Waterjet, oxycut, plasma or laser, which cutting technology should I use?

There is significant competition in the market between different cutting technologies, whether they are intended for sheet metal, tubes or profiles. There are those that use methods of mechanical cutting by abrasion, such as waterjet and punch machines, and others that prefer thermal methods, such as oxycut, plasma or laser.

Tubular structures without welding

Tubular structures are becoming increasingly present in different industries, partly due to the slight lowering of the price of metals, but mainly due to the reduction in the costs associated with manufacturing (mainly due to the emergence of new and cheaper manufacturing machinery). Today many more companies have laser and plasma machines capable ...

“Touch & Play”- state-of-the-art technological innovation

In its effort to boost new technologies and as the leader in the international CAD/CAM market, Lantek has developed “Touch&Play” a Lantek Inside module encompassing more than 35 years of experience from Lantek in the sheet metal processing industry and new augmented reality technologies. ...

‘Progressive Corners Beveling’: The algorithm that revolutionizes the way bevels are cut

One of the biggest obstacles that the metal industry faces is cutting bevels or chamfers on corners. After months working on how to overcome the loop that is generated, we’ve developed Progressive Corners Beveling (PCB), an algorithm based on dynamic control of the 5 axes, which means that the head is progressively oriented with the angle of the ne ...

Lantek Workshop Radar, quick location in the workshop

The correct identification and location of all the workshop assets is a necessary condition for the correct implementation of efficient and effective internal logistics that can help maximize productive capacity. Traditional methods of identification and location are based on the human factor and are prone to error. Lantek Workshop Radar is Lantek ...

What Will the Machines of the Future Be Like?

If we look back in time, we will see that the machines of the future will follow the same paradigm as previous industrial revolutions, producing more at a lower cost. ...

The wind blowing in favor of the naval sector is called Industry 4.0

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has long since created an extensive network using innovation and technological progress to take advantage of all the capabilities offered to us. For some time now, it has also been proved that it brings many benefits to enterprises in all sectors, including those that may seem more complex and laborious to transform ...

What else can a MES do for you? Lantek MES, the competitive advantage of Smart Factories

The changes in the sheet metal sector start from the plant itself, connecting all the machines and areas in real time to make it more productive, thanks to the capacity of anticipation, prevention and prescription that the data emanating from the factory allow when visualised together. This optimisation is only achieved using advanced software, the ...

Lantek Flex3d Steelwork, for the design and optimisation of profile cutting

One of the fields of greatest technological development of the sector is the manufacture of tubes, both the development of machine operations and the software solutions that solve the different cases that arise to customers. The key, of course, is the capacity to attend and solve the heterogeneity of possible cases, considering that there are a ser ...

Combined plasma and water jet cutting machines to speed up production

An increase in the competitive pressure of the digital environment is forcing us to look for more time and cost effective means and greater productivity, requiring greater efforts in R&D to find innovative solutions in the metal and sheet metal industry. And in this search for better performance, two traditionally antagonistic technologies have joi ...

Technological progress of Thermal cutting: from Oxycut to Fiber Laser

Historically, different material cutting technologies have been developed for different sectors of the market, each with its advantages but also disadvantages and limitations. Usually they have been developed around a single type of cutting, but for some time now combined methodologies are being used, such as water and plasma, punching and laser or ...

The importance of proper plant orchestration to be more competitive

In an environment where everything is increasingly interconnected and processes are fed from this exchange of data, the orchestration of the systems in a factory is becoming ever more important. This refers to the need to organize, order and coordinate production within the company, a balanced distribution of tasks in which every element must parti ...

Lantek, "the Android" of sheet metal cutting

We are international, and not only because we have a physical presence in more than a hundred countries and provide support in almost twenty languages, but also because our desire to assist clients as they move toward a Smart Factory leads us to strive for uniform and standardized processes from the outset so that machines can collect information a ...

