Fabricator201211 DL

Amada increased the volume of parts flowing to our fabrication floor by over 200%.
For nearly 90 years our business has grown by exceeding our customers expectations. From quote to install, Amada exceeded ours.
Greg De Caster, CEO Badger Sheet Metal Works
Established in 1923 on the foundation of providing customers with the utmost in quality and service, Badger Sheet Metal Works has steadly grown to become one of the Midwests premier sheet metal fabricators. However, Greg De Caster, the companys CEO and a third generation owner of the family run business, was facing difficult challenges. De Caster put it in these terms, Our aging equipment couldnt keep up with the pull we were experiencing from our fabrication floor. We were no longer making state-of-the-art technology available to our customers and they deserved better. We needed to increase capacity and partner with a technology leader in order to automate both production and setup. De Caster turned to Amada to custom-engineer an integrated solution consisting of an FO 4020NT laser equipped with an automated load/unload system and two networked, Hybrid Drive System (HDS) press brakes. According to De Caster, his decision to partner with Amada is paying off. Weve increased the thickness capacity of what we can cut by 50%. And, were no longer starving our fabrication floor because Amada has resolved bottlenecks in our laser and bending areas. Amadas automated networked solution enabled Badger Sheet Metal Works to: Increase capacity (Equipped to process full 6.5x 13 sheets, the FO 4020NT is engineered to reliably and economically cut a wide variety of materials in a full range of thicknesses). Reduce lead time (The lasers user-friendly network control, cartridge style lens, and one-touch nozzle reduce setup. By incorporating an AMNC-PC control on the laser and two press brakes, Amada provided continuity which facilitates employee cross-training and greatly simplifies setup. The intelligent, network control also enables extremely efficient offline programming). Manage workflow and reduce costs (The networked laser and two NT press brakes, combined with an advanced automation system, enable automated setup while streamlining overall workflow. These efficiencies provide for quick turnaround and lower part costs regardless of lot size).
Amada America, Inc.

180 Amada Court Schaumburg, IL 60173 877-262-3287 www.amada.com
74 COVER STORY
Today lean thinking has led many to consider not just manufacturing costs, but also the costs that occur over the entire product life cycle. is is where hybrid laser-arc welding has really stepped up to the plateliterally. e technology can be used to weld high-strength steel parts e ectively, which is great news for the transportation industry as they look to reduce the weight of components.
Cover photo courtesy of ESAB Welding & Cutting Products, Florence, S.C.
Hybrid laser-arc welding takes on heavy transportation
November 2012 | Vol. 42 No. 11 www.thefabricator.com
contents
Features
78 Whats the best approach for sawing aluminum?
Interest in incorporating more aluminum parts into nal product designs is causing fabricating operations to reconsider how they approach sawing this material. Traditionally, the conversation focused on circular saw technology to cut aluminum, but now new band saw developments have helped to expand the discussion. Why calculate values such as bend allowance, outside setback, and bend deductions? Because sometimes you will need to work your way around a bend on a print, and you may not have all the information you need to complete a at pattern. e issue for Laser Access employees wasnt getting the equipment running, it was the time they spent away from the machine, hunting for the right tools and material. ats why the Michigan shop took steps to keep the necessary tools nearby and neatly organized. Tejas Precision Metal Fabrication Services, San Antonio, needed to breathe new life into two of its older press brakes. Instead of ditching them for new models, company ownership invested in new controls. Estes Design and Manufacturing, Indianapolis, nds that laser welding produces a joint that is cosmetically appealing to customers. Were looking for an appearance that matches almost exactly the outside of a formed corner, said Jay Reddick, the companys laser welding development manager. Managing a shop full of a great number of incredibly diverse, short-run, nonrepeat orders can be a complicated undertaking. Fedtech, a St. Paul, Minn., fabricator, stays on top of all the activity by giving customers a single point of contact. Upon receipt of an order, one person shepherds the job through productionfrom cradle to grave.
80
e basics of applying bend functions
84 Why the little things matter
88 Retrot to be tried 90 Looking good
92 One point of contact
78
94 Capital spending forecast up again
According to the 2013 Capital Spending Forecast, to be published this month by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, projected spending for U.S. metal fabricators climbed 4 percent over last year. e total amount is just shy of readers projected spending before the recession.
96 Forming & Fabricating 2012 Waterjet Cutting Machine Buyers Guide
Management Strategy
48 Biz Talk | Growth opportunities worth trumpeting
88
e Fabricators & Manufacturers Associations 2012 Salary/Wage & Benet Survey is out, and it proves a lucrative career awaits those fabricators willing to put in the work to hone their skills. Metal manufacturers that work with toxic chemicals should note that the EPA is issuing and considering other rulemakings that could a ect their manufacturing operations.
54 Around Washington | EPA adds to toxic chemical reporting requirement 60 Improvement Insights | Uptime
Many high-product-mix fabricators simply dont know the actual throughput rate of their machines, so they base their operations on guesses. is notion of it is what it is shouldnt be acceptable. Its waste and it should be eliminated. developments. As this Q&A with Plante Morans Je Mengel reveals, an innovative approach to a customer relationship can lead to a very successful supply chain partnership.
68 Chief Concerns | Beyond mere convenience Innovation doesnt have to be limited to technological 70 Chief Concerns | Show and tell time
e best metal fabricating partner in a supply chain is the one that not only provides on-time delivery of quality products, but also provides complete and open communication.
72 Chief Concerns | Taxes and the decit:
70
e perils of oversimplication Chris Kuehl, economic analyst for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association and managing director of Armada Corporate Intelligence, Lawrence, Kan., o ers a reasonable look at taxes and what they mean to business planners.
The FABRICATOR | www.thefabricator.com | NOVEMBER 2012
November 2012 | Vol. 42 No. 11 www.thefabricator.com
contents
52
Departments
12 Editors Corner A metal fabricating road show
A group of about 50 fabricators got the chance to learn from their peers as they hit the road visiting six fabricating operations, two manufacturers of laser equipment, and one systems integrator of custom laser machines as part of e FABRICATORs Technology Summit in early October.
13 Readers Forum 16 Calendar of Events 24 Industry News TRUMPF Photonics celebrates 10 years | IMTS 2012: Unusual times in manufacturing
62
50 Product Highlights Safety light curtain protected from damage | Fiber laser system increases
thin-sheet processing speeds | Laser cutting system integrated in robot custom manufacturer streamline material handling
52 Applications Grill manufacturer saves time with improved welding control | Andon system helps 56 Precision Matters 3-D CAD: Productivity, reliability, and responsiveness
Columnist Gerald Davis discusses when formality should enter a CAD operators workow and o ers up an example of how a simple CAD task might go. Todays press brake operators need only download a bending program from the network directly to the machine control and bending can beginbut only after the right tooling has been put in place. Technology developments, however, may make that manual intervention a thing of the past. With behavioral-based robotics, which ditches the traditional teach pendant associated with robotic programming, the operator actually shows the robot how to accomplish a task. is could prove to be a good t in high-mix, low-volume manufacturing operations. Fabricators that worked with di cult-to-cut materials in the past often relied on traditional M42 bimetal band saw blades. However, a new band saw blade has been introduced that should give those fabricators longer blade life without the expense of carbide-tipped blades.
62 Technology Spotlight Automatic tool changer, meet the manual CNC press brake
64 Technology Spotlight Heres looking at you (and the job at hand)
64
66 Technology Spotlight Band saw blade lls the gap between M42 and carbide
100 FMA: In 103
e Know
102 Product News

e FABRICATORs Metal Market
116 Classied Ads 117 Advertisers Index 118

Contributing Editor Amanda Carlson introduces us to the artist behind the metal sculptures that were on display around Indianapolis for Super Bowl XLVI.
e Back Page
e Lombardi Trophy, with a Girly touch
66
Whats on thefabricator.com?
company production and design information. He has seen some companies su er as a result of inadvertently providing information about their fabrications to others. 60 percent of respondents to a survey on thefabricator.com chose the economy.
November web exclusive For CEOs: Industrial espionage or not? Regular contributor to thefabricator.com Carl Smith addresses protecting Participate in a survey. What issue matters most to fabricators in the November election? Not surprisingly, Look for manufacturing assistance. Research and compare metal fabricating equipment and service
providers in thefabricator.coms Forming & Fabricating Industry Directory (www.thefabricator.com/directory).
Get the latest fabricating news. Like e FABRICATORs page on Facebook, and follow Dan Davis (@ fabricating) and Vicki Bell (@fabcomlady) on Twitter.
118
Coming in December 2012

downstream equipment.
Learn how a ber laser not only changes the laser cutting process for a job shop, but also how it a ects other Find out the status of the current helium shortage and what that might mean for welders. Read about the proper way to maintain a setup on your ironworker to avoid edge distortion and bowing.
8 The FABRICATOR | www.thefabricator.com | NOVEMBER 2012
From the Editor-in-Chief

Dan Davis, editor-in-chief of e FABRICATOR, can be reached at dand@thefabricator.com.
the fabricator
Editorial Advisory Board
Dan Berdass, Bermo Inc. Greg Cornett, Tennessee Stampings LLC Matthew Gehman, Metal Locking Service Matt Kalina, LAI International Subramaniam Manivannan, Accuride International Inc. Jim Poe, Iowa State University Roger Schulz, Monroe Truck Equipment
A metal fabricating road show

To learn more about the business, you need to see other businesses
f you werent a part of e FABRICATORs Technology Summit in early October, you missed a great learning experience. About 50 attendees visited six fabricating operations, two manufacturers of laser equipment, and one systems integrator of custom laser machines. If the event didnt ignite innovationas its tag line suggestedit certainly got some people thinking about how they might change their own operations. What exactly did attendees see as they traveled around Minnesotas Twin Cities? ey got to see everything, from the automated manufacturing processes used to fabricate Ho man boxesone of the most recognizable brands in the metal manufacturing industryat Pentair Technical Products, Minneapolis, to the manufacturing might needed to construct giant grain handlers at Schlagel Inc. in Cambridge, Minn. At those stops and others they saw the latest in automated storage and retrieval systems that feed material to laser cutting machines with no human intervention; specialty laser cutting devices tailored for industries such as medical device and aerospace parts manufacturing; and even a ber laser that ripped through tubes, cutting shapes in a matter of seconds. But the biggest takeaways for attendees dont always involve the cutting-edge fabricating equipment. Instead, they might be a new, simple approach to a fabricating dilemma that frankly hadnt crossed their minds. Here are some examples: At Pentair Technical Products, the maintenance team implemented an alert system intended to minimize equipment downtime. When metal fabricating equipment initially goes down, the maintenance technician on duty and assigned to the area is notied. If enough time passes without a response, the maintenance supervisor is then contacted. Finally, someone involved with plant supervision is notied if no maintenance response occurs. is change and associated lean manufacturing principles have helped the company improve its production timefrom taking a blank from the turret punch to pulling it o of the nishing linefrom two days to four hours. Herold Precision Metals, White Bear Township, Minn., ensures that some of its hardware-insertion equipment can be moved easily with a lift truck so that cells can be created as needed. When a company goes through 10 million pieces of hardware a year, it needs the exibility to move hardware-insertion capability close to one of its 26 press brakes to eliminate extra handling of work-in-process. Bermo Inc., Circle Pines, Minn., laser-cuts stainless steel Not so surprisingly, even though parts using oxygen as an assist gas and has to contend with the roundtable discussion each oxide edges, which are not friendly to paint or powder coating adhesion. Instead of switching to the more expensive nitromorning of the two-day event gen assist gas, company management decided to invest in a chamber. When enough laser parts are collected, began with talk about fabricating shotblasting they are stacked on a perforated platform and loaded into technology, the topic worked the shotblaster with a lift truck. Once the shotblaster is up and running, the entire oxide-removal process takes about its way back to a di erent issue: two minutes, which is much more e cient than the previous . tumble method of agitation the company used to prep the metal edges for nishing.
FMA O cers and Directors

Chairman of the Board Burke Doar, TRUMPF Inc. First Vice Chairman Carlos Rodriguez-Borjas, Feralloy Corp. Second Vice Chairman Edwin Stanley, GH Metal Solutions Secretary/Treasurer Al Zelt, ASKO Inc. Immediate Past Chairman of the Board Dave Barber, Wilmington Grill Co.
Directors
Teresa Beach-Shelow, Superior Joining Technologies Inc. Robert Clark, Clark Metal Products Vivek Gupta, Texas ProFab Corp. Rick Hargrove, American Strip Steel/Marinoware William Je Je ery, IRMCO Dan McLeod, Brenco Industries Ltd. Carlos Mendizbal Prez, Industrias Selbor S.A. de C.V. Lyle Menke, Peddinghaus Corp. Ed Severson, SB Specialty Metals Gregg Simpson, Ohio Laser LLC Jerry Ward, METCAM Inc.
President & CEO

Edward Youdell Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl.
FMAs Certied Education Centers

Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI) Manhattan, Kan. www.amisuccess.com Anoka Technical College Anoka, MN www.anokatech.edu Austin Polytechnical Academy Chicago, Ill. www.austinpolytech.com British Columbia Institute of Technology Burnaby, BC, Canada www.bcit.ca College of the Canyons Santa Clarita, Calif. www.coc.cc.ca.us EWI/Edison Welding Institute Columbus, Ohio www.ewi.org Illinois Central College East Peoria, Ill. www.icc.edu Kalamazoo Valley Community College Kalamazoo, Mich. www.kvcc.edu Kirkwood Community College Cedar Rapids, Iowa www.kirkwood.edu Kwantlen Polytechnic University Surrey, BC, Canada www.kwantlen.ca Long Beach City College Long Beach, Calif. www.lbcc.edu Moraine Park Technical College Fond du Lac, Wis. www.morainepark.edu Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College Ogden, UT www.owatc.edu Rock Valley College Rockford, Ill. www.rockvalleycollege.edu omas Nelson Community College Hampton, Va. www.tncc.edu Triton College River Grove, Ill. www.triton.edu Waukesha County Technical College Pewaukee, Wis. www.wctc.edu
people
Not so surprisingly, even though the roundtable discussion each morning of the two-day event began with talk about fabricating technology, the topic worked its way back to a di erent issue: people. How can technology help to get inexperienced workers more productive more quickly? What are the best ways to extract the fabricating experiences of veteran employees so that knowledge doesnt leave the shop when they retire? What are the best ways to let inexperienced workers gain valuable shop oor experience without threatening product quality or on-time deliveries? In the end, the metal fabricating business is still a people business. And what better way is there to learn than from other people in the business? ats why these and other Fabricators & Manufacturers Association educational events are so valuable. Fabricators are learning from each other as much as they are learning from discussion and seminar leaders. Fabricators looking for a similar learning experience might want to make plans to attend e FABRICATORs Leadership Summit, Feb. 27-March 1, 2013, at the Innisbrook Golf & Spa Resort, Palm Harbor, Fla. is event focuses more on best practices related to shop operations and business decisions. Check www.fmanet.org for more details as the event gets closer. Of course, events such as e FABRICATORs Technology Summit wouldnt be possible without the courtesy o ered by those companies that welcomed us into their facilities: Pentair Technical Products, Prima Power Laserdyne, Schlagel Inc., Cambridge Metals & Plastics, Herold Precision Metals, Bermo Inc., Innovative Laser Technologies Inc., Fedtech, and AltaMar. ey recognize the need to support the metal fabricating industry in the face of global competition. ats an easy lesson to learn.
For more information on FMAs Certied Education Centers, visit our hotlink at www.fmanet.org/cecs
Readers Forum > > comments from the fabricating community

Quick Response Requested on QRM
Im a manufacturing engineer at Spectrum Industries Inc., a manufacturer of technology storage and presentation products. I just nished the article Need a lightnow? [ e FABRICATOR, October 2011, p. 90]. I thought it was a very good article. Our business ts within the high-mix, low-volume picture, and I would like to learn more about Phoenix Products Co.s transition to quick-response manufacturing (QRM). Jeremy Henck Spectrum Industries Inc. Chippewa Falls, Wis. Editors Note: Perhaps the most direct way to learn more about QRM is to visit the University of Wisconsin-Madisons Center for Quick Response Manufacturing website at http:// qrm.engr.wisc.edu. Also consider attending the Fabricators & Manufacturers Associations LeanFab Workshop and Tours, which are typically held two times per year. e most recent one occurred Oct. 22-23 and included a tour of CR Metal Products Inc. in St. Louis (Turning WIP space into productive space, e FABRICATOR, September 2012, p. 58.). I very much enjoyed your article about CR Metal Products and their QRM program. Well done! Id love to share the article with others, but I dont seem to be able to get to it on e FABRICATOR website. Tom Saldo Anchor Fabricators Inc. Clayton, Ohio Editors Note: Stories that appear in e FABRICATOR and its sister publications dont appear on thefabricator. com until several weeks after the magazine is published in most cases. You can now nd the CR Metal Products story, How quick response drives prots in metal fabrication, at http://www.thefabricator.com/article/cr-metalproducts-inc/how-quick-response-drives-prots-in-metalfabrication or by typing the article title in the search box on the home page.
the fabricator
Published by FMA Communications Inc.
833 Featherstone Road Rockford, IL 61107-6302 815-399-8700 | Fax 815-484-7700
Sta
Setting the TableOnly Once

I am a SolidWorks 2012 user, and I have created a gauge table that I use. e table has our k-factor, metal gauges, and available bend radii. One thing I have noticed is that every time I use the gauge table the unit precision jumps from my set three decimal places to the maximum of eight places. So I have to go back and change the units back to three places under Document Settings. On my gauge table, every cell that contains a number or a list of numbers (available radii) was formatted as a numerical cell set on three-decimal-place precision. I have tried to format the table several di erent ways, including removing leading zeros, with no success. I am not sure what is causing this. Is this a known bug? Please help. It is annoying me so much that if I cannot x it, I will probably not use the gauge table. I enjoy reading your articles in e FABRICATOR. I have learned quite a bit from them. Randy Franklin Champion Industries Inc. Winston-Salem, N.C. Editors Note: Gerald Davis responds: Here are my recommendations in do-this-rst order: 1. Make sure you are using the current service pack for SolidWorks 12. 2. If you have a subscription service, contact your value-added reseller and explain the problem to an application engineer. 3. Use SwRx to launch the software while bypassing the workstation settings. is diagnostic mode will run the (continued on page 14)
President & CEO, FMA Communications Inc.: Edward Youdell Group Publisher: Dave Brambert Editor-in-Chief: Dan Davis, dand@thefabricator.com Senior Editor: Tim Heston, timh@thefabricator.com TPJ e Tube & Pipe Journal Editor: Eric Lundin, ericl@thefabricator.com Green Manufacturer Editor: Kate Bachman, kateb@thefabricator.com Practical Welding Today Associate Editor: Amanda Carlson, amandac@thefabricator.com Contributing Editor: Amy Nickel Senior Copy Editor: Teresa Chartos Graphic Designers: Mary Mincemoyer, Janell Drolsum, Margaret Clark, Jennifer Paulson Publication Coordinator: Kelly Palmer Director of Circulation: Kim Clothier Circulation Manager: Brenda Wilson Data Verication Specialist: Rhonda Fletcher Senior Fulllment Specialist: Anna Peacock Web Content Manager: Vicki Bell Multimedia Specialist: Sherry Young Senior Web Developer: Jason Bartholme Web Developer: Johanna Albee
Advertising Sales
Associate Publisher: Jim Gorzek, jimg@thefabricator.com 815-227-8269 Senior Account Representatives: Michigan/Northeast: Sean Smith, seans@thefabricator.com 815-227-8265 Ohio/Southeast/International: Mike Lacny, mikel@thefabricator.com 815-227-8264 West/Arkansas/Louisiana/Mississippi: Tony Arnone, tony@thefabricator.com 815-227-8263 Indiana/Iowa/Minnesota/Missouri/ Wisconsin/Canada: Amy Hudson, amyh@thefabricator.com 815-227-8237 Alabama/Florida/Illinois/Tennessee: Michael Scott, michaels@thefabricator.com 815-227-8271 Classied Advertising: Patty DAmico, patriciad@thefabricator.com 815-227-8278 France Representative: Arnaud Vacherand Pressedition SA www.metal-industries.com German Representative: Lutz Krampitz Im Schlenk 34 47055 Duisburg, Germany Phone 49-203-4568-266 Fax 49-203-4568-538 krampitz@krampitzVv.de
Statement of Policy
13
As the o cial publication of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International, e FABRICATOR recognizes the need and importance of disseminating information about modern metal forming and fabricating techniques, machinery, tooling and management concepts for the metal fabricator. e policy of the publisher and this journal is to be nonpartisan, favoring no one product or company. e representations of fact and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher and this journal. By including information on new products, new literature, news of the industry, articles, etc., this impartiality is strived for and extends to the mention of trade names. Unless product identication makes the reference unavoidable, the generic name is used. We acknowledge that on occasion there may be oversights and errors; the editors regret such oversights and re-emphasize their policy to be impartial at all times. e publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising deemed inappropriate for publication in e FABRICATOR, including ads for classes of products and services not considered of signicant interest to the readership. e FABRICATOR is a service mark and a trademark of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International, and is used, under license, by FMA Communications Inc. Standard Rate & Data Service lists our advertising rates in Section 88. Consult SRDS or our current rate card for full rates and data. Publications of FMA Communications Inc. maintain a policy of keeping editorial and advertising separate to ensure editorial integrity that most benets our readership. Editorial content, including feature articles and press releases, is determined solely by the publisher. Editorial content cannot be purchased, nor can it be used as a benet of advertising dollars spent. Editorial is free-of-charge, subject to space availability, and open to all interested parties that submit items meeting our editorial style and format as determined by the publisher. Note: Some photographs printed in this publication may be taken with safety equipment removed for photographic purposes. However, in actual operation, it is recommended that correct safety procedures and equipment be utilized.
Readers Forum
(continued from page 13) software with original settings. If the problem goes away, you likely have a corrupted registry. 4. Use SolidWorks to edit the templates you are using. e part template should have its units set to three decimals, same with the drawing template. is is a long shot and probably wont have any impact on your problem, but it is a good thing to standardize anyway.
e Sliver Lining
I was wondering if your publication has ever published any articles on dealing with slivers on stamped products. Also, is there a way to locate and search through back issues of your publication? Robert Fishel Tyco Electronics Corp. Greensboro, N.C. Editors Note: Most of the articles that have appeared in e FABRICATOR, STAMPING Journal, Practical Welding Today, and TPJ- e Tube & Pipe Journal for the last 10 years now can be found on thefabricator.com. On this particular subject, we recommend Piercing, cutting aluminum sans slivers, by STAMPING Journals Die Science columnist Art Hedrick. e article can be found at http://www.thefabricator.com/article/toolanddie/piercing-cutting-aluminumsans-slivers or by typing the article title in the search box in the upper righthand corner of the home page.
To register: CALL: 888-394-4362 EMAIL: info@fmanet.org WEB: fmanet.org/training
Calendar of Events
NOV. 7 9 TOLEDO, OHIO Spray Finishing Technology Workshop DeVilbiss, Binks and Owens Community College 800-466-9367 www.owens.edu/workforce_cs/ spray2012-brochure.pdf NOV. 11 LAS VEGAS RUN4MFG 5K Charity Run Fabricators & Manufacturers Assn. 888-394-4362 www.fmanet.org NOV. 12 14 LAS VEGAS FABTECH FMA, SME, AWS, PMA, CCAI 888-394-4362 www.fabtechexpo.com NOV. 13 15 HARTFORD, CONN. Fundamentals of Brazing Kay & Associates 860-651-5595 www.kaybrazing.com DEC. 11 13 ORLANDO, FLA. Power-Gen Intl. PennWell Corp. 888-299-8016 www.power-gen.com DEC. 13 NOON 1:00 P.M. Webinar: How to Specify Robot Systems Robotic Industries Assn. 734-994-6088 www.robotics.org JAN. 20 22, 2013 CORONADO, CALIF. Aluminum Symposium Platts 800-752-8878 www.platts.com JAN. 21 24 CHICAGO Automate 2013 (co-located with ProMat) Association for Advancing Automation 734-994-6088 http://automate2013.com FEB. 26 28 HOUSTON Houstex Society of Manufacturing Engineers 800-733-4763 www.houstexonline.com FEB. 27 MARCH 1 PALM HARBOR, FLA. e FABRICATORs Leadership Summit Fabricators & Manufacturers Assn. 888-394-4362 www.fmanet.org
Plate Cutting Comparative Methods

Dec. 6, 2012 | 10-11:30 a.m. CT
Virtual Webinar by Jim Colt, Hypertherm
Maximize your plate cutting operation to reduce production costs!
Plasma, lasers, and waterjets can be used successfully to cut plate to size. This 90-minute webinar will explore the bene ts and limitations of each of the available cutting methods, providing you with the facts that you need to select the best method for your unique operation. Fee: $129 (FMA/TPA Members save $30)
your leading education resource
NOV. 14 15 RALEIGH, N.C. Design2Part e Job Shop Co. 800-225-4535 www.d2p.com NOV. 14 15 MONTREAL AeroCon UBM Canon 310-445-4200 www.canontradeshows.com/expo/ aerocon12/ NOV. 26 29 ORLANDO, FLA. Defense Manufacturing Conference Universal Technology Corp. www.dmc2012.com
See us at FABTECH Booth #C4822
Industry News > > whats going on in manufacturing

FMA announces board of directors for 2012-2013
e Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl. (FMA), Rockford, Ill., an association for the metal forming and fabricating industry, has welcomed a new board of directors for FMA; the Tube & Pipe Association (TPA); the Green Manufacturer Network (GMN); the Nuts, Bolts & ingamajigs Foundation (NBT); and FMA Communications, the publishing arm of FMA, for the 20122013 term. Board executives are: FMA Chair and FMAC Immediate Past ChairBurke Doar, TRUMPF Inc. FMA 1st Vice Chair and FMAC ChairCarlos Rodriguez-Borjas, Feralloy Corp. FMA 2nd Vice Chair and FMAC Vice ChairEdwin Stanley, GH Metal Solutions FMA Secretary/TreasurerAl Zelt, ASKO Inc. FMA Immediate Past Chair Dave Barber, e Wilmington Grill Co. FMAC Secretary/TreasurerVivek Gupta, Texas Profab Corp. TPA ChairBrian Kopack, Formtek Metal Forming Inc. GMN ChairBill Stough, Sustainable Research Group LLC NBT ChairTraci Tapani, Wyoming Machine Inc. NBT Vice ChairBryan Hawkins, Hawkeye Industries Inc. NBT Secretary/TreasurerMarcia Arndt, Moraine Park Technical College President and CEOEd Youdell, Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Directors include: FMARobert A. Clark, Clark Metal Products FMARick Hargrove, American Strip Steel/Marinoware FMALyle Menke, Peddinghaus Corp. FMAGregg Simpson, Ohio Laser LLC FMAJerry Ward, Metcam Inc. FMA/NBTVivek Gupta, Texas Profab Corp. FMA/NBTEd Severson, Specialty Metals FMACAl Zelt, ASKO Inc. FMA/FMACWilliam Je Je ery, IRMCO FMA/FMACDan McLeod, Brenco Industries Ltd. FMA/FMACCarlos Mendizbel Prez, Industrias Selbor SA de CV FMA/NBTTeresa Beach-Shelow, Superior Joining Technologies Inc. FMAC Independent Director Vincent Caprio, Nanobusiness Alliance FMAC Independent Director Rick Schwer, Scranton Gillette Communications FMAC Independent Director Scott Sward, SAE Intl. NBTDavid Brown, A liations Unlimited Inc. NBTRory DeJohn, Turner Construction NBTMatt Hotch, Matt Hotch Designs Inc. NBTEdwin Stanley, GH Metal Solutions
24 The FABRICATOR | NOVEMBER 2012

