Eurofours was founded in 1980 by Mr Pierre Lancelot. At Eurofours we have approximately 150 employees who realise a turnover of some €20 million.
Eurofours specialises in manufacturing commercial ovens, accounting for approximately 60% of our production. We also manufacture fermentation cabinets and display cases for baked goods and chocolates. We export to some 100 countries.
Why did we choose LVD’s laser cutting and bending equipment?
The technology opened up new manufacturing possibilities, enabling us to make finished products that are better quality and slightly more sophisticated.
LVD provided us with a complete solution, from the software to the production equipment. We have the complete CADMAN software suite. We use CADMAN-B for the bending process and CADMAN-L to program the laser cutting machine. We also have CADMAN-JOB, the interface between our ERP system and the machines.
As for machinery, we opted for a laser cutting machine with a load/unload tower. Because we manufacture a variety of products, we use many different materials. We wanted a load/unload tower so the machine could function with maximum autonomy.
We also chose an automated press brake, a 4 metre, 135 ton ToolCell. It’s automated, meaning it loads and unloads the tools itself. This represents 30% of the time the operator spends on loading and unloading tools. It also features Easy-Form laser technology, a dynamic angle corrector that saves us having to calculate the grain direction, etc.
In addition to the ToolCell we invested in a smaller machine, an Easy-Form, which enables us to process much smaller parts with no more than one or two bends, freeing up the ToolCell for the big jobs, which take a lot more work. Each week, we ask our ESP system what we need for our production for the coming week or the next 2, 3 or 4 weeks. It details our sheet requirements. This work order is directly integrated into CADMAN-JOB. The software checks several things: whether it knows the part, whether we have already bent it and whether it’s technically feasible. It also gives us a cost and time analysis.
CADMAN-JOB generates a job list, which is a work order for the workshop. We import the program into the machine, which then executes the cutting sequence it’s been given. Once the work order is finished, the pallet is unloaded from the storage tower and placed on a separating table. At this table there is a tablet computer. The operator checks the part and enters into the tablet whether or not it’s acceptable. If the part is OK, the operator assigns it to an available trolley. When this is done a label is generated that contains several elements such as the work order, which is the work order from our ERP system, and it also states whether the part can go straight to assembly or needs to be bent.
As a result we now have 20% less waste material, giving us a bigger return on investment. We have also reduced the labour force by half in our sheet metal workshop. These workers have been reassigned to our assembly workshops, which has also improved our ROI. The insulation panels for our fermentation equipment, which used to be a major purchase cost, are now also manufactured in-house.
We also brought all sheet metal cutting of thick materials, which we used to outsource, back in-house. These are things that weren’t possible before.