Opened in 1932, Rough Brothers, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio manufactures greenhouses, garden centers and conservatories. The company performs in-house fabrication of steel tubing and aluminum beams that make up the framework of these structures and until recently, performed most of the processing steps manually. In June of 2003, the company installed a 4000w laser cutting system that automatically loads, feeds, laser cuts and unloads mill-length tube and structural (Mazak's Fabrigear-150). Richard Reilly, President, discusses two parts that are now being laser cut and how the laser has helped them achieve significant time savings and flexibility in design.

What is the part in the left photo?
It's a purlin, the post that runs from the ground to the A-frame truss that supports the roof. The part can be 10- 16' tall. We make it by cutting a series of holes, slots and notches into an aluminum I-beam. In addition to I-beam, we also fabricate aluminum T-stock to make the A-frame truss.

Before the rotary laser, how were you manufacturing these beams?
Most of it was done manually. Depending on the piece, it could take seven to nine steps. First, we'd square off the end. Then we'd lay off—basically with a tape measure and a pencil—all the different holes, notches and slots that we would fabricate into the material. If a notch or slot was at the end of a piece, we'd use a punch press, which would save us some time. Next, we'd manually drill or route out the holes or slots in the middle of the piece and then we'd have to notch or cut the middle. Finally, we'd end-cut the other end. It was a process that could take 45-60 minutes, so it was very time consuming. This was one of our main motivations for installing the laser.

How have you been processing the parts with the laser?
We download the program to the rotary laser, the laser processes the material and in less than 10 minutes, we have the finished piece. We've gone from nine steps to one, and we do processing like this every day, all day long. 

What is this second part?
It's an aluminum angle connector. It used to take three steps. First, we'd cut the tube to length with a bandsaw. Next, we'd lay off the holes. Then we'd hand drill one hole at a time, using a separate jig for each hole. There are nine holes.

How are you making the part with the laser?
Now we do it in one setup. No jigs. It's been a lot faster. We used to make 150 in three hours. Now we make 295. The laser has doubled production.

Does laser quality make a significant difference in your operations?
The tolerances we get from laser cutting have been much tighter than what we were getting from manual processing. And, because the dimensional accuracy is better, it's been easier to put the parts together when we weld or assemble them in the factory. It also saves time when we are erecting the structures in the field.

As to edge quality, aluminum is a challenge to lasers because of its reflectivity. Additionally, each aluminum batch is different, which means with each new batch we have to readjust our cut conditions. Despite these challenges, we've been able to consistently meet the specs of our jobs, and that's without buying any coated or special stock.

Are these two parts standard in all of your greenhouses?
We do have some standard fabrication details, such as end details, but most of our work is made to order. The placement and size of the holes, notches and slots vary depending on the design of the structure. That's why before we installed the rotary laser, we needed to measure everything out each time. If the part was only going to be used once, it didn't make sense to create a template. The laser allows us the flexibility to process any part one time without slowing down production. We don't need to worry about finding and changing the bits to go from drilling a 1/2" hole to a 5/8" hole. We just do it.

In addition to flexibility of production, it also gives us flexibility in our design, which is invaluable. Even though we were doing it by hand before, the tools limited the design. If we had to make a certain type of slot, we needed a certain type of bit. If we didn't have that bit, we'd have to delay the fabrication until the bit was delivered. Or worse, maybe the bit didn't exist, and fabrication of the slot wasn't possible.

Now, we can put any size or type of hole, notch or slot anywhere we want on the entire length of any piece we want. Plus, the laser's 6-axis capabilities allow us to make beveled or counter-sunk holes–another reason we installed this laser.

It's a real advantage to be able to design a slot without having to worry if we have the tool or if the tool exists. As long as we can draw it on the computer, we can cut it on the laser. We have a whole different level of flexibility in terms of what we do and how quickly we can make it happen.

What other advantages does the laser offer?
Because we can respond quicker, we've been able to shorten lead times. Our peak month is October, because customers need their greenhouses up before winter. With the laser, we've cut down lead times, so we can meet the quick turnarounds our customers want even during our busiest season.

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