Whitbread Off-Road has over 20 years experience in kitting out Challenge, Comp Safari and Land Rover vehicles for off-road competitions and races. Their space frames, rock sliders, roll cages and other custom fabrications have gained them a loyal following throughout the UK and abroad. After seeing the benefit in taking more of their metal fabrication in-house, they bought their Swift-Cut 1250 in May of 2013 and, within the space of a year, the Whitbread team has gone from having minimal operational understanding of plasma cutting tables to declaring that the machine is the best purchase they’ve ever made for their workshop.
The company’s owner, Malcolm, is very pleased with his machine. Why? Like many of our customers, their machine has allowed them to seriously cut down on their turn-around time as their in-house team can quickly create pieces using the machine’s CAD software. With the ability to store images in the machine’s computer system and cut them as and when they’re needed, their production method is flexible and efficient Plus, they’re wasting less as they’re able to use scrap metal to make brackets and other pieces from left-over metal that would otherwise be discarded, allowing them to save resources, time, and money.
Quality is important to Malcolm and his team. They’re known for producing great work for their customers and similarly seek excellence in the tools they’re using. “The quality of the cut is there” Malcolm comments, when talking about his Swift-Cut machine. “We didn’t buy on price, we bought on quality,” he says, as he describes how they compared the Swift-Cut machine to others at the MECH show two years ago.
Any regrets? “The boys say the metal is a little heavy to get on the table,” Malcolm jokes, but other than that the table’s great. And it shows in the quality of the work Whitbread creates!
