Scientific Engineering upgrades and increases fibre laser capacity with introduction of 6kW Hugong fibre laser

Aug 07, 2023

Scientific Engineering, a leading manufacturer of commercial appliances in Southern Africa, has recently upgraded and increased its laser cutting capacity with the installation of a 6kW Hugong fibre laser that was supplied by TRM Supplies. The company designs and manufactures its own range of products and product sales are generated through a worldwide dealer network.

"The company was established in 1966 at a time when there was a drive to build up the manufacturing base in South Africa. Coupled with a burgeoning mining industry at the time and the potential prospects in such markets as biochemistry, research, pharmaceuticals and industry in general, the product mix was carefully chosen," said Parschau, a Mechanical Engineer, who joined the company in 1990.

Some of the laboratory and scientific equipment that Scientific Engineering manufactures

"We last had a major equipment upgrade in December 2014 when we installed a BySprint 3kW 3015 fibre laser equipped with a ByTrans Extended sheet loading and unloading system and three Xpert 150 hydraulic press brakes, which are equipped with a comprehensive database of material bend allowances and extensive bending configurations. The 150 ton capacity Xpert press brakes feature a 3 000mm bed length, dynamic crowning, dynamic sheet thickness detection, LED optical bend guiding, high-speed ram, and the ByVision bending control with a 22" touchscreen interface that allows functionality and simple and rapid set-up," explained Bernard Parschau, Managing Director of Scientific Engineering.

"This equipment has served us well and will continue to do so. We reached a stage where our fibre laser cutting equipment could not keep up with demand and we had to address the situation," continued Parschau, a passionate man who took on the leadership of the company started by his late father.

Growth and product diversification: Equipment for the food service industryThe company's growth coincided with the product diversification that it undertook. In 1993, a South African catering distribution company approached the Scientific Engineering team with a proposal to develop a range of equipment for the food service industry."

The New Hugong HG 3015 6kW fibre laser, supplied and installed by TRM Supplies. The Hugong has a bed size of 3 500mm by 1 500mm and it has been supplied with an automatic sheet loader and unloader

"The way we manufacture our type of laboratory and scientific equipment is very similar to the way you would manufacture food service equipment. Simply put, the shell or body is made up of sheet metal components that have been either cut to size, pressed or bent, based on the shape of the component and then assembled with the various electrical, gas and other accessories being incorporated. The fit for our production capabilities coincided perfectly," explained Parschau.

Anvil food service equipmentThe company branded its new range of equipment Anvil, and it has now become synonymous with the industrial food service equipment in South Africa and worldwide.

"In the early days we developed a range of niche equipment, but 20 years later the division manufactures a broad range of products that can be found in restaurants, take away businesses, canteens, hospitals, supermarkets, hotels, bars, industrial kitchens and even school tuck shops, and is used by professional chefs and caterers. The range of plug-in, easy-to-use industrial food service equipment is used in either hot or cold processing situations whether it be in a permanent location or an outside catering venue."

The new Hugong HG 3015 6kW fibre laser being installed

Acquisition by BCE Foodservice EquipmentThe company's growth and product diversification was further enhanced in 2015 when it was acquired by BCE Foodservice Equipment (formerly known as Business and Catering Equipment), a company that was established in 1987. In 2003 the BCE business was purchased by a consortium headed by Global Capital (Pty) Ltd, an investment banking and private equity firm. In 2011 BCE was acquired by Universal Industries International, a holding company that includes various companies in the refrigeration, bakery, catering and kitchen equipment industries. Among them are Colcab, Colcoil, Staycold International, Insulated Structures, Glacier Door Systems, Macadams Baking System, Marsden Bakeware, FoodServ Solutions and Uni Industrial Asia.

BCE Foodservice Equipment is one of Southern Africa's leading suppliers of kitchen utensils, industrial cookware and commercial kitchen appliances serving the hospitality and food service industries.

"With our Anvil food equipment and Butcherquip equipment divisions the fit has been perfect but of course with it comes increased pressure."

The new Hugong HG 3015 6kW fibre laser comes equipped with an automatic sheet loading and unloading system

"Our factory is an impressive 10 000m² facility located west of Johannesburg. Our approach in establishing the facility has been to house the research and development, production and the sales organisation under one roof, thus simplifying the lines of communication to ensure that we can serve you, our customer, better. The manufacturing facility boasts state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment including fibre laser cutting machines, multi-axis press brakes and an advanced robotic welder. These tools allow us to process large volumes of sheet metal with a high degree of repeatability, whilst maintaining the high-quality standards to which our customers have become accustomed."

"However, with an increase in group company requirements we had to take into account capability and capacity requirements. We had already decided to upgrade because our CO2 laser was reaching the 18-year-old mark."

"We invested in a Hugong HG 3015 6kW fibre laser, supplied and installed by TRM Supplies. The machine has only been running since April 2023. The Hugong has a bed size of 3 500mm by 1 500mm and its power source is Trumpf Trufibre 6001G."

Safety is critical at Scientific Engineering. A safety enclosure has been installed around the new installation

"As I said previously the demand had grown for more laser cutting. Even though we fall into the thinner gauge area of material there are the requests to cut thicker material. If you examine the price to performance ratio of the different lasers that we have, the main benefit of the higher power 6kW Hugong HG laser is the entrance price. There is its ability to cut materials of thicker gauge and there are also small benefits in thickness capacity when cutting non-ferrous materials and we are now able to process ferrous and non-ferrous materials from 0.5mm up to 25mm. We did not want to spend large amounts of money and the Hugong HG 3015 6kW fibre laser fitted our budget."

Universal Industries Corporation supplies catering equipment to the food retail, wholesale, hospitality, manufacturing and related industries. Our clients range from supermarkets, bakeries and fast food outlets to restaurants, hotels, industrial kitchens, brewers and refrigeration contractors.

The power source for the Hugong HG 3015 6kW fibre laser is Trumpf Trufibre 6001G

Although Universal Industries was only incorporated in 1996, the underlying businesses are all well established businesses (some with a history of more than 100 years) supplying a diverse range of blue-chip clients in the local and international markets. The group has offices nationwide, a number of production facilities and employs 2 000 people across Africa and Asia.

For further details contact Scientific Engineering on TEL: 011 473 1080 or visit www.scientific.co.za or www.anvilworld.com or www.universalindustries.co.za