Voortman acquires Maschinenfabrik Bach
Voortman has announced the acquisition of Maschinenfabrik Bach GmbH, Apolda, Germany. is equipment now is o ered in North America through Voortman USA Corp., Chicago. is new subsidiary of the Voortman Steel Group operates under the name Voortman Cutting Systems. Bach is a manufacturer of oxyfuel and plasma cutting systems for steel plate processing. Voortman is a supplier of CNC machinery for structural steel fabricators and steel service centers. Production of the equipment will continue in Apolda. e Bach systems can be supplied with multiple cutting torches, beveling with 3-D torches, and pipe cutting capabilities. Voortman colors, controls, and software will be installed on the Bach systems.
Koike Aronson expands in New York

Koike Aronson Inc./Ransome, a manufacturer of metal cutting and positioning equipment and portable and gas apparatus equipment, has begun adding about 30,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing and o ce space to its main facility in Arcade, N.Y. When complete, the addition will make the facility 167,000 sq. ft. in total. e new area will house the companys entire positioner assembly department, as well as two new paint booths. It will be served by two crane bridges, both with a span of 135 ft.
Counterpart expands in South Dakota

Counterpart Inc., Pierre, S.D., has broken ground on a 30,000-sq.-ft. expansion of its manufacturing plant in Brookings, S.D. e metal fabrication company produces parts and assemblies for the electronics, agribusiness, utility vehicle, polyethylene, and door and window industries. is is its third expansion since opening in 1996. e addition gives the company a total of 80,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space.
AM Generals o -road vehicle selected for next JLTV development phase

AM Generals independent proposal for the U.S. militarys new joint light tactical vehicle (JLTV) has been selected for a $64.5 million engineering, manufacturing, and development (EMD) phase contract. AM General will produce and deliver 22 prototypes of its blast-resistant vehicleo -road (BRV-O) for government testing under the EMD phase. e military vehicle is based on more than a decade of the companys investments in research, development, and testing. Its mobility technology accumulated more than 300,000 operational test miles. e vehicles design can be adapted to future changes in U.S. military missions, enemy threats, and new protection technologies as they emerge. Features include a self-leveling suspension system and a C4ISR backbone with open-standard networked architecture and clustered supercomputing power.

TRUMPF Photonics celebrates 10 years: A long and winding road to signicant growth
Peter Leibinger isnt one to sugarcoat matters. e vice chairman of TRUMPF GmbH and president of the companys laser technology and electronics divisions spoke Sept. 14 at an event in Cranbury, N.J., that celebrated the 10th anniversary of TRUMPF Photonics Inc. e facility produces laser diodes, pump-source modules, and electronics for the companys laser machine tools and integrated systems. Leibinger didnt tell stories of smooth-sailing growth over the past decade. ere were a lot of sleepless nights, he said. Between 2002 and 2008, there were many setbacks, meetings, and discussions. We were struggling to nd the right approach. What seems like a straight and uninterrupted development process was, in all honesty, a long and winding road, and a painful one. It cost a lot of money. But it was well worth it. He added that the New Jersey facility now is one of the most productive high-power laser diode factories in the world. e 51,400-square-foot facility ts the popular depiction of what hightech manufacturing should look like. Clean rooms range from Class 1000 down to Class 100. During the tour, guests donned clean-room garb to observe the facilitys 140 employees at work. Twenty-nine of those employees are dedicated to research and development.
See us at FABTECH Booth #N3622
is pump-source module, produced at TRUMPF Photonics in New Jersey, will be integrated into the companys disk laser system.
At the heart of a laser diode is a semiconductor, which has a very useful property: It converts electrical power into light power. Using processes like metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and photolithography, the Cranbury factory works on the microscopic scale. To grow the gallium-arsenide (GaAs)-based semiconductor material, specialized processes deposit more than a dozen layers of di erent thicknesses, from 1 micron down to about 7 nanometers13 atoms stacked on top of one another. Each layer is tailored so that the semiconductor material produces the desired light for the application. ese grown wafers are processed into chips, which are then mounted onto an electrically conductive submount or heat spreader. ese devices become part of an integrated laser system, such as a pump source delivering more than 10 kW of power for solid-state disk lasers. As Leibinger explained, TRUMPF managers knew of the laser diodes potential in the 1990s, but at the time most of the laser diode work tended to be focused on what was the hottest industry of the day: telecommunications, a sector that was laying the ber-optic cable that

would become the plumbing of the modern-day Internet. TRUMPF needed to focus on highpowered laser technology, and this, Leibinger said, was one reason it began looking for an acquisition opportunity. It found one at Cranburys Princeton Lightwave, an R&D startup that was a spino from a larger photonics company. We negotiated a deal with Princeton Lightwave between 2001 and 2002, he said. is period coincided with the bursting of the telecom bubble. So Princeton Lightwaves nancial situation changed dramatically during the negotiating. In the end, we would purchase the intellectual property, all of the assets, and the building. And we took onboard a large number of the employees, many of whom are still with us today. After the purchase, the company focused R&D e orts on producing diode bars that emitted 808-nanometer wavelengths for pumping rod-style, solid-state lasers. When we nearly nished that process, the market had evolved, Leibinger said. Our own disk laser was ready for the market, and we knew we needed di erent diodes, so we needed to restart the development program in 2005. Further development took another three years. Holt has an unusual background for a politician. Hes not a lawyer or investor, but a physicist. For 10 years starting in 1989 he was head of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory at Princeton University. e U.S. is still the No. 1 manufacturing power in the world, and a leading innovation center for many industries, Holt said. We have much to build with and not much time for handwringing. But it is time to address with a cold eye our challenges. ere is much we can do with the investment in research and development. is, he said, is why he supports the permanent extension of the R&D tax credit, which he hopes to broaden to include not only the companies that perform the R&D, but also the investors who nancially support it. Behind all this, he said, I think we need to return to that traditional American respect and even glorication of research. It is really an American characteristic.
Tim Heston, Senior Editor
I think we need to return to that traditional American respect and even glorication of research. It is really an American characteristic.
Rep. Rush D. Holt, D-N.J.
What drew TRUMPF to Princeton Lightwave was not only its technology, Leibinger said, but also its people and location. A short drive away is Princeton University where Albert Einsteinwho predicted the possibility of a laser decades before it was invented in the 1960sheld o ce hours. e surrounding area is a hotbed of photonics and for technical companies in general, so much so that it has become known as Einsteins Alley. Guest speaker Rep. Rush D. Holt, D-N.J., was quick to point this out.
29

IMTS 2012: Unusual times in manufacturing
Sometimes you wonder if North American metal manufacturers got the memo. Europe is struggling with countries teetering on the brink of nancial collapse. China is no longer seeing its GDP grow by double-digit percentage points. Other once-hot economies in the world, such as Brazil, have cooled considerably. Meanwhile in the U.S., unemployment remains above 8 percent, and economists fret that the federal government may be headed o a scal cli at the end of the year, when automatic budget cuts take place and Bush-era tax cuts end. So what happened as the International Manufacturing Technology Show 2012 opened in Chicago on Sept. 10? Show organizers announced that they were expecting its most well-attended show since 2002. (Preregistration alone stood at 86,000.) Simultaneously, AMT e Association For Manufacturing Technology announced that July U.S. manufacturing technology orders were up 5.4 percent overall compared with the same time in 2011. U.S. manufacturers continue to move forward no matter what craziness occurs around them. With that in mind, it was tting to see the folks from Local Motors working on its Rally Fighter car right in the entrance to the North Building of McCormick Place. e team hoped to nish constructing the vehicle by the time the show closed on Sept.15.
Technicians at Local Motors build one of the companys Rally Fighter vehicles at the 2012 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago, Sept. 10-15.
e company itself is not just a custom car manufacturer. Jay Rogers, Local Motors president, CEO, and founder, said his companys car designs result from crowd sourcing, taking design ideas from a virtual community of would-be Henry Fords. In fact, the Rally Fighter design, which is built upon steel-tube frames and with composite body panels, came from an art school student. Its an open-sourced car, but it comes from DIY roots, the Harvardeducated Rogers told an IMTS crowd on the opening day of the show. Such is manufacturing today. Rogers called his companys approach to manufacturingand eventually sales and servicing of its carsdisruptive when compared to the current way automobiles are designed, built, sold, and serviced. Manufacturers are similarly facing challenging times, particularly as they struggle to maintain high levels of productivity without adding labor cost. In a way, these metal manufacturers are being challenged to embrace disruptive technologies of their own. IMTS featured several examples:

IMTS 2012 (continued)
Dozuki showed o its multimedia platform for mobile media that the company hopes one day will be the go-to choice for manufacturers looking to convert work instructions and accompanying graphics for display on tablet devices or even mobile phones. Early beta users created their own step-by-step guides on top of the Dozuki framework, including video in some cases, and later placed portable computing devices next to machine tools, so users could take in instructions right there or take the tablets with them. Bruce Klickstein, the companys vice president of business development, said one manufacturer of airplane seats witnessed the potential impact of the tool with new trainees. Traditionally trained employees were able to install seats in a fuselage in about 55 minutes after three to six weeks of training; employees without the same training but with access to the tablet instructions were able to do the same task in a little over an hour. The Lincoln Electric Co. shared its CheckPoint weld production monitoring system with show attendees. Keeping track of the performance of welding power sources and cells is not so much a new thing; but having access to that information through the cloud, which in this case is the Internet in. A supervisor or manager can access equipment performance information with a smart phone, tablet, or computer through a Web browser and without the need for special software. Information on weld performance details, wire feed usage, and voltage is available in realtime, allowing management to keep tabs on important welding jobs or collect auditing information for quality programs. Coordinate measuring machines arent anything new, but the scanning power that these units have nowadays really allows a fab shop to ex its engineering muscles through redesign or reengineering activities. A good example is the Romer Absolute Arm with an integrated scanner that is capable of capturing 50,000 points per second, almost a 40 percent improvement over the previous generation of technology. e unit has a battery with a run-time of about two
The FABRICATOR | NOVEMBER 2012
hours and has room for two batteries. At the very least, these types of technologies and others on display at IMTS have the potential to keep metal manufacturers ahead of the competitors down the street and around the world. As Dr. Rebecca Blank, acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce, told attendees during opening day remarks, U.S. manufacturers are on a roll in recent years, pushing manufacturing output
up 20 percent since 2009 and increasing manufacturing exports 36 percent between 2009 and 2011. Investment in new technology is one true way to ensure that manufacturers continue on the path to increased productivityand hopefully protability. ats the plan for many companies, no matter what bad news may be found in the morning headlines.
Dan Davis, Editor-in-Chief
31

Fatal work injuries decreased slightly in 2011
e Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C., has released preliminary results from its National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Findings show that the number of fatal work injuries in 2011 was slightly lower than nal results from 2010. Last year, 4,609 workers died from work-related injuries, down from a nal count of 4,690 in 2010. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said, We will continue to collaborate with employers, workers, labor leaders, and safety and health professionals to ensure that every American who clocks in for a shift can make it home safe and sound at the end of the day. Its clear that we must maintain our commitment to ensuring our workplaces are safer and healthier for every American. is is a challenge that must be undertaken not just by the government but by the entire country.
Tenere opens program sales o ce in California

Tenere Inc., a mechanical integrator and fabricator in Dresser, Wis., has established a new program and sales o ce in Northern California. Manager Chad Korbel has been with the company for 10 years. e company o ers mechanical fabrication of sheet metal, injection molding, and machining, as well as integration and system-level assembly services to OEMs in the network communications, enterprise, industrial, business equipment, medical, and aerospace industries.
Maysteel installs new equipment in Mexico plant

Maysteel, a manufacturer of sheet metal enclosures based in Allenton, Wis., has installed a laser cutting system and powder coating system at its new plant in Monterrey, Mexico. e powder coating system handles large-scale product up to 24 by 10 by 8 ft. e Amada FO3015M2NT laser cutting system allows the company to cut a variety of material types and thicknesses.
Reliance Steel to purchase GH Metal Solutions

Metals service center Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co., Los Angeles, has announced plans to purchase GH Metal Solutions Inc. e Alabama-based GH Metal Solutions is a steel processor and fabricator.
Custom pink riveter supports breast cancer awareness

National Rivet & Mfg. Co., Waupun, Wis., has delivered a pink riveter to a Wisconsin manufacturer of automotive assemblies that wanted to show support for breast cancer awareness. e customer ordered a model 600 electromechanical rivet setter, a medium-duty machine that sets steel, semitubular rivets up to 0.1875-in. dia. Putting aside its usual battleship gray paint, National Rivet purchased several gallons of pink paint to complete the customers request and sent Rosie out the door.

