Tailor welded blank tubes

Warren, MI—ILS first reported on laser blank welded tubes in a March 2001 feature on development work in The Netherlands. Now a U.S. company, the Prototube subsidiary of Noble International Ltd., has received a production order for a multi-diameter laser-welded tubular product produced from flat, laser welded blanks. A North American Tier One automotive supplier uses the product, a fuel tank filler tube, for a light truck application. Production, which started this quarter, is expected to be about 60,000 units per year.