So many of us purchase feature loaded devices, and then use only a fraction of the features. Just think of how much functionality goes wasted in our fancy smartphones every day, and yet we always feel the need to upgrade to the latest version.

So when we see our customers using all the amazing functionality of our Ocean Avenger PLUS, it is really satisfying that they are getting everything out of their machines.

The Avenger PLUS has a fantastic scribing and part marking capability, and it goes a long way to eliminating the costly tape measure from the shop floor. Having your fitter, read a drawing, grab his tape measure, framing square and chalk, and then layout where the attachments are to be welded is a time consuming and expensive task.

Using the powerful scribing tool on the Avenger PLUS to layout exactly where to weld the attachments helps reduce costs, increase margins and make for a sustainable business.

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Every day, our customers show us how creative and enterprising they are.

On a recent visit to one of our customers, our technician Dave, noticed these cool roll-out tracks to get rid of unsightly wood dunnage that one needs to assist loading beams with a forklift.

This ingenious roll-out system was designed and implemented by the staff at National Machinery and Conveyor under the direction of the owner Josh Clifton. And like all great ideas, when you see it you think, that so obvious!

Josh hated seeing the timber in the walkway:- it made the place look untidy and it presented a trip hazard. So they came up with this simple system that they can extend and retract when needed.

Thanks guys, we love what you have done with the place!

The post Avenger Customer Installs Ingenious Material Handling System appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

Division Five, a structural fabricator located in Hollywood, SC, has been a valued customer of Ocean Machinery since their 2006 installation of the Terminator 1842 Saw and Avenger Drill Line.

The Ocean Liberator CNC Beam Coper was added in 2018 to minimize layout and coping times. A recent visit to their facility reveals W16 x 40’s requiring rat holes, web and flange beveling, taking around 7-minutes and 30 seconds per-end to cope and bevel.  Previous manual processing took about one-hour after grinding and final cleanup.

We also observed a “mammoth” W40 x 199 beam being drilled on their Ocean Avenger.  The Liberator Beam Coper was used to perform a trim-cut on this “heavy-weight” prior to drilling it.

We thank the team at Division Five for employing the Ocean brand of structural machinery to supplement their fabrication efforts.

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For many of our customers, buying a CNC beamline is a daunting proposition. For most of them it is by far their most expensive capital purchase, and they have to be confident that the machine will pay for itself quickly. Not everyone believes us when we tell them that it will start to pay for itself from the first day its installed on their floor, and so we really love to share our real life customer experiences when it does just that.

The seaside town of East London on the East coast of South Africa is home to one of the premier automotive manufacturers worldwide, as well as one of our newest fabricating customers, Bennies Welding. Until recently, Bennies Welding had survived through thick and thin as a purely manual fabricating shop.  But when they landed a large project to extend the automotive manufacturing facility, the owner, Terry Davies, felt it was time to embrace CNC automation and made the decision to buy our Ocean Avenger CNC single spindle drill line, as well as our Ocean Terminator DCM 1825 high speed band saw.

Owner Terry Davies with one of the Avenger Operators, Deon Van Der Merwe, in front of their new CNC drill line, the Ocean Avenger

Owner Terry Davies and bandsaw operator Xavier White, in front of their new Ocean Terminator.

Depending on labor rates, the cost of a mag-drilled hole in a beam is typically estimated at around $1 – $2 per hole with the worldwide average being around $1.50.

Our local dealer, SKOK Machine Tool, completed the machine installation at Bennies Welding on the 19^th of September 2018, and towards the end of January 2019, almost exactly 4 months after installation, I visited their shop to see the machine working, and there on the screen was the number of holes drilled – 141,000!

The CNC screen showing the 141,000 holes already drilled on their Ocean Avenger in less than 4 months

So at Bennies Welding, the Avenger has almost paid for itself in 4 months. NOW THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL A RETURN ON INVESTMENT!

