Trailer-builder Broshuis in the Netherlands has taken the production of steel parts for its trailers in-house, reaching lengths of 68 metres. This offers the opportunity to build a new Industry 4.0 factory from the ground up, says Robin Kroon, CEO of Broshuis Parts Production.
It’s not every day that one gets the chance to set up a new production department for sheet and tube products from scratch. Robin Kroon, CEO, and Melanie van Beek, Process Engineer, took this opportunity to extensively automate the entire process at Broshuis, the oldest manufacturer of semi-trailers for special transport and of container chassis, based in the Netherlands.
For them, this process starts with the software that checks the feasibility of the designs within a few minutes and gives the engineers immediate feedback. “Often, companies only check the manufacturability when they start production,” says Van Beek. “If they discover errors, they have to go back to the engineers. That disrupts the process.” No-one wants that at Broshuis, that’s for sure. The process is at the top. “In addition, engineers improve their designs if they receive immediate feedback.”

Parts production comes home
Until recently, the trailer-builder outsourced the production of steel parts. “But we had observed an increase in delivery times,” says Melanie van Beek. “Moreover, there were relatively many more disruptions in our factory due to problems with sheet metal work. If you involve that externally, it takes a lot of time to solve it.”
With around ten employees, the company wants to make all of the various 12,000 parts for customer-driven trailers that Broshuis builds every year. These parts will be delivered to the assembly line within four hours. Thanks to the advanced automation, Robin Kroon expects the added value per employee to be twice as high as the average in the sector.

Order-driven production
The new department is in charge of manufacturing order-based products. The cutting order is only released once the production of the beam, as the heart of the trailer, starts. From that moment on, production is controlled automatically. The various software systems involved are linked together.
For Kroon, the software has been the starting point for machine selection. “Many companies ask questions from a technology standpoint. But in an Industry 4.0 process, the machine does not really matter. The process surrounding it determines whether you earn money or not.”
Eventually, Broshuis Parts Production opted for three laser machines from Mazak: a fiber and a DDL flatbed laser with a range of 3000 mm by 1500 mm (respectively, the OPTIPLEX 3015 FIBER III with 6 kW capacity and OPTIPLEX 3015 DDL with 4 kW capacity) in combination with Remmert automation, along with a Mazak FABRI GEAR 400 III for laser-cutting tubes and profiles.
We were looking for a supplier who can automate the entire process and is prepared to integrate the machines into the process with other partners through software. You always encounter problems, but does the supplier solve them? Mazak engineers made sure to leave our facility only after all problems were solved.
Robin Kroon, CEO
Direct Diode Laser technology
Apart from the fact that, according to Kroon, laser-cutting is part of Mazak’s DNA, the deciding factor were both the openness of the control and the culture at Mazak. “We were looking for a supplier who can automate the entire process and is prepared to integrate the machines into the process with other partners through software. You always encounter problems, but does the supplier solve them? Mazak engineers made sure to leave our facility only after all problems were solved.”
With the 4 kW OPTIPLEX DDL flatbed laser, Broshuis brings the very latest laser-cutting technology from Mazak in-house. Van Beek was a strong proponent of this from the start. “If you position yourself as an innovative company, you have to work with the most modern technology,” she says.
The DDL laser-cutting technology also fits better with the products that Broshuis cuts. “We cut a lot of steel in 6 mm, 8 mm, and 10 mm. The DDL laser, which cuts with oxygen, gives a better cut image than the fiber laser”, she continues. We also purchased a 6 kW fiber laser as our second machine to cut thicker steel.
Follow-up processes improved
Until now, the production of each trailer required six hours of cutting holes with a cutting torch. The Mazak FABRI GEAR 400 III tube laser will do that work. In time, this machine will also replace the saw. Kroon shares, “Now, we saw all the sleeves and then drill, tap, grind, and finish them off. We are going to cut and finish everything in the machine, including applying the welding edges.”
After that, people want to simplify the welding process with male-female connections, welding lines and other smart solutions. “We want to start producing more stubbornly,” summarises Van Beek. That fits in with their vision that the process must be set up in such a way that production employees without specific experience can do a lot of the work.
Both see the effect of the tube laser. They had taken into account that it would take several years for the tube laser to be fully utilised but since the machine has been up and running, it goes much faster. “Because the engineers see the tube laser here, they are starting to think about how they can design for this machine.”