Member News

The Dutch Tube Bending Association (DTBA) was established on 29 August 2012 for companies involved in bending and/or rolling metal tubes or profiles. The DTBA operates under the flag of the Koninklijke Metaalunie (Royal Dutch Association for small and medium-sized enterprises in the metal industry) and aspires to achieve three main objectives:  standardisation, training and collective promotion of the sector. We aim to impress upon the market that bending tubes and profiles is a good alternative to welded assemblies.

Technological development
Technological development in tube and profile bending has grown rapidly in recent years. Improved machines, tools and materials have made the bending process more cost effective. Today’s technology makes it possible to bend tubes with a radius of 10 (1 times the diameter of the tube) and even smaller. Moreover, thanks to modern CNC machining centres and CAD/CAM drawing programs, it has become easier to manufacture special tools for small radii and at affordable prices. All in all, this makes tube and profile bending an attractive alternative to welded assemblies. Bending has a number of advantages compared to welding. There is no chance of leakage, a bent process has a much better appearance and no costs need be incurred for testing. For small series, bending is way cheaper than welding. With series of around 10 items, subcontracting costs are recouped through the savings made on welders' wages and testing costs.
Bending also offers a multitude of possibilities for producing complete prefab modules, which can then be easily installed on site. While the market is already aware of these advantages, the general impression is that bending is expensive, because configuring bending machines is time consuming and each radius and diameter requires its own tool. However, many of the obstacles can be eliminated thanks to the technological developments and through collaboration with the bending company.
Bent tubes and profiles are applied and/or can be applied in a vast number of markets: the petrochemical industry, automotive, the food, beverages and tobacco industry, boiler construction, ship building, luxury yachts and engineering. Bending is also applied within the high-tech industry, like cooling water lines for ASML’s chip machines. Nonetheless, it is difficult for individual bending companies to compete with the (big) companies in these markets. A concerted approach as a trade association increases the chance of success in penetrating these markets.

Concerted effort
DTBA unites suppliers and therefore falls within the scope of the supply cluster of the trade associations affiliated to the Metaalunie. Frans van der Brugh, branch manager at the DTBA, believes that there are many opportunities: “In all market sectors, we see that OEMs increasingly place responsibility lower down the chain. The role of the sector group is to present a clear story from the suppliers’ perspective. The DTBA members can contribute ideas on design and cost-effective solutions. In doing so, they can help OEMs to produce their products smarter, faster and cheaper."

Quality improvement
A second main objective is standardisation in sustaining quality. Standards are applied here and there within the sector, for example in the boiler construction industry, however, there is no transparent standardisation. Standardisation increases the quality of products. It creates a quality boost within the entire sector. If companies that work according to these standards are awarded quality marks, these companies can distinguish themselves from their competitors as a professional company with a professional product. This also serves as a means to arm yourself against competitors from countries like China, which already exist, or will undoubtedly emerge.
A third main objective of the DTBA policy is training. It is also important to highlight the bent product in training courses. It is not necessarily our task to train benders, but more so to introduce the tube and the bent product into the basic training. For instance, what can or cannot be bent and how a bent product should be represented in a drawing. DTBA compiled a training booklet for its members this year.
The DTBA members are keen to gain more knowledge. That is why companies that are closely related to the sector, like suppliers of bending machines, bending tools, automation and tubes/profiles, are being given the opportunity to become associate members. And we will, of course, exchange ideas and knowledge to become stronger as individual companies and as a sector.

Dutch Tube Bending Association (DTBA)
Postbus 2600, 3430 GA Nieuwegein
Einsteinbaan 1, 3439 NJ Nieuwegein
T +31 (0)30 605 3344
F +31 (0)30 605 3208
E dtba@metaalunie.nl
I www.dtba.nl