Laser Technology Integrated into Floor Press

ETS has, from conception used laser-guided technology to enhance the performance and accuracy of our manufacturing processes.

Our truss press stands alone in the marketplace as a one of a kind piece of engineering. This unique piece of machinery is the backbone of the company. In 2017 a major operation went underway to move the truss press from its long-term home in Unit 2 to its new home in Unit 1.

By moving the truss press, we significantly increased the space in which it had to operate. We increased the length of the frame the beam travels along. This extension increased number of truss setups which could be made ready at one time. It also incremented the size of the trusses we can manufacture.

Which left us with a rather a bit more space in Unit 2 than we had had previously.

With the market trend for metal web joists picking up, it made sense that we would use the space the truss press vacated to move our metal web joist press into the pride of place in Unit 2.

So we did.

Our metal web joist press is a sixteen meter long piece of kit. It was one of the first machines that included a pneumatic clamp to ensure that the joists are manufactured to the exact dimensions and no preassemble of the frames was required.

Whereas later machines have adopted the technology, we took it a step further. Our floor press became the first floor press to split the pneumatic clamping 70/30. By splitting the clamping this way, our manufacturing team is able to make joists of different depths at the same time.

This increased capacity has allowed us to respond to an active growing market, and enabled us to keep to our promise of fast turnaround times.

More recently we have again gone back to our partners in crime, AV Birch Timber Engineering, and added laser guidance to our floor press. Laser guidance has been part of ETS’s manufacturing process since the very first day. Our truss press has it and now our floor press has its very own laser.

Beaming down the plate locations on to the timbers laid out in the clamps, it has delivered greater accuracy in component placement and shaved more time off the setup times.

The laser set-up allows the most complex of joist details can be arranged with incredible accuracy and vitally reduces the amount of factory floor set-up time. This creates significant savings to labour costs which can be translated to a cheaper product for our customers without compromising the product quality.

At ETS we want the right machinery to give us increased production capabilities, more quality and consistency, with safety for our employees always a priority