OPW Cushion Manufacturers Boost Bottom Line With Lectra’s Newest Airbag Cutting Solution, Increasing Productivity By Up To 20%

PARIS — October 24, 2017 — Lectra allows one-piece woven (OPW) airbag cushion manufacturers to significantly increase their productivity and positively impact their bottom line with the launch of its new FocusQuantum® OPW 3K laser airbag cutting solution.

Unveiled in December 2015 and already deployed by major automotive airbag cushion suppliers worldwide, including Global Safety Textiles, Sumisho Airbag Systems, Kolon and HMT, Lectra’s FocusQuantum OPW makes it possible to achieve quality nearing zero defects while lowering per unit production cost. Thanks to Lectra’s ongoing R&D efforts and extensive experience gained on the airbag cutting market — with more than three out of every five airbag cushions cut by Lectra equipment worldwide — FocusQuantum OPW 3K is engineered to deliver even more value to manufacturers.

Laser cutting of airbag cushions is a precise operation that relies on automation to perfect production techniques. Major hardware and software improvements built into Lectra’s FocusQuantum OPW 3K allow airbag cushion suppliers to produce significantly higher output with zero compromise on the exacting safety requirements imposed on these life-saving devices.

FocusQuantum OPW 3K comes equipped with a new, breakthrough feature called Dynamic Laser Trajectory Management, which controls operation of the advanced cutting solution’s two 1.5 kW source lasers. The new feature minimizes stops and slow-downs through on-the-fly cutting, automatically optimizing concurrent operation of the two cutting heads. Smaller cuts like slits and holes can now be executed 25-percent faster, contributing to an overall increase in cutting speed that accounts for up to 20-percent greater productivity, leading to an approximately 15-percent reduction in cutting cost per bag.

Deployed in tandem with advanced cutting preparation software FocusQuantum Suite, FocusQuantum OPW 3K enables manufacturers to adapt laser cutting action to fabric distortions in real time using Lectra’s SmartCutting technology, ensuring the highest quality while opening the door to material savings.

“Light vehicle production is set to reach 108 million units worldwide annually in the next 10 years, with an average of four airbags per vehicle,” remarked Céline Choussy Bedouet, chief marketing and communications officer, Lectra. “Most of this growth will come from emerging markets, which are beginning to phase in side-impact protection as mandatory. Growing global demand for OPW airbags will make it crucial for airbag cushion suppliers to deploy the production capability necessary to remain competitive.”

Posted October 24, 2017

Source: Lectra

SHARE