FELLING TRAILERS, INC. ADDS NEW
FABRICATION CENTER
In short of a year, Felling Trailers, Inc. has moved and built buildings,
acquired new technologies, and moved existing equipment to
streamline the production process and increase manufacturing
efficiencies. This has resulted in a state-of- the-art Fabrication
Center.
Construction of the new
Fabrication Center started in
2017, providing 15,000 sq. ft.
of space for new and existing
technologies. The first was the
Mitsubishi 6000-Watt Fiber Laser
with a tower automation set-up
to run the cell. The Mitsubishi
Fiber Laser operates on shop air to cut material up to ¼” thick.
For thicker materials, the laser operates on oxygen. Equipped with
tower automation, Felling Trailers can have up to 8 shelves loaded
with up to 6,000-lbs of material.
The second new technology to be
placed was the Safan 110-ton Electric
Press Brake with an 8’ bed. The bulk
of the parts that are fabricated will
utilize the Safan’s 8’ bed. The Safan
E-Brake ‘s ability to work 4-5 times
faster than Felling’s other press brakes
will, in turn, increase the throughput
of parts.
The Fabrication Center now houses all three (3) of Felling Trailers’
press brakes. The Accupress Edge 250-ton press brake and
Cincinnati CB-II 350-ton press brake were moved from the front
production. This fall, Felling Trailers’ Marvel 2150 Vertical Band Saw
and Hyd-Mech S23A horizontal band saw were moved into their
places in the Fabrication Center.
The location of equipment was based on process flow. For
example, the laser processes 30,000 jobs. Twenty-eight thousand
of those jobs move on to the press brake, and from the press
brake, the finished parts are placed on a conveyor cart where they
are transported to a custom conveyor system to the warehouse
side of the building. Once on the warehouse side, a sensor
triggers a strobe light notifying the Material Handler to pick-up
the finished parts.
A two-bridge crane system is used to feed the press brake
for larger production part jobs, which reduces the chance of a
lifting injury. The second crane feeds the laser parts sorting area
reducing the amount of forklift traffic. The third crane system
resides over the new saw conveyor system. This placement allows
the saw operator to handle the longer, heavier parts while the saw
is still producing parts
For more information, visit www.felling.com.
www.natda.org
NATDA Magazine
21