The company is known for its warehousing systems to store and retrieve long bars and sheet metal, Remmert says, but it started to investigate how to effectively and independently load and unload 2D laser cutting machines about a decade ago, based on customer input. “We started to dig into this problem a little bit more deeply. We started our engineering project about this and designed the LaserFLEX.”
LaserFLEX 4.0 is a technology that provides fully automated loading and unloading of laser cutting systems. Remmert notes that two advantages make LaserFLEX unique in the market. The first is that it provides builder-independent integration of laser machines. “That means LaserFLEX is a product that is able to communicate and to interface with a number of different laser machines. We are not just focused on [working with] one brand.”
That capability is possible, Remmert explains, because virtually all laser cutting machines are CNC operated and, therefore, have a communication, or interface, module. “That’s the base for our communication. We act as a supplier to the laser. The laser is the master in the overall footprint, and we are the slave. We give the machine whatever the machine is asking for, whether it’s to load raw material or to unload cut nests.” In addition to being CNC, essentially all the machines being integrated in LaserFLEX are fiber lasers, Remmert says. “CO2, from our perspective, is almost dead. There are almost no newly installed CO2 lasers on the market.”