Advanta Expands South Carolina Plant

BLM Group USA (Wixom, MI), a global leader in the manufacture of tube processing equipment, announced the sale of its LC5 laser tube and flat sheet processing machine to Advanta Industries, Inc. (Petersburg, MI), which will be housed at Advanta’s Manning, SC, facility. The sale was announced by Jeff Ahrstrom, the president and chief operating officer of BLM.

Advanta specializes in material handling applications, designs and manufactures returnable steel racks and offers custom packaging systems using material handling applications, totes, bulk bins, and steel containers. They recently announced major manufacturing expansion to their Manning facility and the LC5 is an integral part of that expansion. The company currently uses the LT Fiber laser tube processing system from BLM in its Michigan facility.

The compact LC5, equipped with powers up to 5 kW, is the only high production machine with automatic loading and unloading that can process both tube and flat sheet in a single machine. Switching from tube to sheet is fast, adding fabricating flexibility. The LC5 can handle bar up to 21 ft in length and tube to 4.75 in diameter. The processing of sheet metal is fully automatic and allows for sheet up to 5 ft x 10 ft. The fiber laser is ideal for cutting both mild steel and highly reflective materials such as stainless steel and for aluminum. According to Ahrstrom, “Our relationship with them goes back several years. The investment they have made in this system is just another testament to the strength of that relationship.”

BLM is a global leader in tube processing solutions with a product line that includes laser cutting, cold sawing, bending, end-machining, as well as wire bending machines. With more than 50 years of tube experience and thousands of applications, they are a leader in the manufacture of tube fabrication equipment.

www.blmgroup.com, www.advantaindustries.com