Outokumpu Stainless Distribution has opened a new Plate and Tubular Service Centre located at their central site in Sheffield, UK. New facilities include plasma-arc, waterjet and laser cutting as well as cold plate sawing and updated tubular warehousing. As part of the new facility, Outokumpu has invested in a Suprarex plasma-cutting machine from ESAB Automation. The machine was selected because of the quick set-up times that can be achieved and the fast traverse and cutting speeds – even on thick plate. The new investment is a Suprarex machine that has been designed to withstand the rigours of heavy-duty industrial use. It has a cutting capacity of 3mm to 150mm for stainless steel, so that one machine can be used to cut both thick and thin material. The 1000A power is regulated automatically depending on the thickness to be cut. All plasma-arc cutting functions are controlled automatically from the CNC database and optimum cutting quality is ensured without operator intervention.
