I wanted to take a little time to write to you and let you know how all of us at American Hydroformers feel about the Herber 2100 4″ bender and the support we have received after it was installed back in May of this year. I don’t write these letters often. This may be only the 2′” time in 30 years in the tube bending/forming field. However, I wanted to write this, not just because I like the machine and the operating software, but because I have very impressed with the support I have received since the bender was put into service.
We spent a little over a year and ½ doing research on almost every bender manufacturer out there. We were very interested in the all electric bender, and had very high expectations as to precision it would bring to our bending operations once we purchased one.
We made the decision to buy the Herber due to its impressive boost and torque specifications. When the bender arrived at our plant, we were very impressed with all of the precision machined components installed on the heavy frame. It appeared to be very well engineered. Many of the vendors who assisted in installing the machine and the tooling were also pretty impressed. Some of these vendors have been in the tube bending field for years and had never seen a bender like the Herber before. They even asked permissions to take pictures of it to show some of their co-workers at the office.
Your engineer, Franco was very experienced with all of the mechanical features of the machine and did a good job training us on how to set it up and create a production bending program. I have never had a problem in reaching him, no matter what time of the day or night if I need his help, or have a question. His ability and knowledge to log into the machine via Team Viewer or Skype, to troubleshoot and diagnose has been excellent.
I’m even more impressed with your support crew in Sweden. They too, have always been available to me whenever I have needed them. The training, via Team Viewer or Skype, the advice they have given me, parts support and expediting, and the ability to log onto the machine and troubleshoot/solve issues from 4200 miles away has been so much more that I expected. For your part, you have done an excellent job facilitating anything that we have needed, making sure to follow through with everything every time I have needed you.
The bender has been running 20 hours per day, 6 days a week now for the past 6 months. It bends around 800 tubes each day, making 6 bends per tube. The tube we have dedicated to it is pushed to its final production length in the hydroform die. There’s no post operation to trim it. When it comes out of the die, it’s finished complete. So, every straight length, every rotation, and every bend angle has to be just right every time, or the part will become scrap in the hydro die.
When the Herber came online and took over for an older hydraulic machine, our scrap due to the bending operation went down to zero. The machine is just that precise and repeatable. It was everything we were hoping for when we bought an all-electric. When the time comes that we need another bender, I just don’t have any reason to not buy another Herber.
Thanks for all of you help and support,
Kevin R. Sholl
Mechanical Engineer | American Hydroformers, Inc.
