The Benefits of Automation in Industrial Laser Cutting.

Interview with Ivo Pasqualini, Sales Manager at Eagle Italia.

Ivo, you are part of the Eagle Italia team and have worked in the field for many years. What changes have you seen in the market since the introduction of fiber laser technology?

I've been through some historical moments in this particular field. Now is one of them. Technological evolution has never been so vibrant, and the industrial world is constantly changing. Research has improved production, making it more effective in enhancing human skills, which remain central to this evolution.

I've lost my hair, and my beard turned white, but I clearly remember when, more than thirty years ago, I created a laser cutting system with an automatic sorting system. Of course, it was science fiction back then. The laser was CO2, and the powers were very low. The internet did not exist, and the operating systems were the old MS-DOS, and yet, what prompted me to accept these challenges? The irrepressible desire for innovation.

That's why technology has always fascinated me. On the one side, you have this drive for innovation; on the other, there are companies like Eagle that understand those needs and transform them into new solutions. Having the opportunity to amaze and be amazed by technology pushes you to achieve more stimulating goals.

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The Italian market is known for being automation-focused. Is there a particular reason for this receptivity?

In Italy, the growth in the manufacturing field is due to a myriad of small and medium-sized companies and job shops that not only make their own products but also manufacture for large multinational companies. Therefore, maximum flexibility and finishing right on time are crucial. Those characteristics have led our industrial sector to rely on automation systems.

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How are labor shortage and automation related, and what are your views on the new role of the human workforce?

The third millennium will be hypercompetitive. Globalization and long production chains can create fear and uncertainties, and yet, as history has taught us, the world has always moved forward by shifting work to where it was more convenient.

Cheap labor seemed to be an impossible barrier to overcome, yet, changes are already being implemented today to tackle this shortage. What brought the West to compete on equal terms with the East is that companies understood that, to remain competitive, they had to invest in automation, reduce costs and increase productivity. It was no longer a choice but a must.

That being said, staff training also plays an essential role in this transformation. New, highly trained workers have replaced poorly qualified ones. This change has improved efficiency, reduced production costs, allowed companies to grow and boost their profits, and, most notably, created new and more interesting jobs for people.

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What needs does automation satisfy, and what benefits does it bring to a company?

Automation brings enormous advantages in terms of increased productivity. Production can run smoothly, unattended, during day or night shifts, and even during weekends.

Then, the parts must be sorted, sure, but automation is already a huge step to accelerate workflow. There are many types of automation, from simple loading and unloading systems to much more complex ones with warehouses or systems connecting several machines and streamlining processes. In addition, automated solutions can be expanded and configured over time based on each company's changes, growth, and needs.

Anyone who thinks that automation will wipe out humans from the industry is wrong. Automation creates more jobs in complementary sectors, giving those who use it the opportunity to reduce their costs and improve productivity. Continuous technological evolution shortens the lifespan of products; production batches become smaller and more diversified, and companies must be flexible enough to adapt quickly to these needs. This involves a major transformation of all production-related departments.

Today, we can't talk about standalone laser machines anymore but about entire cutting systems, where automation plays a critical part when deciding what system to choose.

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How would you describe the relationship between high-power cutters and automation systems?

The two go hand in hand. The more the power increases, the more sophisticated the automation system must be. In recent years there has been an exponential increase in the available wattage for fiber laser cutting. This abrupt growth has left many manufacturers perplexed in their choices because, until yesterday, they were using old CO2 lasers. You need to know how to manage such high powers. Eagle has done a great job in this aspect. Our machines can control and handle high wattages and turn them into greater productivity.

Imagine the customer who, thanks to his high-power laser cutter, can cut the same volume on just one shift instead of two. It gives him an exponential cost reduction and the possibility of increasing turnover and acquiring new customers. This is the most significant advantage of high powers, which, if paired with the right automation, will boost the production rate even more, and the result will be truly striking.

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In your opinion, what factors should investors consider when evaluating an automation system?

Well, this is all based on the client's characteristics and needs. For example, some companies have their own product and, therefore must satisfy their internal production needs. The best solution for this client would be a compact system to save valuable production space and one that can store as much sheet metal as possible to be prepared for unexpected orders.

The story is different when talking about a job shop where you work on behalf of third parties. In those cases, you don't have an immediate vision of what will happen tomorrow, so you require maximum flexibility.

In the first scenario, you must size the plant for internal needs. On the other hand, the job shop requires extreme flexibility and versatility, a warehouse prepared for a wide range of thicknesses and workstations, and laser power that can cut small, medium, and thick sheets and plates. These shops should also consider the possibility of greater autonomy in terms of unmanned work during all the phases at the end of the production chain.

The choice of automation must be evaluated based on the final objective. There are many factors to consider, including the average thickness you cut; there are those who cut thinner, those who cut thicker, and those who do a little bit of everything. In such a varied context, there is no standard solution, which is why the automation systems' flexibility is so important.

However, one common denominator to all those seeking automation is cost reduction and productivity increase. At Eagle, we know that the entire system must be well-balanced and focused on the efficiency and reliability of the process, so each proposed solution is carefully studied based on an analysis of the cycle times and the required productivity.

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What would you say to companies considering purchasing an automation system who haven't decided yet?

Today in Italy, it's hard to meet any manufacturer with a laser machine that is not considering an automation system. So our job is not to convince them that they need automation but to advise them to make the right choice with Eagle. Customers are usually well prepared for ideas for configurations and layouts, which we can absolutely offer. There's a rising demand for ever more advanced and high-performing automation solutions. The investors' goal is crystal clear: a rapid investment return reduced costs and increased productivity.

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Finally, how will the automation systems market change in the coming years? What will be the trends?

I have a clear vision of the market trends regarding the evolution of automation systems because the answers are suggested to us by the customers themselves and by their daily needs.

A lot has been achieved in the past decades, first by creating simple loading/unloading systems and later towers for sheet metal storage. Today, warehouses represent real integrated systems with hundreds of storage pallets. As a result, productivity has increased, and we can deliver right on time, but there is still one thing that represents a bottleneck in the production cycle: sorting cut parts.

Dividing the different nestings by customer or by order is a significant handicap for these machines, which leaves this onerous task to a manual operation that requires additional personnel.

Even if some manufacturers have developed a few approaches, this is the main challenge that automation will all face in the future. The knowledge of the cutting process and automation systems are inseparable in order to obtain reliable results; the two aspects cannot be separated, and they would compromise the entire result. In that sense, it's much more reliable to have automation and machine made by the same manufacturer. For that and many other reasons, I see Eagle in a leading position in this research.