Spokane, Washington
Veteran-owned, American Alloy is a full-service metal fabricator founded in 2007. The company has grown rapidly by serving a wide variety of OEM’s in industries such as aerospace, mining, agriculture and heavy construction.
Today, American Alloy has an 80,000 sq. ft. manufacturing space and employs over 70 people. Their fabrication equipment includes 4 sheet cutting laser and 4 press brakes, as well as, welding and painting stations.
Production Challenge
Time Constraints
Company owner, Garret Guinn explains “We don’t do any huge, long runs of anything. We set-up quickly, bend the part and move on to the next job.”
On any given day operators can be working with 16-gauge cold rolled up to ½ in thick pickled and oiled steel. American Alloy also fabricates very large metal panels, machine enclosures and stands made from ¼ inch hot-rolled steel that measures up to 110 inches by 60 inches.
When it was time to replace an aging 220 ton press brake, Guinn knew he wanted a machine that was more reliable with user-friendly controls.
JMT’s Solution
Understanding American Alloy’s need for a large, reliable brake that was easy-to-set-up, easy-to-control and could handle a wide range of materials and part geometries, JMT recommended the JMT-ADS 37220 press brake. This 12 foot, 242-ton brake has a 5-axis CNC controlled, AC servo-driven back-gauge that makes even complex bends easy. A Delem DA-66T controller features a touch-screen user-interface that saves time by enabling direct navigation between programming and production. 3D bending simulation allows the operator to spot collision points and make corrections before running any parts. The long bending length on this model gives American Alloy work-flow flexibility. They can use the entire length to bend 12-foot parts or they can use an alternate tooling set-up, with different types of tools along the length so operators can run multiple jobs simultaneously. JMT press brakes work with all makes of tooling so American Alloy was able to use its existing tooling inventory. Most importantly, JMT’s quick tooling changeover feature supports the company’s diverse work orders that require different set-ups. “We may be bending ½ inch material one minute, and 16 gauge another minute,” Guinn says. “Doing those changeovers quickly is key to getting our orders out the door on-time and on-budget.”
JMT-ADS37220 press brake operates reliably 16 to 18 hours per day fabricating many types of OEM parts.