About Me

Benefits of Lean Manufacturing and Related Blogs

Lean manufacturing is the process of cutting back on certain materials or speeding up certain processes to lower the overall cost of manufacturing. There can be key benefits to this approach to manufacturing, but it's important to move forward with a balanced view of lowering costs without compromising quality. This blog looks at that concept, but it also delves into other information related to the manufacturing and industrial fields. Ultimately, this blog is designed to help manufacturing professionals as well as B2B clients who purchase products or outsource processes to this field. If you have questions, I hope that you find the answers you need here.

Search

Latest Posts

Benefits of Lean Manufacturing and Related Blogs

Making the Cut: What Can Laser Cutting Be Used For?

by Mark Peters

While laser cutting has been spreading into the private sector recently, becoming available to hobbyists and small businesspeople, they are still extremely useful for industrial-scale production.  Both efficient and quick, laser cutting is a versatile technique that can have applications in a variety of ways in your business.  Here are a number of ways in which you can use laser cutting in your business, and a quick examination of its limitations.

Materials

It has already been said that laser cutting is versatile - but just how versatile?  It's suitable for use with acrylics, plastics, foams, woods and papers, and some thin metals - among other things.  In fact, it would be quicker to list what a laser cutter is not suitable for.  Largely, this is thick metals; however, there are others, such as fibreglass and glass.  However, even metals that cannot be cut may be engraved.  It depends on the strength of the material.

Accuracy

Laser cutters are said to be accurate to the nearest 0.1mm if correctly maintained and operated.  This means they're suitable for very intricate designs as well as things on a larger scale.  If you're seeking that level of precision, it's certainly better than manual cutting.

Speed

The speed of your laser cutter will depend on the specific model and manufacturer.  However, as a procedure in general, the speed of laser cutting is competitive with other industrial cutting techniques.  In other words, you will not have to sacrifice your production times in order to achieve a laser cutter's precision; it's suitable for use with products that need to be made and shipped quickly.

Complexity

Laser cutting can handle very complex designs and shapes, and does so without needing to cast or purchase tools specific to each shape you wish to cut.  However, the parts will require assembly after they're cut - so if you wish to automate assembly, it's possible that there may be another solution for you.  That being said, careful planning may allow you to implement a design that allows for quick manual assembly.

In effect, laser cutters are suitable for a very wide variety of businesses and products.  They're cost-effective, offering a wide variety of services and applications for your investment, as well as being reasonably simple and cheap to maintain, as compared to other specialist manufacturing devices.  If you think it may be an option for you, speak to a specialist and find out whether there's a model that's appropriate for your needs and budget.

Share