Seven Lantek technologies used in the manufacture of domestic appliances

Washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, kitchen construction, industrial machinery for the food sector, etc. Technology with the Lantek seal is making its mark on the consumer goods entering homes, hotels, restaurants or educational and work centers all around the world. It involves the use of the sheet metal manufacturing software in the home applia ...

In-Workshop Tracking

A sheet metal workshop is a complex environment. Regardless of whether it’s a large or small workshop, every day there are materials, orders, and tools constantly moving from one side to the other. Without proper organization it’s easy for everything to quickly fall into chaos. As a result, all workshops have their own way of organizing and managin ...

Lantek Flex3dTubes: Solving a Variety of Issues

One of the most highly technologically-developed fields in the industry is tube manufacturing, with regard to the development of both machine operations and software solutions that solve a plethora of issues customers face. The key, of course, is the ability to respond to and solve a multitude of potential scenarios, considering that there are a nu ...

Smart Nesting, when the tool and the engineer go hand in hand

Material waste and a lack of agility in nesting or the nesting of parts are two of the most common problems faced by metal processing companies which slow down the company’s response time for its clients and make the process more expensive. This is due to them not using the appropriate technology in order to fully exploit each piece of sheet metal ...

Innovating within the concept of Smart Manufacturing

Identifying behavioral patterns to increase sales, foreseeing possible problems in order to resolve them before they happen, managing stock in a much more efficient way or redistributing the workload automatically. These are some of the many smart manufacturing possibilities offered by this new concept in the Industry 4.0 era. ...

Lantek stands out with its nesting solutions

In addition to the advantages of its products for the general market, Lantek nesting solutions offer added benefits like auto nesting, nesting of remnants via kits, with significant time and material savings. ...

Excellence in Shop Floor Control

Shop floor control is a key component that substantially affects the decision-making process of any company. In this article, we will analyze the scope of efficient resource management and its related activities to help companies successfully transition from planning to reality. ...

Metal parts around the clock

Two years ago, Hollandsteel started producing metal parts for the Dutch market in a brand-new factory. Its machines are running 24 hours for an ever-increasing number of clients and its concept could be trendsetting for the industry. An interview with Ruud Appel of Holland Steel and Christoph Lenhard, sales director of Lantek Germany. ...

Which cutting technology is the most suited to your plant?

Thirty years ago, the global distribution of sheet metal cutting machine-tools was dominated by the oxycut variety (large thicknesses) and, to a lesser extent, the plasma variety (small thicknesses). There was a niche for punching machines along with water jet and laser machines. The latter were aimed at thicknesses less than 5mm and were expensive ...

When automation opens the door to advanced manufacture

It has taken more than two centuries for us to travel from the First Industrial Revolution to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and be able to truly refer to advanced manufacturing. Yes, manufacturing which generates and applies knowledge and experience, combined with state-of-the-art technology and innovations that enable products, production proce ...

Innovation in the production of tubes and piping parts

Transporting water, protecting cables, channeling energy... There are round ones, square ones, rectangular ones or open profiles. They’re everywhere, from electrical appliances to awnings, including canopies, trailers or all types of machinery for the industrial sector. They are also manufactured in different materials, but the one we’re interested ...

10 Key Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Management Software for the Sheet Metal Industry

Nowadays, practically all organizations have a number of technological plant management solutions that they use to resolve certain issues. Each one delivers, although in response to new needs, multiple tools are being incorporated, creating more complex environments that sometimes complicate plant control. ...

Lantek exhibits manufacturing technology expertise at FABTECH 2019

Hundreds of visitors spoke with experts at our booth and attended numerous speaking sessions about streamlining manufacturing operations by creating a digital thread between CAD/CAM, MES, ERP, and analytical systems with Lantek solutions. ...

Cloud Computing: the advantages of being in the cloud for the metal industry

Digital transformation is making increasingly decentralized environments possible. As well as mobile devices and software tools that interconnect machines and processes while capturing data, storing all of the information generated by factories in the cloud makes it possible for us to take greater advantage of all of the information in a more strea ...

