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The Fabricator November 2015
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.
Cutting costs automatically with automated material handling
- Nov 30, 2015
- Materials Handling
- Article
Schletter Inc., a producer of solar mounting systems, invested in an automated sheet metal storage and handling system from Volz-Stopa America Inc. for its Shelby, N.C., manufacturing facility.
Women in manufacturing: One company’s 50-50 workforce
- By Melissa Stanz
- Nov 11, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
PPI, a diverse manufacturer based in the Southeast, defies national trends. While women make up only 27 percent of the U.S. manufacturing workforce, they make up nearly half of PPI’s workforce. What drew these women to manufacturing, and what makes them stay?
Shop technology and 3-D CAD: Making CAD magnets
- By Gerald Davis
- Nov 11, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
Does your shop have special punching tooling that it would like to use more? Columnist Gerald Davis demonstrates how to prepare a CAD model of the punching tooling that a customer can download into its own CAD tooling library and possibly incorporate into future jobs that may end up with the job shop.
A grand unifying theory of press brake bending: Part III
- By Steve Benson
- Nov 11, 2015
- Bending and Forming
- Article
In this installment of the Grand Unifying Theory of bending, press brake guru Steve Benson describes bending calculations for aircraft tooling. He also covers the basics of bottoming.
Manufacturing Fundamentals first, then improvement
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 10, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
Sustaining improvement efforts remains difficult for many shops, but sustaining may not be so difficult with a foundation of good business fundamentals in manufacturing. This includes accurate bills of materials, accurate routings, good inventory control, a documented system for materials planning and procurement, concise business rules, and employee training.
Looking out from the inside
- By Eric Lundin
- Nov 9, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
Artist and furniture-maker Louie Tozser has enjoyed a rich and varied career, working in metal, stone, glass, and polycarbonate, and does everything from one-off pieces to contract manufacturing. It’s much more than a business, though. Tozser’s latest plan it to introduce local children to art and perhaps inspire some to pursue a career in art as well.
Automated deburring: Safe and round
JBT FoodTech’s Sandusky, Ohio, operation was struggling with its deburring activities. A production requirement, deburring was occupying skilled labor that was needed elsewhere in the facility. An automated deburring machine proved to be the answer for the company’s production dilemma.
How SWOT and lean go together
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 5, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
A SWOT analysis covers a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. But how do you really define strengths and weaknesses? Much of it can come from data gleaned from a good flow assessment.
Thermal spray and fabrication
- By Dale Moody and Peter Foy
- Nov 4, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
Thermal spray is being used in metal manufacturing more each year. Fabricators need to be familiar with what it is, what benefits it can provide, and who can provide it.
Why machine monitoring matters
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 4, 2015
- Automation and Robotics
- Article
Machine monitoring in real-time is gaining traction in metal fabrication. MTConnect, a machine communication standard, has a toehold in the metal business.
Dutch metal fabrication: About flow
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 4, 2015
- Bending and Forming
- Article
One theme carried throughout a recent LVD press tour of custom fabricators in Holland: With fast changeover and the ability to access the right information at the right time, even a custom fabricator with the highest product mix can achieve smooth part flow.
Laser weld penetration: What you need to know now
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 4, 2015
- Laser Welding
- Article
See how inline coherent imaging monitors weld penetration by measuring the distance to the bottom of the keyhole, offering realtime laser weld penetration feedback.
What makes an effective quality system in manufacturing?
- By Dick Kallage
- Nov 4, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
When designing an effective quality system, manufacturers need to consider the cost of quality (COQ), customer and industry quality demands, and their company’s specific set of value propositions.
Celebrating the people in manufacturing
- By Tim Heston
- Nov 4, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
Manufacturing Day celebrates what’s at the heart of the real world of progressive manufacturing. It’s about people talking and working together to make their lives, and the lives of their customers, easier.
Building a better bike
- By Jeffrey Dean
- Nov 2, 2015
- Shop Management
- Article
Bike-making may represent a potential business opportunity for skilled metal fabricators looking to diversify their businesses. Several bike-makers discuss how they got into the business and how they build their bicycles.
- Podcasting
- Podcast:
- The Fabricator Podcast
- Published:
- 05/07/2024
- Running Time:
- 67:38
Patrick Brunken, VP of Addison Machine Engineering, joins The Fabricator Podcast to talk about the tube and pipe...
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