Highpower Security Products Confirms Brother SPEEDIO Lives Up To Its Reputation For Speed and Reliability
Highpower Security Products, LLC, a manufacturer of locking systems and hardware in Meriden Connecticut, has been in business since 1997. Their main products are electronic access controls and locking hardware which are designed for industrial and commercial applications that control access to facilities and factories. Their business focus of addressing product needs in the access control market led them to continually introduce high-end industrial grade products that utilize high technology and have been tested for reliability. In order to progress with how they manufacture their products, they began to consider modernizing their factory. Their equipment was older and required extensive service and maintenance. They did their research and considered the Brother Compact SPEEDIO line that boasted about its high speed, reliability and energy efficiency.
After contacting Yamazen, Highpower Security Products purchased a SPEEDIO S500X1. “This machine stood out to us because it was the fastest in its category, and when we spoke with other SPEEDIO owners we were told that they had an excellent service history with their machines,” said Dan DeMerchant, President of Highpower Security Products, LLC. A huge plus of the S500X1 is that the cycle times are dramatically shorter. “The rapids and tool changes are faster than any machine that I have seen in this class,” said DeMerchant. “A demonstration of the Brother in operation will show any observer how obscenely fast the machine traverses.” “The fact that the control was more modern than other designs and it included M code outputs and PLC software automation features made the transition from our old equipment to the new machine smooth with minimal conversions. The flexibility and automation of the control itself proved to be much more valuable than we anticipated,” said DeMerchant. “Because it is PC-based with a secured operating system, there is extensive memory available for our programs and the machine interfaces better with PC networks than other proprietary controls.” DeMerchant also added that the Brother machine included a simple to use upload utility that allowed them to quickly send their programs to the machine over their corporate network. This allowed them to use the network connection to directly interface the machine with the output of their CAM software; greatly reducing the amount of setup time and transition time between jobs. DeMerchant shared that this one Brother SPEEDIO S500X1 replaced four old milling machines, providing them with more floor space, along with having 65% capacity still available on the one Brother. The older equipment required several hours to transition between jobs and that the Brother transitions instantaneously; saving their shop many hours of wasted downtime. He also added that the energy consumption in that department dropped by 90%; lowering their electric bills greatly. The green features in the Brother control that include power management modes, automatic shutdown features along with more efficient spindle motors and LED lighting allows them to manufacturer their parts for a fraction of the electrical power that went into the old equipment. Most of Highpower Security Products manufactured components are made from light metals like aluminum alloys. “If you can run your work on a 30 taper machine, I recommend you do it,” said DeMerchant. The time savings in rapids and tool changes can be dramatic when comparing the same operations on larger machines. Setups are often quicker and easier on smaller duty machines, and the surface finishes on the Brother are amazing. [gallery ids="8118,8120,8122"] DeMerchant shared that Yamazen did a complete setup, provided tooling services and gave targeted demonstrations on new features to get the machine up and running right from the start. “They had implemented the first program example and initial training,” said DeMerchant. “Yamazen technicians have evolved our way of thinking about programming techniques that were not available on our older controls. It took us a short amount of time to understand the new capabilities of the Brother, but learning these new commands allows the machine to do more simultaneous operations in automated ways that save us time and aggravation.” Overall Highpower Security Products was very impressed with the Brother SPEEDIO S500X1 so much that they purchased a second S500X1. DeMerchant claims that the speed of the machines and their reliability have lived up to the hype touted in Brother’s advertisements and marketing materials. The S500X1 machines have been reliable since purchased with zero defects and are doing the work of their eight previous machines. For more information on the Brother SPEEDIO line, CLICK HERE.