Caleb Chamberlain

Columnist Caleb Chamberlain backward casts his eye, to quote Robert Burns, and delves into the challenges of moving shop, laying bare the best-laid plans of mice and men.

Columnist Caleb Chamberlain recalls the days of the IBM-compatible computer, massive calculators, and a starkly different time in U.S. manufacturing. Things have changed—and mostly for the better.

The Silicon Valley mantra of “move fast and break things” might not apply everywhere in custom metal fabrication, especially when it comes to new equipment. Columnist Caleb Chamberlain just found this out the hard way with a tube laser.

OSH Cut CEO Caleb Chamberlain recalls his experience, and ultimate success, in writing production, inventory, and shipping software for his metal fabrication business.

Fabricators used to buy software in a box. Today, they turn to the cloud. And in the near future, AI tools will change how we interact with computers in ways impossible to foresee.

OSH Cut offers automated quoting for flat sheet cutting and bending. The fabricator now is diving into near-instant quoting for laser tube cutting.

Balancing nesting efficiency against limited work-in-process (WIP) is an ongoing challenge for OSH Cut, a high-mix, on-demand sheet metal manufacturing service. So it developed in-house software that balances nesting efficiency against production needs.

Artificial intelligence will change the world, eventually. Metal fabricators and manufacturers alike still deal in the physical world, though, and to do that, thankfully, they still need humans to be involved.

Healthcare.gov’s disastrous rollout tells metal manufacturers what to avoid when looking into software, its quality, and how it was developed.

Engineers and analysts in performance racing and financial planning use Monte Carlo simulations and data to predict outcomes of incredibly complicated scenarios. Soon, more fabricators might be doing the same.

In the digital age, advertising can be tracked and measured. How manufacturing shops and other metal fabricators use that data can make or break a marketing program.

Metal fabrication businesses have had trouble finding skilled workers for years. A living wage is part of the solution.

Aside from quality, supply chain, personnel, compliance, and hosts of other complexities, scheduling alone is complicated for many manufacturing businesses. So how is one Utah-based metal fabrication shop tackling the high-mix scheduling problem? OSH Cut Founder/CEO Caleb Chamberlain explains in his latest column.

Southwest Airlines left thousands stranded over the holidays. For airlines and fabricators alike, the experience proves how risky business can be for manufacturing shops with antiquated software.

Columnist Caleb Chamberlain discusses lessons learned in sheet metal nesting and inventory management, and how high-product-mix job shops can better use data.