• Advanced Manufacturing

Interview with Adam Ball, Solutions Sales Manager at Lantek UK

  • Advanced Manufacturing
Adam Ball is the Solutions Sales Manager at Lantek, succeeding Rob Powell, who retired after 24 years at the company. With over two decades of experience in service, applications, and sales for sheet metal machinery companies, Adam has held senior roles, including Commercial Director at MBA Engineering Systems, and spent 12 years at Bystronic. His expertise ranges from machine tools for laser and waterjet cutting to strategic leadership. Adam’s return to Lantek is fueled by exciting prospects, showcasing his dedication to driving growth and introducing innovative solutions.

Software for the coexistence of different sheet metal cutting machines at the same plant

  • Advanced Manufacturing
Typically, a second machine tool is added to plants in an attempt to increase production and/or diversify. However, we are also seeing it as a phenomenon aimed at resolving the issue with small series. This occurs when there’s a machine with a large automated production capacity which is expensive to interrupt in order to manufacture small series. To cover this gap and avoid interrupting serial production, many factories use an additional, cheaper machine, without automation but with greater availability.

Smart Nesting, when the tool and the engineer go hand in hand

  • Nesting
Material waste and a lack of agility in nesting or the nesting of parts are two of the most common problems faced by metal processing companies which slow down the company’s response time for its clients and make the process more expensive. This is due to them not using the appropriate technology in order to fully exploit each piece of sheet metal during the cutting process and/or the fact that this process is completed manually or using slower solutions. Equally, the work of the production engineer mustn’t be knocked as they are experts in the optimization of nesting and machining; the maximization of the margin for each production order received depends on their intervention.