September 24th, 2015
Following the recent opening of Barnshaws’ Polish facility, the company has been quick to secure substantial orders for rolled steel products and the extended customer list is growing rapidly. One of the latest projects involved creating the skeleton frame for a new Polish tram design and manufacturing the components to meet the tight build schedule.
Modern, aerodynamic designs require a strong, yet lightweight design and this usually means using rolled hollow section steel which can be formed into precise shapes to form the basic shape and structure of the tram. In one of the most recent orders, the tram manufacturer was contracted to deliver 12 new, low floor trams and the task of manufacturing the curved framework was awarded to Barnshaws Polska.
Each vehicle required a total of 60 rolled sections which consisted of three different sections and four different radii, which produced a complete contract for 720 rolled sections. Although the largest section was only 100 mm x 50 mm with a 5mm thickness, this project was about precision bending that could be repeated hundreds of times to ensure accurate assembly.
Sales Director Maciej Walkowicz comments, “Our new facility is ideally positioned to deliver projects such as this for manufacturers across Europe. Understanding the needs of our customers enables us to supply their exact requirements and if necessary coordinate with tight production schedules. Using innovative metal bending technology we are well placed to provide high quality and cost effective products.”
Barnshaws’ new Polish facility offers bending services for IPE European section beams and profiles section sizes up to 533mm, steel tube bending up to 508mm, plate rolling up to 3m wide at 20mm thick and 1.5m wide at 40mm thick. In addition, an aluminium bending capacity is also available on site, bringing further versatility to the new manufacturing centre.
