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SUCCESS STORIES | ||||
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Not long after crossing the Canadian border, a modern steel structure comes into view. Though only a couple of stories tall, the dark gray building’s sleek design and well maintained landscaping cause it to stand out. Once inside, corrugated metal on the building’s exterior gives way to steel—lots of it. The steel isn’t part of the building’s architecture. Instead it is stacked on the ground waiting to be fabricated into beams and other components that will one day rise from the ground forming the frame work for hotels, schools, commercial buildings, community centers, sports complexes, and more. Thousands of tons of steel pass through the building, occupied by Canadian-based Norgate Metal, every year. And though steel construction is nothing new, Norgate knows it has to continually come up with better and more efficient ways of fabricating its steel to remain a viable player in a highly competitive and price sensitive market. Fluctuating steel prices only add to the pressure. Fortunately for Norgate, its manufacturing processes are as modern as its building. Using a PythonX from Burlington Automation, a fellow Canadian company that manufactures steel fabrication equipment, Norgate has turned what is often a manual process involving several steps, into an automated process involving just one step. The PythonX uses plasma cutting technology to process 3D structural steel shapes such as beams, channels, square and rectangular tubes, iron and plate. Minimal material handling—an enormous plus when dealing with 60 foot long steel beams that weigh at least 2,000 pounds—drastically reduces the space and labor expenses associated with a multi-step process. In the past, the beams Norgate was in the process of manufacturing were moved around the plant, making stops at several stations along the way. Bolt holes were drilled in one station. Beams cut in another. Copes, bevels, slots, notches, and piece marks were made at a third station using hand tools like oxyfuel torches and numbering stamps. Now with the PythonX, drills, saws, punching machines, and oxyfuel torches are all gone replaced by a single plasma torch connected to a HyPerformance HPR260XD system from Hypertherm, a manufacturer of advanced metal cutting systems in New Hampshire. The Hypertherm torch is capable of quickly moving from thinner sections of the beam to thicker flanges, cutting AISC-approved bolt holes and making bevels in no time without any operator intervention. The time savings are significant. The process of making just one bevel on a beam could take up to 20 minutes under the old process, when the time needed to move the beam, read and interpret the drawing, take measurements, make the bevel, and grind away excess metal were considered. Today the same process takes 25 seconds. Cutting copes in a beam could take 10 minutes to fabricate manually. Today it takes 45 seconds. Slots which used to take 6 minutes by hand, take 7 seconds. Faster processing, minimal cutting time spent per piece, and much less material handling has allowed Norgate Metal to take on larger jobs with faster deliveries at a lower price than shops equipped with traditional tools. Once the beam’s are fabricated and ready to go they make their way to facilities throughout the Northeastern United States and Canada. The company recently had an opportunity to construct a 156,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Northern New England for Hypertherm, the company that manufactures the plasma system used to cut and bevel its beams.
Thanks to the PythonX, Norgate was able to ensure the Hypertherm project—like all its projects was completed on time and on budget—ensuring happy customers for years to come.
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