How tablets, digital tech are changing structural fabrication

When paired with a properly implemented digital platform, tablets and other devices can streamline information flow throughout structural fabrication shops. Getty Images

Imagine it’s a cold winter day and you’ve just arrived at work. You haven’t had nearly enough coffee. You sit down at your computer and, sure enough, you received an email overnight about revised drawings. Panic sets in as questions begin to fly through your mind. Are those now out-of-date drawings in the shop? Of course they are. How many copies are there? Are we fabricating yet?

The lack of coffee prevents your brain from processing fast enough, but the plan begins to formulate. A quick call sends the shop supervisor on a mad dash to find the drawings in the shop. Next, you print the revised drawings, but, of course, you always have trouble printing when you’re in a hurry. After all the chaos, you finally have the drawings.

You head to the shop and talk with the shop supervisor who is trying to locate the last drawing. It isn’t at the worktable where the piece is being fabricated. Did it blow off under a rack somewhere? After tearing the shop apart, you finally locate the drawing in the fabricator’s toolbox (he happened to be out sick that day). With all of the drawings replaced (finally), you return to your desk for a second cup of coffee.

If this sounds familiar, you aren’t alone. This scenario plays out frequently in fabrication shops around the world, and it’s one reason fabricators move from disconnected, manual processes to tablets. While tablets are a step in the right direction, it’s important to remember that they are essentially a vessel for communication. Minimizing chaos and driving productivity in the shop also require a single source where up-to-date information can be stored, accessed, and shared.

A Single Source of Real-time Information

To effectively use tablets, you first need a steel fabrication information management platform that ensures everyone in the organization is viewing the same information in real time. With this, users on the shop floor can connect to the platform via a tablet or mobile device to view work orders and cut lists, as well as update production status throughout their shift. This continuous, real-time flow of information allows for better production planning and optimized schedules, informed decision-making, and higher productivity.

Again, tablets are just a vessel for information, one among many that employees use to access information, including mobile phones, laptops, and desktop computers. All these devices should have access to an information platform with an open interface designed to interact and exchange data with various other software systems and industry technologies. The platform should also be able to share status information with those upstream and downstream from the production team. This will allow you to collaborate with other project stakeholders who could be using a different software platform.

Be sure to establish processes to prevent information bottlenecks as you and your employees adjust to this new way of working. This starts with an openness to making slight variations on how information is communicated between the shop floor and front office. A process that’s too rigid or a mindset of “it’s always been this way; make the software app do that” can prevent you from making a big leap forward. This is analogous to the owner of an old horse and buggy who is introduced to a car and responds, “This is great, but how do I hook up my horses?” A willingness to replace old processes will lead to more efficient ways of working.

Purchasing and Protecting Tablets

When it comes to purchasing tablets, keep these considerations in mind:

Cost. Tablets can cost anywhere from $80 for an Amazon Fire tablet to $500 for an iPad. The tablet you choose depends on the platform you use. For example, platforms accessed through a web browser don’t require an incredibly powerful tablet.

Protection. The price for protective covers can be as little as $15 or as much as $130. Ricky Horton, president of Fabrication Information Systems, an industry consultancy, advises, “In my experience, you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a cover because most of the damage to a tablet you will see in a shop is going to involve cracked screens.” Damage to tablets is typically caused by something being dropped directly on the screen, and most covers aren’t going to prevent this from happening.

Fab shop workers will be able to reference the drawing or assembly in the context of the 3D model from a tablet,

“I’ve also seen a fabricator leave the tablet on the bucks and roll a beam over on top of it,” he said. “The best protection is a mounting place on a toolbox that encourages the fabricator to move the tablet out of harm’s way when it’s not in use.”

A fabricator might assume that tablets will be thrown around and need replacing within the first year. Understandably, putting electronics in the same vicinity as beams and welders can be a scary proposition. “At one point I was utilizing approximately 40 iPads in a shop and, on average, five of them required replacing screens any given month,” said Horton. “At $150 each, the cost added up, so we replaced the iPads with Amazon Fire tablets that only cost $80 each. Employees were provided with a tablet as their personal property; they each signed an agreement that stated the tablet was required for their work, and they were responsible for having it in the shop every day.”

This approach can give employees a sense of personal responsibility and accountability. “The employees were motivated to take care of the tablets, and it was also a great recruiting tool to tell prospective employees they would receive a personal tablet on their first day of work,” Horton said.

Connectivity. To use a tablet in the shop, it will need to be connected to your Wi-Fi network. The cost of this depends greatly on your needs. How many access points do you need? What kind of hardware do you need to purchase? How much bandwidth do you need?

Horton suggests doing your research. “You can needlessly spend a lot of money if you aren’t careful. Invest in a system that meets your needs today and can scale as your company grows.”

Restrict tablets from accessing anything other than the sites or tools needed to accomplish the work. Not only will this keep the fabricator’s mind on the job, but will also lower the overall bandwidth required.

Training. Implementation and getting up to speed will greatly depend on the platform you use to provide data to employees. The biggest barrier to utilization of the tablets is fear. Those who are new to using technology may be intimidated by the tablets. Fortunately, most fabricators today are familiar with smartphones, so the tablet is very natural for most, especially when they experience the benefits.

Connected Fabrication

With a single source of information; new processes in place; and employees using tablets to capture, share, and access information in real time, you’ll eliminate the frenzied morning that began this article. Instead of running around the shop to locate drawings, you’ll be able to view the latest version instantaneously, and the old version will no longer be accessible on the shop floor. This will reduce rework by eliminating the risk of working off of an old drawing.

Additionally, the worker on the shop floor would be able to reference the drawing or assembly in the context of the 3D model from a tablet or a computer. Access to this 3D model can often answer questions immediately, such as about missing dimensions or framing context, many of which would have created a work stoppage previously as the shop waited to hear from the detailer.

Not only can you access drawings, you can also receive materials into inventory, confirm cutting patterns from nesting to keep inventory up to date, track production progress, perform quality inspections, and load trucks.

You’ll receive material into inventory as it comes off the truck and with automatic reporting, and the production manager knows when material hits the yard.

Material will be removed from inventory immediately following the cut process and the remnant automatically placed back into inventory. When someone asks, “Where is that W14×22 in the yard?” you can pull up inventory on the tablet and quickly show its exact location.

Tracking production in real time allows for up-to-the-minute decisions such as whether to work overtime on a given week. When an engineer calls to say he is considering a change, you can pull up production status, see if the piece has been fabricated, and quickly make an informed decision about next steps.

Using a tablet when inspecting work brings information that traditionally existed only in a paper form into a much more usable format. Now you can see the overall performance of your shop from a quality assurance perspective and understand where you may have issues that are creating nonconforming assemblies.

Finally, the ability to ship via the tablet, whether from preplanned loads or loads on-the-fly, creates a streamlined process that reflects what is actually happening in the fabrication yard.

Real-time fabrication management and bringing tablets to the shop can be a game-changer and open the door to the speed and accuracy you’ll need to compete and stay profitable in today’s market. And it might give you enough time to enjoy a first and second cup of coffee.

Ryan Vander Plaats is a product manager for management information systems in Trimble's Structures Division.