Precision work at Real Madrid – laser fabricator Lasercor manufactures thousands of stainless-steel louvers for the front of the Bernabéu Stadium.
Real Madrid is one of the world’s greatest football teams – and a visit to Santiago Bernabéu Stadium is a dream come true for many fans. The spectacular facade of the revamped Bernabéu contains thousands of stainless-steel louvers, over half of which were fabricated by the company Lasercor with millimetre precision using a TruLaser 5030 fibre. What made the task even more challenging is that every louver is different, making the light displays on the new stadium shell extraordinary.
In 2000, Julián Jiménez Candano founded Lasercor together with his two sons. Using TRUMPF machines, Lasercor has cut, bent, engraved and welded parts of all shapes and sizes for some 8,000 customers. Their work ranges from one-off jobs for small businesses to standing orders for major corporations, and their customers make everything from road signs and household appliances to machines, entire plants and large wind turbines. And now that list includes the world-famous Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
Gently curved metal louvers
The Bernabéu’s new wraparound shell has cemented its status as one of Madrid’s most important landmarks. “As a sculptural envelope of subtly curved diagonal metal louvers, the perforated layer varies in its degrees of translucence offering a multitude of different views,” says the website of German architects Gerkan, Marg and Partners, who, together with Spanish project partners, won the competition for the stadium revamp. But behind this description is a project that posed a huge challenge to Lasercor as a supplier. The new roof alone required 8,880 metal louvers, with a whole lot more needed for the facade. The initial specifications stated that all – or at least many – of the louvers would be identical. But during the cutting process, it emerged that each louver was slightly different, often by a matter of just a few millimeters. And each one had to slot into position perfectly. There were also six different surfaces that were designed to reflect light in different ways.
Almost perfect
Lasercor used a TruLaser 5030 fiber with a 12-kilowatt laser to precision-cut 4,400 of the louvers, as well as parts for the north and east facades. The company responsible for constructing the facade provided Lasercor with the metal sheets and dimensions; Lasercor then input everything into the TruLaser machines and cut the parts with millimeter precision. The company spent 18 months working on the project, and only had to replace 60 of the 4,400 parts it produced, mostly due to damage during transport. “Casi perfecto,” says Jiménez Barroso: “Almost perfect”. Lasercor worked so fast that it was even able to lend its support to some of the other fabricators involved in the project.
“It was a complicated job,” says Jiménez Barroso, current CEO. Only after seven months of negotiations was the contract finally signed. “It was too much for a single company to manage. And awarding the contract to four companies was also a kind of precaution to ensure that the project would not be hampered by delivery problems,” he adds. Almost every department in Lasercor was involved, from the sales team to the department specialising in precision cutting, which was constantly faced with new challenges due to the delicate nature of the material.
Quality is paramount
“We’re a family business, just like TRUMPF,” says Jiménez Barroso. Everyone plays their part, and they trust each other to come up with pragmatic solutions. Quality is the priority. “If one machine isn’t up to the job, then we look for another one; if the material isn’t good enough, we find a better option,” he says. None of their machines are more than four years old. “We never stop investing. And if we make a mistake, we learn how to do it better next time,” he adds. Lasercor is exploring the concept of the smart factory. All its TRUMPF machines are already connected in a network. Some, such as the TruLaser Weld 5000 and the TruBend Cell 7000, are largely automated anyway. The TRUMPF Smart Factory Consulting team has been supporting Lasercor ever since it embarked on its smart-factory journey. The company’s next goal is to eliminate paper from the entire plant and achieve full digitalization. “We’re already close to achieving that,” says Jiménez Barroso.
The roof and facade of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium were completed in early 2023. Jiménez Barroso is a big Real Madrid fan who attends every match; at home games, he never tires of seeing the contribution that Lasercor made to revamping this iconic stadium. “All the fans think it’s fantastic” he says proudly. “It feels good to be part of that.”
Contact: Lynda Mattingley