Why Traditional Cutting Holds Formwork Production Back
Many formwork shops still cut with simple band saws, flame, or basic plasma. It works, but with a lot of hidden cost:
Rough edge, heavy burrs, too much time on grinders.
Length and angle drift, so fit-up on the jig is never “drop in and weld”.
Holes not align nice, so site team re-drill on the jobsite.
Nesting is loose, scrap pile grows, steel budget feels out of control.
And the effect will influence everyday small things. For example, if first article doesn’t match drawing, the welder tweaks it. A batch of beams comes out slightly short, so you weld a patch plate. The cut station always has a queue, while welders wait around for parts.
That’s why more and more factories move this bottleneck onto a Laser Cutting Machine cell.
Precision Cutting for Safe and Reliable Formwork Systems
Formwork is temporary on site, but its job is important. Bad alignment can mean honeycombing, blow-outs or ugly surface that expensively repair.
When you switch formwork plates to a dedicated Laser Metal Cutting Machine from BOGONG, several things change at the same time:
Panel skins come out with stable dimensions, so you stop re-shimming jigs every batch.
Openings for tie rods, cones, chamfers and access holes land where the drawing says.
Edges are straighter and squarer, so fit-up with ribs and stiffeners is fast, with less gap and less heat distortion later.
Faster Turnaround: From Steel Plates to Finished Panels
Construction schedule moves like a living thing. For large wall and slab panels, heavy pier or pier-cap formwork, long plates with many slots and windows, 6000W–40KW High Power Fiber Laser Metal Cutting Machine pulls most of the cutting load in one cell. Turnaround time shrink, and you can stop playing Tetris with old machines.
Less Waste, Lower Cost per Meter of Steel
You pay for every millimeter of steel, but old cutting makes you throw money away as scrap. Tight steel market makes this even more painful.
| Factor | Older Cutting Methods | Laser Metal Cutting Machine |
|---|---|---|
| Material usage | Big irregular offcuts | Tight nesting, better sheet utilization |
| Edge quality | Heavy burrs, lots of grinding | Clean edge, light deburr only |
| Dimensional consistency | Depends on operator mood and tools | Program control, repeatable results |
| Rework rate | Frequent re-cuts and weld repairs | Fewer bad parts, more one-pass production |
| Planning | Hard to know true cost per piece | More stable cost per formwork set or per ton |
Once nesting is software-driven and kerf is stable, you squeeze more usable parts from each plate and send less to the scrap bin.
One Machine for Different Formwork Types: Building, Bridge, and Tunnel
Formwork factories don’t live on one product. In one month you might ship:
Standard wall and column systems for apartments.
Slab tables and props for parking levels.
Heavier pier and deck forms for bridges.
Curved soffit panels for tunnels or special architecture.
These scenaries mix plate and tube. That’s why a pure plate Laser Cutting Machine is only half of the story. If you want to see how one setup handles both sheet panels and formwork tubes, check this short combo laser video from BOGONG LASER:
For all the tubular parts — props, braces, walers, spindles, truss pieces — an automatic tube line makes a big difference. BOGONG’s Automatic Loading Laser Tube Cutting Machine is made for this kind of repetitive tube work:
You load a bundle of tubes, not one piece at a time.
The system auto-feeds, measures, cuts, and makes holes or notches where you need them.
Every brace and prop leaves the cell with the same length and hole pattern, so assembly jig runs smooth.
For shops that cut both plate skins and tube frames daily, a general Fiber Laser Cutting Machine gives you more flexible mix. You can schedule small batches of brackets, gussets, stiffeners and connection plates between bigger jobs, and keep the line balanced.
So instead of one machine per job type, building a cutting hub that serves building, bridge and tunnel projects from the same control room is more efficient.
Safer, Cleaner Workshops with Fiber Laser Cutting
With fiber laser cutting, work feel different:
Cutting happens in an enclosed or semi-enclosed cabin, not in the open aisle.
Fume extraction is more controlled, less “white cloud” hanging around the bay.
Operators stand at a control panel, not over a noisy torch all day.
In the end, clean shop, clear processes, and consistent quality will bring: more stable projects.
Where BOGONG Laser Fits in
BOGONG LASER® works as a Laser Cutting Machine Manufacturer with global B2B customers in metalwork, automotive, signage, wood and many other sectors, and that experience also helps construction formwork users.
A few points matter for you:
Wide portfolio: CO₂ and fiber cutters, engravers, cleaners, welders — so you can grow into more processes later.
Global reach: machines running in many countries, so we can provide you with good service and language support.
Certifications like CE, ISO and more, which help when you talk with big contractors and need prove of quality control.
And you can start using one plate laser first and later a tube line. Or start with a compact Laser Metal Cutting Machine for special jobs, and then expand when orders grow.
Most important, we will pay attentions on fixing your pain point and provibe different solutions with different client.
Final Thoughts
Formwork is high pressure work. A modern Laser Cutting Machine will not solve all project chaos you are facing, but it removes a big chunk of random error from cutting. Plates and tubes come out closer to drawing. Nesting uses more of each sheet. The bottleneck moves away from cutting and closer to where value is added — welding, assembly, painting, final check.
BOGONG LASER works to be a partner, not just a box shipper. we are happy to suggest a laser solution that fits your shop.