Metal service center leaders call for change
On Aug. 28 the Central States chapter of the Metals Service Center Institute (MSCI) held its 2012 Manufacturing Summit, Closing the Divide Between Jobs, Policy and Growth, in Oakbrook, Ill. e event was moderated by MSCI President and CEO Bob Weidner III and hosted by MSCI chapter President Terry Minogue, vice president of Lapham-Hickey Steel Corp. e summit was an opportunity for national and local manufacturing leaders, policy experts, employees, and political candidates to discuss the most pressing issues facing the manufacturing and metals services sectors. Participants were William M. Hickey, president of Lapham-Hickey Steel Corp.; C. Davis Nelsen II, chairman and CEO of Nelsen Steel Co. LP; Michael F. Petersen, president of Petersen Aluminum Corp.; and Bert Miller, president of Phoenix Closures. Illinois politicians and candidates attending or represented at the event were Republican U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh; Republican candidates for U.S. Congress Richard L. Grabowski and Brian Woodworth; Democratic candidates for U.S. Congress Leslie Coolidge and Dennis Anderson; Kitty Weiner, representing Republican U.S. Rep. Peter J. Roskam; Republican State Sen. Ron Sandack; and Republican State Reps. Christopher Nybo and Robert W. Pritchard. While questions for the panel centered on MSCIs policy agenda, which includes positions on energy, trade, tax, and regulation, panelists highlighted the importance of strong leadership and decisive action to support steady growth in the manufacturing industry. ere are so many things we can do, said Hickey, but we need someone with a vision to stand up and do it. We dont have that. Nelsen agreed: We have a leadership vacuum in this country. Leaders who are leading with their heads rather than their hearts perpetuate the status quo instead of improving on it. ey are avoiding the conict that doing the right thing can bring about. Politicians are trying to preserve what they have rather than do their job. How do you run a plant or make investment or hiring decisions with constantly changing policy? asked Petersen. Leaders [should be] willing to take on the big problems and get our nancial house in order. is event was the second of 11 being held across the country this year. Other host cities include Cincinnati, Kansas City, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Buffalo, and Los Angeles. is is a critical election year, added Weidner. Its important to give our members, their employees, and communities the opportunity to learn more about the concerns of our industry and to share that information with candidates, too. ere are real issues facing the manufacturing sector, which will have real costs for employers and employees alike. MSCI, based in Rolling Meadows, Ill., has more than 400 metal service center members operating from more than 1,500 locations worldwide.
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Small, medium-sized manufacturers project strong second half of 2012
Prime Advantage, a Chicago-based buying consortium for midsized manufacturers, has announced the ndings of its 10th semiannual Group Outlook Survey, revealing nancial projections and top concerns of its member companies for the second half of 2012. e majority of surveyed manufacturers report healthy revenue projections and strong hiring and capital spending plans. For a small portion of respondents, however, these plans may be delayed because of uncertainty about the results of the federal elections. Forty-eight percent of respondents expect their revenues to increase from the rst half of 2012. Overall increase in customer demand was named as the primary reason for the revenue growth in 58 percent of responses, followed by the introducution of new product lines (32 percent). Midsized manufacturing companies expect to increase new hires at a greater rate in the second half of 2012 than in the same period in 2011. While cost pressures from raw materials continue to decrease, health care costs have become the secondhighest cost concern for manufacturers. Capital spending also is set to increase for one-third of polled companies in the second half of 2012, compared to a year ago, when only one-quarter of respondents budgeted an increase in capital spending.
AFT Fasteners acquires Illini Metal Works

AFT Fasteners, Dallas, has acquired the experience and capabilities of Illini Metal Works, Taylorville, Ill., to add to its services. e company, to be renamed AFT Mfg., has years of experience in sheet metal fabrication, stamping, and metal forming of materials from aluminum and steel to stainless and alloy. e new company can produce custom orders to highvolume runs, complex components to large orders of supersized products. Engineers help customers with production logistics. Services include stamping, cutting, welding, forming, shearing, nishing, painting, heat treating, subassembly, and nal assembly.
Cianbro acquires L.B. Foster fabrication shop

Cianbro, Pittseld, Maine, has acquired a fabrication facility in Georgetown, Mass., from the L. B. Foster Co. e facility was built in 1982 to fabricate structural steel for buildings and bridges and includes about 40,000 sq. ft. of fabrication and coating space. e acquisition includes about 30 new team members and a variety of equipment. e facility provides more shop capacity for Cianbro and allows the company to expand its product line to include stringer bridges, which are bridges made with a rolled beam as the main member of the structure.
35

ISO news
ATW Companies, a provider of custom-manufactured metal components and services, has announced that its East Providence, R.I.-based Parmatech Corp. subsidiary has received ISO 9001:2008 certication for its quality management system. e three-year certicate covers the manufacture of powder injection-molded products for a variety of industrial applications. BEPeterson, Avon, Mass., has announced that its quality management system has been certied as compliant with ISO 9001:2008. e company provides metal fabrication services. e metal fabricator specializes in medium- to largescale, heavy-gauge, complex parts. It provides fabrications to customers who operate in the power and utilities, medical, chemical, environmental, and ltration markets.
Metcam to fabricate aluminum PV inverter enclosures for REFUsol

Metcam, Alpharetta, Ga., a fabricator of sheet metal components and assemblies for OEMs, has signed a letter of intent with German rm REFUsol GmbH to fabricate aluminum enclosures and other parts for photovoltaic inverters used in solar panel arrays. e aluminum enclosures, which will be the primary production item, have an intricate design. To produce the enclosures, Metcam is installing a new robotic press brake, a robotic welder, and other machinery.
Mohawk Metal opens shop in Vancouver

Mohawk Metal Co., a custom metal fabricator in Eugene, Ore., has opened a 20,000-sq.-ft. shop in Vancouver, B.C. e $1.5 million expansion is expected to create up to 20 jobs by the end of 2012.
Honda develops new steel-to-aluminum welding technology

Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Tokyo, has developed a technology for the continuous welding of steel and aluminum and applied it for the rst time to the subframe of a mass-production vehicle. e company will adopt this technology rst to the North American version of the 2013 Accord and will expand application to other models. Striving to reduce vehicle weight, the company focused on friction stir welding (FSW) to develop the technology. e process generates a new, stable metallic bond between steel and aluminum by moving a rotating tool on the top of the aluminum, which is lapped over the steel with high pressure. As a result, the welding strength becomes equal to or beyond that achieved with conventional GMAW, the company states. is new technology reduces body weight by 25 percent compared to a conventional steel subframe and cuts electricity consumption during welding in half. e company has developed a FSW system applied to an industrial robot. e system also can be used for aluminum-to-aluminum welding.

Service manager course preps workers for residential service
e International Training Institute (ITI), Alexandria, Va., the education arm of the unionized sheet metal and air conditioning industry, o ered a service manager course for the rst time in June at the Local 88 training center in Las Vegas. Taught by Darrell Garrison, the ve-day, 40-hour course, a pilot program derived from a mix of ITIs Business 101 course and Garrisons personal experience as a service manager, covered everything from creating a business name to hiring personnel. e course aims to give sheet metal workers the knowledge and skills needed to create their own service department, vie for promotion to service manager, or start their own service business. It familiarizes them with certications, day-to-day activities, writing purchase orders, and creating documents and spreadsheets. In Las Vegas, unemployed journeymen accounted for half the class. With a 65 percent unemployment rate among journeymen at Local 88, the course gives out-of-work journeymen another tool they can use to progress in their careers. Some of the people have been out of work long enough to say, Why not? I can hang my own sign, Garrison said. With less than 2 percent of the residential service companies in Las Vegas hiring union workers, a shop owned by a sheet metal worker only means good things for peers who are unemployed. e whole idea of creating sheet metal service managers is they are going to hire sheet metal workers as their technicians, Garrison said. at puts more unemployed members back to work in an area of the business that greatly needs good people. Training centers interested in the service manager course can contact their local training coordinator. At least six members in good standing must be signed up for the course for it to take place in that location. e ITI is sponsored jointly by Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors National Association (SMACNA).
Simonds Intl. announces agreement with Cal Saw Canada

Simonds Intl., Fitchburg, Mass., and Cal Saw Canada have announced an agreement for Simonds to purchase Cal Saw Canadas wide band saw manufacturing assets and circular saw nishing assets located in Langley, B.C. Simonds will continue to provide these products. Since this agreement does not affect Cal Saw in San Francisco, California Saw & Knife Works will continue to provide specialty circular saws, such as stainless steel saws and variable-thickness saws, directly to the Canadian market.
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Manufacturers adjusting to post-recession new normal
Middle-market manufacturers and distributors are adjusting to the new normal of the post-recession era by focusing on e ciencies, operational improvements, and innovation, according to a newly released McGladrey Manufacturing and Distribution Monitor survey. e survey, sponsored by Chicago-based consulting rm McGladrey LLP, shows that these companies are largely optimistic about their own businesses. It also indicates, however, that they are grappling with a variety of challenges, including eroding condence in both domestic and global economic conditions, struggles with nding the talent they need to compete, and uncertainty around the looming expiration of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. According to the survey, 83 percent of middle-market manufacturers and distributors are optimistic about conditions for their own businesses. However, the number of companies reporting that they are thriving is 39 percent, a 6 percent decrease since 2011, and that decline has been accompanied by deteriorating condence in both the domestic and global business environment. In 2012 less than half (46.7 percent) of the 924 respondents report having an optimistic outlook on the U.S. economy, down from 62 percent in the spring of 2011. Condence in the world economy has plummeted as well, with only 16.9 percent of respondents reporting some optimism about the world economy, down from 50 percent in the spring. Additional ndings from the survey revealed that nearly three-quarters of all respondents (73.7 percent) reported that the expiration of the Bush-era income tax rates would do some harm to their business, with nearly half (48.3 percent) reporting that it would do moderate or major harm. Similar expectations were found when respondents were asked about the potential harm created by the expirations of capital gains tax rates (64.7 percent) and the bonus depreciation credit (69.3 percent). Further analysis of responses shows that, given the current state of sluggish economic growth and uncertainty, manufacturers and distributors are both tackling the new normal by becoming leaner, more e cient businesses, focusing on making more long-term, structural changes to process and technology infrastructures that boost productivity while cutting costs.
Banker Steel acquires Foote Steel

Banker Steel has announced the acquisition of Foote Steel Co. in Orlando, Fla. Following the successful award of several high-prole projects in Florida and Georgia, this acquisition represents a strategic decision to expand and develop market presence throughout the Southeast. Banker Steel is an AISC-certied steel fabricator with headquarters in Lynchburg, Va. e company specializes in large, highly complex architectural projects, using 3-D modeling, building information modeling, and electronic drawing management software.

Plant news
German company Boysen, a manufacturer of automotive exhaust systems, has announced plans to build a new, $34 million plant in Tuscaloosa, Ala. e new Boysen USA Alabama LLC facility, which will manufacture mu ers and catalytic conveyors for C-class sedans from Mercedes-Benz, will be located about two miles from the Mercedes plant. e company expects to employ 99 people initially. Detroit Mfg. Systems has celebrated the grand opening of its new plant in Detroit. e companya joint venture formed by Faurecia Interior Systems Saline and Rush Group plans to invest $29.2 million in the automotive interior component manufacturing facility, creating about 572 jobs in the next ve years. e factory initially will make instrument panels for the Ford Mustang, with interior components for the Lincoln Navigator, Ford Expedition, F-150, Explorer, Taurus, Lincoln MKS and MKT, and Focus to follow. Woodward Inc., an independent designer, manufacturer, and service provider of control systems for the aerospace and energy markets, has announced plans to establish a second campus in Loves Park, Ill., for its Aircraft Turbine Systems business. Initial development of the site, referred to as the Woodward Rock Cut Campus, will include about 300,000 sq. ft. of production and o ce facilities. e decision was made after a yearlong investigation of alternatives to address the growth the company expects over the next decade and beyond. at growth has been stimulated by recent wins on the CFM International LEAP-X, Pratt & Whitney PurePower, and General Electric Passport aircraft engine platforms. ese awards mean that upon entry into service of the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX, Woodward parts will be onboard every narrowbody aircraft produced. e company anticipates investing $200 million or more over the next 10 years in land, building, and equipment between its two area campuses. Its workforce is expected to double by the end of 2021.
Web news
Caml Farr Air Pollution Control (APC) has partnered through its ltration system, which ultimately delivers with Arkansas State Universitys Center for Digital Initia- clean air back to the factory. tives (CDI) to create a 3-D animated video titled Clean FANUC FA America, Ho man Estates, Ill., has launched Air Rocks at www.camlfarrapc.com/videos/77. e a new website at www.fanucfa.com with enhanced re3.5-min. video takes viewers on a virtual tour through sources and functionality and expanded content. e the inside of the companys Gold Series dust collector. website features detailed information on the companys 7569 Koike_Liebherr_Fabricator_Nov_2012 10/2/12 5:25 PM Page 1 e video places viewers alongside dust particles as they CNCs, drive systems, laser systems, service, and support. (continued on page 42) travel from the workplace into the dust collector and
Weve had such outstanding success
with Koike that we havent spoken to anyone else.

Jim Farley, Project Manager
To be the preferred supplier of welding positioning equipment to Liebherr USA, you have to do a lot of things right. And Koike Aronson does. The Virginia facility of Liebherr, one of the worlds leading manufacturers of mining equipment, has been buying welding positioners from Koike for years. Some of the original machines are still in operation, reports Jim Farley, project manager. And the service support is terrific. When it comes to responsiveness we can get directly to a person who can help. The guys on the floor are sold on Koike, too. I love the Head and Tailstock, says Fabrication Lead Man Charles Moler. Koike worked with us so it was designed to fit our needs and reduce set-up time for each rotation.
Koike Aronson Ransome Head and Tailstock positioning a Liebherr mining truck frame.
Left to Right: Jim Farley Charles Moler
Project Manager Fabrication Lead Man
Jim Pfizenmayer Robert Egloff
Fabrication Supervisor
Fabrication Manager
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41

Web news (continued from page 41)
e product section has been expanded to highlight CNC system features that help increase productivity, provide low total cost of ownership, and reduce energy consumption, the company states. e expanded industries section helps customers nd the right CNC system for the aerospace, agriculture, construction, automotive, energy, job shop, medical, metal fabrication, metal forming, mold and die, and woodworking industries. e service and support section highlights the companys CNC parts, options, technical help line, eld service, service contracts, custom services, and training. e estore allows registered customers to search the product database, nd and order parts, and check product availability. Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, Troy, Ohio, has launched a revised website at www.welding.org. e redesigned site features dropdown menus to help simplify access to information on certication, skill training, technical training, and safety. Quick clicks on icons bring up information about e-courses, military veterans, displaced workers, certied welding inspector/educator/supervisor candidates, catalogs, tours, news and events, and welding history. Training and promotional materials can be ordered online. e online library is available for browsing, and former and current students along with employers may access the jobs bank to review resumes posted by students. e site also includes the latest issue of e World of Welding. KTI Inc., East Windsor, Conn., has established a new website at www. ktiinc.com that denes its electron beam component, electron beam continuous bimetal strip welding, and value-added assembly welding capabilities. e continuous strip welding process allows the company to join dissimilar, precious, and nonprecious metal alloys of varying thicknesses, tempers, tensile strengths, and conductivities into a single continuous strip. Manufacturing One Source LLC has launched a free online service, www.cadcamconnect.com, where mechanical engineers and design professionals can nd a variety of CAD/CAM products, reviews, deals, and information. e service partners with multiple CAD/CAM/ CAE product and service providers to o er industry news, trends, user forums and discussion groups, and deals on di erent products. Engineers can call 800-330-8500 to reach a live person who can answer their questions. LA-CO Industries, Elk Grove Village, Ill., manufacturer of Markal industrial markers, has unveiled a new, multilingual website at www. markal.com featuring what the company says is the industrys rst Find a Marker online search tool. e search engine allows users to select the marking tools they need in less than a minute from among the hundreds of industrial marking products o ered by the company.

