Laser Metal Profiles cuts into market niche with TRUMPF lasers

“We looked at the market here in Cambridge and we knew that there were only two or three other laser cutting companies in the city at the time. We just knew that there was a need for laser cutting in this market and we were right,” says Buffone, vice president and operations manager with Laser Metal Profiles.

Company President Moore agrees with Buffone and also cites his experience in the metals sector and Buffone’s experience in laser cutting as being critical to the company’s success. “Both Carlo and I had considerable experience in both the metals and laser cutting markets. It wasn’t a matter of, 'If you build it, they will come.’

Instead, we knew the suppliers for materials and had extensive contacts within a sound customer base in the area as well. Our timing was good and the demand was high for laser cutting in the early 2000s.

“Our whole idea was to (supply) laser cutting services better than our competitors in the area. We wanted to provide quality laser cutting with superior service. A piece of cut steel is a piece of cut steel but to do it at a high level of quality and on a timely basis is what helped us,” says Moore.

Given the firm’s continuing success and growing workload, the plan worked. Today, Laser Metal Profiles (www.lasermetalprofiles.com) has 25 employees at its 15,000 sq. ft. facility in Cambridge. The company specializes in high precision, laser cutting for customers in a variety of sectors including parts for assemblies, tractor and agricultural handling and hydraulic equipment, food industry equipment, and more.

The company also offers bending, fabricating, welding, and CNC machining services. Laser Metal Profiles is ISO 9001-2000 certified. The firm works with a variety of materials including aluminum, stainless steel, and various carbon steels.

Both Buffone and Moore knew that in order to provide high quality laser cutting services, the firm needed high quality laser cutting systems. Prior to opening the company’s doors for business, Buffone and Moore compared a number of competing laser systems before selecting the TRUMPF TRUMATIC L3030 (since renamed the TruLaser 3030) laser cutting system.

Buffone singles out a number of features of TRUMPF lasers which contributed to the firm’s decision to install the first L3030 laser cutting system. “With the TRUMPF lasers, it is the way that the entire assembly of the system is manufactured including the quality of the components. I liked the fact that TRUMPF is involved not just with the cavity of the laser but with the resonator itself. In particular, the laser resonator is what impressed me the most. I also went down to see(TRUMPF’s) facility in Farmington, CT and TRUMPF just stood out from the other manufacturers in how the machine was designed and built,” says Buffone.

Adds Moore, “At the time, we had determined that TRUMPF was the Mercedes of laser cutting systems. We were looking at factors such as capability, low maintenance, and the fact that TRUMPF is always improving the technologies it employs. Those were all things that we considered. In our business, we are selling machine hours and if we have any downtime that is lost revenue right off the top. We decided that (because of the reliability of TRUMPF equipment) the TRUMPF lasers would help us avoid downtime and run at the highest capacity that we possibly could.”

According to Moore, the capacity on the first laser system was filled so rapidly that the company had to install a second TRUMPF TRUMATIC L3030 laser system approximately nine months later. Today, Laser Metal Profiles has three TRUMPF TRUMATIC L3030 laser cutting systems and a TRUMPF TrumaBend V1300 (since renamed the TruBend 5130) press brake.

All of the machines were supplied by Advanced Fabricating Machinery Inc., Mississauga, ON (www.afmcanada.com).

The installation of the third TRUMPF laser cutting system was also prompted by the company’s rapidly expanding workload, says Moore. “When the second TRUMPF laser was fully loaded with work, we didn’t have any room for emergency requirements from our customers or if a machine did break down. You always want to have some spare capacity and we installed the third TRUMPF laser to give us that additional room.”

In 2005, the company installed the TrumaBend V1300 press brake in order to expand the services that it offered to customers, says Moore. “We had more and more customers asking us to do bending and forming on parts that we were laser cutting. At that point, we were farming out that function to a third party. It got to the point where we decided we could justify doing this work inhouse.”

The TRUMATIC L3030 laser cutting system employs a 4,000 watt laser and a 5 ft. x 10 ft. table. The TRUMATIC L3030 is capable of cutting up to 3/4 in. in steel, 9/16 in. stainless steel, and 7/16 in. aluminum while maintaining tolerances of plus or minus .004 in. The TRUMPF TrumaBend V1300 press brake provides a bending force of 1,300 tons. The press brake features .0004 in. ram accuracy, a four cylinder design which ensures optimum power, an innovative crowning system, and machine springback compensation.

Given Buffone’s experience with laser cutting, training on the TRUMPF lasers was a relatively straightforward process, he says. “It was very simple in terms of training on the TRUMPF lasers. It was just a matter of passing the training onto the other operators.  I basically did all of the training internally here.”

Laser Metal Profiles’ business doesn’t show signs of slowing down anytime soon and, in fact, could lead to an expansion in the near future. “We’re at a crossroads right now because we have some limitations with the building that we are currently in. We are exploring a number of possibilities right now but for us to take our business to the next level we would want to install a more powerful 5,000 watt or 6,000 watt machine with larger tables that would allow us to laser cut larger parts. That essentially would mean a new, larger facility with different handling equipment such as overhead cranes.

“Also, our customers are asking us to take it the next step and start doing welding inhouse. Currently, we have a welding partner that we work with that does our welding in his own facility. We’re in the midst of investigating installing a more powerful laser with larger tables and adding machining and welding operations all under one roof. We are optimistic that this expansion will add to our success,” he says.

 us.trumpf.com