HMNB is the home port to 60% of the Royal Navy's surface ships – in fact, naval shipbuilding and repair operations have been core business at the site since the first dock was built in 1194. There are now over 3,000 BAE Systems employees working on HMNBP and just like the scale of the operation, the parts produced here are predominantly large in size.
“We have existing large bed laser cutters, however, for light plate work between 1mm and 20mm thick, the big machines don't handle this in an optimum way. As a result we decided to seek an alternative solution,” states Trevor Parsons, production engineer at BAE Systems.
BAE Systems wanted a machine that not only processed flat sheet and plate, but also offered integrated tube/section cutting negating the reliance on sawing machines for cutting material of this nature. With this in mind, the major reason for selecting the Amada FO3015 was the option to add a rotary index tube cutter, which in combination with Amada software Dr ABE Blank and Dr ABE Tube makes for a powerful combination. There are 45,000 components that are suitable for cutting with the Amada machine's rotary index.
“Amada were the only supplier that could offer an integrated solution for bar cutting that was well matched to our light plate shop requirements,” Mr Parsons explained. “It gives us the flexibility we need to go from flat sheet cutting to box/angle/section and pipe cutting at fast speeds. We can also cut angle section and channel with non-uniform wall thickness – a common challenge on our parts.”
Installed in February 2012, the Amada FO3015 runs all day between 6.30am and 4pm when the light fabrication hall is manned, following which the machine will typically run two programs lights out, with each job running for two to three hours. This is facilitated by automated Amada pallet change technology, providing another new capability at the Portsmouth facility.
“The Amada FO3015 is perfectly suited to the smaller size of our light plate parts, making it a very efficient solution,” Mr Parsons concluded. An additional benefit is that we can recycle the offcuts produced on our larger machines for use on the Amada. The parts come off the machine with a really clean finish and so require no further operations.”
Amada
www.amada.co.uk
