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More from Tim Heston
- From The Fabricator
A ticket of entry to laser cutting
- By Tim Heston
- Jul 5, 2016
- Laser Cutting
- Article
Alkras has introduced a laser small enough to fit on the gantry of a cutting table. It’s being marketed as a ticket of entry for those fab shops—especially small ones—that have not yet entered the laser cutting arena.
- From The Fabricator
Managing part flow in custom metal fabrication
- By Tim Heston
- Jul 1, 2016
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Think of how fast modern laser cutting is; now think of a typical press brake. There’s no contest. With this in mind, how can a fab shop best manage part flow? Elements of quick-response manufacturing (QRM) can help.
- From The Fabricator
Big press brake bending, high throughput
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 29, 2016
- Bending and Forming
- Article
In large-workpiece bending, material handling and tooling changeover can take serious time. Shorten that time, and bending throughput levels, even for the largest jobs, can jump significantly.
- From The Fabricator
3 questions to ask for better laser cutting
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 28, 2016
- Laser Cutting
- Article
Brent Donner, president of DLC Manufacturing and Fabrication, has spent almost a decade as a laser cutting consultant. Over that time he has noticed several fundamentals that many operators miss: properly cleaning and polishing the optics, centering the nozzle, and calibrating the beam focus.
- From The Fabricator
The 2016 FAB 40: Planning their next move
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 22, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
It’s been quite a run. Over the past four years many FAB 40 companies have reported big revenue gains. In 2015, not so much, at least on average. Sales at some big companies either held steady or declined somewhat, mainly thanks to weak markets that by now every fabricator knows about: oil and...
- From The Fabricator
Metal fabrication and the buying experience
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 17, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
SixAxis, a fabricator of safety platforms, portable stairs, and other industrial products, developed its own software with quoting, customer relationship management, and product configuration features. According to sources, software changed the customer buying experience, which in turn helped the company quintuple in size over six years.
- From The Fabricator
A metal fabricator you can’t pigeonhole
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 15, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
IMS Engineered Products’ revenue has increased by 45 percent during the past five years. How? The fabricator is part of a larger organization, IMS Companies, with diverse revenue streams coming from gear manufacturing, stamping, electrical harness assembly, and more. But IMS’s story of growth really boils down to a straightforward strategy: quick response.
- From The Fabricator
Lean, large, and keeping pace
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 15, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
Ironform Corp. formed in 2013 after Wynnchurch Capital purchased two large metal fabricators. But Ironform’s story is more about scaling up metal fabrication through acquisition. It’s about adapting the principles of lean manufacturing to custom metal fabrication—on a large scale.
- From The Fabricator
Scaling up metal fabrication: In support of the front line
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 15, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
General Sheet Metal Works has experienced double-digit growth in recent years. For a $70 million operation, that’s saying something. And yet, the company has few growing pains to speak of—thanks to a new business structure that has made scaling up much easier.
- From The Fabricator
One metal manufacturer, one name, many services
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 3, 2016
- Shop Management
- Article
Merrill Technologies Group, Saginaw, Mich., has implemented a strategy that managers hope will double the size of the company over the next five years.
- From The Fabricator
A big leap into big tube cutting
- By Tim Heston
- Jun 2, 2016
- Tube and Pipe Fabrication
- Article
If Richards Sheet Metal Works had taken the conventional path, it would have invested in a new flat-sheet cutting laser, especially considering its 5-kW workhorse was more than a decade old. But Richards isn’t a conventional metal fabricator. Today it has one of the largest tube cutting lasers in the country.
- From The Fabricator
Industrial dust collection goes modular
- By Tim Heston
- May 24, 2016
- Safety
- Article
Large-scale dust and fume collection can be somewhat inflexible. A fabricator moving, adding, or removing a few work centers can throw off the airflow balance and make the entire system less effective. A new technology aims to change this.
- From The Fabricator
Can this product be made?
- By Tim Heston
- May 23, 2016
- Manufacturing Software
- Article
Waiting for a callback to discuss a major design change is one thing; but waiting hours just to see if a hole can be moved a little farther from the bend radius—that’s something else. One industry project, iFAB, aims to make design for manufacturability far more efficient.
- From The Fabricator
Fabricators are in the information business
- By Tim Heston
- May 19, 2016
- Shop Management
- Blog Post
Fabricators aren't selling just parts anymore. They're selling their ability to partner and communicate with customers.
The morality of metal fabrication
- By Tim Heston
- May 16, 2016
- Tube and Pipe Fabrication
- Blog Post
Metal fabricators are driven to compete, but they also want to do the right thing.
- Podcasting
- Podcast:
- The Fabricator Podcast
- Published:
- 04/16/2024
- Running Time:
- 63:29
In this episode of The Fabricator Podcast, Caleb Chamberlain, co-founder and CEO of OSH Cut, discusses his company’s...
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- April 24, 2024
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