Today’s construction market continues to be a gruelingly tough and competitive industry. No longer is it the typical 8am to 5pm workday of the 90’s. With today’s global economy and around the clock social media, the workday has become a virtual 24/7 event. On top of that, you have to be an expert in your field of work, an expert in meeting and exceeding your customer’s needs and always two to ten steps ahead of your competitor. You need to partner with the best but yet always have a “plan B” within reach.
Roll forming can simply be described as taking a piece of sheet metal and forming it into a customized curved shaped product by processing it through an engineered machine featuring a series of rollers. However, the historical technology of this industry is simply not that simple. It typically takes a skilled machinist, with years of experience to operate and change over roll forming equipment.
The advantages of roll forming are widely accepted. The typical process is fast paced and some of today’s equipment can deliver over 500 feet per minute and utilize correspondingly higher rates of speed. This type of specialized roll forming equipment provides consistent and uniform parts - when equipment is properly set for a certain gauge thickness and width, the roll forming process will routinely form the material within a specified tolerance range.
A limited number of today’s roll forming machine manufacturers provide additional integrated processes to increase and improve line productivity. Punching, cut-off, slitting embossing, lancing welding, part marking stitching, wing bending, stacking and bundling are just some of the operations that can be assimilated into certain modern roll forming lines. Computer driven microprocessor controls conveniently simplify the operation of these highly complex line configurations.
While these new advances are extremely appreciated and welcome, some of the most basic hindrances to higher productivity have just recently been addressed and overcome.
Some of the most obvious and counter-productive pitfalls to a seamless and smooth metal processing operation can be broken down into the following categories of machine processes:
This typically is a time consuming and tedious operation.
After the equipment set-up has been re-checked and validated, the focus is now on the sheet metal to be formed. Modifications in materials often occur due to several reasons.
Changes in product processing typically account for the most downtime in roll-forming.
Lack of an experienced operator remains a key challenge for most roll forming operations.