SHORT RUNS
November 1997 Pages 70-72
www.jobshoptechnology.com

Laser Help One Stop Shop Maintain Stainless Reputation

Cumming, GA- Manufactures are always looking for the ‘ultimate job shop’-one that can punch, cut, machine, saw, weld, and paint a variety of parts, in differing quantities, at competitive prices with superior service. Though many shops strive to fit that role, few succeed.

One shop that actually 'does it all' and rightly calls itself 'a true one-stop shop' is Impulse Manufacturing, Inc. in Cumming, Georgia, just north of Atlanta.

Ron Baysden, President of Impulse, knows such claims put considerable pressure on his staff, but they respond to the challenge.

Impulse runs approximately half its work in various grades of stainless for its customers in the food, poultry, bottling, and cryogenic industries. Other materials run include copper sheet and bar, aluminum, and various plastics. Material thicknesses run from 26 gauge to one inch.

Impulse also makes parts used in electrical power systems, sheet metal cabinetry and boxes, and tubes and frames of many types.

Ron Baysden points to the reason his company's reputation remains (stainless' as a full-service, one-stop shop. "Our customers typically have all their components for an assembly made here to eliminate the hassle of multiple vendors for a product line. If we let them down on even one component, their whole process is in trouble. We simply will not tolerate that," Baysden concluded.

This 30,000 square foot job shop houses a variety of machine tools where it produces sheet metal parts, CNC vertical machined parts, CNC turned parts, as well as MIG/TIG welded components.

During the company's first 10 years in business, conventional machine tools did all the work. Then, in 1995, the company purchased its first high-pressure, gas assist CO, laser. Since then, it purchased a second laser with a dual pallet shuttle and workplace litter from the same supplier, Mitsubishi. Both lasers have five by ten foot work tables. The second laser is equipped with two such tables that shuttle.

"Most of our laser work was taken off turret press and CNC machines. The speed and accuracy are my favorite features, though there are many," boasts Baysden. "Programming these lasers is the easiest of all our CNC machines. We typically have parts in the shipping department off the lasers before we can set up tooling on other machines in our shop. The speeds on the Mitsubishi machine are simply phenomenal, especially in clean-cutting stainless steel. This is very important for our customers in food and cryogenics.

"The lasers' accuracy and edges are well within five thousandths (0.005 inch) with no problem. Plus, the savings in tooling, productivity, and turnaround times slam-dunked our own conventional machine tools for basic hole-making and contour shapes.

Material yield is a major cost factor with stainless, and our lasers reduce the web and punch-out areas to an almost negligible amount, compared to turret presses." Tolerances on the lasers range from gross to --0.001 inch, with ±0.005 inch on flat patterns. Sheet metal tolerances run from 0.005 to 0.020 inch per customer needs.

Impulse now produces numerous parts that previously would have been ‘no quote' situations. Thus, the company's business base has expanded while providing better and more services to existing customers, a classic win-win scenario.

Though part runs range from one to several thousand at Impulse, the typical job is one to 100 pieces.

Ron Baysden has been pleased with Mitsubishi, his laser supplier.

"Their equipment is fast, accurate, reliable and has great up-time in our production shop. Plus-and this is important to me-their service people have always been very responsive. They have a sense of urgency in solving problems and getting our machines back on-line. In fact, we recently bought a press brake from Mitsubishi. The speed and accuracy of this machine compliment the same features on the lasers. There's no question our previous experiences with the company's quality, service and personnel played a role in our decision to buy the brake."