Metal forming company jumps into the thick of metal fabricating

Trenton Pressing’s new 20-kW laser cutting machine was purchased because it could handle thick material, such as this 1-in. plate. The machine is designed to process up to 2-in. carbon steel. Images: Trenton Pressing

Brad Coffman has spent a lifetime in manufacturing, but not so much time in metal fabricating recently. That changed last year.

Coffman works for Trenton Pressing, Trenton, Ga., a longtime Tier 1 and Tier 2 supplier of stamped parts and complex assemblies for automotive companies and golf cart manufacturers. During the pandemic, new owners purchased the business with an eye on diversifying the company’s customer base. Trenton Pressing had a solid foundation of satisfied customers, mostly consolidated in two industries, so the new owners wanted to add metal fabricating to its stamping, robotic welding, and assembly services. The owners’ ultimate goal was to be able to build full turnkey fabrications for their customers, as opposed to just the parts that go into them.

That opened the door for Coffman to flex his metal fabricating expertise. He had spent 30 years in the metal fabricating industry, and now he was going back to what he knew best: laser cutting and press brake forming.

“If someone came to us and wanted something built, we wanted to be able to do that,” Coffman said, referring to the addition of metal fabricating capabilities. “We could then start with that little bit and turn that into production volumes.”

Trenton Pressing’s new owners were serious about the new business direction. The company not only committed to investing in new fabricating equipment, but it also built a 100,000-sq.-ft. building on the campus for warehousing and assembly activities. That freed up space in Plant 1, which allowed more room for a laser cutting machine and a press brake. Plant 2 houses the company’s 15 robotic welding cells, as well as manual welding and assembly.

What exactly did Trenton Pressing need to make the most of its metal fabricating goals? Even though he had been away from the fabricating game for six years, Coffman had a good idea of what he wanted. Technology had advanced greatly in that short window of time, and he knew what would make sense for his employers.

Coffman installed his first laser cutting machine in 2003. It was a 2-kW CO2 machine that was state of the art for the time.

Since those days, fiber lasers have appeared and grown to dominate the market. Instead of relying on a large CO2 resonator to generate the laser beam, a fiber laser relies on laser diodes to produce the beam, and fiber optic cables are used to generate a specific wavelength to amplify it. The laser diodes can be used in a sort of building block format where the use of more diodes results in a more powerful laser. A metal fabricator transported directly from 2003 to today would find the technological advancement astonishing.

“I wanted the most powerful laser I could get because you always need more power,” Coffman said.

He also wanted a laser cutting machine without all of what he described as the “fancy bells and whistles” to make good cuts.

A new 100,000-sq.-ft. building on the Trenton Pressing campus freed up room in its other manufacturing areas.

“If you look at lasers, a lot of them have high-tech stuff to make a 6-kW cut really fast,” Coffman explained. “I just want to crank it up and go.

“That technology adds cost and complexity. It’s just more to maintain and keep running,” he added. “Also, because a cutting laser is new to our team, keeping it simple would allow them to get up to speed quickly.”

Coffman wanted to cut up to 2-in. steel plate without a problem. A 20-kW laser cutting machine would allow him to do that.

That led him to purchase a BesCutter 20-kW fiber laser with a 5- by 10-ft. bed and automatic loading/unloading capability from Automated Solutions in late 2023. Coffman said the laser was up and running a few months later in early 2024.

Since then, Coffman said the laser cutting machine has exceeded expectations. He’s especially been pleased with the edge quality and the speed in which the high-powered laser cuts on all types of materials and thicknesses.

“Because we have that much power, we can cut using compressed high-pressure air. We do that when we’re not using oxygen or nitrogen,” he said. “It’s more economical to run it with the compressed shop air, and we’re putting beautiful cuts up on 3/8- to ½-in. material.” The machine came with its own high-pressure compressor.

Along with the laser cutting machine, Trenton Pressing installed an automated load and unload gantry system. Raw sheet metal is loaded onto the laser cutting bed using vacuum suction cups, while fork-style lifters remove laser-cut parts and the skeleton when they exit the cutting chamber. The system has two tables: one for sheet metal and the other for finished parts.

“It could easily be set up to run for eight hours unattended without having to reload material,” Coffman said.

Obviously, working with thicker materials heightens the need for aggressive inspections of the laser cutting head. Slag from laser piercing can foul up the protective lens that shields the actual focal lens. The protective lens can easily be changed by the operator in seconds when needed.

As part of the maintenance program, the cutting head will need to be removed and serviced periodically and the focal lens changed out. Coffman said the company purchased two cutting heads so that one could be switched out when needed to avoid any machine downtime.

The BesCutter Mach 3015 20-kW fiber laser cutting machine, with its automated load and unload gantry system, can run unattended for eight hours without the need for reloading material.

To be a full-service metal fabricator, a shop has to form parts as well as cut them. That’s why Trenton Pressing needed a press brake.

The company installed its Haco EuroMaster 275-ton CNC press brake in early 2025. With this machine tool, Coffman had a different goal when compared to what his plans were for a laser cutting machine.

“I wanted every option available,” he said. That included 6-axis backgauging, CNC crowning, automatic angle measurement during bending, hydraulic upper tool clamping, and offline programming capability.

The motivation behind the need for a sophisticated forming machine is the fact that finding press brake operators isn’t easy. Additionally, most of the metal forming experience at Trenton Pressing was connected to stamping presses.

“In my experience, it takes longer to train a press brake operator than a laser operator,” Coffman said. “It requires more of a learning curve.

“In reality most people have never even seen a press brake,” he added. “In our case, they’re all used to stamping machines, and when you try to describe to them how a press brake operates, they have a hard time visualizing it. Then you bring a machine in, and they just stand back in complete awe.”

The brake has a 10-ft. bed and a 21.25-in. daylight opening. Coffman said that the brake should accommodate a majority of the parts that come off the laser cutting machine.

Like the laser cutting machine, Coffman planned to train one of the company’s engineers to run the machine. That provides two forming experts who can help train people on using the press brake.

With a new building comes additional space, which Trenton Pressing has put to good use. Not only has the new building allowed the company to expand into metal fabricating activities, it’s also given it the ability to strategically place work-in-process in an area where it’s not clogging up aisles in Plants 1 or 2.

“As the material comes off the machine, it goes into a kanban truck, which is constantly back and forth among the buildings,” Coffman said. “So after it leaves fabricating, it goes to the new building and is distributed from there as needed, either to welding, to the coaters, or straight to the customer.”

Randall Hamilton, Trenton Pressing’s plant manager, forms a part on the company’s Haco EuroMaster 275-ton press brake.

The box truck that moves between buildings makes at least three stops per day at each facility.

The cleared aisles showcase the new floors in Plant 1. When assembly was moved to the newly constructed building, management took the opportunity to finish the floors. Large gas-powered floor grinders were used to remove the tarnished top layer of concrete and expose a new, clean surface. A polyurethane paint was then applied to create a clean and protective layer over the exposed concrete surface.

Any time equipment changes are made or an area needs to be reorganized, Trenton Pressing takes the opportunity to refinish the floors. Coffman said that about 60% of all the floors now have the refinished concrete surfaces.

“The owners of the company have very high standards,” he said. “That applies to the plants as well. It’s a selling tool.”

Combine that with Trenton Pressing’s new laser cutting and press brake capabilities, and the company appears more than ready to take on new customers.

Thanks to its new laser cutting machine and press brake, these are the types of parts that Trenton Pressing is now able to fabricate outside of its stamping presses.