Dan Davis

Attendees of TRUMPF’s virtual INTECH customer event learned how modern machine tools can make their shops more efficient.

Laura Elsner, the workforce development manager for DeWys Manufacturing, shares her thoughts on how a metal fabricator can make a difference when it comes to getting the next generation to think about manufacturing as a career.

In most instances, light guarding on a press brake is associated with a simple safety function. If the light curtain sensors on either side of the bending window pick up anything other than the metal to be bent, the safety system shuts the machine down. The operator or interloper, whatever the case...

With the increased use of specialty steels in product design, however, fabricators now may wind up working with materials that rarely were found on a shop floor only a decade ago.

The speed of fabricating is increasing at a rapid pace, but the press brake remains a bottleneck for many companies. Laser cutting and punching machines can run unattended if necessary without the need to program a robot, but the same can't be said for a press brake. Human operators still are pretty much a necessity. Advancements in bending software, however, can help to streamline the bending process. Fabricators only need to give it a try.