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The Fabricator September 2013
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.
6 ways to make large-sheet-bending easier
- By Dan Davis
- Sep 5, 2013
- Bending and Forming
- Article
Bending large sheet metal parts does not represent the majority of work for most metal fabricators, but it can be a significant portion for those shops that have the capability to do it. These equipment considerations and processing tips can help make a big bending job easier to accomplish.
When nesting, does it pay to be the early bird?
- By Adria Iles
- Sep 5, 2013
- Manufacturing Software
- Article
Country music legend Willie Nelson is credited with saying, “The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese." It’s unlikely that Willie was reflecting on manufacturing. Regardless, his quote still summarizes perfectly one of the greatest challenges sheet metal fabricators face: When nesting, is it better to be early, or just in time?
Hardware insertion meets automation
- By Dan Davis
- Sep 5, 2013
- Assembly and Joining
- Article
Star Precision Fabricating, Houston, has always had hardware insertion capabilities since it opened its doors in the early 1990s. It has added more machines as the need for additional capacity has emerged. The latest automated equipment addition is making a huge difference in the speed at which it processes assembly work.
Automating OEE for the job shop
- By James Finnerty
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) is a proven means to track the effectiveness of production machinery, but its application in short-run, high-mix contract manufacturing has lagged somewhat given the difficulty in implementing it in its traditional manual form. Automatic data collection can help to overcome these obstacles, however.
Are metal fabricators having trouble sleeping at night?
- By Dan Davis
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
The 2013 What Keeps You Up at Night? survey of The FABRICATOR readership reveals that fabricators are taking steps to ensure that recent growth is not a short-term occurrence, but a long-term trend.
Defending boiler components against corrosive and erosive attack
- By Chad Wagner
- Sep 5, 2013
- Metals/Materials
- Article
Maintaining a boiler system can be very expensive and require a lot of downtime for the equipment. The electric arc wire thermal spray process is one efficient way to create a protective overlay on boiler components and systems, helping to reduce replacement costs and outage times.
Monitoring surface temperatures with phase-change materials
- By Claude Bedingfield
- Sep 5, 2013
- Testing and Measuring
- Article
In a modern-day manufacturing environment where the goal is to keep processes uncomplicated and repeatable, temperature-indicating products used in the welding process make a lot of sense.
Metal portraits that pop
- By Amanda Carlson
- Sep 5, 2013
- Arc Welding
- Article
Alabama metal artist captures the essence of celebrities, political figures, and influential historical figures with his 3-D metal pop portraits.
The industry gets a quarterly physical
- By Tim Heston
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
According to the inaugural Forming & Fabricating Job Shop Consumption Report, released in July, business isn’t horrible, but it’s not gangbusters either.
So, exactly what are you going to improve?
- By Dick Kallage
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
Cycle time? Labor performance? It’s easy just to pick a random area for improvement, but if a metal fabricator really wants to change operations dramatically, time and effort are needed to identify the root causes in the greatest need of correction.
Blast the silos to unlock potential
- By Jeff Sipes
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
In a company with silos, departmental functions rarely interact, and workers within those departments are focused solely on their core assignments. These silos perpetuate inward thinking, turf protection, and subpar results for customers. To improve, an organization needs to tear down these structures.
So you want to sell?
- By Christopher Geier
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
A seller wants to improve the business to drive higher EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) multiples. EBITDA indicates the profitability of a company and is considered when assessing its valuation during the sales process. As a company’s EBITDA consistently moves higher, so will the value of the company.
Job shop estimating: Moving from cost to price
- By Gerald Davis
- Sep 5, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
In the battle to deliver a competitive price, the estimator provides the ammo for a successful response to a customer’s RFQ.
- 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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