An episode of The Fabricator Podcast inspired a welder to fabricate a mind-blowing cartoon image from the past: Adam Bomb of the Garbage Pail Kids.

A fiber laser cutting machine equipped with a second cutting head can help increase productivity and quality while reducing operating costs.

Rose petals of the metal variety marked the path for Scott Hartrick’s career choice as a metal fabricator.

Skilled people in the shop underwent significant training and mentoring to become as good as they are. The same should hold true for shop supervisors.

Formed in 2023, SOLV Metals represents the merger of three industry players: Wisconsin Metal Parts, Lean Manufacturing Products, and QuikCut. The story reveals the subtle nature of consolidation in metal fabrication.

Production tracking software provides broad visibility into the overall production process and offers an overview of equipment utilization.

How does Inland Metal Technologies, a custom metal fabricator, succeed in one of the most expensive places to do business in the country? It takes on work competitors won’t and has built systems to ramp up capacity quickly.

Cadrex Manufacturing Solutions’ facility in Monterrey, Mexico, prepares itself to be the nation’s premier provider of metal fabricating services.

Higher-wattage lasers present a bevy of potential advantages, but machines offering 20 kW or even 30 kW of cutting power are not necessarily what a shop needs.

Cobots are being looked at as a possible remedy for the lack of experienced press brake operators in the labor pool.

Albion, Mich.-based Conceptual Innovations helps move the big and heavy. It started with engineers asking a good question at the right time: We’ve got metal fabrication capacity; now, what can we make?

The industry has come a long way from the teach pendant. Today, the latest systems can “look” at a workpiece, compare it to a CAD file and simulation, make adjustments, then commence welding.

To maximize revenue growth and profitability, metal fabricators need to apply the shop floor mindset of continuous improvement to marketing and sales.

The leadership team at Texas-based All Metals Fabricating hopes to have automation in every department within five years. It’s already halfway there. Their journey could be summed up in four foundational factors that continue to drive the organization toward its automated future.