Fabweld Steel Products (FSP), a leading manufacturer of access covers and steel products for the construction, water, energy and security sectors, has made a significant capital investment as it bids to almost double turnover in the next five years.

Shropshire-based Fabweld Steel Products has brought a 15kW Accurl Fibre Laser to increase its production capacity and scope to boost growth.

The new machinery replaces the firm’s 3KW fibre laser, which handled 95 per cent of products at the Telford factory.

Managing director Wayne Carter said: “It’s my aim that we will grow our business from £4 million annual turnover to £7 million within the next five years.

“The Accurl laser is the latest investment to help us achieve that, and follows previous work to extend our welding capability and nitrogen gas generation. All three investments will ensure we have the right infrastructure for the growth we want.

“After more than 10 years of hard work, we had outgrown our 3kW fibre laser. This new machine will provide us with far greater cutting speeds and scope, ultimately removing a major barrier to growth and creating many new opportunities for FSP.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those staff who worked additional hours to get us ahead of our cutting schedule so we could get the new laser installed and commissioned with as little disruption as possible.

“Going forward, the increased speed, capability and capacity will quickly put us onto an upward trajectory to achieve our full potential.”

The process to decommission the 3kW, remove it, install and commission the Accurl, train staff and get up to full production capability was due to take almost three weeks and was completed at the end of October.

Wayne added: “With 95 per cent of our products going through our laser, this upgrade has taken a considerable amount of planning. Ultimately, we had reached a point where we were unable to grow the business or expand our scope. Upgrading our laser will enable us to do both.”

Powerful laser cutting with 15kW

For precise and fast 2D cutting, Fabweld Steel Products (FSP) relies on the MasterLINE laser series. The fiber laser is a high-quality 2D laser cutting system with an automatic shuttle table and exclusively high-quality components from renowned manufacturers for long-lasting and reliably precise results. The system is characterized by an automatic shuttle table for loading and unloading sheet metal. The laser source has a cutting power of 15kW.