Specialist machinery investment for engineering company
A North Yorkshire engineering company that manufactures more than 80% of the winter maintenance and repair vehicles used on Britain’s roads has ploughed £850,000 into a new state-of-the-art laser cutter.
The machine purchased by Econ Engineering will significantly increase throughput in its engineering workshop, while also reducing the company’s carbon footprint.
The Bystar Fibre 6225 Dynamic machine uses nitrogen in the cutting process as opposed to oxygen, which will increase cutting speeds by up to 600% on metal with a thickness of up to 3mm and 400% on materials 4mm to 10mm.
As the machine uses only 50kw/hr of electricity against 98kw/hr, this will save about 75 tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
Colin Trewhitt, Econ Engineering’s factory manager, said: “The purchase of this laser cutting machine represents a significant investment for Econ, but one that will bring significant benefits.
“On average, we laser cut some 9,000 components every week, ranging in size from 100 x 50mm to 5500 x 1800mm, in aluminium/stainless steel and mild steel, and between 25 and 30 tonnes of steel plate.
“The machine will not only allow us to cut faster but will also use a fraction of the power, which was a key consideration for us.
“This technology can individually etch each component with an identification number – even on stainless steel – which will help us meet the ISO 9001:2015 for parts identification. We expect this to increase our productivity both in the factory and within our service division, as it removes ambiguity around part identification.
“Additionally, we are now exploring the viability of creating our own on-site nitrogen generation plant compared to our current method of buying in bulk.”
The family run firm, which was set up in 1969, is the country’s largest producer of winter maintenance vehicles. It also has a hire fleet of more than 800 vehicles.
