Industrial supplier of finer sheet metal invests to expand offerings

Companies that want to keep evolving sometimes have to reinvent themselves. This also happened at the West Flemish family business Lesage Metaalconstructie, an industrial supplier for the finer sheet metal work, when the fourth generation took charge. Under her impetus, not only was the new baseline "Masters in Metalworks" launched, but investments in machinery and automation systems followed. This made it possible to increase productivity and efficiency on the shop floor and broaden the range of products on offer. Attention was also paid to creating a better and healthier working environment for the team of loyal, qualified employees.

At Lesage, they aim to achieve long-term cooperation with their customers by offering them a total package and guaranteeing the highest quality in product and service time and time again. What once began as a blacksmith's shop has grown into an industrial supplier of the finer, versatile sheet metal work. The end products are often very creative as well as visible, and thus require a high degree of finishing: parts for construction-related products or for the lighting world, indoor and outdoor furniture, enclosure cabinets ... to name but a few.

"Together with my wife Lies and her brother Kim, I have been responsible since the beginning of 2021 for building on our (grand)parents' life's work. We were given ample time to explore everything, settle in and fully get to know the company, the customers and the market. Moreover, today we can still count on the backing of the previous generation," says Mike Bartholomeus. "We undertook a comprehensive study and drew up a multi-year plan to sustain the company's growth. Our team of fifty qualified employees is a very important asset in this regard. After all, it is not easy to find technically skilled personnel, but fortunately we have loyal employees, who do not shy away from any challenge. That is why we also invested heavily in solutions to further optimize their workplace into a pleasant and healthy environment, such as an air extraction system in the welding shop, forklifts to lift heavy pieces, fresh air supply and ventilation in the offices, ... .""

Machinery in full evolution

In addition to personnel, machinery obviously plays a crucial role if companies want to guarantee quality and remain competitive. Customers come to Lesage with their ideas. In some cases, these are simple models, for which the customer already has a drawing. Often, however, there is a demand for more complex constructions, which the company's product designers convert into a realizable solution, including with the help of advanced 3D drawing packages. Once the customer approves the design, production can begin. Sheets of steel, aluminum and stainless steel, as well as Corten steel, zinc, red copper or brass in various sizes are machined. Almost everything is done in-house: cutting, punching, bending, welding ... and painting.

Lesage has greatly expanded its machinery in recent years, including automated laser cutting and punching machines, an automatic sheet warehouse, two bending robots and semi-automatic welding equipment. Furthermore, they also master the craft of welding like no other. Robotic, semi-automatic, TIG, MIG, spot, butt and stud welding: the skilled employees have mastered it all. The welding robot has four work stations and a range of 12 meters. The workpieces are also painted in-house. This is done in the 3000 m² industrial powder coating plant, where pieces up to 12 meters can be processed. For other surface treatments, the company calls on one of its regular partner companies.

"Where many other companies stop, we continue. Even the most complex parts and constructions are produced without problems. Meanwhile, we continue to make targeted investments in systems that help us respond even more flexibly to our customers' demands. For example, we recently installed a CNC machine from Elumatec for profiles up to 6 meters, and we have started laser welding, which allows us to obtain a beautiful welding result for our fine sheet metal work without additional post-processing," says Bartholomeus. "These investments fit perfectly with our vision to guarantee even better service. After all, we aim for customers to have only one contact person for their entire project, which improves efficiency, delivery reliability and quality. We are currently looking into expanding our bending department with a third automated bending cell. In the welding department, we are then going down the path of an additional welding robot to further expand our capacity. So we have growth plans for the coming years as well.""