Tong Peal Engineering has invested £350,000 in a new laser cutter as the company continues to raise standards, increase efficiency and reduce waste at its Spilsby site.

The UK's leading designer and manufacturer of handling and sorting equipment for the vegetable industry, has replaced its former plasma cutterwith a state-of-the-art laser cutter.

The new equipment will be quicker, more accurate and produce a better finish than the previous cutter.

It also features an innovative memory function, which means the machine stores information about off-cuts and recalls their details if they are suited to a job in the future.

"Taking advantage of new developments and technologies, especially when they save us time and money, is something we've always been keen to do at Tong Peal," says Neil Martin, factory manager at Tong Peal Engineering.

"By investing in this new laser cutter, jobs will now be quicker, not only saving us time and money but ultimately helping to improve lead times for our customers. In addition, customers will see an even better engineering finish to all of our equipment.

"The laser cutter can be used for everything, from manufacturing small profiled components to complete structural panels and guards. The new machine will also help us standardise the production process and reduce fabricationtime accordingly.

"The laser cutter can even etch individual identification numbers on each component, making it easier than ever before to locate parts and produce replacement or duplicate parts if needed. And, as the machine remembers thedimensions and area of off cuts, we can reduce the amount of metal that is disposed of during the production process."

It is not just Tong Peal that is set to benefit from the laser cutter, as the Spilsby engineering company is offering a sub-contracting service for laser cutting and CNC folding, utilising the cutter's spare capacity.

"We think that there could well be several engineering companies out there who are sending work out of the county and would prefer to work with a local sub-contractor for the provision of high quality cut materials and sowe're happy to help them out and use our new laser cutter for sub-contracting work. We are able to produce components from CAD drawings, sketches and even existing parts. All companies have to do is contact us and we'll gladly show them what our new piece of equipment is capable of and discuss their requirements."