About Ton Van Leeuwen Snijwerken
For almost 30 years, Ton Van Leeuwen Snijwerken in Harmelen has been cutting a variety of products out of sheet metal for contractors and the transport sector, among others. During that time, the company grew from a one-man business to a regionally valued fixture. Their large workshop is home to a range of oxyfuel and plasma cutting machines for various applications. A second hall additionally houses a waterjet cutting machine.
An increasing number of construction companies are buying their own laser cutting equipment. Instead of competing directly with their own clientele by investing in a laser cutting machine themselves, Ton Van Leeuwen decided to focus on thicker plate material.
“We noticed over the last few years that a fair amount of our cutting work is disappearing because construction companies are increasingly buying their own (laser) cutting machines. And that will only get easier and more lucrative as the current generation of laser machines can cut sheets up to 15 mm thick without any problems. If we want to keep this work, we have to compete with our own customers’ and that is not an approach that suits our company,” says managing director Erwin Werrie.
In response to the shift in the market, Ton Van Leeuwen is investing in a MicroStep EasyCut. The sixth machine they purchase at Wouters Cutting & Welding.
“Not only because these machines meet our requirements in terms of quality, but also because Wouters always provides excellent service. And that is very important for a smaller company such as ourselves. We want to be able to simply trust that if we have questions, but especially if there are problems, we will receive a response as quickly as possible and preferably a solution.
Just like us, the technicians at WCW do not have a ‘9-to-5 mentality’, so if there is something really wrong, they are at our doorstep within two hours. On the one hand, you might be dependent on one supplier, but on the other hand you just know you are working with a good partner and that you have uniformity in your machinery. Valuable with regard to logistics, maintenance and operation.” says Werrie.
With the MicroStep, they can cut sheet material from 30 to 300 mm. This allows them to attract new customers, but also to offer existing customers an extra service.
With 6 burners and 3 gas consoles, you have a lot of options and you also work at lightning speed. The machine has one master burner carriage that is fully autonomously controlled and 5 slave burner carriages that can be linked to the master burner carriage. These slave burner carriages are automatically coupled at the correct spacing thanks to the automatically controlled pneumatic coupling system. On top of that, the software is set up so that, while the machine is cutting, you can continue programming. No unnecessary waiting times, therefore.
Naturally, the team received extensive training to ensure smooth operation of the machine.
“On their own, all machines do not really differ from each other in terms of controls and are even quite simple. Still, it is good to learn the complete cutting process all over again from the basics. Some things you forget, sometimes habits creep in and, of course, there are always new things you just need to know first.”
Wouters Cutting & Welding took care of the delivery, installation and training. And that’s the go-ahead for a machine that will give Ton Van Leeuwen years of productivity.
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