Project Management Software: from Product to Solutions

Project-based management is increasingly common within the world of software. The increasingly digitized environment requires comprehensive software solutions that provide relatively simple solutions to organizations’ productivity issues. This has forced partners like Lantek to offer customized solutions that efficiently respond to its customers’ ...

Advanced MES & Analytics: From Machinery to the brain of the Enterprise

Until not very long ago, machines were totally dependent on orders from people. They were not autonomous and did not communicate amongst themselves, slowing production and thereby also making them more vulnerable to manual operating errors. Now, in the era of smart & digital factories, MES (manufacturing execution systems) continue to be the backbo ...

Intelligent Collision Avoidance

Lantek recently developed a new algorithm called ICA “Intelligent Collision Avoidance ) in order to minimize potential collisions between the head and unstable contours. When the new algorithm detects which contours pose a potential risk of falling and being positioned on top of nearby contours, the system automatically assigns a micro-cut at the e ...

Smart pricing

It is generally quite difficult to know exactly how much each process contributes to a product’s value chain. The sheet metal world is not immune to the difficulty of estimating the right price for the product. There is an infinite number of processes that add value to a product: material used, scrap generated, cutting time, consumables used, labor ...

Win-Win Cooperation between Han’s Laser and Lantek to embrace the future

Established in 1996 in Shenzhen, South China, Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co., Ltd was successfully stock listed in 2004. By 2010, it had already grown into a big group of companies with 6000 employees and, by 2017, it had achieved more than 1.6 billion US dollars sales turnover. Lantek has been working with Han’s Laser for a considerabl ...

Advanced punching using the Shearbutton and Easysnap tools

The updating and reformulation of technological solutions is a crucial element in solving the design, nesting, machining and manufacturing needs of companies in the metal transformation sector. This involves the monitored use of new tools, which present new challenges in the programming field to achieve the most urgent or unexpected processes. ...

Software to optimise equipment for retail outlets

Food display cabinets, refrigerators, endcaps, shelves, display cases, etc. The world of point of sale equipment in the retail sector is as diverse as are its requirements. Retail establishments require customised equipment, designed according to the specific characteristics of each premises and the type of food and drink to be preserved, with diff ...

What is Edge Computing and How Can It Help Manufacturers?

It seems that new computing methodologies are released every other year. In recent years much of the focus has been put on converting legacy systems to cloud solutions. Widespread adoption of cloud technology in all industries has helped to drive the cost of these solutions down. While cloud solutions are helping enterprises and individuals stay up ...

Solutions for optimizing the manufacturing of means of Transport

Planes, trains, boats, buses, trucks or cars are means of transport where concepts such as safety, precision, optimization and the integration of software that gives us full control of the manufactured parts’ production cycle are key in order to make us more productive and competitive in terms of deadlines, quality, costs and price. ...

When faster and more effective client response comes down to optimizing workloads

The tendency in today’s world is to manage in an increasingly intelligent way and, unsurprisingly, this affects the industrial environment, the plants and industrial facilities in which the real-time planning and optimization of productive processes is fundamental for a business’ competitiveness. In practice, this is made possible through the incor ...

Lantek MES Wos to control production in the workshop and increase efficiency

What do we ask of our factories? Efficiency and maximum quality. To do this, we need a plant data collection program at the operator’s post, the objective of which is the monitoring, control and validation of each one of the manufacturing processes, from reception of the order to the completion of production. And all of this, of course, in real tim ...

Cloud Manufacturing: seven advantages of moving your factory to the cloud

It’s the new manufacturing paradigm developed thanks to the possibilities offered by connectivity and the cloud. An increasing number of companies are offering their software associated with Cloud Manufacturing, such as ERP, CRM, MES. ...

Digital Factory: digitization of the supply chains

In this Industry 4.0 era, the new integral production strategies adopted thanks to the implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning cloud solutions; at the plant, in terms of the sensorization of machines and processes and the Internet of Things (IoT); and in products, in terms of 3D modeling and simulation systems (Digital Twins, ...

