ART CNC plasma cutter pays

A plasma cutter from Advanced Robotic Technology has helped a sheetmetal processing company enhance its production levels multi-fold with ROI on the equipment achieved in just six months.

Progress Air, based in Hoxton Park, NSW makes sheetmetal parts for air-conditioning systems, servicing the local HVAC&R industry for more than 16 years. To serve their customers better in an increasingly competitive industry, Progress Air carried out a careful evaluation of various CNC plasma cutting machines before deciding to install an ART CNCXRP4800 plasma cutter in June 2012.

The ART CNCXRP4800 plasma cutter is well-known for its simplicity and ability to cut virtually any metal. Added to its productivity, these qualities convinced Company Director Rod Peters about the machine’s suitability.

Since the installation of the ART plasma cutter, the company’s production levels have gone through the roof. Additionally, Progress Air has managed to cut the monthly material expenses by more than half, mainly due to the nesting function, which leverages the mathematical processing power of the PC to optimise material usage and reduce cost. The company processes mild steel, galvanised steel, aluminium and stainless steel with the plasma cutter.

While Mr Peters is very happy with the CamDuct software being used at present, he is also considering investing in higher-level nesting software such as ART’s in-house ToolShop software because nesting software can play additional roles in three other areas: integration, automation and part quality.

Though the company did consider cheaper Chinese and American equipment, they decided to go with an ART machine, manufactured, sold and serviced in Australia by local people. Mr Peters explains that ART’s machines are serviced from Brisbane and are Australian-made.

According to Mr Peters, it took as little as six months for the machine to pay for itself, which is definitely worth the investment for the small workshop. Though he regrets his decision to opt for a small 3m table, he plans to get a bigger table to process two sheets at once, when they move to bigger premises. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.careel-tech.com.

ART’s CNC plasma cutter is also being used by Progress Air on subcontracted jobs from other sheetmetal companies. Mr Peters is very pleased with ART’s service and training, saying that it only took about two hours to run the first job on the machine after installation.

Our client is one of the leading global service providers within the Oil and Gas industry. They are currently seeking experienced CNC machinists to work in an exciting team in an impressive workshop. The firm is actively expanding internationally and work with all of the global Oil Majors, so this would be an excellent move for a qualified CNC specialist to advance their career.

In this position you will be responsible for programming, setting as well as operating a wide variety of special purpose and conventional CNC and Semi NC machine tools. This will include reading and interpreting engineering designs and drawings. You may be required to provide support for other members in the team, to help the development of the team.