Web news (continued)
e site is available in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian, plus other languages by using Google Translate. e updated product database provides specications and photos in a one-page-per-product format. MSDS, product literature, and related items are downloadable from the site. United Performance Metals, Hamilton, Ohio, has unveiled a redesigned website at www.upmet.com. e new design highlights products and capabilities and access to online quoting and document retrieval. Sheet and coil calculator apps, contest links, and social media updates have been added. United Performance Metals is a supplier of specialty stainless steel and high-temperature alloys for the aerospace, aircraft, automotive, medical, food service, housewares, and petrochemical markets.
Supplier news
(continued)
e GSI Group Laser Division, a manufacturer of CO2, Nd:YAG, and ber lasers for industrial applications, has rebranded as JK Lasers. Established in 1972, the company began as a manufacturer of pulsed lasers, followed by Nd:YAG systems for welding, cutting, and drilling. In 1982 the company was acquired by Lumonics of Canada and developed and installed the worlds rst ber-optic delivery system on a
solid-state laser. Lumonics merged with GSI in 1999 and, following the sale of the Lumonics brand, the laser segment of the business changed its name to the GSI Group Laser Division. OMAX Corp., manufacturer of abrasive waterjet machines and accessories, has announced plans to expand its Kent, Wash., facility with a new, 22,000-sq.-ft. building. (continued on page 44)
Supplier news
Aicon 3D Systems GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany, has acquired more than 80 percent of Breuckmann GmbH, Meersburg, Germany, from Austria-based voestalpine Group. Dr. Bernd Breuckmann, founder and former owner-manager, holds 20 percent shares in the company. e brand Breuckmann GmbH remains unchanged. Breuckmann GmbH is a manufacturer of optical systems for contactfree, 3-D measurement, digitization, and inspection. Aicon is a provider of optical camera-based, 3-D measurement systems. Genesis Systems Group has received the new certied robot integrator designation from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), Ann Arbor, Mich. To become certied, integrators go through a rigorous process which includes an on-site audit, safety training, and hands-on testing of key personnel, among other important criteria, said Je Burnstein, president of RIA. e program allows integrators to benchmark their own processes against best industry practices, allowing them to identify areas in which they can improve. Eight companies have received the designation since the program began in January 2012.
43

Supplier news (continued from page 43)
e expansion is scheduled for completion in October. e building expansion allows for a dedicated training space, including a lab area, for instructing sales representatives, distributors, and end users. e expansion also will increase the companys R&D and engineering capacities, allowing for better support of existing systems and aiding development of new machines and accessories. Savage Saws, East Haven, Conn., a manufacturer of chop, guillotine, plate, metallurgical, foundry, gantry, and custom-built specialty saws, is changing its logo to associate the company better with its parent corporation, Inductotherm Group. Comprising 40 companies, Inductotherm Group serves the metals and materials industries. In the group are such companies as ermatool (high-frequency, solid-state welding machines), Consarc (vacuum arc remelting furnaces), and Inductotherm (induction coreless furnaces). Scotchman Industries Inc., Philip, S.D., celebrated its 45th year in business with an open house on Sept. 18, 2012. e company o ered tours of its 120,000-sq.-ft. factory, live machine demonstrations, and a meetand-greet with customer service representatives. Founded in 1967, Scotchman Industries reports it is North Americas oldest and largest ironworker manufacturer.
Swagelok Co., Solon, Ohio, has acquired the assets of Innovative Pressure Technologies (IPT), Erie, Pa. IPT is a manufacturer of highand medium-pressure and subsea valves, ttings, and uid control devices used mostly in oil and gas, chemical/petrochemical, waterjet cutting, automotive, and water blasting applications. Swagelok is a provider of uid systems, including products, assemblies, and services for the research, instrumentation, pharmaceutical, oil and gas, power, petrochemical, alternative fuels, and semiconductor industries.
Steel news
Aurora Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity rm, has announced that its a liate Aurora Resurgence has sold New Star Metals Inc. and its Premier Resource Group and Electric Coatings Technologies subsidiaries to an a liate of Insight Equity Holdings LLC. In conjunction with this transaction, Aurora Resurgence also sold the U.S. Metals and Supply division of New Star to Custom Steel Processing Inc., Madison, Ill., and retained its ownership of Miami Valley Steel Service, Piqua, Ohio. Under Aurora Resurgences ownership, Miami Valley will continue to provide valueadded processing and distribution of sheet steel products to a diverse array of end markets. Bushwick Metals LLC, Bridgeport, Conn., has announced the acquisition of Tarco Steel Inc. and Metal Fab

Steel news (continued)
LLC, a steel service center and fabrication shop in Binghamton, N.Y. e companies will now be known as Tarco Steel, a Division of Bushwick Metals LLC. e service center serves the energy, manufacturing, steel fabrication, construction, and maintenance industries in central New York and northeast Pennsylvania. Main product o erings include carbon and stainless steel, steel long products, sheet, plate, and fabricated and straight rebar. Tarco Steel and Metal Fab also provide such value-added services as cutting, machining, and light fabrication. e facility includes 1,200 sq. ft. of o ce space, two warehouse buildings with a total of 47,000 sq. ft. and ve overhead cranes, and 50,000 sq. ft. of outdoor storage. e companies employ about 35 people. Stewart Lichtman, Bushwick Metals commercial vice president, will oversee the Tarco Steel operation; former owner Janet Beal will serve as the branch manager. Nippon Steel Corp., Sumitomo Pipe & Tube Co. Ltd., Sumitomo Corp., and Metal One Corp. have established a joint-venture company in Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, to build a manufacturing and sales base for automotive steel pipes and tubes. Approximately 2.6 million fourwheeled automobiles were produced in Mexico in 2011. Automobile production in Mexico is expected to increase substantially in the future as a result of new entry into the Mexican market and the increase in production capacity of Japanese automakers. is increase in automobile production is expected to lead to a rapid expansion of demand for middle- to high-grade steel pipes and tubes. e joint-venture company, scheduled to begin production in June 2013, will supply products to Japanese, North American, and European automakers and auto parts manufacturers in Mexico.
People news (continued)

istration operations. Before joining the company, Sockol served as CFO of four technology companiesGemvara, TechTarget, ObTech, and OneWaveand was corporate controller at Corporate Software. He has a bachelors degree in business administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and is a CPA. Arku, Cincinnati, has hired Aaron Walker as its new eld service manager for customers in the U.S. and Canada. He has a bachelors degree in electrical and computer engineering and a lot of experience in installing new equipment and servicing older machines. As service technician, he does mechanical and electrical work, specializing in programming PLCs. (continued on page 46)
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People news
Provider of product cost management software for discrete manufacturers in Concord, Mass., aPriori has announced the appointment of Eric Sockol as CFO. He is responsible for the companys nancial and adminThe FABRICATOR | NOVEMBER 2012
45
www.Mitsubishi-World.com/eX 630-616-5920

People news (continued from page 45)
Delta Steel Technologies, Irving, Texas, has named Enrique E. Echaniz as international business development manager and Michael Prete as regional sales manager. Echaniz has 23 years of experience Enrique Echaniz in the steel industry with an emphasis on stainless steel. In this role, he develops and manages initiatives to increase the companys market share in the global marketplace for its metal processing equipment, including temper mill cut-to-length line and rotary shear technology. With more than 35 years of experience in the steel industry, Prete is procient in coil processing operations and sales. He has held key positions managing and developing new business for slitting and cut-to-length operations, as well as implementing Michael Prete growth strategies for a steel center entering the at-rolled processing market. In his new role, Prete drives initiatives to develop new business with mills and service centers. Dorner Mfg. Corp. President and CEO Richard Rich Ryan, 59, died in a motorcycle accident Sept. 8 while traveling in the western U.S. Ryan joined Dorner, located in Hartland, Wis., in October Richard Ryan 2005 as COO. He held that position until June 2012, when he was appointed president and CEO following the companys acquisition by Pittsburgh-based Incline Equity Partners. Under Ryans leadership, the company more than doubled in size. Before joining Dorner, Ryan held several executive management positions at Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee. Dorner Mfg. designs, manufactures, and distributes conveyors and related equipment. EOS of North America Inc., Novi, Mich., a developer of design-driven, integrated e-manufacturing systems Tim Morris for industrial applications, has appointed Tim Morris as vice president. His duties include managing sales and marketing, service and application engineering, and administration. He oversees a family of companies including Advanced Laser Materials and Integra, which perform R&D of engineered materials for additive manufacturing processes. Morris formerly served as the general manager at TRUMPF North America, where he oversaw the sales and service activities of the laser technology division. He also has worked in the aerospace, automotive, medical, and consumer electronics elds. Eriez, Erie, Pa., has announced the promotion of Nicole Skias to product engineering manager for the Eriez Nicole Skias Hydroow line. She is responsible for all mechanical engineering functions, production control, and purchasing activities pertaining to the line, with duties including new-product development

People news (continued from page 45)
and update and redesign of existing product lines. Skias joined the company in 2006 as a mechanical engineer in the vibratory design group. Most recently she served as product engineer for the Hydroow line. She worked previously as a mechanical engineer at the Institute for Scientic Research Inc. She has a bachelors degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Eriez is a manufacturer of magnetic lift and separation, metal detection, Xray, materials feeding, screening, conveying, and controlling equipment. Glenn Metalcraft, Princeton, Minn., has named Dan Patnode to the position of sales manager and John Sautter as outside salesperson. Patnode, who joined the company one year ago, oversees outside and inside sales. Sautter is the companys rst contact with new customers in the Midwest. e company manufactures parts up to 10 ft. dia. and in steel up to 1.375 in. thick. Services include robotic spinforming, robotic welding, machining up to ve axes, robotic HD plasma cutting, ve-axis waterjet cutting, powder coating, and e-coating. Innovo Corp., a manufacturer of tube and pipe fabricating tooling and systems in Elk Grove Village, Ill., has added Ron Bochat to its sales team. As an application engineer, he assists in the sales and marketing of the companys standard and custom product line. Bochat has 30 years of experience in the industry. MidWest Materials chairman and co-founder Joseph Koppelman, died Sept. 9. From a one-room operation in Cleveland in 1952, Koppelman led MidWest Materials to its 240,000-sq.ft. steel service center facility in Perry, Ohio. Koppelmans daughter, Noreen Koppelman Goldstein, became president of the company in 1995, and his grandson, Brian Robbins, was named CEO in 2002. Another grandson, Bradley Robbins, returned to the company as vice president in 2011. For further information, visit cleveland.com/obituaries. Pferd Inc., Leominster, Mass., the U.S. subsidiary of August Rggeberg GmbH & Co. of Marienheide, Germany, has appointed Sam Lombardo to the newly created position of national technical manager for all Pferd U.S. operations. He is responsible for directing the sales e orts of all vertical market managers and application specialists. He also directs product training programs for distributor salespeople. Lombardo has 35 years of experience in industrial sales, including time in OEM, MRO, and distributorbased sales. He holds an associates degree in business from Longview Community College and has completed formal educational programs at the University of Wisconsin and at Xerox Learning Systems. Pferd is a manufacturer of abrasive products, cutting tools, brushes, and power tools. Plymouth Tube Co., Warrenville, Ill., has named David Crouch as general manager at its Salisbury, Md., seamless stainless steel tubing plant. He has 18 years of experience in the copper, brass, and steel tubing industry and the textile industry. Crouch has previously served as quality and process improvement manager and plant manager at Wolverine Tubes Altoona, Pa., and Shawnee, Okla., facilities, respectively. He also previously served as operations manager at Plymouth Tubes hot mill in Winamac, Ind. He has a bachelors degree in material science and engineering with a concentration in metals and an MBA from Penn State University. Gary Minta has been named vice president of nance and administration, replacing Dave Barnes, who was named COO in January. Minta has an extensive background in nance and operations with private, family-owned, multifacility manufacturing companies. Minta served most recently as CFO and corporate vice president of Pro Equine Group Inc., Deereld, Ill. Before that he held senior positions as CFO and vice president of nance at e Fitzpatrick Co., corporate controller at HuFriedy Mfg. Co. Inc., and controller at Revell-Monogram Inc. He has a bachelors degree and an MBA from DePaul University and is a CPA. SAF (Southern Aluminum Finishing Co. Inc.), Atlanta, has announced that John McClatchey, Ph.D., will retire from the position of president Sept. 1. Having served as president since 1988, McClatchey plans to work as CFO for another two years and will continue to serve on the board of directors. James and Penn McClatchey will each serve as co-CEO, with James taking responsibility for sales, IT, and nance and Penn overseeing operations, engineering, and marketing. SAF is a nationwide aluminum extrusions and sheet distributor, aluminum fabricator, and aluminum nisher specializing in Kynar painting and architectural anodizing.
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Biz Talk
> > better business from a fabricators perspective

e FABRICATOR, can be reached at timh@thefabricator.com.
Tim Heston, senior editor of
Growth opportunities worth trumpeting