5 Questions Surrounding Manufacturing Processes for Economies of Customization

Humans have been manufacturing goods for centuries. What began as people making tools for personal survival has turned into highly automated processes producing consumer goods on a global scale. Now that we’ve become efficient in manufacturing at scale, the market is demanding customized products. This changes the way we think about processes throu ...

Smart Factory: integration of manufacturing processes in multi-location companies

Competitiveness and the capacity to adapt have become the axes that support the success of any business. Nowadays, the many changing intrinsic factors in each region and sector, macroeconomic trends of a hyperconnected global market, specific regulatory aspects in each country, or the consumer’s own behavior, can have a positive or negative impact ...

Lantek MES Wos is key to building a secure future for sheet metal manufacturers

Lantek’s MES solution for sheet metal manufacturers is designed to help companies get on the path to digitization. This software helps managers to maintain control of their manufacturing operations, delivering high quality products on time at a profit. The system additionally makes it possible to use data from the workshop to make decisions about i ...

Hybrid computing systems in Industry 4.0

There has been a considerable amount of publicity about the advantages of cloud computing and rightly so. The advantages are clear as it removes the need to have skilled people to set up and run complex in-house computer networks and also takes away the need to invest in expensive equipment and continually reinvest to keep it up to date. ...

Lantek MES + Lantek Analytics = the best combination for the Digital Factory

The challenges placed before us by Industry 4.0 in attaining a digital factory with optimum results require solutions that will help us to overcome them in solvent and error-free manner. Conscious of these challenges, Lantek has developed solutions that make it possible to gather and analyze plant data in real time and, in parallel, to improve deci ...

Multi-location - digitization: the vaccine that the metal industry needs

The industrial sector, like many others, is facing a period of uncertainty as the economic and business scenario has been radically transformed over the last few months by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing’s for sure: emerging intact from such a delicate situation doesn’t just depend on ourselves; there are many intervening factors and ...

Sherlock Edge: linking the factory to the cloud

Imagine a sheet metal factory. Hundreds of processes are taking place at the same time and all of them generate (or can potentially generate) a huge amount of invaluable data. That data can be processed and fed into the data analysis pipelines that Lantek is developing to provide advanced services targeted at improving the efficiency and performanc ...

NEVER STOP WORKING

At Lantek, we have an obsession - increasing our clients’ productivity day after day. With each evolution of our products and with each small innovation, our whole technological plan is aimed at achieving one objective: to make manufacturing better every day. Better budgeting, better analysis, better planning... ultimately, to never stop working! ...

Heavy and light boilerworks, solutions for the HVAC, oil or gas sector

From the Latin, patella, which is a large round metal pot or vessel, boilermaking (pailería, in Spanish) or boilerworks is a technique used for cutting and joining pieces of metal or sheet metal in order to produce metallic deposits to store and/or transport materials, be they solids, liquids or gasses. They tend to be large pieces which are shaped ...

Xteg buys Chinese machines with quality components from Germany

Cost-effective and likewise high-quality fiber laser cutting machines for the processing of metal and sheet metal including all services – that´s the offer of Xteg. The laser machines come from their Chinese partner HGTECH, where currently and after the shut down due to the corona epidemic in China production picks up speed rapidly. The quality com ...

Simplifying the quoting process

Financial planning is one of the most important activities to ensure the smooth running of a business, and more so in the metal and sheet metal processing industry. There are many elements to take into account within this planning process, but it would be fair to say that preparing quotes is one of the most critical. The quote is like a map for a t ...

How to optimize the production of elevators, escalators, mobile ramps and walkways

The final consumer uses it daily, at least, during their working day. We take for granted that our residential buildings, offices or businesses have it, as do airports, hospitals, factories or ports, even means of transport. Ultimately, every building or infrastructure of a certain size that relies upon automatic movement inside it to facilitate th ...

Lantek solutions for integrating a corporate ERP

“I need to integrate my (ERP) Enterprise Resource Planning system. How do I do it?” This question is more common that it might seem and, despite the fact that the customization of products and services is commonplace in the metal and sheet metal industry, at Lantek we wanted to provide a solution for those that already have a corporate ERP and need ...

