IMS Launches 3D Laser Cutter, August, 2008
INDUSTRIAL METAL SUPPLY CO. LAUNCHES SIX-AXIS, 3D LASER CUTTING AND FABRICATION SERVICES DIVISION, UNIQUE IN CALIFORNIA AND ARIZONA.
Sun Valley, CA, - Industrial Metal Supply Co., distributor of the largest variety of metals in the southwestern states, has announced the creation of a new business unit to provide unique six-Axis, 3D laser cutting and fabrication services to the company’s large customer base of design and manufacturing firms, metal fabricators, welders, machine shops and other businesses throughout California and Arizona.
“We’re investing roughly two million dollars in equipment, facilities and people to create a new business unit that will deliver innovative new services that have not been available to our customers before now,” said Eric Steinhauer, president of IMS. “Our Laser Services Group will focus on providing fabrication and production services enabled by a sophisticated new device from Mazak Optonics Corporation called the FabriGear™ 300.
FabriGear employs a six-axis laser that cuts large sizes of tubes and pipes – round, square, rectangular or triangular up to 26 feet in length. It also processes I-beams, H-beams, Channel, angle iron and other shapes as defined by the operator. Cuts can be made at any desired angle with the highest accuracy and quality for easy fitting of assemblies.
Martin J. “Marty” Mechsner, president and CEO of the Small Manufacturers’ Institute (SMI), president of Schober’s Machine and Engineering (SME), and adjunct professor of Technology and Mechanical Engineering at Cal State University, has been appointed General Manager and Chief Engineer of the new Laser Services Group at IMS.
“Laser cutting has been around for 20 years or more, but this kind of 3D laser cutting is new,” Mechsner explained. “The most common laser cutters on the market today are flatbed laser cutters. With FabriGear, Mazak has taken laser cutting to a higher level to produce greater precision and make it possible to create a wider variety of components and assemblies.”
Celebrating its 60th anniversary, Industrial Metal Supply Company is a multi-location metal service center and mill distributor for companies like Alcoa, Kaiser, Nucor, North American Stainless, Revere and others. It operates five locations in Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, San Diego and Phoenix, each with a retail center and large warehouse filled with the widest selection of metals in the southwestern USA. Each location offers a variety of services such as precision plate sawing, cutting, band sawing and shearing.
“We have tens of thousands of customers producing everything from automotive parts to boats, home furnishings, gym equipment and oil drilling supplies.” Steinhauer added. “With the enhanced design capabilities and new technologies that IMS is bringing to our markets, we’re helping our customers make better products, more cost effectively and more competitively. We believe that if we can support more innovative domestic manufacturing and more sophisticated fabrication techniques, we’ll also help our customers bring some manufacturing jobs back into the USA. Instead of looking overseas for finished metal products, we anticipate that our customers will do more manufacturing here.”
