Gareth Sleger

Miami University engineering students and the Cincinnati Recreation Commission ran the multiweek NumberUp workshop as part of the NBT summer camp series.

Middle-school-age girls at a Chicago-area manufacturing camp discover their maker gene by working with metal, designing on CAD, and operating machines, power tools. The GADgET Girls Camp at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., was part of the Nuts, Bolts, & Thingamajigs summer camp series.

Songs about welding aren’t just for country music. From hip hop to ska, the subject of metalworking transcends any one genre. Here’s the ultimate playlist of songs about welding.

In its third year running, the Girls Learning to Weld (GLoW) program, part of the Nuts, Bolts & Thingamajigs (NBT) summer camp series, at Triton College near Chicago is designed to introduce middle school and high school girls to the world of metal fabrication by teaching them welding, grinding, and cutting fundamentals.

FMA has released its “Forming & Fabricating Job Shop Consumption Report” for Q2, revealing that despite skilled workforce shortages, record-high steel prices, and some capital investment reluctancy, manufacturers are mostly remaining optimistic.

It's Day 6 of recapping the 2021 FMA Virtual Annual Meeting, young manufacturing professionals from Jones Metal and Wertzbaugher Services sit down with XYZ University CEO Sarah Sladek for panel discussion to express wants and needs in the modern-day metal fabrication industry.

Performance reports show that the manufacturing industry is in a strong V-shaped recovery and continues to carry the economy out of the pandemic downturn. Metal fabrication remains a top-performing sector.

Manufacturing has entered 2021 riding the highest PMI in two and a half years while metal fabricators stake claim as the industry's top-performing sector for the third straight month.

Like everything else in 2020, the pandemic has dominated the metal fabrication industry. That includes this year’s most popular content on thefabricator.com. But it wasn't all doom and gloom. Our most read articles and blogs include stories about how metalworkers powered through with essential work and helped fight the spread of COVID-19.

Metal fabricators have benefited from manufacturing growth over the last couple of months, even in the face of an intensifying pandemic. And PMI data from ISM and other key industry indicators point toward continued expansion.

PMI data from Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and IHS Markit shows that manufacturing had a historic rebound in June. Demand, production, and employment all grew as supply chains started hitting their stride. But economists warn manufacturers to exercise caution with COVID-19 cases still rising.

A survey from Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) shows that metal manufacturing and fabrication shops remain optimistic, safe despite the uncertain future facing fluctuating COVID-19 cases.

Manufacturing supply chain reports from ISM and Markit during the peak of the COVID-19 crisis in April and May offer a glimpse into the state of the industry.