Purchasing a commercial laser metal cutting machine may be a major investment for manufacturers. It is not just the purchasing cost which you need to pay but the purchase has an impact on the complete manufacturing procedure. If the wrong equipment is bought, your investment may suffer. A laser may last up to 7 to 10 years, so any wrong purchase and you will have to live with your decision for these many years.
However, below here is a guide to help you purchase a laser cutting machine to take your manufacturing business to new heights.
Application
The first question is do you even need to purchase a laser cutting machine? For several reasons, investing in a different cutting machine may be useful for you. Hence, it is important to investigate about all the available options so that you don’t end up having any regrets.
According to the part volume, you can get the lowest cost per part from a stamping press. If you have to metal form in a press, then you should invest in tooling. Stamping also helps in multi-tasking such as forming and tapping during the production procedure.
A punching machine may not yield same production speed as that of a laser cutting machine. Going for a plasma system will help you with thick materials. An abrasive water jet is also recommended for thick materials. Both plasma and water jet are priced lower than laser cutting machine, but they don’t meet the speed of laser cutting.
Do you need to invest in laser cutting?
A manufacturer who doesn’t own a laser metal cutting machine usually subcontracts it for work to a shop. But this procedure has a lot of disadvantages such as long lead times.
There will be a time when you will question yourself if you should buy a laser metal cutting machine in-house or not. This can be taken into consideration even if you have a great relation with your subcontractor.
How to find out if it is the right time to buy a laser? Find out how much you are spending monthly on the subcontractors. If the price annually ends up more than the expense of the laser metal cutting machine purchase and maintenance, then you should get one. It is important to justify why the investment should be done.
Find out the productivity with the in-house laser cutting? Does it impact your lead times? Once all these questions are answered, it will be easier for you to make the decision.
What should be done to make the purchase decision simpler?
Right from answering the above questions to narrowing down your suppliers of a laser metal cutting machine, you need to do all the research. Once the supplier has been selected, it is time to choose the right model, and enquire about equipment demonstration and come to an acceptable price. The final negotiation has a lot of points to discuss.
The purchase of a laser metal cutting machine may be an overwhelming job. Choose DXTECH to know about laser cutting machines in detail and have a great purchase experience.
