Champion Fan Corp. President, Mike Orseno, on choosing a plasma cutter:
By making their own fans and parts, Mike Orseno says it also allows Champion to control their costs and even reduce them because the company no longer has to deal with markups on steel or labor. "I would save money this way and make a lot more money by having additional sales because I can now get my parts faster," he says. "It allows me to take advantage of emergency or overtime work that have higher billing rates."
In 1975, Champion Blower & Forge was one of the first companies in the Midwest to buy a computer-controlled plasma system. "It had a 20-ft.-by-28-ft. table," says Orseno. "It was my job to program it. So I was familiar with this process. When we decided to purchase a plasma system, we did our homework. We went to trade shows and saw various manufacturers. But with my experience, I felt I knew what to look for in a machine. There were several machines we didn't even look at because of their poor construction. We wanted a specific system, one that's compact to take up less space and is heavy-duty."
This eliminated several plasma manufacturers right away, says Orseno. There were also light-duty machines he didn't want either. "We needed something with a heavy-duty table to handle steel plate that was up 1-1/2 in. thick. Angle-iron frame tables wouldn't cut it. So based on this, we quickly narrowed it down to three manufacturers."
Orseno says he wanted a unit that had a down-draft table rather than a water table. He had experience with water tables and knew cleaning them could be time-consuming.
"We did our homework on this equipment and went to see all the machines being used before we made a final decision," he says. "We talked to each manufacturer extensively, and then we decided that AKS Cutting Systems' plasma unit [Cleveland] was the best for our needs. It was also economical compared to other manufacturers.
"We found that the people at AKS Cutting Systems were knowledgeable and easy to deal with. We wanted a new machine in this area, and they were willing to work with us. But you never know what will happen after you sign on the dotted line. It's only something you find out through experience, but the AKS people were great."
Orseno bought a plasma system with a 6-ft.-by-12-ft. bed using a Hypertherm HP230 plasma torch and a Farr air filtration system. "It's beefy and compact," says Orseno. "It had all the features that every other machine had, and it serves every need we have." | 