The complex and intricate support trusses that will soon being installed into the automotive plant, in the space above the existing lights, fire sprinklers and electrical lines, and under the existing roof, over the existing production line. As you can imagine, the installation is a very complex affair and has to be done after hours so that it doesn’t affect the production line. A project not for the faint of heart

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Steelforce Distribution in Brisbane, Australia has undergone dramatic updates since its first installation of the Ocean Avenger in conjunction with 4 semi-automatic bandsaws. Steelforce provides both cut to length service as well as hole drilling processing for its fabricating customers who do not have beam lines.

Two of the semi-automatic saws have been replaced with automatic Meba bandsaws and are tied together using Peddinghaus  hydraulic infeed and outfeed conveyors as well as cross transfer systems .

Additional consolets at the other saws provides faster loading and unloading before material is moved to the Avenger when holes are required.

The new system has more than doubled their capacity and we expect this to be part of an ongoing journey.

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Ever had to bevel the flanges of a column for weld prep when welding on a base plate?

Sure you have, and it’s a pain to do it manually. But our enterprising friends at A&S Steel in Auckland New Zealand have found a way to do it on their Avenger PLUS Drill Line.

Weld prep bevel of flange being done on the Ocean Avenger PLUS

They place their beams and columns on the table at the desired bevel/chamfer angle, use a standard milling tool and then quickly mill their way through the flange, providing a perfectly beveled part, ready to be welded.

Secured at the proper bevel angle and ready to go!

Well, we do call the Avenger PLUS our Multifunction Machine, and now our customers have shown us yet another operation that can be done with this amazingly versatile machine.

The post We LOVE our Creative Customers appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

A little over 6 years ago Steel Builders in Sydney, Australia came to the realization that they would be much more competitive with a CNC beam drill line.  In September 2012 Steel Builders’ new Ocean Avenger CNC Beam Line was installed, and their tonnage throughput dramatically increased – they haven’t looked back since.

Steel Builders is now producing 80 tons of light steel per day

Today they produce approximately 80 tons of light housing steel beams every day and have outgrown just using their Avenger Beam Line, they have now added both a Peddinghaus PCD-C Beam Line and an XDM to their automation.

The Avenger CNC Beam Line is being kept very busy with flat bar

Through all of their incredible growth they still keep the Avenger very busy and working hard, their Avenger is now focused 100% on flat bar. The Avenger CNC Beam Line is truly an amazing workhorse!

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UPDATED 8/31/2018 (addition at end of article)

As machinery suppliers we travel the world, selling machines to a wide range of fabricators, many of whom do not have a lot of space to allocate to the machine they absolutely have to have!

What we enjoy is seeing the creative approaches that many of our customers have employed, installing their Ocean CNC machines outdoors, and then their creative approaches to keeping the machines protected from inclement weather. We thought you might enjoy some of our customer photos:

• Georges Welding in Miami has his Avenger outside, with a cover where it parks, but he runs it in the rain, covered with a large beach umbrella!

Getting some shade from the Miami sun.

• Waikato Steel in New Zealand, has their Avenger outdoors, and has two sheds on either side of the table where it can be parked, but they have also totally encased the traveling head in a sheet metal box allowing them to drill holes while it is running! Very Ned Kelly-ish!

The metal housing protects the Avenger from the elements while still allowing it to drill

• A&A Ironworks in their early days with the Avenger outside, a wooden shed to park it, and a simple canopy that protected the machine from the rain.

You don’t want to leave your new Avenger outside over night… What do you do? You build it a garage!

• Contrast Metal with their Avenger on a lovely concrete slab outdoors and a wooden cabin to park it when it is raining.

A nicely constructed cabin for the Ocean Avenger to spend the night in

Beautiful concrete driveway leading up to this Ocean Avenger’s residence

• Valley Iron Works with their Avenger outdoors.

Nothing like being outside on a beautiful day!

• Plastal Avenger / Terminator installation outdoors with small shed for weather protection.

Starting to see a trend yet? It doesn’t matter if you have the space inside!

