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11 January 2021

Procuring sheet metal parts efficiently with RADAN-based web shop

A contract producer of sheet metal components says its web shop played a major role in helping the business compensate for a downturn in automotive and mechanical engineering orders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Based at Luhe-Wildenau, in Bavaria, Trio Metall und Design GmbH provides a complete sheet metal service from consulting, designing and planning, to manufacturing ‘ready-for-assembly’ components, ranging from single parts and small runs, right through to large quantities. Using the latest laser technology programmed by the powerful RADAN CAD/CAM software from Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence, they also work with non-ferrous metals such as copper, brass and titanium.

Developed around RADAN, Trio Metall’s web shop portal gives customers access 24 hours a day to request components, be provided with an offer and place the order. After going live in September 2019, around 500 orders worth more than 500,000-Euro were placed through the ‘Trionline 24’ web shop in its first year.

Trio’s Key Account Manager, Christian Weinberg, says the web shop automates their quotation preparation, which was time consuming when carried out manually. “In the early days we noticed that larger enquiries, such as those for complete welding assemblies, were being sent directly to us via the web shop, which led to us investing in RADAN’s offline quotation module, Radquote, for calculating complete assemblies. This almost halved the time taken in preparing quotes.”

He explains that after logging into the web shop, customers can immediately upload details of the parts they want manufacturing, using DXF, DWG or STEP files. Material, quantity, and additional operations are added with just a few more clicks, and they receive their quotes within minutes – depending on the size of the job. Then they can confirm the order, with a requested due date.

“The order is immediately transferred to our ERP system and activated. RADAN Ordermanager regularly extracts pending orders from the ERP and plans it into our production.”

The workshop features an Amada EML-3610 NT combination machines, two Amada Ensis AJ  3015 laser cutters equipped with storage towers, and  number of Amada press brakes. The parts run fully automatically from the web shop to sorting after the cutting process, without any manual intervention. Depending on their complexity, folded parts are programmed either automatically or manually. After processing, the results are fed back from MRP to ERP.

“The products reaching us through the web portal vary from simple brackets and decorative pieces, through to complete, complex machine housings and assemblies. Required quantities range from literally one-off, to several thousand. The average value of orders is around 1,200-Euro; the minimum has been 30-Euro, up to 30,000-Euro.”

He says they were already well down the road of digitisation and automation before the pandemic struck, so were well equipped to react quickly. “It meant we were able to compensate for the drop in orders from the mechanical engineering and automotive sectors, by picking up work from other industries. We now have a much broader industry reach.”   


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