The Bradbury Group

Company Profile

The Bradbury Group, combining the expertise and experience of The Bradbury Co., Inc. and Athader, S.L., produces high-quality, productivity-enhancing, coil processing equipment consisting of Slitting, Blanking, Cut-to-Length Lines, Slit and CTL Packaging Lines, and the patented Bradbury e-Drive® Leveler. The Bradbury Leveling System continues to evolve by offering the industry the most up to date leveling technology available including: e-Drive®, Bow Scout® Monitoring System, FlatTrak® CL Monitoring System, and Auto Plunge Yield Sensing. Athader’s technologically advanced slitting lines offer precision automatic double eccentric slitter heads, automatic tension control, and automatic tooling exchange systems. With hundreds of lines worldwide, our customers recognize The Bradbury Group as a cutting-edge technology leader. We employ 700+ people, have 10 manufacturing facilities around the world, and engineering facilities in the United States, England, Australia, New Zealand, China, Canada, and Spain.

Featured Item: Evolution of the Bradbury eDrive® Leveling System

Evolving through research, development, and testing, the Bradbury eDrive® leveling system offers the industry the most up to date leveling technology available.        

eDrive® (US patent#8893537) - Bradbury eDrive® was developed after discovering the mismatch of roll speeds as material makes its way through the leveler. The eDrive® equalizes internal stresses while delivering superior flatness.

Bow Scout® Monitoring System (US patent #9021844) – Improper exit gap settings can introduce up/down bow if the operator is not vigilant to his machine settings. Sensors are added inside the leveler to maintain a consistent exit gap and continuous monitoring was implemented to assure flatness along the length of the strip. The Bow Scout® System was designed to reduce the possibility for leveled sheets to be processed with up and down bow.

FlatTrak® CL Monitoring System (US patent#7185519) – Using tension at the point of plastification proves that minimum backup adjustments are needed to maintain shape flatness.  By incorporating a laser system into the line to identify irregularities in the strip, the information is sent through an algorithm to determine where and to what magnitude backup adjustments should be made to remove waves and buckles.  A 3D format display provides the operator with real time information to monitor the material for manual adjustments, or the machine can be put into an automatic mode so that continuous changes can be made by the system.

Yield Sensing (patent#9815099) - Monitoring changes in yield within a coil:  Leveling needs to yield the material 70 to 80% of the cross section to effectively pull waves and buckles and improve the shape.  The leveler operator rarely has yield information on the coils he is running. To insure the correct percentage of plastic was achieved, more sensors were introduced inside the leveler.  This new ability allows the machine to properly test the yield strength of the material and correctly set the plunge depth, eliminating guesswork.

This complete Bradbury system is better for the longevity of the equipment, for the material as it equalizes internal stress, and for the operator to use through accurate information. Experience reduced scrap and downtime.