Since the first introduction of CO2 laser cutting in the 1980s, fiber laser cutting has been one of the most "disruptive" technologies in the metal processing market. Fiber laser technology is considered a "revolutionary" change, because it has almost changed the entire status quo of sheet metal manufacturing.

The cutting speed of high power fiber laser is 5 times faster than traditional CO2 laser, and the operating cost is reduced by half. Fiber lasers do not require any warm-up time, and for CO2 lasers, it usually takes about 10 minutes to start each time.

Fiber lasers do not require maintenance of the optical path, such as cleaning mirrors or lenses, checking bellows and aligning the beam. For CO2 lasers, this may consume an additional 4 to 5 hours per week.

The fiber laser has a completely sealed fiber bundle path from the power source to the fiber transmission point of the cutting head. The beam is not contaminated by the beam path like a CO2 laser.

Because the integrity of the fiber bundle is consistent every day, so are the cutting parameters, which require much less adjustment compared to CO2 lasers.

What will all this saved time become? Higher productivity and greater machine throughput! Compared with CO2, the cutting speed of fiber laser is five times faster, the parts produced per unit time are three to four times more, and the operating cost is 50% lower than CO2, which means that on the basis of creating more production capacity, it will bring Great opportunity.

All processes need to be carefully planned and managed to effectively take advantage of the speed advantages brought by high-power fiber lasers. Since throughput is increased by three to four times and operating costs are half that of CO2 lasers, economic benefits can change the rules of the game. Comes with lower parts costs, higher potential profit margins and shorter return on investment time.

For manufacturers using CO2 laser cutting systems, the shift to fiber optic technology represents a huge window of opportunity, which cannot be ignored.