04 Apr Waste-d Opportunities
Throughout the recession manufacturers have had to deal with rising metal prices.
The price of copper for instance has only recently started to drop after being more than double its 2009 price for the last three years.
While this has been a boon for recycling and scrap merchants, it’s taken a toll on manufacturers who are trying to squeeze every penny out of their base materials. Having sustainable practices and efficient machining processes is more important then ever. With material and energy prices still at a high, reducing material waste and outlays on raw materials is critical.
Fortunately there are machining techniques available that allow manufacturers to get more for their money and reduce losses caused by material waste. One that we’re a big fan of is precision cold forming.
Cold forming is a manufacturing process by which metal is shaped without removing material. Explained simply, cold-forming is making a shape from material at room temperature, just like Plasticine when it is pushed into a mould.
Techniques like precision cold forming, when combined with increased waste recovery and recycling can really help reduce waste and turn off cuts into opportunities.
Read our free white paper on reducing metal waste in engineering for more information on precision cold forming, or watch the video here.