This is an interesting time for metal service centers to find themselves.Many find that they must provide some level of manufacturing services to help them differentiate themselves from other service centers.They’ve seen a drastic consolidation on the factory side, and wondered if factories wanted to have parts of the supply chain, like they did in Europe, where factories have distributors.They also have to contend with a shrinking manufacturing base.
It may not sound like the most pleasant of times, but where there is unrest, there is opportunity.Seasoned companies recognize this.
The latest purchase is a Trumpf 8kW laser, which became available late last year, including a Trumpf TruLaser 5060 two-dimensional (2D) slab laser with an 8kW resonator called the TruFlow 8000
This is where TW Profile Services (Pty) Ltd is located.This 22-year-old service center has grown tremendously over the years by offering a range of metalworking services and customer service, giving you an idea of the team’s goals to keep the business alive and strong for the next 100 years.
The company has approximately 24,000 square meters of inventory and manufacturing space on Craig Road, Underbolt, Boxburg, Gauteng, with 9,200 square meters available under the roof.
Service Diversity Company with 300 employees (200 in workshop, 100 in office) equipped with laser cutting, plasma cutting, profiling, bending, countersinking, guillotine, drilling and rolling equipment and other equipment for forming and cutting Operations of Metals. It has a fleet of 21 delivery trucks handling approximately 24 000 tonnes of material per year.The main input materials used include all grades of stainless and carbon steel, and to a lesser extent aluminium and some exotic materials.
The company processes materials in a variety of structural shapes, sheets and plates and, more recently, tubes.
One step ahead – Chasing non-traditional markets eliminates processes, speeds up production and improves quality to keep service centers one step ahead of the competition.But combining that with chasing unconventional markets can take them even further.
Joost Smuts, now managing director of TW Profile Services, Willie van den Berg, Joost’s uncle and Tony Smith, one of his original partners, started the company back in 1994 at the Refinery Road Scrap Metal Plant. operates in a small building., Jemiston.
“Willie has been retired for some time and is no longer a shareholder, while Tony is still employed by TW Profile Services. As the company expanded, I saw the need to expand my partner team and found my brothers Martin Smuts, Ben Riley and later Mohammed Daya and Gideon Janse van Vuuren joined.”
TW Profile Services is chasing the non-traditional market by processing imported thick plates from 100mm to 300mm, which are not readily available in South Africa, and compliant with TW Profile Services
“The company was established in February 1994, and before we knew it we moved to a bigger factory. In 1998 we purchased our first factory on Moeller Street, Germiston.”
“We stayed there until we moved to our current location where we built ourselves in 2009.”
“From the beginning, our philosophy was that to be successful, we had to stand out from everyone else, and we still hold on to that today.”
“Traditionally, in a service center, you would take a standard-sized sheet or sheet of metal, feed it or load it onto a machine, and then boom, boom, boom or cut, cut, cut and take out components. We don’t We do. We work with metal and want to operate in a space that others are usually afraid to step into. It’s not a revolutionary approach, but when presented to buyers who don’t have a deep understanding of metalworking, it Seems like the most unique idea in the world.”
“Even today, this kind of thinking is still considered ‘unconventional’. Old-school thinking companies are so accustomed to high-volume material handling that it’s not easy to develop other areas of their business, and that’s pretty much what we It’s second nature. Don’t get me wrong, we’re still a high-volume processor, but it’s an area of mastering and deploying new technologies in our business, looking to jump into new opportunities, such as taking 50mm stainless steel processing, which brings us into a field where the company is thriving.”
Director of TW Profile Services.From left to right: Ben Riley, Mohammed Daya, Gideon Janse van Vuuren, Martin and Joost Smuts, and Shaun Waring
“Despite this talk, a service center is only as good as its on-time delivery. The company motto is: ‘We guarantee fast delivery, no matter how long it takes!”
Comprehensive In-Depth Look “We only started our laser cutting division in 2003 when Shaun Waring joined as a shareholder. Shaun has been working in the metal industry since 1994 and has extensive experience in laser cutting. This experience has proven to be very valuable to the company It’s an invaluable addition.”
“We are by no means the first in laser cutting, but we believe we were one of the first to purchase Trumpf 5kW and subsequently Trumpf 6kW lasers in South Africa.”
“The latest purchase is a Trumpf 8kW laser, which arrived on site late last year and is the first of its kind in South Africa.”
“The machine is a TRUMPF TruLaser 5060 two-dimensional (2D) flat-panel laser with an 8kW resonator called the TruFlow 8000, which increases the laser’s cutting capacity by 100% when melting stainless steel and aluminum. When cutting 50mm stainless steel with a 6 kW laser, the TruFlow 8000 is twice the maximum stainless steel plate thickness previously specified.”
The company wasn’t afraid to go big and bought two Prima Power lasers.Both have bed dimensions of 24 000 mm x 3 000 mm
“Previously, 25mm stainless steel would be cut with a standard plasma cutter, with somewhat rough edges. However, we are now able to cut 25mm stainless steel and produce a perfect edge using the BrightLine feature, which, among other features, has improved cutting parameters. ”
“The bed size on this machine is 6 meters long and 2 meters wide. As you can see, we are not afraid to offer our customers the service of cutting thicker materials and larger size sheets.”
