Cobal Signs has been in business since the early eighties and is today an absolute reflection of the needs of the markets it serves.
The company is polarised around an amalgam of engineering and design skills and driven by strong service-led ethics and a consultative approach to product development.
The company may be cast in the role of a sign manufacturer but is actually much more. It presides over large and complex wayfinding projects and uses its decades of experience to deliver sustainable and manageable solutions that perform from day one and that flex with the needs of the customer over time.
Cobal Signs’ wayfinding systems and other products are proprietary, being designed and continually developed in house as customer need has evolved. Always looking for further efficiencies and creative potential in its manufacturing processes, Cobal Signs has recently installed a Protek Unico CNC production routing system supplied by Complete CNC Solutions.
Cobal Signs’ needs included the ability to process a wide range of resistant materials including plastics, metals, and woods. Cutting tests were conducted at Sign and Digital where the opportunity to compare machines directly and in a convenient time-frame presented itself. The Protek Unico CNC acquitted itself well and a demonstration at Complete CNC’s headquarters was arranged.
Unusually for a sign company, Cobal Signs’ needs included heavier machining operations involving bulk material removal and not just profiling operations in lighter materials. The Protek Unico CNC, is heavily constructed and doesn’t shy from such needs. In fact it excels burning down such varied workloads.
The demonstration was centred around some very specific needs, all of which the Protek Unico CNC fulfilled well. Among the materials processed were aluminium, foamed PVC, 18mm thick oak and various other material clad in print which were cut to exact register. The finish produced with these material was exemplary and the decision was soon made to proceed with the installation.
Complete CNC’s CompleteCare team advised regarding the electrics and other support services needed in advance of the installation of the Protek Unico CNC. On the actual day of installation, a 09:00am arrival was followed by final commissioning processes leaving the machine ready to produce by 15:00 the same day.
Two days’ training were then delivered by the Complete CNC Solutions team to Cobal Signs’ operators. Training is a hand-on affair and leaves the operators competent in the productive operation of the system and in the use of its integrated safety systems which include light barriers.
Cobal Signs’ Protek Unico CNC was the first in the UK and was fitted with a flatness probe, mist coolant system and registration camera. The system also has a 12 bay auto tool changer and it was promptly settled into a productive role in the company.
Cobal Signs is now equipped to react to expressions of customer need with a solution that’s not only an exact fit, it’s produced wholly in-house to the highest orders of quality. The system has allowed the company to pursue production efficiencies, to introduce new product and to expand the scope of its offering to existing markets and beyond.
Complete CNC reports that the Protek Unico CNC production routing system has earned itself something of a reputation for its focussed and highly productive role. It’s advancing the industry by giving its users the ability to do more, to do it in less time and to lower operating costs.
