Building sheet metal fabrication plant of the future together

Supply is constantly under pressure from competition at home and abroad. PMC therefore resolutely focused on far-reaching efficiency to make short delivery times possible. Also for small series. For this it relies on the sheet metal working technology of TRUMPF and V.A.C. MACHINES. A relationship that has lasted for more than thirty years and should soon result in one of the most modern sheet metal workshops in the country.

PMC now stands for Pattyn Metal Construction, but it is the brainchild of Managing Director Jan Pauwels, to whom the P referred for decades. The company started out as a machine builder in the late 1980s, but evolved more and more into subcontracting in welding and sheet metal work, in steel but also in stainless steel. 

"It started with a question from Case New Holland. Whether we could not quickly cut two tons of plates for them and punch holes in them. Since then we have had the opportunity to work for a lot of big names in Belgian industry. I thought they would guarantee job security. But during the financial crisis, nothing could be further from the truth. There was a shortage a credits and therefore also of projects and work for us." 

Pauwels saw how procurement services played off the various suppliers against each other. The signal to completely transform his way of working. "From now on I looked for smaller series, in which, thanks to the extension of the QRM philosophy in all facets of the company, we could excel in short delivery times."

Partner to build on

A process of continuous improvement that even now receives renewal in the weekly consultation round. Pauwels: "It's about doing what you need to do, with as little handling and inventory as possible. In the first place, that meant investing in people so that they became multi-deployable in production. In return, they got attractive job content and a lot of responsibility. But of course from now on we looked at investing in machines in a different way." 

For this, Pauwels counts on the technology of V.A.C. MACHINES. A constant throughout all the transformations of recent years. "Managing director Karel Roland Vincke still personally came here to deliver our first punching machine," Pauwels recalls. "They have always proven to be a partner to build on. By delivering machines of excellent manufacture and also supporting them with the right service."

QRM flow

That the machinery keeps expanding has everything to do with the extensive, detailed post-calculation that Pauwels does. "This showed that we were losing a lot of our margin and flexibility to outsourcing the paint work." 

To co-finance such an investment, Pauwels put on his bold shoes and went to talk to one of his customers about job security: world leader in packaging machinery Pattyn. It ended up turning out completely different. "Since 2018, we officially belong to the Pattyn Group and work exclusively for them. For that, we moved to the old Philips site in Bruges. There I was given a blank canvas at my disposal to build out my workshop completely according to QRM principles. Everything now follows a logical flow, from the supply of the plates to the shipment of the finished pieces. We do that in two lines, one for steel and one for stainless steel." It didn't hurt the company: sales went times 2.5. 

Test setup for automatic welding

Efficient production is still paramount for Pauwels and his 20 employees. For example, they are currently investigating what added value the TruArc Weld 1000 can offer for automated welding. "Instead of testing it in the showroom of V.A.C. MACHINES, it is here with us on the production floor. An employee with no welding experience was welding with this after just one day of training. That's when it really becomes a gamechanger for small batches." 

In addition, folding also required a new approach. "Pleating was the bottleneck in our production. A shortage of capacity. We had a large bending bench on hand that could handle 220 tons, but the pieces we now make for Pattyn are much smaller. So the new one was allowed to be a lot lighter. Until it arrives here, we already have a machine on loan from V.A.C. MACHINES. Gone, bottleneck."

Boost as orchestra master

They became the TruBend 7050 and 5170 with Toolmaster, TRUMPF's automatic folding tool changer. An investment that was more expensive to purchase than the competition. "A price difference that will be eliminated in no time due to the higher productivity and additional features. Of that I am firmly convinced." 

By choosing one manufacturer in sheet metal working machines, Pauwels also wants to create a seamless flow that can be directed from the software package. In that, too, he found his liking with V.A.C. Machines. "Boost's simplicity, stability and efficiency are second to none. And it's only been running here since March. I am convinced that once we have everything fully up-and-running, we will be able to start working automatically at the push of a button. That is also my ultimate dream. In 2025, I will retire. By then I want to leave behind an ultramodern, fully integrated studio, with Boost as the grand orchestra master. Everything should then leave automatically from the tower warehouse to either the laser cutting machine or a laser punch combination. Again, that would eliminate a lot of manual operations here. That should be my legacy," Pauwels said.