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Case study Penn Elcom

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Salvagnini panel benders deliver best-case scenario

Highlights

  1. Penn Elcom
    It was 1974 when Mr Willems founded the business in the village of Penn, Buckinghamshire, where his first investment was a pre-owned power press costing £250. But from small acorns grow mighty oaks. In 2003, Penn merged with Elcom, a US flight case specialist and the company’s primary competitor. Today, Penn Elcom has UK manufacturing sites in Hastings and Tyne & Wear, as well as subsidiaries in 15 countries worldwide.
  2. The context
    Among the specialisms at the Hastings facility are products for 19-inch racking systems. These units are essentially standardised frames or enclosures used extensively in stage technology for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. The 19-inch racking products manufactured on site include cabinets, enclosures, shock-mount systems, rack strips/rails, shelves, drawers, panels and doors, all of which require folds. Until recently the company relied a selection of 10 press brakes to undertake bending operations.
  3. The project 
    “One night I was on the internet looking at panel benders and curiosity got the better of me, so I made my first enquiry for a Salvagnini. I sent three products to Salvagnini that were proving difficult to fold using our press brakes. One of these products – a cabinet corner post – was about 2m in length, 2.5mm thick and had 8-10 folds. It necessitated three lifts on a press brake, so our existing cycle time was around 15 minutes, and we had quite a high reject rate,” states Roger Willems, Founder and Chairman of Penn Elcom. The trials showed that a Salvagnini panel bender could fold these products in just 50 seconds, prompting Penn Elcom to invest in its first machine.
  4. Today
    The Hastings site houses a Salvagnini P1, a completely electrical panel bender with a maximum bend length of 1,250mm, and three P4lean automatic panel benders. The latest P4lean arrived in February 2021. Of the 10 press brakes owned by the company prior to the panel bender era, only three remain on site.