In the twenty years that Lawhon Welding has been in business, it has gone from being a one-man operation out of a small welding shop to a 6,000 square foot facility, employing five staff members and gaining a reputation as one of the top metal cutters in South Carolina.
Providing a full fabrication facility including bending, shearing and designing – prior to discovering Swift-Cut, they were cutting metal by hand, a time consuming and costly exercise that didn’t have a huge profit margin. Not only was it labour intensive, but cutting by hand then required a lot of secondary operations to clean things up – further stretching the operational output and putting more pressure on the costs they had to hand down to the customer.
Glenn Lawhon’s decision to purchase the Swift-Cut Pro510 plasma table with the Hypertherm Powermax 125 was the turning point in their business. It was so efficient from the outset that it replaced the work of two full time employees (who were then utilized elsewhere) and was paid off within 6 months. A super-fast return on investment, almost unheard of in large machinery purchases.
Customer’s requiring more precise work with thicker metals were Glenn’s next problem, right up until Swift-Cut introduced him to the Swift-Jet 510 Waterjet System. This has been game changing for Lawhon Welding, who are proud to say that the combination of both machines capabilities has revolutionized the way they work. Glenn said, “We cannot believe the accuracy and edge quality that we’re able to give our customers. Having both technologies allows us to provide our customers with the best solution for their requirements.”
What was impressive was the ease at which the machines slipped into their working practice. With no experience of working with CNC, they anticipated a bit of a struggle – but Brad Turner, in charge of both tables, said that “The training was so easy and on-point, I was comfortably running both machines inside a week! The software is very easy to use and you just can’t put a price on the standard training that they include.”
To get in touch with Lawhon Welding, please contact Glenn Lawhon
