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The Fabricator April 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.
Welding training under the arc light
- By Dan Davis
- Apr 25, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
Virtual weld training tools have emerged in recent years, and some organizations have looked to them to help beginners learn welding basics before firing up the arc. Meanwhile, others are looking for a training device that better reflects the real-world activities associated with welding in a manufacturing environment. A new training device has emerged to bridge that virtual world with the real world.
3 ways to boost submerged arc welding performance
- By Steve Massey
- Apr 19, 2013
- Arc Welding
- Article
Submerged arc welding is known as a process that can result in high welding speeds and deposition rates. However, in today's manufacturing reality, engineers are always looking to boost productivity—even for already productive processes. Fortunately, companies have three common approaches to consider to increase the performance of their submerged arc welding systems.
New guideline reduces manganese exposure limit dramatically
- By Kimberly Gates and Scott Larson
- Apr 19, 2013
- Arc Welding
- Article
Chronic exposure to manganese oxide fumes, which occur when manganese metal is heated and reacts with oxygen, can lead to damage to the central nervous system. Welders are especially susceptible to this disease, called maganism by the National Institutes of Health, because manganese is found in many welding rods and filler metals to promote hardness. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists recently issued guidance that dramatically reduced suggested threshold limit values. Because many metal fabricators use this guidance to manage worker exposure, they now are having to rethink how they approach personal protective equipment.
How trust drives business
- By Tim Heston
- Apr 19, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
At The FABRICATOR's Leadership Summit in February, speaker Tom Ziglar used a bicycle as a metaphor for how people drive business success.
The glue that holds company valuation together
- By Dick Kallage
- Apr 19, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
A company structure can be an attractive size and shape, with a seemingly strong foundation--but still be a house of cards. Therefore, it’s important to test the robustness of a company’s structure to determine whether it is what it appears to be.
The vital role of the CEO
- By Mark Ernst
- Apr 19, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
If a metal fabricating company's CEO is running the plant or acting as a salesperson, who is guiding the business? For such companies, operating without a CEO can be a very dangerous situation.
Metal fabricators get on the same page, with software
- By Tim Heston
- Apr 19, 2013
- Manufacturing Software
- Article
Conductix-Wampfler, Omaha, Neb., developed software that integrates information from CAD, product data management, ERP, and customer relationship management. Built on the company's success, the software is now available for others interested in ensuring everyone in the business is on the same page.
Job shop estimating: Expenses driven by events in the fabrication sequence
- By Gerald Davis
- Apr 19, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
In this fourth installment of Columnist Gerald Davis' series on job estimating, he describes the use of planning outlines—which resemble work orders—to structure the estimator’s report of production expenses.
Bending software speeds up production
- By Dan Davis
- Apr 17, 2013
- Manufacturing Software
- Article
The speed of fabricating is increasing at a rapid pace, but the press brake remains a bottleneck for many companies. Laser cutting and punching machines can run unattended if necessary without the need to program a robot, but the same can't be said for a press brake. Human operators still are pretty much a necessity. Advancements in bending software, however, can help to streamline the bending process. Fabricators only need to give it a try.
The broader implications of modular weld fixturing
- By Pam Farley
- Apr 17, 2013
- Arc Welding
- Article
A shop is only as productive as its constraint process—that is, its bottleneck. All that adaptability in upstream processes may not make a part cost less if it takes days or weeks to build a new weld fixture. A modular approach to weld fixturing can help.
Get more out of your punch
- By John Ripka
- Apr 16, 2013
- Punching and Other Holemaking
- Article
Several factors come into play when trying to determine the appropriate lifespan of a punch before major maintenance or replacement is required. If a fabricating operation is knowledgeable about punching activities and vigilant about organization and maintenance, it can expect to get the most out of its tooling.
Fiber laser helps job shop cut thick metals
- By Dan Davis
- Apr 8, 2013
- Laser Cutting
- Article
After selling his metal fabricating business in 2006, Jim Lee is back in the game with North Topeka Fabrication. But even in the short time that he was gone, metal fabricating technology has advanced and forced him to ask how the shop could apply new technology to grow the business. That led the company to invest in a fiber laser cutting machine, and the decision has thrown the shop into the thick of new business opportunities.
The comeback metal fabricator
- By Tim Heston
- Apr 8, 2013
- Shop Management
- Article
Everyone knows that metal fabricators need to be good at quick turnarounds. Super Steel became just that, hitting the financial skids in 2009 and transforming itself into a quick-turn fabricator and key manufacturing supplier to the freight rail industry in just three years.
Stick figures bring smiles in Sarasota
- By Eric Lundin
- Apr 8, 2013
- Assembly and Joining
- Article
After his yacht-building business dried up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, entrepreneur Scott Gerber decided to build a simple sculpture from tubing. Based on a basic stick figure, the first one was a fisherman. Gerber placed a few around town, encountered some interest, and suddenly a new business was born.
- 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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