The digitization of your company is now or never

Not so long ago we were asking ourselves whether the industry was mature enough to deal with digitization processes. It wasn’t long before the market gave us its response, just like in many other areas, those that were ready were few, the majority found themselves in the middle ground waiting for others to get going to see whether the digitization ...

Digital Factory, when digitization is synonymous with competitiveness

The industrial sector is a country’s growth pillar, it’s the competitive advantage of an economy that is able to generate quality employment opportunities that are stable and well recognized both professionally and in terms of salary. However, to sustain these strengths, we need to innovate, renew ourselves and anticipate the progress that is avail ...

Digitalization and remote working: two concepts combined to bring us the opportunity to work everywhere

As we saw at the start of the pandemic, digitized companies have been those best able to overcome the limitations of confinement. They have also had, and continue to have, the greatest potential to succeed in these times of uncertainty. In times of coronavirus, the value of connectivity has been recognized for its ability to enable productive activ ...

Lantek’s solutions for reliable quotations

The process of selling a new product or project is a particularly delicate one and bringing it to fruition depends, in many cases, on having carried out a correct cost analysis. Experience shows that accurate quoting in a sector such as sheet metal and metal is not a simple task. Many parameters and variables must be considered and if any are misse ...

The value of connectivity in a Factory

In this era of pandemic, connectivity has shown just how valuable it is. Following lockdown, manufacturers adapted their workflow and the way they operated in order to continue producing. Those that were able to work remotely did so to maintain safety distances. But... what are the differences between factories with varying levels of connectivity? ...

When Data is at the service of manufacturing intelligence

The Digital Factory is much more than a concept or an increasingly widespread expression, it’s a methodology aimed at the 21st-century company, a company that simply must be linked to technology and digitization. ...

Reinventing coil-fed laser cutting

Although it may seem relatively new, coil-fed cutting 2D parts is a reasonably old practice and isn’t, for that matter, a process linked to laser. ...

I want to implement a laser cutting installation, what do I need to consider?

We are quite often faced with a recurring question from our clients, companies that have made the complicated decision to buy a laser cutting machine but have no clear criterion or contrast data to help them find out which is the right machine for them. ...

The automation of processes in sheet metal plants, lever for competitiveness

Even before the pandemic, the automation of processes in sheet metal plants was a lever for competitiveness, but now, following the impact of Covid, it has become an indispensable competitive advantage for any factory that wants to survive scenarios as disruptive as the ones that we are witnessing. ...

The importance of making data-based decisions in the sheet metal industry

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the importance of making decisions that are based on objective and accurate data. The reliability and quality of said data is fundamental and we must know exactly which data to use in order to justify decisions and add value. But we can’t just use any old data. ...

Software for the coexistence of different sheet metal cutting machines at the same plant

Typically, a second machine tool is added to plants in an attempt to increase production and/or diversify. However, we are also seeing it as a phenomenon aimed at resolving the issue with small series. This occurs when there’s a machine with a large automated production capacity which is expensive to interrupt in order to manufacture small series. ...

Close to our clients, always

When we write the history of this decade, 2020 will be remembered as the year that marked a turning point, imposing important changes on our lives and on our jobs. ...

Reinventing client proximity in times of Covid-19

COVID-19 has evidently marked a before and after in many areas, from healthcare to social worlds, including that of business, forcing companies to change the way in which we work, both with our team and with our clients, the most important aspect of any business. ...

Lantek Analytics, your factory’s analytic business intelligence is just a click away

As plant manager or head of production, how much do you know about your factory? Have you identified and located every last piece of information? Do you know the efficiency of each machine? How about the workshop? Of each business area and the plant as a whole? ...

Opportunities of the digital transformation of industrial machinery

When facing the current environment of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) which is also highly competitive, the digitization of industrial material is an essential differential value in order to quickly adapt to market requirements. It’s a must in order to optimize plant production and respond to new consumption habits that re ...

