The Best Bang for Our Buck
- Heliner
- Jul 21
- 2 min read
RTL is a leading supplier of road signs, along with safety and traffic management
solutions. Their products are very visible as we drive around and park our vehicles.
Clinton Carter-Johnson, Factory Manager, tells us about the efficiency gains from
their Heliner CNC router…
Complex and expensive options out there
We already had an Australian flatbed router, but needed more capacity. So, we
looked for a second machine from the same supplier plus three alternatives,
including Heliner. Several routers were overly complex and expensive for our simple
applications. With the European suppliers, it seemed pretty much like “see you later”
after they delivered the product, but we wanted real, ongoing support.
Affordable quality at last
We visited Heliner and saw one of their machines in action. It seemed pretty easy to
learn and set up – being demonstrated by the office clerk.
We sent one of our products to James, and he sent back a prototype, which
impressed us with the quality finish. Then there was a lot of too-ing and fro-ing with
him to work out our needs and expectations. James’ engagement was surprisingly
enthusiastic, which impressed us, and he even came up with a few ideas that were
new to us.
After considering our options, it seemed pretty clear that the Heliner machine was the
best bang for our buck, so we went for it.
Process fixes
We find light aluminium sheets tend to slide around a lot on machine beds. So, the
Heliner vacuum bed setup works wonders for us, where we can select which areas to
turn it on or off. This is particularly useful when we’re getting up to 1.5 m wide signs
for motorway gantries.
With the way we were working, swarf was getting into the flatbed carriage bearings,
which was a costly problem. James tried three different ways of preventing this tricky
issue before we finally cracked it – at his own expense.
Continuous proactive improvement
We get nice clean edges from our new machine, avoiding the need for manual
finishing – with all the man-handling, punching, and tool maintenance. It’s 100%
accurate, as long as it’s programmed right, helping us to conform to strict NZTA
specifications.
James often asks if we need anything and ‘what about this idea?’ or ‘what about that
idea to optimise the output and quality?’
We get an extra 10 to 15% more productivity than our old machine, and rework is
down around 30% – avoiding much waste.
Savings on tools and consumables
“We buy tools through James at significant cost savings, and lubricant at one-third of
the normal price. With consumables, we’re getting a saving of about $15,000 a year.
Second-to-none service
“We’ve had a lot of support from James, who is very easy to work with. We can call
him any time, and he’ll send a tech around to see what issues we have. And being
local is a big advantage to us.”
