WKS GmbH

Process simplification through laser cutting

The pro­duc­tion of weld­ing ac­ces­so­ries and oc­cu­pa­tion­al safe­ty com­po­nents at WKS pre­vi­ous­ly re­quired sev­er­al dif­fer­ent tools for round­ing, punch­ing and em­boss­ing. In par­tic­u­lar, the man­u­fac­ture and change­over of punch­ing tools were both time-con­sum­ing and cost­ly. With the euro-laser la­ser cut­ting ma­chine, all pro­cess­ing steps are now com­bined in a sin­gle pro­cess. This in­creas­es ef­fi­cien­cy, flex­i­bil­i­ty and cost-effect­ive­ness, for ex­am­ple when pro­cess­ing PET-G for face shields or in con­tract man­u­fac­tur­ing.

Header image of the eurolaser case study with WKS GmbH on laser cutting for contract and commissioned manufacturing using CO₂ laser cutting machines

WKS GmbH, Germany

Flexible manufacturing and customer-oriented solutions

WKS GmbH, based in Aalen (Germany), is an innovative manufacturing and service company with a broad technical product range and its own production facilities. In addition to classic products such as welding accessories, personal protective equipment and cable assembly, WKS also offers laser-based cutting and processing services. The company is characterised by high flexibility, customer-oriented solutions and the ability to manufacture even small batch sizes economically.

Website: WKS GmbH
WKS GmbH logo – processing of wood, textiles, plastic films and acrylic for protective visors and industrial applications
Precision laser-cut plastic gaskets manufactured using a eurolaser CO₂ laser cutting machine

Challenge of WKS GmbH

Increase flexibility in production

Until now, production relied on a punching machine that required a tool change for every order, resulting in additional time and cost. A solution was sought that would enable flexible manufacturing processes while remaining economically efficient. WKS aims in particular to produce small batch sizes efficiently, which were not profitable to manufacture with the previous technology. In the future, production is also intended to be directly connected to the company’s own web shop in order to realise on-demand orders quickly and in an automated manner.

eurolaser solution: XL-3200 laser cutting machine

Laser processing of solid PET-G sheets

eu­ro­la­ser im­ple­men­ted a pre­cise­ly tai­lored so­lu­tion to­ge­ther with WKS: the XL-3200 with Re­mote Ope­ra­tion. As PET-G is main­ly pro­cessed as full sheets, the large-format sys­tem is ex­cel­lent­ly suit­a­ble and en­a­bles burr-free cut­ting with con­sis­tent­ly high qua­li­ty. With Re­mote Ope­ra­tion, the pro­cess­ing ta­ble is di­vi­ded in­to a load­ing and un­load­ing zone and a cut­ting a­rea. While the la­ser is cut­ting, the ma­chine can be loa­ded and un­loa­ded in pa­ral­lel, there­by a­void­ing down­time.

In ad­di­tion, the la­ser re­pla­ces punch­ing ma­chi­nes, guil­lo­tine shears and em­boss­ing tools with­in a sin­gle pro­cess. Set-up times are e­li­mi­na­ted, a­ny con­tour can be im­ple­men­ted fle­xi­bly and e­ven the small­est batch si­zes re­main e­co­no­mi­cal. This sa­ves time and costs while at the same time cre­a­ting scope for ex­pand­ing the pro­duct range.

CO₂ laser cutting machine eurolaser XL-3200 viewed from an angled front perspective
More about the XL-3200 laser cutting machine
More about Remote Operation
More about cutting plastics

The eurolaser saves us a significant amount of work in production. Previously, we had to cut the PET-G sheets to size with a guillotine shear before further processing and then round off the corners. Only then could holes be punched and the embossing or date stamp added. Today, we no longer need to constantly change the stamp, as we simply apply the marking digitally via the laser cutter.

All processing steps are carried out on a single machine.

Axel Lang, Managing Director of WKS

Axel Lang
Managing Director of WKS

Product examples & impressions