Fibre laser technology revolutionising sheet metal fabrication

By OEM Update Editorial June 10, 2020 1:19 pm IST

All our future products will certainly focus on the needs of Industry 4.0-enabled products, and we are ready to clasp this change.
Messer Cutting Systems is a 120-year-old global solution provider for the metalworking industry. Prashant Chaturvedi, General Manager – Oxyfuel Business and Head – Marketing, Messer Cutting Systems India Private Limited, talks about their oxyfuel, plasma and laser cutting systems that are designed to enable their customers to achieve their manufacturing goals with high productivity, flexibility, and quality products.

Can you talk about your key product profile? Are there any recent developments in your product range?
We are the manufacturers of both high-speed fibre laser cutting machines and CNC plasma cutting machines at our factory in Coimbatore. FiberBlade V is our latest offering in high-speed metal laser cutting segment. The new fifth-generation high-speed laser cutting machine, benefitting from Messer’s high-speed cutting technology, can achieve top-level productivity in the industry. In the plasma cutting segment, we have Multitherm Pro which is our latest offering. It’s Industry 4.0 ready and it helps to achieve higher productivity with 24 m/min positioning speed and acceleration 0.04g. Moreover, we have successfully launched two of our new products during IMTEX 2020:

• Fully integrated material handling solutions with laser machine
• Next-generation CNC plasma cutting machine

Both these machines are Industry 4.0 ready, which means it can achieve higher productivity with minimal human intervention.

Fibre laser technologies are being increasingly implemented by the sheet metal industry. How do you view the market demand for laser technology?
Fibre laser technology is going to the next level now. Fibre laser technology was invented around 10 years ago, but the application gained traction only in recent years. Today, it is one of the major drivers of the sheet metal fabrication industry. So, for manufacturers, affordability towards high-end machines isn’t a big deal as they still apply fibre laser technology for sheet metal fabrication.

How is your company coping up with the rapid pace of digitalisation and Industry 4.0 in the manufacturing sector?
We have a dedicated team in our company working for Industry 4.0 and IoT business. All our future products will certainly focus on the needs of Industry 4.0-enabled products, and we are ready to clasp this change. We have already released our product profile in terms of our capabilities in the IoT world. Therefore, we will be acting according to the market demand.

What do you think are the potential challenges being faced by the sheet metal fabrication industry to develop further in India?
I don’t think we have any major challenges, because India already has access to the technologies that are widely used by the global industries. To be more precise, challenges create demand, and with the current trends in the demand side, I feel that the Indian industry is capable to meet the demands. Moreover, they are ready to contribute to the government’s Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Another challenge is the pricing factor for manufacturers. But it also motivates us to become smarter and produces value-for-money products for our consumers. Apart from fibre laser machines, we also have a plasma cutting machine which is a medium-cost machine that is excellent for start-ups and therefore suitable for people who want more value for money.

How much did COVID-19 impact the metal cutting industry? How do you plan to curb the impact on your business and what are your projections for the next two years?
Yes, COVID-19 has impacted the whole world, so we are not different, but we utilised this time for a lot of documentation, training, and design work. This has helped us to cover our backlog of work which was left. Our metal cutting equipment manufacturing industry will have an impact in 2020 but with demand showing recovery from July onwards, we will be able to manage 2020 well, and from 2021 onwards we see a positive trend.