Unison Celebrates 30 Years of Pioneering All-Electric Tube Bending Technology
Unison Ltd, the leading British manufacturer of tube bending equipment, is celebrating a significant milestone: 30 years since inventing all-electric tube manipulation in 1994.
Driven by a desire for a more precise and reliable solution than the hydraulic machines of the time, Unison's founder Terry Pickering, along with his son Alan (now the company's joint managing director), embarked on a mission to reinvent tube bending.
“It was no great secret that the accuracy of hydraulic tube bending machines could be affected by changing oil temperature,” Alan Pickering said. “In other words, a machine with cold hydraulic oil at the start of a shift might well perform differently later in the day when its oil was hot. The greater viscosity of the cold oil, compared to that of hot oil, would typically result in the machine operator having to make temperature-related adjustments during the day to ensure satisfactory levels of repeatability. With all those manual adjustments to make — particularly on the clamp and pressure die - each operator would keep a black book of how they managed to get a good part out of their tube bending machines.”
Unison aimed to eliminate this subjectivity. Their vision: a CNC system capturing precise machine settings for consistent, repeatable bends, leading to "right first time" results. The R&D process revealed the need to control not just axis positions but also the force exerted on each axis.
Following a 1991 feasibility study, Unison secured a SMART award in 1992 to develop three all-electric machines.
“At that point we were already well on the way to understanding what we would need to do to create the world’s first-ever all-electric tube bender,” adds Alan Pickering. “The easy axis to do was the bend arm; the challenge was all the other axes. It took a few years to achieve what we wanted, but by pushing the servo actuators of the day to their limits, we developed a process where low-friction-slide adjusting mechanisms powered by an electric motor with torque control, brought absolute pressure control to bending machine components such as the clamping die, pressure die, mandrel and powered follower. All-electric tube manipulation had been invented – with the assurance of accuracy and repeatability at the tightest of bending parameters for large and small production runs, and with no concern over hydraulic oil or even external temperatures.”
Unison's first all-electric three-axis tube bending machine, named "Unison Breeze" for its speed and ease of use, launched in 1994, marking the birth of right-first-time tube bending. UK and German patents were secured.
Over the years, Unison continued to innovate, developing the world's first all-electric five-stack machine, followed by multi-stack machines with various capacities, robotized benders, and twin-head benders for simultaneous bends. Today, with facilities in the UK and USA, Unison offers the world's most extensive range of ultra-precise, all-electric tube and pipe bending machines, catering to diameters ranging from 4 mm to 275 mm. They also offer high-accuracy hybrid machines for simpler, repetitive applications.
"Initially, all-electric technology faced resistance," Alan Pickering said. "Forward-thinking customers were crucial in establishing its value. Our breakthrough came with Airbus's first all-electric machine, which saved them 16 weeks' worth of production costs solely through reduced scrap." As the technology gained traction, competition emerged, but Unison remained focused on continuous improvement.
"Today, all-electric tube bending machines are widely available," he continued. "However, we are proud to be the preferred choice for countless organizations across diverse industries, from aerospace and automotive to marine, oil & gas, and general manufacturing. Our unwavering commitment to build quality, exceptional customer support, user-friendly controls, innovative tube bending simulation software, and our app solidify our position as the leader in this field. Thirty years after the Unison Breeze, we remain the original and the best."
