Middlebury aluminium processor adds new cutting machine

A new machine at Middlebury's Champagne Metals in the United States is helping the aluminium processor achieve efficiencies and offer new services and should have a nationwide impact on manufacturing, according to a company executive.

In March, the cut-to-length machine that can handle rolls of aluminum sheeting up to 111 inches wide went into production. Butech Bliss of Salem, Ohio manufactured the machine for Champagne Metals.

“We take coiled aluminum, level it and cut it to length for use in all types of industries,” said Darren Hayes, chief operating officer for the company.

He said the company has customers in a variety of industries, including pleasure boats, especially pontoon boat builders, van box truck manufacturers, liquid and dry bulk tankers, dump bodies and other industries. The new cutting line can handle up to .375-inch (3/8-inch) thick aluminum, down to .030 stock. The machine’s width is ahead of other cutting machines in the industry, Hayes said.

“Right now, there is no mill that can produce that wide yet,” he said, “but we are ready for them when they can.”

The cutting line also wraps the finished aluminium sheets with straps and then places those sheets on pallets, creating an efficient operation that is less labor intensive, according to Hayes.

Champagne Metals hosted local and county officials Wednesday for a viewing of the machine in operation. The company received a tax phase-in from the Elkhart County Council when it opened in November 2013.

Customers will have a lot of options with the new cutting line, Hayes said, because the machine can trim up to 8 inches of aluminum from each side of a role of expensive metal. The new machine also offers assurance to original equipment manufacturers nationwide that their supply of aluminum sheeting will continue uninterrupted in case Champagne’s 100-inch cutting line at its Glenpool, Oklahoma plant goes down for an extended time.

Another service the machine allows Champagne to offer is working with aluminum mills to process rolls or sheets to a customer’s width specifications.

The new machine joins an existing 80-inch wide cutting line at the factory and a metal splitting (SLEAR) machine.