Achieving bending efficiencies with panel benders

NSA Industries jumped into panel bending three years ago to assist with new cabinet work from a growing customer.

The ubiquitous press brake is hard to miss in the world of metal fabricating. The panel bender, meanwhile, is not so prevalent. But maybe that is changing.

From a technology standpoint, the panel bender relies on bending blades to make the programmed bends, instead of a ram that forces the sheet metal blank into a die opening. A machine operator inserts the blanks into the machine where hold-down clamps keep the blank from moving while a pair of bending blades contact the material to make upward or downward bends. The blades do not move in a straight up-and-down line, but rather oscillate around a single bend point until the desired angle of the bend is achieved.

Older panel benders require operators to switch out tooling manually. But like more modern press brake setups, panel benders have evolved to incorporate automated tooling changeovers as well, minimizing the machine operator’s interaction.

To further understand how panel bending fits into a modern metal fabricating operation, let’s look at how two companies are using the technology to stay on top of increased production demands. Datum Storage Solutions Inc., Emigsville, Pa., and NSA Industries LLC, St. Johnsbury, Vt., adopted panel bending for different reasons, but they are finding that it’s delivered a similar result—additional bending capacity when they needed it most.

Almost 20 years ago, the owner of Datum Storage Solutions asked Brett Eaton and his co-workers to check out a video he had seen about a bending machine that he thought could help them. Eaton, then a press brake operator, saw the same potential in the panel bender that the owner saw.

“We were like, wow, this could be a big help to us,” he said.

“We used to bend everything on a press brake. We would have an operator set them up, bend a couple of pieces, and then change over the tooling for another job,” Eaton said. “What really drew us to the panel bender was the setup time and the bending speed. It was completing bends in 40 to 45 seconds, whereas it was taking the press brake operator a minute to a minute and a half.”

To illustrate the more efficient setups, Eaton pointed to Datum’s four-post shelving products as an example. When it was bent on a press brake, operators had to set up two different stations on the brake, placing both the forming tools and dies in the right place, to complete the 135-degree bends necessary for the posts. To change the tooling on a semiautomatic panel bender, the operator unlocks a lever on one of the machine’s sides, slides the tooling in, and locks it back up; the same steps are repeated on the other side of the machine.

The machine operator at Datum Storage Solutions Inc. loads up one of the panel bending machines in a workcell, which includes two panel benders and two punching machines. She operates all four machines.

“So you’re looking at a three- to five-minute setup on the panel bender compared to 10 to 15 minutes on the press brake,” Eaton said.

The quick tooling changeover is pretty important because Datum does quite a few of them over a shift. Eaton said the company averages 10 to 15 setups per shift between the two P2 panel benders and two punching machines that make up a cell. The jobs are run according to length. For instance, the operator that runs all four machines in the cell will set up 36-inch parts and run all that size. Then a tool changeover will occur to run 42-in. parts.

In all, Datum has five common lengths: 24, 30, 36, 42, and 48 in. It also offers a range of widths, starting at 9 in. and going to 48 in., increasing in 1-in. increments. Additionally, all of these offerings might require some combination of knockouts, perforations, punches, and slots. These and other options also are available in shelving in the four-post line.

“There are days when the operator will do upwards of 30 to 40 setups when they are running oddball jobs,” Eaton said. “We generally run the oddball parts once a week.”

Even with the changeovers, Datum has one operator tending this workcell. How is that done? The operator places a blank in the punching machine, while taking the already punched part off, and then initiates the punching cycle. The operator then walks to the panel bender and loads the punched part while pulling the bent part from one panel bender. At this time the bending cycle is initiated. The bent part is stacked on a skid, and the operator walks to the other punching machine, where the previous actions are repeated. When the bending cycle is initiated on the other panel bender, the operator then repeats this process, depending on quantities, of course. The operator does a figure eight through the area all day, maintaining all four machines.

“We get about two complete parts out of the cell every minute,” Eaton said.

“It’s more reliable because you don’t have the human error,” Eaton said. “You don’t have anyone pull off the backstops, for example. You don’t have to worry about that type of thing.”

From its humble origins as a contract manufacturer in 1982, NSA Industries LLC has grown into one of the largest metal fabricators on the East Coast. This is the result of a very aggressive acquisition campaign, growing with existing customers, and even launching its own product lines.

The owners of the company are committed to adopting new technology as one way to keep ahead of competitors. It’s one of the reasons NSA Industries has invested more than $19 million in capital equipment since the Great Recession. It’s also one of the reasons that the company is now involved in panel bending.

A private-label manufacturing job required plenty of new fabricating capacity in 2016. The customer was looking for more manufacturing help, and NSA Industries was willing to oblige. To take on this new cabinet work, the fabricator wanted to invest in the latest automated equipment, such as a new solid-state laser cutting machine and a robotic welding cell. It looked at a Salvagnini P2 panel bender to handle a majority of the bending work.

“We were looking at the need for press brake operators, and finding experienced press brake operators is difficult,” said Matt Smith, vice president of sales, NSA Industries. “That’s when we started investigating the panel benders. When our guys went out and saw them run, it quickly made sense this was right for us.”

After the investment was made in the first P2, NSA Industries realized that it was the right equipment for the work, which was mostly in the 20- to 16-gauge range.

“As far as training, it was only a couple of hours, not months, that were needed to get an operator in the position to run the machine once it was programmed,” Smith said.

NSA Industries purchased another P2 panel bender shortly after installing the first one. About a year after that, the fabricator added a P1 panel bender, which fits in an 86-square-foot space.

Not only have the panel benders taken on more work because of the automated nature of the bending, but the units also have helped out with more complicated work, such as hems. Smith said it was once common to see a press brake operator using two press brakes to complete a hem, beginning on one setup to make the first bend and then completing the flattening of the material on another setup in the second brake. Now the panel benders can do the job on one machine and using the same tooling.

And the automated tooling setup on these new units was a big attraction as well for NSA Industries.

“For example, when you want to change your radius on a part, you don’t have to do a completely different tooling setup. The machine will hold the metal and then move the tooling into position to deliver the radius you want,” Smith added.

One company has been panel bending for almost two decades, and one is really just getting started. Both plan to invest in more panel bending capacity in the future.

By the end of the year, Datum will add a large P4 panel bending machine and attach it to its 7-year-old Salvagnini S4 punching and shearing machine to create an automated workcell where a blank will be turned into a punched and bent part without any human intervention. Eaton said that the company is even thinking about adding a welding cell right beside this punch/panel bending cell to further reduce material handling.

The new equipment will play an important role in being able to produce much larger parts for new jobs, such as weapons storage cabinets. Datum’s P2s can handle a blank up to 74 in. diagonally; the P4 will be able to accommodate blanks up to 108 in. Eaton said those much larger blanks currently are being bent on a press brake and require two people to handle them during the bending process.

“I’m predicting that I can reduce my manpower on my press brakes by four people once we get this one machine,” Eaton said.

NSA Industries remains in active acquisition mode. It acquired a Massachusetts machining company in 2015, a New Hampshire metal fabricating company in 2016, and another fabrication company in Massachusetts in 2018.

“Some of the acquisitions that we have made certainly have work that would be a better fit on a panel bender. Eventually we might bring some of that work to our main plant, and then I suspect that we may buy another panel bender for another facility,” Smith said.