Tamás Kutnyánszky, CEO of Lamitec

Lantek interviews Tamás Kutnyánszky, CEO of Lamitec, the new distributor of Lantek In Hungary. ...

Digitize your plant to reduce machining errors

Digitization is changing the way we manufacture, simplifying and improving the production processes of the sheet metal and metal industry with digital solutions that optimize manufacturing. And the machining sector is no exception. ...

5 challenges for the metal and sheet metal cutting industry

Ultimately, the crux of the matter is to optimize plant production in order to mass-produce customized parts without increasing costs and while also boosting productivity, that’s why using Industry 4.0 enabling technologies is vital. We’re talking about both the sensorization of plants with Internet of Things (IoT) technology and advanced software ...

Laser or water jet? Two different, but complimentary, cutting machines

They emerged at practically the same time, during the second half of the 1960s, and although they use antagonistic technologies and processes, in a metal or sheet metal factory both complement each other because they are unbeatable in their respective niches, as we’re about to find out. ...

OEE systems: find out the real performance of your plant

In the industrial sector, being aware of your plant’s profitability is key factor in remaining competitive. This is even more important in the new digital ecosystem, where remote working has been incorporated into our day-to-day life making it necessary to use artificial intelligence technology and sensors to be more efficient. To make this possibl ...

How to optimize raw material consumption in a sheet metal factory

This post focuses on making savings in raw material consumption in the sheet metal industry, something that’s crucial in this sector. ...

The shipbuilding sector in the orbit of digitalisation

Innovation, competitiveness, Industry 4.0, technology, digitalisation... These are terms that have been used in combination for some time now in practically all leading industrial sectors, including the shipbuilding sector, whose transformation "a priori" may be more complex. ...

Lantek reinforces its OEM collaboration policy -Open systems the route to the Smart Factory-

Lantek has been a leader in the sheet metal industry for 35 years and one of the key activities it has been working on since its inception is collaboration and support for OEM machine tool manufacturers in the sector. Not only has this collaboration helped OEMs to solve technological problems, optimising the functionality and performance of their m ...

Technology and Industry 4.0: meeting the challenge with the right partner

Industry 4.0 is in the news and companies in every sector are becoming aware of the terminology. Its potential for improving productivity is immense. But we must remember that this concept includes dozens of very different technologies, each with different implications and results. The challenge for industrial companies is to understand the possibi ...

System Integration or Integrated Systems?

Is it possible today to answer unequivocally which approach is better? Over the last few decades, integrated systems for business management have appeared on the market, replacing a number of separate solutions dedicated to individual areas, such as: manufacturing, warehousing, outsourcing, invoicing, accounting, human resources and payroll. These ...

How does Changsha Meiyu Electrical operate efficiently?

Changsha Meiyu Electrical is one of the most powerful suppliers of precision sheet metal, railway transit, aluminum alloy welded structural parts and one-stop complete electrical equipment in Hunan. It is a high-tech enterprise integrating design, production, sales and service. ...

Lantek helps Mace Industries take construction to new heights

Mace Industries specializes in the design and manufacture of conveyers, roof loaders, elevators, hoists and soil and aggregate screeners for the construction industry. These products were designed by the company to fill a need for a faster, simpler and less labour intensive way to get tiles to scaffolding at roof level – avoiding potentially danger ...

Lantek Systems Introduces Flex3d Tubes for Flexible Tube Cutting and Design and Reduced Scrap

Lantek Systems’ Flex3d Tubes is an intuitive software program that allows precise cutting of tubular parts, eliminating scrap and increasing throughput. Available within the Lantek Manager and Integra software, Flex3d Tubes seamlessly integrates with different types of tubular geometry import tools such as SAT and IGES. Additionally, programmers ca ...

Energy and resource saving series with Lantek software - Part 1

In today’s industry, keeping costs low while maintaining competitiveness is essential for companies in the sheet metal production sector. With the rising prices of raw materials and energy, finding ways to optimize operations has become increasingly important. Lantek, a technology leader in the field with a global customer base of over 30,000, has ...