If your shop still runs plasma, you already know the trade-offs: thick dross, wide kerfs, and parts that need grinding before they ship. Fiber laser changes the equation. A 12 kW fiber laser cuts 10 mm mild steel at roughly 4,500 mm/min compared to about 2,500 mm/min for plasma. That gap widens on thinner material, where fiber laser feed rates exceed 10,000 mm/min. With 140 m/min rapid traverse on Vantix systems, the throughput difference compounds across a full production shift.
For most job shops, switching from plasma to fiber laser means finishing the same job in half the time or doubling output with the same crew.
Want the platform behind these numbers? See the FLC sheet cutting platform specifications — 3 to 60 kW, on one page.
Plasma torches burn through consumables: tips, electrodes, shields and swirl rings adding up to $3,000 to $8,000 per year on a busy table. Fiber lasers have no torch consumables. Energy consumption is meaningfully lower. When you factor in grinding and finishing plasma-cut edges, the total cost-per-part shifts significantly in laser's favour.
To put your own numbers against the switch — your plate mix, your hours, your outsourcing spend — use the laser cutting machine ROI calculator page, and see how shops structure the purchase on laser equipment financing.
A narrower kerf also nests tighter, so material yield per sheet improves — the saving shows up in your steel invoice, not just your labour line.
Plasma is not obsolete, and a dealer who tells you otherwise is selling, not advising. Keep or choose plasma when:
1. You cut very thick plate with forgiving edge requirements. Above roughly 2 inches on mild steel, plasma remains cost-effective when edge quality requirements are forgiving and parts go straight to a structural weld.
2. You cut in the field. Site work where portability matters favours plasma; a fiber laser is a fixed installation.
3. Your volume genuinely doesn't justify the capital. Shops with very low cutting volume may not justify the investment, even with financing. If outsourced cutting is cheap and rare for you, stay put — and revisit when the outsourcing invoices grow.
4. You're keeping plasma alongside a laser. Many shops keep a plasma unit for rough field work while the laser handles production volume. The two technologies coexist well; the question is which one carries the load.
Where the maths flips: Vantix's own brochure argues that a new, warrantied, financed laser is often cheaper per month than maintaining aging plasma. That is a claim you should test against your own maintenance ledger, not take on faith. Bring the ledger to the demo.
If most of your work is under 1 inch and edge quality touches your margin, fiber laser wins on speed, cost-per-part and finish. If your work is thick, rough and mobile, plasma keeps its place. If you sit in between, the cheapest way to decide is to watch both numbers run on your own material.
Vantix fiber laser cutting machines run from 3 to 60 kW; at 60 kW the platform cuts steel to 5 in (127 mm). Full published figures by material are in our fiber laser thickness chart. Also weighing abrasive waterjet? Readwaterjet vs laser cutting.
See it cut your materials at our Lumby, BC showroom.
No obligation. No pressure. Just precision.
Call 778-907-9796.
