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Cost Cutting Champs

Wasting money outsourcing laser work, a manufacturer buys one of its own

J&N Metal Products LLC, Brazil, IN, has been on the fast track since opening its doors in July 2006. At that time, President Jordan Brown expected to work out of his basement for six months to a year and perhaps buy a laser machine in two years.

Manufacturing different types of aerospace structure assemblies and panel assemblies for private and government sectors, as well as other industrial parts, the enterprise did better than Brown expected. Within five months, J&N was in a new building, had seven employees, and was looking to purchase its own laser cutter.

“From July to December, we had outsourced $55,000 worth of laser work,” Brown said. “But, the biggest problem was lead time. The customers want their prototypes in days rather than weeks.”

With all the work it was outsourcing, J&N needed to buy its own laser sooner than predicted, Brown said. He had worked with lasers from Mazak Optonics Corp., Schaumburg, IL, with his previous employer, and considered them as an option.

“I had experience with Mazak lasers and I like the reliability of the machines,” Brown said.

However, as a start-up company he said he was apprehensive about the cost of buying a laser cutting machine.

“Then Mazak came out with the Super Turbo-X Champion hybrid laser and made it affordable,” he said.

Also, 90 percent of the components J&N were outsourcing were 1/8"-thick aluminum or thinner, and the Champion laser specializes in thin cuts, having a maximum cutting allowance of 0.47".

“That’s why I decided this machine would fit us best,” Brown said.

Quick Startup and Fast Results

It was three months from order to delivery, and the laser was operational in four days.

“They came on Monday and we were cutting production parts on Thursday,” Brown said.

He said he was eager to get the new machine going since he had been outsourcing thousands of dollars worth of sheet metal cutting jobs, costing the company and its customers time and money.

The laser had quick startup and fast results. J&N eliminated 99 percent of its total outsourcing and all of its laser work outsourcing, which resulted in the expected savings.

“The new laser machine saves us and our customers up to 40 percent on costs, plus we’re saving on transportation,” Brown said.

“A big benefit of having a machine here is convenience,” he said. “If someone drills a hole in the wrong place, we can cut another part. If we didn’t have a laser, we’d have to send it out. That takes a minimum of five days.”

Brown’s favorite feature of his new Champion is the PREview control.

“It’s simple,” he said, “and user friendly.”

The laser cutter generates a constant beam length that uniformly cuts sheets of various materials and thicknesses without changing optics, thus eliminating setup and downtime. Its Takumni closed-box frame is designed to provide vibration dampening to ensure accurate cutting.

Non-contact linear motors, which both drive and guide the axis motions on a thin film of air, create smooth acceleration and a top traverse rate of 984 ipm. The unit features a 4'×8' worktable that moves along the Y-axis.

Although J&N, as a company, began making parts for military helicopters, the laser cutter let it diversify.

“Once people in the local area found out we had a laser, we got calls daily,” Brown said. “Now, we’re getting into industrial components and parts and considering getting a second machine.”

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Mazak Optonics Corp.