FLAT OUT FOR FLEXIBILITY.

A recent wave of innovation in fabrication machinery has conferred a new flexibility on users of sheet metal. The latest generation of machines allows economic production of smaller runs of more complex fabrications, with lower lead times and reduced design workload. This new generation of machines fits in with an acceleration in the rate of innovation throughout manufacturing industry, generally giving shorter product market life, and shorter production runs, with less time available to develop complex moulds for new components and less opportunity to amortise their cost in production. At the heart of these new machines is improved computer-aided manufacturing software, and innovative mechanical design.