Sawing equipment manufactured by German company Kasto has been used by Austrian tube stockholder Karl Mertl Handelsges in Schwechat since 1970, when it installed an EBS 400 U hacksaw that is still in use today for maintenance and repair. The company is currently managed by the third and fourth generations of the Gruscher family, with both daughters active in management, as well as son-in-law Jürgen Spannraft who has been CEO since 2019. 

In a 30,000 square metre warehouse, the 90-employee stockholder stores 8,000 tonnes of steel tube, which is mainly seven metres in length, from 3 to 660 mm in diameter and of wall thickness from 0.5 to 100 mm. Kasto bandsaws and a modern hacksaw are employed to cut the stock to length for delivery to customers throughout Europe.

As an old manual storage system with 1,012 cassettes was bursting at the seams in 2012, Mertl built a new warehouse and installed a Kasto Unicompact automated honeycomb storage system equipped with 2,633 cassettes and served by an overhead gantry crane. Additionally, extra automatic bandsaws provided increased cutting capacity and efficiency. The system is connected to Mertl’s enterprise resource planning system so that orders may be processed without human intervention.

“It was not a difficult decision to opt for Kasto for this round of investment,” recalled Marie Gruscher. “By then we were already familiar with the quality of the products and the great service. Kasto’s recommended solution was also the best fit for our requirements and we were able to connect it seamlessly to our packaging machine.”

She added that the new facility not only provided increased storage but also raised operational safety, as goods come to the person and not the other way around. Reduced manual handling and movement in the warehouse leads to a significantly lower risk of accidents. 

The company currently operates ten Kasto bandsawing machines. The KASTOtec horizontal model, with its intelligent control system that stores cutting parameters, is ideal for large series production and cutting very hard materials. A bi-metal or carbide saw band can be used. KASTOtwin is a similar but more general-purpose bandsaw. KASTOssb is a compact, vertical bandsaw that cuts precisely and quickly in series production and is well suited to bundle cutting.

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