SlatPro Information

SlatPro has been in the laser cutting industry for more than a decade starting with a 2500 watt machine and adding equipment as we grew. Our first experience with automation was in 2004 with the installation of a 4000 watt machine equipped with a material transfer system. This new technology would allow the machine to run over night unattended, thus driving down the operating cost. The machine came with copper slats as part of its automation package. Within a couple of weeks it became clear that copper slats were far superior to steel. Consequently we converted our other equipment to copper slats as well. Not only did the slag flake off the copper slats easily but their life span was about eight times greater than that of steel. Copper is also the preferred slat for automated systems due to the fact that parts and slugs do not get welded onto the bed. After reviewing the price to replace the cutting beds through our machine OEM, we looked for an alternative way to make the copper slats at a reduced cost. We did an internal cost analysis and determined that we could produce the slats at roughly half the cost of the OEM. We started manufacturing our own slats and realized that we could help other shops by giving them an alternate source for copper slats at a much better price. We started to market the product by creating a new website, lasergrating.com Within a couple of months we had many requests from shops that were having issues with steel slats and were now looking for an alternate option. Certain industries such as medical and food equipment manufacturers were very interested due to the reduction in carbon contamination and superior part quality. One of the advantages that we offer our customers have is the ability to modify their slat design to best suit the types of materials and parts they run. We produce every order as a custom job to allow this type of flexibility. Current copper users found us to be a great source for replacement beds, however many other shops were hesitant to take that first step and invest the money required for copper slats. We do our best to work with customers and find ways that financially work for them. This has led to blanket orders, which gives them the freedom to bring in slats as needed but still stay under their monthly maintenance budgets. As copper prices continued to rise we began to investigate how we could again help reduce the costs so that more people could realize the benefits of this product. We created a way to combine the low cost of carbon steel and the performance benefits of copper with our patent pending Hybrid design. After extensive internal testing we brought this product to market at the beginning of 2013. The cost savings vary greatly from machine to machine but typically our customers see a 30% reduction in price to that of pure copper slats. We have found that if used in the right application, Hybrid slats perform very comparable to pure copper. Our customer response on this new product has been very positive. Earlier this year we had a customer purchase Hybrid slats for one machine to do an internal cost analysis. After 30 days our customer had determined that the increase in machine up time and improved part quality with the Hybrid slats would help them reduce their overall operating costs. This customer then proceeded to put Hybrid beds on eight other machines. With the emphasis on driving down costs in the manufacturing industry more and more shops are looking for ways to streamline their processes. Pure copper and Hybrid laser slats are excellent solutions to everyday problems and a great way to increase overall productivity on laser cutting equipment.