Cutting Capability TW Profile Services has a total of 10 laser cutters, including eight Trumpf machines and two 24m x 3m Prima Power machines, capable of cutting carbon steel from 0.5mm to 25mm thick, including boiler plate, aluminium from 0.5mm to 20mm and 50mm stainless steel.
On the profiling side, they have eight multi-head profiling machines that can cut material from 6mm to 300mm.
In the plasma department, they have two ESAB plasma cutters.One is a high-definition plasma machine capable of cutting 4mm to 25mm sheets.The other is conventional plasma, capable of cutting plates up to 60mm in stainless and carbon steel.These machines are also capable of engraving bend lines, part numbers and hole centers.Both machines are capable of cutting 12 mx 3 m, the largest sheet size currently available.
Bending, Guillotine and Rolling TW Profile Services is also well equipped in this department and is an important value-added service for its customers.
The company has five press brakes with bending capacities ranging from 0.5mm to 12mm on a 4m length on-site and an additional 25mm on a 6m off-site length.The bending equipment includes two Ermaksan press brakes
Countersinking is done on two Quaser CNC machining centers and five radial drills.The CNC bed size is limited to 1 500mm x 600mm.
Both machines provide on-site rolling service with the following limitations – rolling thicknesses up to 8mm and widths up to 2.5m.Additional rolling services can be provided off-site for 80mm plates over 3m wide.
Tube Laser Processing TW Profile Services also owns the services of a sister company TW Tube Laser and Processing located near Kent Street in Underbolt.Last year, the company installed a 6-axis BLM 14 tube laser machine and a BLM LT Fiber tube laser.
The large diameter BLM 14 tube laser machine with 3D capability can process profiles up to 355 mm with a wall thickness of 20 mm, can handle profiles up to 13 m in length, both in and out, and is capable of machining large hollow profiles, open structures Sections, such as H, I, angles, and channels, have minimal human-machine interface.
The BLM 14 machine can process mild steel, high strength steel, alloy steel and stainless steel.No special fixtures are required, simplifying high-volume production and low-volume prototyping.
The multi-axis cutting head on the 6-axis BLM LT 14 tube laser enables oblique cutting, weld preparation and chamfering of holes without moving the tube, ensuring excellent productivity and cut quality.
On the profiling side, they have eight multi-head profiling machines that can cut material from 6mm to 300mm.In the plasma department, they have two ESAB plasma cutters.One is a high-definition plasma machine capable of cutting 4mm to 25mm sheets.The other is conventional plasma, capable of cutting plates up to 60mm in stainless and carbon steel.These machines are also capable of engraving bend lines, part numbers and hole centers.Both machines are capable of cutting 12 mx 3 m, the largest sheet size currently available
TW Profile Services recently purchased a Weber polisher from Retecon Machine Tools
“We went out of the box again on this issue. At the time, it was the largest and most automated machine of its kind in South Africa,” says Joost.
The BLM LT fiber tube laser, with capacities up to 152 mm, can process tubes and profiles up to 6.5 m in length and up to 4.5 m in finished product.It features a fiber laser cutting system with the following additional benefits: programmable and automatic settings, automatic changeover in just two minutes, reduced power consumption and installed power, and higher beam quality for faster cutting speeds with laser power ratio and reduce maintenance costs.
“The market for cutting round and square tubes up to 140mm is well served. Just like our LT 14, we have to think about what else we can offer the market, what advantages does the LT Fiber have over other machines, what makes We are different? Our strength in the tube laser market is the ability to cut diameters from 12mm to 355mm on our tube laser machines.”
Similar plans to differentiate the service center are continuing to strive to be as different as possible from the competition.This is mandatory.This is independent living.
“As our electricity consumption is high, we needed to look for possible solutions. The result was that the company recently installed a 200kW solar panel system supplied by Passat Energy,” says Joost.
I also noticed that TW Profile Services, a company that is ready and willing to apply new technology to grow its business and possibly be the first, has not ventured into fiber cutting with its flat panel lasers.
The company has five press brakes with bending capacities ranging from 0.5mm to 12mm on a 4m length on-site and an additional 25mm on a 6m off-site length.The bending equipment includes two Ermaksan press brakes
Countersinking and drilling are done on two Quaser CNC machining centers supplied by F&H Machine Tools, the CNCs are limited to 1 500 mm x 600 mm bed size
“We are well aware of the benefits of fiber lasers, but they are still limited in producing the results we want to cut thicker materials. The majority of our cuts do occur on thinner gauge materials, but we believe we have Materials processing in heavy engineering industries such as rail transport has gained a lot of business.”
“S355 boards with a thickness of 100mm and below are readily available in the local market. From 100mm to 300mm, our local factories are not producing to our standards. So we now import this material from China, along with cloth Quenched and tempered materials with a Runell hardness of 400 and 500.”
“But in the near future, we may make a change in fiber, because we hear about developments in the 25mm range.”
TW Profile Services owns eight Trumpf laser cutters.The company can laser cut carbon steel materials from 0.5mm to 25mm, including boiler plates, stainless steel from 0.5mm to 20mm and 50mm
Post time: Feb-18-2022