To get an idea: last year, 600,000 products passed through the Timesavers at Stetec in Maarheeze. No wonder efficiency is paramount at the maker of precision sheet metal made from aluminium, steel and stainless steel in thicknesses from 0.3 to 5 mm. Commercial director Sebastiaan Vriesema: “We can choose very specifically for each product to be finished which treatment fits best.”
Stetec’s customer base is very diverse. For example, the company produces thin precision sheet metal for laboratories and hospitals, but also for car parks and amusement parks. Or a 19″ rack used at film studios for camera footage. “Mainly in the Benelux, but we can also take care of their branches in the rest of Europe,” assures Sebastiaan Vriesema, who has been a board member at the Maarheeze-based company since this year. Vriesema shows one of the punch laser combination machines linked to an automatic warehouse. In addition, Stetec has a bending department, a pressing department (automatic or manual) and space for smaller operations, such as stud welding and spot welding. “Very importantly, we also take care of the logistics process and the post-treatments that a customer needs from us.”
Reliable
What is striking about the production hall is that there are almost only A-brand machines. Vriesema: “It’s not that we consciously only choose A-brands. We are constantly looking for machines that fit our requirements and that are necessary for successful production. Crucial in this is that the supplier is reliable: good maintenance, good service and a good point of contact. We don’t buy a machine purely by name; we buy by quality, service and functionality of a machine.”
Deburring
Reliability is thus another reason why Stetec purchased a Timesavers 42 series with eight rotary brushes. This 42 RB series can evenly deburr and round the edges of metal with its multi-rotating brush assembly. This makes it possible to achieve a radius of 2 mm on mild steel, and even more on softer material such as aluminium. One of the big advantages of the Timesavers is its wide belt of 1350 mm. This allows many small products to pass through the machine at the same time. Vriesema: “Last year, we had 600,000 products finished by the Timesavers. You can imagine how important efficiency is then.”
Flexible
The machine is equipped with a proper sticky conveyor and vacuum as standard. It is available in different configurations for combining deburring, edge rounding, laser oxide removal, finishing and even slag removal. Each aggregate can be used separately. Vriesema: “An important reason was the ability to combine the techniques of grinding with the abrasive belt and rounding with the rotary brushes. We can choose very specifically for each product to be finished which treatment fits best: only grinding, only brushes, or combining both techniques.”
Return table
An AMI return feed table is connected to the Timesavers. The return table makes it possible for one person to put the products on and also take them off, without walking back and forth all the time. “It’s an efficiency gain. This is very important for us; we are constantly improving our process. We have to.”
Durable
For deburring, the minimum thickness is 0.3 millimetres and the maximum thickness 5 mm. Vriesema knows it is no problem for the Timesavers. “Before we bought this machine, we had another Timesavers. That was a wet finisher. We were satisfied with it, and the introduction of the new brushes and grinding was an additional reason for us to choose Timesavers again. The move to a dry process was an important development for us. Additional advantage: the machine seems very durable. We only had to replace the first brush set after four years, when the R+ brushes came on the market.”
Simple machine
Bert, operator at Stetec, confirms Vriesema’s story. The machine operator mainly works with the punch laser combination machine and also operates the Timesavers. “An easy machine,” he says. “A big advantage is the width, connected to the return table. We process a lot of products and then you need to be able to easily set the deburring machine and know that there is little downtime for maintenance. The mechanic has rarely visited in the years I’ve been working here, so that speaks for itself.”
Predictable
For Bert, consistent quality is very important. “Some want to have a small radius to the sheet, but others prefer to see a real rounding to the product. We can simply control the conveyor speed to a lower setting. As a result, there are no sharp edges to the product at all. Equally important is the predictability of the result. In other words: does the product meet expectations? I set up the machine and examine the first product. If that’s good, I want the rest of the series to come out the same way, giving you a consistent end result. Predictable production is what I want to offer.”