Aluminium opportunities. Machinery & software puts alu capability within easy reach

Aluminium is being given some serious consideration by the PVC-U window sector as a practical addition to both fabrication and installation businesses. The opportunities, particularly in the commercial market, are being recognised as an excellent balance to flagging PVC-U sales in the private residential market.

With this in mind, Elumatec UK staged a three-day exhibition of machinery at its Milton Keynes premises in November. Billed as the largest concentration of aluminium frame-making machinery to be organised for many years, the exhibition was also an opportunity to see demonstrations of the powerful logiKal software program.

The logiKal software has been developed by the German production automation specialist Orgadata, which will install and support the product directly to UK fabricators.

Any company with or considering automatic sawing centres and CNC machines in the future can significantly benefit from the installation of logiKal software. Although new to the UK, it has been tried and tested around the world and is well proven, including many installations with Elumatec machines.

Software strengths

This professional store front and curtain wall construction software has been designed to bring efficient and precise control throughout the entire manufacturing process. It configures all popular aluminium framing systems and profiles from design through purchasing and production to despatch and invoicing.

The software accounts for trickle vents and different types of hardware. It also calculates U values and performs structural analysis. Crucially, it easily accepts original drawings and calculations from AutoCAD, and can link to accounting packages such as SAGE.

‘Installing logiKal guarantees a number of failsafe methods for UK fabricators,’ explains Elumatec MD Phil Heavey. ‘It can check the data logging at all times to eliminate input errors and it instinctively seeks the lowest costs on time and materials. This is an invaluable tool in an industry where the complexity of specification, design and production can be difficult to co-ordinate. logiKal is designed to seamlessly integrate all functions in the cycle.’

Such is Elumatec’s confidence in the package that it can be rented on a monthly basis. This might be done by fabricators using a different system to fulfil the specifications of a particular contract.

Machinery range

Elumatec sells its German-made machinery worldwide, the UK being one of many subsidiaries. The latest launch from this German company is the DG244 compound double mitre saw, which offers precision cutting for complex large profiles. The Milton Keynes exhibition also showcased Elumatec’s machining centres, and smaller machines aimed at start-ups and companies with limited space.