Two schools in the Midwest, Hartford Union High School in Wisconsin and Cary-Grove High School in Illinois, are doing something about the shortage of skilled manufacturing workers.

Jackson Tube Service manufactures 100 million feet of tubing every year and uses side-loading forklifts to move it quickly and safely.

Campers at Penn College’s Tinker-Belles manufacturing camp for young women spent a week learning about metal cutting, robotics, EDM, CAD modeling, and welding.

Steve Geroski started his laser cutting job shop, Red Horizon Engineering , knowing the intrinsic advantages large fabricators have over small shops like his. But he’s using software to even the odds.

Mundo-Tech has taken the product of a team brainstorming session, 3D-printed fixtures, and turned it into an offshoot business that is now presenting a whole new world of possibilities.

In just five years, Precision Tube Laser Owner Jordan Yost has used a relentless work ethic, high-end machines, and a hunger to learn everything he can about the manufacturing industry to build a rapidly growing fabrication business.

A slew of U.S. companies, like Ohio-based metal fabricator Welded Tubes, are sourcing or setting up shop just south of the border in Mexico—though not quite as many as might be expected.

Looking at the European skilled welding situation, KM MONT decided to invest not in more welders, but in automation to free its welders to do jobs that only human welders can do.

If nimbleness is the key to survival for job shops looking to provide quick turnaround times, capital investments must follow. With the addition of two more tube lasers, Wisconsin-based Sharpe Products is making the most of that manufacturing strategy.

Metal fabrication job shops and manufacturers must entirely switch the way they measure costs if they want to truly improve productivity. Quick response manufacturing (QRM) is one concept that can prove beneficial.

Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) was once the unrivaled leader of the computing world. Then, when the time was right, hungry upstarts seized a historical moment while DEC sat back and watched.

Immediately upon launch, INfab brought automated rotary pipe welding to its fight to stay competitive in the large-pipe fabrication business.

Unifab began life as a bus manufacturer. Today, its evolution continues apace with its latest tube laser, which it hopes will continue to win it new customers.