Fabricators dont start out rich, but earnings rise signicantly over time
e all know wage growth in this country is next to nothing. Its one reason that the presidential election season has been so contentious. Employees continue to work harder than ever, while employers hesitate to hire more people. But metal fabricators and other manufacturers have another problem: Some would like to hire more, but they cant nd the skilled talent they need. Its been this way for years, of course. If skills are in high demand, many assume that higher pay would follow such demand, and to some extent it has, as reported by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Associations 2012 Salary/Wage & Benet Survey. As just one example, a code welders average salary has risen more than 3 percent since 2010not very impressive, but the pay increase isnt nonexistent, as so many people have experienced since the recession. During the election season, as politicians trumpeted the benets of a manufacturing renaissance, manufacturing salaries at or below average made a few headlines. In early October a Chicago Tribune reporter talked with several workers at an East Peoria, Ill., Caterpillar plant. One worker left a job as an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant to work at Cat, only to nd himself making $15.57 an hour installing fenders. At the fast-food restaurant he was making more than $17 an hour. [Working at the fast-food restaurant] was one of the easiest jobs Ive ever had, and it was also the best-paying. is doesnt make manufacturing sound like a promising career at all. Even worse, whenever you hear of union negotiations in manufacturing, you always hear of wage concessions. e message: Workers today arent making as much as they once did. But we dont hear as much about people like Steve Ross. He started as a general laborer at Arin Inc., a Detroit-based low-volume stamping and laser cutting operation. He worked his way up, becoming a press operator, laser cutting machine operator, and nally plant supervisor. He literally starting sweeping the oors, and now hes running the shop. Small businesses dominate manufacturing, though they dont necessarily dominate the headlines. While workers at large factories ght for better pay, the best workers at small shops are rising through the ranks, either at one company or by moving from one small fabricator to the next. ey may start as a non-code welder making less than the $36,695 average salary as reported by FMAs survey, but eventually they may become certied in a specic code. As their skills grow, they make
If a welder starts at a belowaverage wage, chances are he eventually will be making well above averagefar above that of many who may have mounting student loan debt from a four-year college.
more and more. ey may stay where they are or move to other organizations. And if they get good enough, these code welders have a good chance of pulling in between $60,000 and $80,000 a year, or even more. For any given job in metal fabrication, the salary ranges are extremely broad. Most people dont work for wages at or near the average. Instead, standard deviations are high; the pay level is dispersed along a signicant range. Yes, the average code-welder pay is $45,238. But when you look at the minimum ($21,900), maximum ($83,000), and standard deviation ($14,137), you can see that the reality is more complicated. e standard deviation is almost a third of the average salary. What does this variation tell us? For one thing, one shop may dene a code welder di erently from the next, and a welder who becomes certied in one code may be paid more than one certied to another code. Most important, a code welder getting into the businessthough its certainly not guaranteedmay enjoy steady wage growth over the years. If most salaries were clustered near the average, it would be a di erent story. But as it is, wages are distributed. If a welder starts at a below-average wage, chances are he eventually will
be making well above averagefar above that of many who may have mounting student loan debt from a four-year college. Standard deviations are even larger when you get to front-o ce jobs as well as supervisory and management positions. An operations managers average salary in this business is $83,201, but the range of salaries reveals more about whats really happening. e minimum reported is $45,000, and the maximum is more than triple that number, at $150,000. Like Arins Steve Ross, a person may start sweeping the oor, then move up to hardware insertion, laser cutting, press brake operation and programming, department supervision, and then land a job as an operations manager starting at more than $50,000 a year. He may move to another fabricator, then another, then another before capping out at a six-gure annual salary. ats not a bad career. You might think that if a talented operations manager were to grow his salary signicantly, he would move on to a larger organization. But this may not necessarily be the case. Companies with more than 250 employees reported an average operations manager salary at more than $84,000, while the same position at shops with between 100 and 250 employees made an average of $99,000. Some rms with fewer than 50 employees reported similar salary ranges as their larger counterparts. is may be because so many metal fabrication managers wear many hats. A small companys president or vice president may also be the operations manager. Technical personnel may not make more money at larger plants either. For instance, the code-welder and press brake operator survey respondents making the most money werent at the largest operations. In fact, thats where on average they made the least money. Instead, the best-paying fabricators for these positions had between 100 and 249 employees. Regardless, the wide wage ranges for many jobs show a steady career path in metal fabrication. Workers wont get rich starting out. Like in any business, some companies are better to work for than others. Some fabricators pay well, and others do not, but the surveys pay ranges do reveal that opportunities for growth aboundnot just for top management, but also for various skilled personnel throughout the organization. Few elds these days o er that. During a time of anemic wage growth and a big squeeze on the middle class, such opportunities are worth trumpeting. To purchase a copy of FMAs 2012 Salary/Wage & Benet Survey, call 888-394-4362 or visit www. fmanet.org/store.
Product Highlights > > an up-close look at industry innovations

Belt conveyors designed for tight transfers
Dorner 2200 and 2300 series lowprole belt conveyors come with a new small-pitch, modular, plastic belt option that provides nosebar transfers as tight as 0.31 in., making them suitable for infeed and outfeed to machinery, as well as unit handling within the machine. e nosebar is suitable for transfer of smaller items from one conveyor to another or to a conveyor onto a production area for additional assembly and packaging. Nosebars also allow for additional clearance around the end of the conveyor, making the end more accessible and creating room for other machinery. e modular belt features a at belt surface, suitable for inspection and label applications, as well as a low coe cient of friction for accumulation. Other features include a sprocket-driven belt and side guides, aluminum diecast head plates, T-slots for mounting of accessories, and sealed ball bearings. e conveyor is available in belt load capacities up to 150 lbs.; belt speeds up to 250 FPM; and belt widths of 4, 8, 12, and 24 in. Conveyor lengths are 18 in. to 30 ft.
Dorner Mfg. Corp., 975 Cottonwood Ave., Hartland, WI 53029, 800-397-8664, www.dornerconveyors.com
Safety light curtain protected from damage

Keyence has introduced the new GL-R series safety light curtain. It is built from a 0.12-in.-thick, extruded aluminum body with a 0.35-in.-wide, recessed lens surface. is design guards the light curtain from impact damage. In addition, the housing is sealed to meet IP65 and IP67 ratings for use in harsh environments. e light curtain features a one-line wiring system that allows the transmitter to be connected in series directly to the receiver for power and synchronization purposes. is helps simplify wiring to a single cable, reducing installation time and the potential for miswiring. Preassembled, quick-t brackets lock into the back channel of the light curtain housing by tightening two screws and can be attached to standard equipment framework without the need for any special protective hardware. Features include edge-to-edge detection, series connection, built-in muting and blanking, highly visible indicators, quick-disconnect cable options, and monitoring software.
Keyence Corp. of America, 1100 N. Arlington Heights Road, Itasca, IL 60143, 888-539-3623, www.keyence.com/prglr
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Fiber laser system increases thin-sheet processing speeds

LVD has introduced the Electra FL high-speed ber laser system. Powered by a solid-state, doped-ber laser source, the system processes traditional sheet metal materials such as mild steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, as well as copper and brass. e laser lights increased absorption into the material helps provide processing speeds up to 50 percent faster than CO2 laser sources in thin sheet metal, according to the manufacturer. e Touch-L control employs a 19-in. touchscreen and GUI to guide the user.
LVD Strippit, 12975 Clarence Center Road, Akron, NY 14001, 800-828-1527, www.lvdgroup.com
Steel can trough, return idlers are reusable

Elite Roller Mfg. has introduced patented steel can trough and return idlers, which include two tapered roller bearings in each hub (four per idler) to help increase service life. According to the company, the idlers last up to three times longer than traditional two-bearing designs. Made with universal shafts, the products t any manufacturers brackets, making them suitable for use in any material handling environment in which conveyors and rollers are used. e design allows the reuse of the axle assembly. Because there is no welding on the idler assembly, any damaged parts can be replaced in minutes, the manufacturer states. Rollers can be refurbished, with 90 percent of the materials reused. e rollers are available in 5-, 6-, and 7-in. diameters, with standard shell thicknesses of 0.1875 and 0.25 in. Standard rollers include 0.75-in. bearings, while heavy-duty rollers are equipped with 1.25-in. bearings. ey are available for belt widths of 18 to 96 in., with an optional polyurethane coating. An inner support tube helps ensure that hubs are independent of each other for smoother operation. Stainless steel shafts also are available for corrosive applications.
Elite Roller Mfg., 4286 Wade Mill Road, Faireld, OH 45014, 513-738-3000, www.eliterollermanufacturing.com
Laser cutting system integrated in robot

Jenoptik has introduced the JENOPTIKVOTAN BIM 3-D laser cutting machine. In the systems laser robot arm, the optical ber is located only in the stationary robot shoulder, and the laser beam path is totally integrated. During the cutting process, the laser light is guided by mirrors inside the robot arm. e laser bers immobility helps preserve its condition, eliminating ber maintenance and replacement. e 11-lb., slim laser light cutting head allows accessibility into tight locations and contributes to high path accuracies and high-speed 3-D metal processing, the company reports. Both features help reduce the probability of collision during the process. Repeatability is 100 m. According to the manufacturer, the laser robot arm has axis movements that are 30 to 60 percent quicker than conventional metal processing laser robots and delivers a shorter takt time. System components are maintained as one platform, comprising the robot, laser, electrical cabinet, and a rotating table that allows for maneuverable operations and continuous cutting. e machine can be moved via a forklift and set up quickly, the company reports. e laser system is suitable for cutting 3-D car body components, structural parts, and hydroformed tubes for exhaust systems, as well as contours and functional holes in white goods, tanks, and reservoirs.
Jenoptik, 8020 Kensington Court, Brighton, MI 48116, 248-446-9540, www. jenoptik.com/laser-metal-cutting
Replacement bulb cuts energy consumption in half

e OE Big Light is a replacement for 400- or 250-W metal halide lights that reduces energy consumption by more than 50 percent, the company states. It requires no special installation, ballast bypass, xture replacement, or retrot. e patented, UL-approved, RoHS-compliant bulb works on voltage from 120 to 480. It restrikes instantly, making it suitable for use with occupancy sensors, and is eligible for utility rebates. e 180-W bulb replaces a 400-W metal halide, while the 120-W bulb replaces a 250-W metal halide.
OEO Energy Solutions, 143 E. Main St., Suite 150, Lake Zurich, IL 60047, 800553-2112, www.oeo.com
51
Applications > > problem-and-solution shop stories

Grill manufacturer saves time with improved welding control
bly, testing, and packaging operations. grammed weld schedules stored in the weld controller. e rebox comprises several irregularly shaped sheet metal components, with the welding being done completely around the perimeter of the assembly. Contour-Arc designed and built custom part-holding xtures that were needed to ensure the combined part loading and unloading time would be less than the weld cycle time. Because the shape of the assembly is such that mechanical clamps would either interfere with the welding head or with the loading and removing of the nished assembly from the xture, vacuum clamping was chosen to hold the components in the xtures. e systems conguration allows the xtures to be changed on one index table while the robot is welding at the other, again reducing system idle time and maximizing the production on each shift. So far the company has reported time savings up to 30 percent. Siemens provided on-site training at the Robert H. Peterson facility to teach operators how to write programs using the remote pendant or the control panel and to back up and store machine data on the compact ash card or server.
Siemens Industry Inc., 390 Kent Ave., Elk Grove Village, IL 60007, 847-640-1595, www.siemen scnc.com Contour-Arc Inc., 23122 Alcalde Drive, Suite A, Laguna Hills, CA 92653, 949-837-5790, www.con tour-arc.com
Resolution
e company hired Contour-Arc Inc. to manufacture a custom-built, CNC spot welding system. It consists of several major components built around the Siemens Sinumerik 802D CNC, using three axes of coordinated motion, and the Miyachi Unitek IS-120B inverter spot welding power supply. e system has four independent welding stations attached to two oscillating rotary index tables placed side by side. is conguration allows the operator to load the xtures on one side of the index tables while the machine is welding on the other side. In addition to the three motion axes and two rotary index tables, the control monitors and controls all functions of the machine, including the spot welding process. To accommodate the di erent material thicknesses of the rebox assemblies, the CNC interfaces with the power supply so the programmer can call up any number of prepro-
Situation
Robert H. Peterson Co. is a producer of gas grills and gas logs in City of Industry, Calif. Its nearly 230,000-sq.-ft. facility comprises all facets of the manufacturing process, including sheet metal fabrication, laser cutting, robotic welding, die and press brake forming, grinding, polishing, assembly, testing, packaging, and distribution. Recently, as part of the continuous ow manufacturing line for its new Echelon and Aurora gas grills, the company decided to automate the welding of large, cumbersome stainless steel grill rebox assemblies with a CNC spot welding system that would integrate into the line of fabrication, assem-
Andon system helps custom manufacturer streamline material handling

