enabled Weland to improve and grow by using new technology with their production now based exclusively on laser technology and automation of the cutting process. They currently use five ADIGE LASERTUBE cutting systems and two combined units for sheet and tube supplied by ADIGE SYSTEMS to achieve the match of the necessary flexibility and tailored product that their overall strategic plan demands. Seven <strong>BLM</strong> Group laser systems Weland products, by their very nature and use in houses, apartments, urban furniture and industrial fabrication, are hardly ever standard. Giving personalised services, fast deliveries and economic Standard and customer designed products Lars Bredenfeldt, Weland’s Purchasing Director and Rune Berndtsson, the Production Director both confirm that the maximum time available to them from placing the order to despatch is four 10
weeks. They develop and plan the design and the machining program by CAD and then send it all to the shop floor. In order to retain flexibility they plan some components in advance which are relatively standard and put them into stock ( e.g. the treads in a spiral staircase) and also have to manufacture some items made to measure (overall height, dimensions of the balustrades etc) In the case of an external staircase, these can vary up to 250m in height. The tubular components present in these structures carry the weight and there are many of them in a single staircase, slotting together just like Lego® - Weland actually supply their products in kit form for construction at the building site or in the home. A decisive choice Flexibility in design and production and speed of execution are fundamentals and the decision to buy five LASERTUBEs from ADIGE was decisive in being able to guarantee the repeatability and rapidity the company requires and also to look at manufacturing options not available to them before. Lars Bredenfeldt and Rune Berndtsson express considerable satisfaction in the purchasing choices they made and for the results obtained every day for five years, three shifts per day. “ The ADIGE systems are affordable, simple to use, don’t require a lot of set-up or changeover time and are supported by easy and quick-to-programme CAD/CAM software. Equally valid is the comprehensive initial training we received from ADIGE.” Time to diversify Weland AB have now further improved their production and have developed a fine understanding of the techniques used on the LASERTUBE machines. They are now able to offer sub-contracting services with the additional time saved from this knowledge and this is extremely important to them. For example, they cut 100mm x 100mm x5mm tubes for Scania, the well known truck manufacturer with a high degree of consistency and quality that they were not able to do with traditional methods (drilling, milling, mitre-cutting, deburring etc). Number 3 - april 2005 INSPIRED FOR TUBE Construction 11
Page 1 and 2: INSPIRED FOR TUBE No. 3 - 4/2005 UK
Page 3 and 4: Opinion At the beginning of the 190
Page 5 and 6: numbers of robotic welding cells. N
Page 7 and 8: considerable number of technologica
Page 9: From 500 to 300,000 parts per annum
Page 13 and 14: down from 2∏ hours to 45 minutes.
Page 15 and 16: tronico” figure who possessed a c

Issue n. 3 - April 2005Download pdf - BLM GROUP

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