• Atlas Welding with a tiny wooden shed where they house their Clipper and pass through conveyors and simple loading table with hoist for lifting bundles of angle.

Our customers aren’t just installing Avengers outside… Ocean Clippers too!

Angle sections feed through the wall to the Ocean Clipper protected from the elements!

• Atlantic Central with their Avenger extending into the loading bay

UPDATE 8/31/2018

This story reached a lot of people and received such a positive response, we felt it deserved updating. After posting the article on Facebook, one of our customers from down under – Chris Barry at On the Spot Welding & Steel in Brisbane Australia, responded to the post with this comment and photos of their machine:

“8 years and over half a million holes, in all different types of material and still going as good as the day we got it.“ – Chris Barry

It is worth noting that On the Spot Welding & Steel is right on the Australian coastline, which means their Avenger runs like a champ outside in the salty ocean air!

We love hearing customers stories, and we know you do too… If you would like your story featured on our blog, email us and let us know marketing@oceanmachinery.com

Ocean Avenger at On the Spot Welding & Steel, Brisbane Australia

The post Making it work when you absolutely have to have it! appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

Ocean customers and prospects are opening our eyes to the Avenger PLUS’ diverse processing capabilities for manufacturers using  steel and or aluminum profiles in their products.

Truck & Trailer Chassis Manufacturing:

The manual layout and hand-burning of (channel) cross-member supports  into  frame rails (wide flange beam) can take 2-3 hours per chassis.  The Avenger PLUS eliminates manual layout, improves quality & accuracy, while performing this same task in under 20 minutes –  without any grinding & cleanup!

FINISHED TRUCK FRAME:

Crane & Monorail  Track Manufacturing:

Aluminum Extrusions are more accurately drilled and milled in rapid succession with the Avenger PLUS resulting in a more  accurate fit-up and better appearance than done with traditional hand tools.

FABRICATION by HAND:

FABRICATION on AVENGER PLUS in a fraction of the time:

The post Improving Productivity with the Avenger PLUS appeared first on Ocean Machinery Inc..

The best thing about travel is that you get out of your comfort zone and you get to see how other people live and operate, and if you have your eyes and ears open, you learn a lot from those new experiences and observations.

About two years ago, Bob Hawley of Red Steel in Napier, New Zealand had started building his new fabricating facility, and purchased an Avenger PLUS from Ocean to position his shop ahead of his competition. This past trip I had the privilege of seeing Bob in his new state-of-the-art facility, and I got to see how he is positioning his business for future growth.

Red Steel – Napier, New Zealand

From the minute you arrive at the shop you can tell that Bob has tremendous pride in appearance, and the striking charcoal and red color scheme that greets you on the outside of the building, is carried through the entire facility. First impressions are important in business and Red Steel offers one of the most compelling first impressions you will ever see, and not just in the steel fabrication arena.

Red Steel’s front lobby

But it’s not just about appearances. Bob fully understands that the strength of his company is dependent on attracting and retaining the best employees and the effort and expense that he has put into the facility to cater to his employees is immediately apparent. A large, fully-appointed break room leads outside to an attractive covered barbecue area, protected from the cold winds that are common in New Zealand. And most importantly for a coffee connoisseur like myself, visitors are offered a range of gourmet espresso options and Bob has turned out to be quite the Barista!

Impact Machinery’s Robby Clark with Bob in the large break room

Covered outdoor employee break area

Bob and Ocean VP Danny Steyn enjoying some espresso at the Avenger PLUS

This level of detail is carried through to the fabricating facility, where every single fabricator is in control of his own crane, ensuring that he is fully productive. Bob tracks real time productivity with a range of software programs and I really enjoyed seeing the man-hour/ton variations across the massive range of work that Red Steel undertakes.

Every fabricator is in control of their own crane

Peddinghaus HSFDB being installed

And while I was there the Peddinghaus factory technician Rob Ganzer was installing Red Steel’s new fully loaded HSFDB plate line. All in all, a very impressive facility and one that will set itself apart for years to come. Thanks for the tour Bob!

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