Situation
as well as value-added services such as liquid spray D&S Mfg. is a custom manufacturer of large-scale painting, shotblasting, assembly, and testing. Machine operators were responsible for retrievcomponents, assemblies, and complete weldments in Black River Falls, Wis. Its capabilities ing their own materials using a eet of 19 fork include machining, laser, high-denition plasma trucks. To manage the moving, organizing, and and oxyfuel cutting, manual and robotic welding, staging of materials in a logical manner, the company transferred the responsibility for material handling from individual operators Amada Bystronic Cincinnati Finn Power Haco Hankwang LVD to a separate material Mazak Mitsubishi Salvagnini Strippit Trumpf Tanaka handling department that reports directly to the shipping department. the material handlers to prevent work stoppages. Operators can request material before starting their next job, receiving materials, tools, and xturing as a package. Rather than having 100 employees pulling and returning various items within the plant, now six individuals across three shifts use dened procedures to complete the tasks. e system uses four denitions for the material handlers: 1. Red = no material, work center not producing 2. Yellow = need material soon 3. Green = completed parts ready for next operation or staging 4. Blue = nonemergency supervisor pages As a result of this change, the time required for scheduled moves and queues between operations has gone from eight to 12 hours down to two hours. In addition, the number of fork trucks has been reduced from 19 to eight, while the plant has expanded from 70,000 to 130,000 sq. ft. e company also has started to integrate the andon system with some of its equipment for measuring utilization.
Industrial Andons, 172 Mallard Cove, Austin, TX 78737, 866-290-7551, www.industrialandons.com
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Resolution
e company installed a color-coded visual alert system from Industrial Andons. e andon system allows operators to communicate their needs in advance to
For a quick quote contact us online, or at 763-784-4600 ext. 105 Visit our website at www.LaserGrating.com
Around Washington
> > updates on laws affecting fabricators
Stephen Barlas, a freelance writer based in Arlington, Va., can be reached at sbarlas@verizon.net.
EPA adds to toxic chemical reporting requirement
Agency also might add 83 chemicals to list

good news is that the new requirements become e ective on Jan. 1, 2014, so metalworking companies have plenty of time to acquaint themselves with the changes. e Tier II reports go to city and county agencies involved in planning emergency response. For example, these reports would be consulted in the case of a factory chemical release. ey list maximum amounts and average daily amounts of extremely hazardous substances above certain levels. quirement is also helpful when the reporting company is located in a very rural area that emergency o cials may be unfamiliar with. Groups such as the American Coatings Association (ACA) worked to limit the amount of new data companies will have to supply. ey were only partly successful. e nal rule amending the chemical and hazardous material reporting requirements addressed some of ACAs comments, but failed to address all of our concerns, said Timothy Serie, counsel, ACA. e reporting requirements still include a few data points that we believe are unnecessary. e EPA, of course, is always considering new chemicals to add to the list of those subject to Tier II reporting. Often the rst step there is determining whether a chemical is hazardous based on a risk assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). e EPA is in the process of doing just that. e agency has identied 83 chemicals as candidates for risk assessment under TSCA because agency o cials scored the substances as high using a newly announced prioritization and screening process. A number of those chemicals are used in metalworking uids. e EPA is expected to assess some of those chemicals starting next year. American Coatings Association, www.paint.org Environmental Protection Agency, www.epa.gov
etal manufacturers should beware. e Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in full-blown prosecution mode. e EPA ned two Washington state metalworking companies in September for failing to disclose their use of certain chemicals such as chromium and lead as theyand all metalworking companiesare required to do under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting program. Under TRI rules, companies that use certain toxic chemicals are required to report annually about releases, transfers, and waste management of those chemicals at their facilities. e TRI program falls under the auspices of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which aims to inform communities and citizens of chemical hazards in their neighborhoods. North Star Casteel Products is a foundry that manufactures metal castings for various industries, including transportation, mining, and power generation. It coughed up a penalty of $87,000. Jorgensen Forge Corp. is a metal forging facility that primarily serves aircraft, aerospace, oil, gas, marine, and defense markets. It paid the EPA $73,600. ose nes remind the metal manufacturers that work with toxic chemicals that the EPA is issuing and considering other rulemakings that could a ect them. For instance, a new rule issued in July expands the data companies have to supply on Tier II forms required under the EPCRA. e
e nal rule amending the chemical and hazardous material reporting requirements addressed some of ACAs comments, but failed to address all of our concerns.
Timothy Serie, American Coatings Association
Some of the new data required on Tier II forms will help local emergency-response o cials speed up their reaction to a dangerous chemical release or spill. Here, companies will have to add such information to their Tier II reports as the name of the facilitys parent company and of the facility emergency coordinator. Some of these additions may seem unnecessary, such as latitude and longitude of the facility, but when you have some reporting companies using a post o ce box number as an address, the information is necessary. e latitude and longitude re-
engaged
definition: involved in activity
adj \in-'gjd, en-\
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Precision Matters
> > a look at design in the metal fabricating world
Gerald Davis is a job shop consultant and chairman of the board of DSM Manufacturing Co., gerald@glddesigns.com.
3-D CAD: Productivity, reliability, and responsiveness
Better CAD workow begets continuous improvement

models of the same part side by side. Both models are the same size and are shown before the welding and grinding that closes all seams. From the table in Figure 2, we conclude that the left-hand model makes better use of sheet metal and is easier to weld. e right-hand model may have some slight advantages, but it generally looks like a rookies design. Based on years of observation, I believe that after the completion of about 30 production 3-D models and related documentation, the CAD jockeys workow could be described as established and is acceptably predictable. Before venturing farther, we need to pause here and realize that, although the CAD workow may be established and functional, it also may be less than optimal. At a minimum, the CAD jockey is not fully using all of the softwares functionality. Most likely the workow does not incorporate enough downstream vision, such as model utilization in other projects, ease of revision, and compatibility with purchasing or IT departments. Almost certainly the current workow will incorporate needless redundant labor. ere is a point of diminishing return, however. Spending a day to save 10 minutes may not be an example of good e ort. On the other hand, if a crew of several CAD operators save those 10 minutes every day, the payback is obvious. So avoid focusing too much attention on CAD elegance and not enough attention on getting the work done. e perfect workow is a transient event.
very operator of a 3-D CAD workstation is involved in a workowprobably several workows, truthfully. Also, depending on the deliverable, the workow of a 3-D part model differs from that involving the production of a 2-D manufacturing drawing. So heres a prediction: A persons rst experience using 3-D CAD immediately will result in a workow. at process probably will be focused on scanning through menus, looking for things that seem like they might do something desirable. is workow is the result of mental vision of the desired result but lack of knowledge of the needed terminology and technique. With each modeling session, the CAD jockeys workow will become less dependent on searching for methods and techniques. Instead, it becomes more a repetition of what worked last time. To some extent, the productivity of the CAD jockey automatically increases with experience. Once the CAD menu is memorized, the mouse clicks and keystrokes just happen faster. Heres another prediction: is emerging skill set of CAD techniques will stagnate until something goes wrong. Everything goes wrong initially, and as techniques are being mastered, very little productive work is being performed. Sometimes the same model is remodeled repeatedly from scratch simply to take advantage of some new CAD ability.
FIGURE 3a We need to change the wall from 2 in. to 2.5 in. A simple change, right?
Selecting the Best CAD Technique

e blessing and curse of 3-D CAD is that many paths lead to the same result. Figure 1 shows two
FIGURE 3b e simple edit caused the complex part to fail. e modeling techniques used did not anticipate the need to change the wall thickness. Typically, however, the pressure to change the workow comes externally in the form of product design revision. Obsolescence, market demand, and product performance have their perpetual impact on CAD workow. e task to change an established model in a specic way forces the CAD jockey to evaluate the consequences of the modeling techniques that were used. ose techniques that prove to be easy to edit within the constraints of the overall manufacturing process will be incorporated to improve the future CAD workow. However, some CAD modeling techniques are very di cult to edit. Figures 3a and 3b show a slightly complex model before and after a simple edit. In Figure 3a we see a through-window cut in a wall and are looking at a trough inside the box. I changed the shelled wall thickness from 2 in. to 2.5 in. e result is shown in Figure 3b. Numerous features have failed. It is going to take some serious CAD labor to change this model successfully because of the CAD techniques that were used originally. With this in mind, our plan is to purge the rookie mistakes and improve the CAD workow.
Hope Does Not Cause Change

e acceptable workow tends to stagnate unless pressure forces change. My recommended source of prudent workow change is found within ones self. e procient CAD jockey reads the help FAQs; attends user group meetings, such as the SolidWorks User Group Network (www.swugn. org); participates in online discussion forums; attends value-added reseller courses and events; goes to tradeshows like SolidWorks World; and happily mentors newbies. Learning never ends.
FIGURE 1 Two modeling techniques are compared. Which model would you rather build?
Welding and Grinding Forming Side Flatness Material Flat Layout
Left 4 in. 3 setups/6 cycles Depends on grinding and welding 55.671 sq. in. 4.992 x 11.785
Right 12 in. 3 setups/6 cycles Depends on sheet metal and welding 54 sq. in. 15.168 x 11.812
FIGURE 2 A comparison of the left-hand model and right-hand model shown in Figure 1 reveals that the left-hand model is a much more complete design.
Design Intent Matters Mightily

ere is a skill to winnowing CAD modeling techniques. Di cult-to-edit features might include things like derived sketches that have intrinsic protection against accidental edits. We used such a feature in last months article (3-D CAD: Handling imported data during sheet metal design, Precision Matters, e FABRICATOR, October 2012, p. 64) to ensure that all of our rips were the same size. When deciding whether or not a derived sketch is a good thing, we must understand the overall design intent. When faced with the dilemma, it is best to consult with colleagues and agree on future steps. Having a suite of policies on CAD techniques, including derived sketches, external links, virtual parts, and le name conventions, is an important element of a well-mannered workow. As a workcell in the business process, the CAD function addresses invention, design, engineering, documentation, and revision management. Each of those functions has a unique CAD workow, and many of those workows use conicting CAD techniques. A seasoned CAD FIGURE 4 e best modeling technique depends on the jockey adapts the goal. For this model, fast was the priority. Well add detail workow to the task at later if needed. hand. Figure 4 shows a sheet metal chassis that was quickly modeled. No bends are shown, and no indications are given as to how the part will be built. It does show the functional surfaces of the part, and it works great for quick development and exploration.
Enact Standards or Forget
em?
at kind of insight into the various kinds of CAD deliverables and related workows may change the way the CAD jockey approaches a task. It is a rookie mistake to enter a brainstorming session with fabrication as the only priority. Exploration and discovery are higher priorities at the early stage of the products CAD evolution. Once the design evolves from concept to planning, design for manufacturing enters into the selection of modeling techniques. Quick blobs give way to realism and detail. e persistence of CAD techniques like parametric links that may be used in this middle stage of product design remain responsive to changes, but not to the same extent as can be accommodated during the rst stage of modeling. Detail and specication bring inertia that impedes design revision.
e blessing and curse of 3-D CAD is that many paths lead to the same result.
Invention requires speedy modeling. In this particular mode, a CAD operator isnt worrying about rebuild times, drafting standards, or manufacturability. Parametric links are necessary and useful; le names are arbitrary. e only real standard is speeda need to visualize the products design quickly. My recommendation is that if you can extrude faster than you can revolve, then extrude. But in your training time, develop the speed skill to revolve, so you can select a technique when it makes optimal sense. Fond readers of this column may recall that revolves are kinder to the CPU than extrudes. Final release of a product to manufacturing may not tolerate the CAD techniques that were required for invention and initial product visualization. Consider a parametric link between a screw and a chassis. e chassis has a hole that follows the screws position in the assembly. It is wonderful to be able to keep the hole and the screw together while stretching and pulling the design during the product development modeling sessions. Once the design is committed to manufacturing, the hole should no longer be linked to the location of the screw. In the production CAD model, the location of the screw should be driven by the holes location. Now lets put the apparent workow conict in a di erent light: e designer cares about where the screw is, while the fabricator cares about where the hole is. Sometimes the designer and the fabricator are the same CAD jockey, just at di erent moments of the day.
57
FIGURE 5a Drawing templates can be set up to display information that is stored in the 3-D model. is gure shows the raw links that make the magic happen.
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e CAD department has standards for preparation of nal documentation and models. Such standards apply later in the products design life. Perhaps one element of that standard for nal models species that all modeled features be renamed with meaningful titles and descriptions. For example, Cut-Extrude19 gets renamed as Trigger Axle Pocket. at plain language policy is rational for models of parts that are in production. In future years, the CAD jockeys that revise the 10:52 AM Page 1 model will benet from the clarity in the documentation that is built into the models history. Such diligence about feature names is a complete waste of time for models that are as likely as not to be deleted in the next few minutes. Brainstorming sessions do not benet from detailed policy and procedure. Manufacturing does not benet from a fragile and poorly administered CAD database. us, we see the need for optimized workows that anticipate hand-o as the product moves from concept to prototype to production and maintenance.
FIGURE 5b Custom Property tab forms speed the data-entry process. Drop-down lists are surprisingly fun to use. Just type the rst letter and the rest of the eld lls in magically.
Elements of CAD Workow

