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The Fabricator November 2014
The Fabricator is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The Fabricator has served the industry since 1970.
Shop technology and 3-D CAD: Cap-offs, springs, and threads
- By Gerald Davis
- Dec 3, 2014
- Shop Management
- Article
Columnist Gerald Davis shows CAD operators how to use two separate design functions to create the same cap-off treatment.
Creativity springs forth from the darkness
- By Amanda Carlson
- Nov 10, 2014
- Arc Welding
- Article
A freak accident changed the life of a materials science professor at Texas Tech University. Not only does he appreciate the second chance at living, he also discovered a talent for giving discarded metal objects a second chance at living through metal sculpture.
The Erector set meets the material handling cart
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 10, 2014
- Materials Handling
- Article
Three friends grew up in Sweden playing with LEGO®s and Erector sets. The creations they could make were endless, but their assembly method was pretty much standardized. Why, they asked, couldn’t a similar concept apply to material handling carts in a factory?
Does outsourcing HR make sense?
- By Dan Davis
- Nov 10, 2014
- Shop Management
- Article
Outsourcing helps to keep shop floors busy all over the world, but the philosophy also might be feasible for some front-office activities, too, such as human resources. In fact, given the constant changes associated with employment law and the challenges of hiring workers, companies need good HR input, and outsourcing is a quick way to achieve that.
Piecing together the continuous improvement puzzle
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 10, 2014
- Shop Management
- Article
Various improvement initiatives related to 5S, part flow, communication, management structure, and planning led to a stark change at Miller Welding & Machine Co., a contract fabricator in western Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, everything just clicked.
Microwelding: Welding small, and growing
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 7, 2014
- Laser Welding
- Article
Learn how the art of microwelding helped to propel MicroArc, an eight-person weld shop specializing in putting tiny welds on tiny parts, to big opportunity.
Maximizing operational performance with automation
- By John Reynolds
- Nov 7, 2014
- Manufacturing Software
- Article
Software is allowing fabricators to squeeze every bit of productivity out of fabricating equipment and the people that run the equipment. The software optimizes advanced cutting features and automates related processes.
What is good company culture, exactly?
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 6, 2014
- Shop Management
- Article
Good culture may boil down to giving people an opportunity to contribute beyond their traditional job description, and rewarding them for it.
Metal fabrication, efficiency, and safety
- By Dick Kallage
- Nov 6, 2014
- Safety
- Article
Morality and fear often drive safety investments. People don’t want to see people get hurt, and they don’t want fines from a terrible accident to put them out of business. But there’s another driver that’s sometimes overlooked: efficiency. Safety is an important part of the foundation for efficiency and operational improvement.
Driving profitability while protecting employees
Developing a total solutions approach to safety, health, and wellness is going to be critical to every employer’s business survival in the future. The best companies will be those that create a culture where everyone feels responsible for identifying, reporting, and reducing potential risks, greatly improving their ability to take proactive corrective action before anything bad happens.
Going beyond commodity sheet metal perforation
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 5, 2014
- Punching and Other Holemaking
- Article
Accurate Perforating doesn’t just make holes anymore. It provides entire perforated and fabricated sheet metal components. The 200-employee Chicago manufacturer has done a lot to stand out in a consolidated sector.
The bright side of proper fume extraction
All Rite Industries, Lake Zurich, Ill., found success when it added robotic welding capabilities to its high-volume stamping business, but also found that its older fume extraction system couldn't keep up with the new cells. A new ventilation system helped to remove the shop floor haze.
Where is your press brake tooling?
- By Jeff Middlebrooks, John Waller, and Steve Brown
- Oct 30, 2014
- Bending and Forming
- Article
An organized workspace is an efficient workspace. Press brake technicians should have all the tools they need to perform a changeover. Unlabeled punches and dies, stored haphazardly on a rack, on the floor, or in boxes, only make their jobs harder.
Don’t underestimate MIG welding skills
- By Karl Hoes
- Oct 29, 2014
- Arc Welding
- Article
Plenty of welding training programs start with gas metal arc welding, or MIG welding, because it’s fairly easy to start laying a pretty consistent bead—under very simple and consistent conditions. As a result, most people look at gas tungsten arc welding, or TIG welding, with its need to use both hands while simultaneously operating a foot pedal, as a more complicated welding process. In a large-scale metal fabricating operation’s world, those people would be wrong.
- 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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