Eggleston Steel, a leading steel stockholder that stocks, processes and supplies a wide range of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, has returned to TRUMPF as its sole provider of CNC laser cutting machines after a brief and unsuccessful foray with another supplier. Since returning, the company has invested around £3 million in a trio of TRUMPF laser cutters, receiving a welcome boost in uptime, quality and speed.
With a reputation among customers for manufacturing excellence and class-leading customer service, Eggleston Steel is a family-owned company with 54 employees who help generate annual turnover in the region of £13 million. Although core business is general fabrication, Eggleston Steel serves a wide range of sectors that include architecture, construction, yellow goods, rail and aerospace.
To help boost revenue, around 15 years ago the company took a strategic decision to migrate steadily from its stockholding-only business model towards added-value processing, notably profiling.
“We started with a plasma cutter and within three years added our first TRUMPF laser – a new 6kW, 4x2m CO2 model – to deliver higher levels of precision,” explains Operations Director John Ready. “The machine proved hugely successful and it changed our fortunes quite dramatically. We soon introduced a second [pre-owned] TRUMPF laser to support our growth in a busy period that saw us add a night shift, rent a nearby satellite facility and expand our main site.”
Eggelston Steel’s first TRUMPF laser cutter was approaching the company’s five-year replacement policy. However, around the same time, an unforeseen set of circumstances prompted the business to undertake a full review of the marketplace for laser cutters.
“We began looking at alternative suppliers, whereas with hindsight we should have remained with TRUMPF,” admits Mr Ready.
Eggelston Steel acquired two flat-bed laser cutters from a European competitor of TRUMPF, with the first machine arriving in 2019. However, from day one the company experienced problems that got progressively worse. Mr Ready was calling engineers out at least twice a month, costing thousands of pounds in downtime and scrap workpieces. Eggleston Steel deemed the performance of the new laser cutters disappointing and well below expectations.
“The harsh realisation dawned upon us that alternative machines do not offer the same levels of reliability that TRUMPF machines provide,” he states. “It was clear we had to rectify the situation and therefore returned to TRUMPF for our next three laser cutters.”
Eggleston Steel started its new investment programme with a TRUMPF TruLaser Tube 7000 tube laser featuring 10m infeed and 6m outfeed, the first such model in the UK. Installed during the summer of 2023, the business uses the machine to process 50-120mm diameter tube/box, with up to 12mm wall thickness. Although designed as a tube laser, the company also uses the machine cut angle bar, channel sections and non-standard items.
“TRUMPF have been amazing at problem-solving; they find a solution for every application,” says Mr Ready. “Tube cutting was a new service for us, but since investing in the TruLaser Tube 7000 this activity now represents 10-15% of our business. Customers are really impressed with the cut quality.”
Eggleston Steel subsequently replaced its two flat-bed laser cutters with TRUMPF TruLaser 3040 and 3060 12kW fibre models, which arrived in December 2023 and January 2024. The company deploys the machines across the entire range of sheet thicknesses, from 2 to 25mm, on a daily basis.
“The quality and reliability of the machines is absolutely fantastic,” reports Mr Ready, who adds: “We receive very good customer feedback about our sheet profiling capabilities.”
In total, the ISO9001 and ISO14001 accredited business invested around £3 million in its new TRUMPF machines and has now reinstated TRUMPF as its sole laser supplier. The company cites machine uptime and quality as the major benefits of this decision, along with speed.
“The TRUMPF machines cut a lot quicker than our previous laser cutters. We had to slow the speed of our previous machines to get a better cut, whereas we can run at optimal speeds with TRUMPF laser cutters. We’re profiling at least four times faster on our core thicknesses of 6-12mm. With improved cutting speeds and production efficiencies, we roll these benefits out to our customer pricing structures.”
Looking forward, the company aims to standardise on TRUMPF machinery. Like many aspects of business, Eggleston Steel views investment in the latest manufacturing technologies as a means of providing strong foundations for growth.
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