Frequent readers of this column may recall editions that delved into the setup of the CAD workstation for optimal workow: Drawing Templates. We have tailored the default templates for 2-D drawings to standardize the drawing border, title blocks, notes, and views. Figure 5a shows some of the links we created in our drawing template to automate the population of title blocks. Custom Property Forms . To enter the data that will appear in title blocks and bills of material (BOMs), we have our own custom property forms. We used Property Tab Builder to design the form shown in Figure 5b. Bills of Material. We have designed our template table for a BOM that we use in drawings that illustrate assemblies, products like a sheet metal folder holder shown in Figure 5c, for example. We put some e ort into designing our suite of custom templates focused to make the production of BOMs to be both automatic and accurate. Component Templates. Parts and assemblies also are based on our templates. We set the default materials, unit of measure, and other details that would otherwise require repetitive labor to complete. Trade Standards. We want our CAD jockeys to be consistent and to design parts that are compatible with our tooling. Our gauge tables in Figure 5d standardize the convenient selection of material thicknesses, gauge, bend radii, and k-factors. Software Options. We have set up our workstation to point to the correct les and folders for all of our templates and forms. e tips and techniques discussed so far apply at even the most entry-level CAD. As a side note, SolidWorks includes a Design Checker tool that can be tailored to verify fonts, notes, view settings, materials, and other details related to your business rules. e 3-D CAD software Im using is licensed
FIGURE 5c BOM templates standardize the tables appearance. Details like BOM tables make purchasing and production planning personnel happy.
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FIGURE 5d Gauge tables help the CAD jockey to select the correct material, thickness, inside bend, and k-factor. Dont you wish all of your customers used your gauge tables so their parts at layouts were always correct? Hey! Send them your templates.
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FIGURE 5e e prize goes to the swift. By using the combination of templates and data-entry forms, the CAD jockey can complete a drawing like this in minutes.
in packages that have increasing levels of capability and cost. We also have looked at a few of the accessory tools that are not part of the basic licensesheet metal costing and mechanical load/strain simulation in particular. e goal of that shallow exploration of software tools is to alert you to the wide scope of solutions for sale that address specic CAD workow issues.
ronment. Be a frequent saver. It gives you time to think about what youre modeling. 7. Create a 2-D drawing using our drawing template. is automatically gives us a drawing that looks like it is ours. Title block and notes are all perfect and complete. 8. Import model dimensions and annotation views and add dimensions to the views. Figure 5e is an example of a 10-minute drawing. Now that Ive published it for the entire world to see, I realize I didnt dimension the slots. Ill leave that for you to nish up. 9. Save the parts drawing.
Excluding Step 8, such a 9-step workow could be routinely completed in less than ve minutes. Adding dimensions and special notes to a drawing is an artistic endeavor and might take another 15 minutes for a typical sheet metal part. It will be fun to read this article 10 years from now to see what ination has done to time, but 20 minutes to make a fabricators drawing isnt too bad.
Gerald Davis uses CAD software to design and develop products for his clients at www.glddesigns.com. Send your questions and comments to dand@thefabricator.com.
In future years, the CAD jockeys that revise the model will benet from the clarity in the documentation that is built into the models history.
A CAD Workow Example
With all of that said and in place, we now set up an example CAD task scenario. Our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to produce a manufacturing drawing for a sheet metal part. Our nal drawing is to detail both the at and folded conditions of the part. e model for the part is given to us as a STEP le. Heres our step-by-step CAD workow: 1. Open the STEP le using our part template to set up default custom properties, material, unit of measure, drafting standard, and color scheme automatically. 2. Diagnose and correct any imported feature errors. If import diagnostics fail, then this workow ends. We might request the same model in a di erent CAD format, but if we cant get a good model to start, we dont start. 3. Save the parts model le in a meaningful location with a useful name. 4. Use our Custom Property form to enter the title block and BOM information so it will be saved in the parts model. 5. Add features to the part so it will unfold. For example, use the Convert-To-Sheet Metal tool. 6. Save the parts model again and do it often. is isnt a knock against the CAD so much as it is awareness of networked le locations and complex software in a collaborative enviThe FABRICATOR | NOVEMBER 2012
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Improvement Insights
> > best practices, better results
Dick Kallage is principal of KDC & Associates Ltd., rkallage@kdcconsultants.com.
Uptime
Where the rubber hits the road in high-mix operations

But before we sign up for the latest and greatest, we should look carefully at exactly what issues the new machine is expected to address. If its about capability, you may want to expand revenue opportunities, or reduce scrap and labor costs for certain operations. For these, the investment calculations are relatively straightforward. If the issue is about throughput, then further study is required before plugging numbers into the payback or ROI calculations. Why? Because though we almost always know what the current actual average throughput rate of a machine is, we often dont know what it should or could be. ats because we often deal with highly varying and quite low actual uptime of current machines. But like many things that happen in high-product-mix operations, these e ects are hidden or masked either by misleading metrics or simply a notion of it is what it is. Its waste we dont see.
f the iPhone represents electronics magic, then the latest versions of cutting, punching, stamping, bending, and robotic welding machines represent electromechanical magic. e two words that describe these machines are faster and betterevery year. As an engineer, I love this stu .
Bu ers
We have all heard the old sawcapacity solves everything. ats true if the process is under control and everything means predictable cycle and lead-times. And for what were talking about, it is true. We all see the e ects: Cycle and lead-times are much shorter when we operate at 50 to 60 percent capacity utilization than at 80 to 90 percent capacity utilization. And they are more predictable. So if you want short, predictable cycle times, increase your realizable capacity. Ergo, we want faster, better equipment. But do we have to do this? Shouldnt we examine what our capacity should be with our existing equipment? is comes with the concurrent need to improve cycle times, which means reducing and controlling WIP within a single-point scheduling control. is implies that building far ahead to reduce changeovers, cherry-picking jobs within a multipoint shop oor control, and other production maladies have to goforever. e reason that this approach holds so much improvement potential is that, in general, current uptime (capacity) often is not what we think it isor if it is, were paying for it with high WIP levels and sluggish, unpredictable cycle times due to the maladies described above. In other words, we have high uptime but clogged ow, which means we sometimes have no choice but to create a capacity bu er with overtime. But if we increase our realizable capacity, we have the cycle-time benets of operating at reduced capacity utilization. We have our needed capacity bu er and dont need inventory or time bu ers.
Analyzing Downtime
In the last column, I wrote about ow and why focusing on ow improvement must inevitably involve the systematic reduction of waste times (and associated costs). Part of the waste time that a ects all multiproduct operations, and especially high-product-mix ones, is changeover times and, more generally, machine or equipment downtimeuptimes opposite. If the machine is down because of a changeover, its unavailable. If its down because of a breakage, its unavailable. If the material is not at the machine when it is t for use and ready to produce, then its e ectively unavailable. e e ect is the same: e green light is o . Variability in a process (in this case, high product mix, but in general, any variability) relates to the necessity for bu ers for a given service level. ese bu ers can be inventory, capacity, time, or any combination. ats really all of the variables you have at your disposal. e size and cost of the bu ers are directly proportional to the variability of the process. e inventory I refer to is either nished goods or, in some cases, almost-nished goods that are rapidly congured (sometimes called JIT customization) in one or two nal operations that are highly uid (not constraint) activities. is inventory is not usual work-in-process (WIP) or raw materials. (Raw inventory bu ers uncertainty and variability in your suppliers lead-times.) e capacity bu er is the excess real capacity over what you would need to produce one product at a xed lead-time on machines that are expertly sta ed and never break. e time bu er is the excess time you must guard band to ensure you meet the service level. In other words, you actually can do the job in two weeks but you quote three weeks to account for proc-ess variability.
Whats the UptimeReally?

To increase realizable capacity, we have to do a few things. First, we have to understand what our real uptime is at each machine, starting at the operations most likely to be throughput constraints. Just assuming uptime is about 80 percent is not good enough. In fact, if these guesses are baked into the ERP master scheduling system, we have a major problem even before we start the job. eres a good chance we have created another overdue order simply by entering it. A simple example of the e ect of increasing efcient, appropriate uptime follows: Machine A is used constantly on a one-shift operation. Measured average uptime based on 7.7 hours of available production time is 4.1 hours. is is actual green-light processing time. e machine processes about ve jobs per shift. Uptime is 4.1/7.7, or 53 percent.
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What if we can improve the uptime by just 1 hour per shift, to 5.1 hours? What is the e ect? at gives an uptime of 66 percent. e capacity improvement is 24 percent, a very signicant amount. is means that the machine and its operator will produce 24 percent more product during the shift than they currently do. And the labor reporting system will say the operator is 24 percent more productive. To improve uptime, we need to look at what causes downtime, and this is usually a target-rich environment. ese are the common areas to measure: Operator verifying what job to run next. Operator translating job-build documents to tools, power levels, and other parameters for the machine. e physical changeover: installing tools. Called setup, this usually is not a major component in overall downtime even though it is usually what causes the most concern. Lack of standard/best changeover methods. Quality-check to verify setup. Operator nding material. Operator moving material. Implied break between jobs. No changeover metrics or standard times. Minor stoppages of machine due to overload, poor material, tool problems, etc. Machine breakage requiring maintenance work. Tool or lens breakages. Once these and possibly other areas are measured and assessed, its relatively straightforward to conduct a Pareto analysis to determine the time e ects on downtime, and to reduce or eliminate them. e effect on ow and protability can be enormous. Unfortunately, nowhere in our cost accounting systems and the performance measures we pull from them is a line item called uptime, by machine or aggregated into costcenter performance. But few metrics are more important or more revealing as a basis for performance improvement. Ill address the full metrics issues in a later column.
and observed have uptime/downtime metrics, and its mainly because people think it is di cult to measure. It is di cult, if performed continually. Some modern machine controls and third-party packages deliver uptime and OEE (overall equipment e ectiveness) metrics on a continuous basis. ey are very useful, but the actual detailed causes of downtime normally still require human observation and measurement. But almost all of the improvement information can be gained from an audit approach after a one-time data gathering, a Pareto exercise, and initial improvement efforts. is, I believe, is the best way for almost everyone to improve. In essence, you must ensure youre realizing
the capacity you already have. If you havent eliminated the wastes a ecting uptime in your existing machines, a faster and better machine may prove to be an expensive disappointment. Waste trumps magic. Dick Kallage is principal of KDC & Associates Ltd., 522 S. Northwest Highway, Suite UL-8, Barrington, IL 60010, 847-525-6109, www.kdcconsultants.com. Kallage serves on the Management Council of the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association and helps lead FMAs LeanFab, metal fabrication seminars dedicated to continuous improvement. For more information, visit www.fmanet.org or call 888-394-4362.
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Technology Spotlight > > an in-depth look at advancements in fabricating technology

Automatic tool changer, meet the manual CNC press brake
Automatic tool changing ventures outside the sphere of robotized bending
By Tim Heston, Senior Editor
Learn about nearly any manufacturing improvement methodfrom lean manufacturing to the theory of constraints, especially for high-productmix, low-volume productionand youll likely hear about the benets of batch-size reduction. Smaller batches lead to less work-in-process and, at least ideally, shorter manufacturing times. Primary cutting processes like punching and especially laser cutting are ideally suited for small-batch-size, kit-based production, with all sheet metal components needed for one assembly nested onto one or just a few sheets. In the welding area, some shops prestage xtures or use exible or modular xturing tables, so welders spend minimal time switching from one product to the next. But what about bending? Its arguably one of the most complex manufacturing processes on the oor. Change the grain direction, alter the material characteristics ever so slightly, grab the wrong tools, and you make it much more di cult to achieve a perfect bend the rst time. is has driven setup times skyward. e obvious culprits include looking for tools, poor setup documentation, and programming problems. Regarding the last, many shops have taken bending simulation and programming o ine, so press brake operators need only download the program from the network directly to the machine control.
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Still, operators must manually perform the tool change. Modern brakes certainly make the process simpler. Hydraulic clamping seats tools quickly and accurately, and advanced controls walk operators through the tool-change process step by step. is has shortened setup time, but nowadays fabricators may need to reduce that setup time further or make it more consistent through automation. Automatic tool change on a press brake traditionally has involved a robotic cell. But many shops use robotic press brakes only for high-volume work. Its certainly possible to set up these cells with numerous small-lot orders; o ine programming and robot simulation can make this effective. But even so, disparate parts
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can require numerous grippers and various programming nuances, and the robot may not be able to handle every part geometry or bend requirement out there. Inserting and removing brake tooling, though, is a straightforward a air, at least relative to the e machine uses external, in-process sensors practically innite number of mothat measure one or both sides of the bend. tions a robot might perform to bend parts in a high-product-mix environment. So why not have a manually operated, CNC brake, but with an automatic tool changer? According to Scott Ottens, Schaumburg, Ill.-based bending product manager for Amada America, this was the thinking behind the companys HD 1003 ATC press brake. Available in models with 55- to 600-ton capacities and bend lengths from 79 to 276 inches, the press brake builds o tool-changing technology introduced some years ago in Amadas Astro robot bending cell. e new system has grippers above to handle the punches and below to handle the dies. Moving on horizontal tracks above and below the work area, the manipulators remove, retrieve, and insert tooling. A high-body, extended-open-height machine, the press brake can accommodate tooling heights of either 170 or 220 mm. e unit uses the companys modular robotic tooling with a push-button release and a slot machined into the tools for the manipulators to grab (though Ottens said that, if necessary for the occasional manual setup, the unit can accept Amada-style tooling without the slot). e modular tooling comes in various punch proles, and all the tools have a xed height, so you can load a gooseneck, a straight, a sash, and others all in the machine at the same time if need be, Ottens said. e storage unit has 15 stocking areas (dubbed stockers) for punches and 18 stockers for dies. Altogether the machine can store 86 feet of tooling. ese stockers handle several types of tools: longs, to be placed together for long bend lengths, and sectionalized tools for shorter bends. One stock area also can hold specials, such as hinge tools. To move longs, manipulators slide the sections in from the side; to insert narrower, sectionalized tools, the manipulators move down the track and click the tool into place. e system also remem-
bers tool placements. is means the manipulator can move tools used in the previous setup to new positions while retrieving new tools as necessary. e actual tool-change time depends on the application; complex setups take longer than simpler ones. But in one recent application for a fabricator in Wisconsin, we had about three tool stations to set up, and the tool changes took one to two minutes, Ottens said. e machine has a six-axis backgauge with an independent L1 and L2 to handle complex part geometries. If, say, a part has two edges in the back, and one extends farther out than the other, the L1 and L2 allow the system to gauge o those two separate points. e machine also uses external sensors (called BI, or bend indicators) that contact one or both sides of the bend to measure the angle. e sensors can be used for the rst part of the batch, selected parts throughout a batch, for every part in the run, or turned o temporarily. It all depends on user preference and the job requirements. Fabricators that use this machine will do a large number of setups throughout the day, Ottens said. One current application involves a company that needs to set up the brake about 25 to 30 times a day. ey use a bar code scanner to scan the job, call up the program, and let the thing go. It will load tooling, and the operator gets his blanks. By the time he returns to the machine, the tools are already in place. He then performs the bends, and within a few minutes he has his rst part.
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Heres looking at you (and the job at hand)
Unlike the high-volume world, the high-mix, low-volume arena of contract metal fabrication has yet to truly embrace industrial robotics. Sure, exible xturing strategies and o ine simulaAt a beta test site, Baxter performs a complex tion have made robots common but (at least to humans) commonsense pick- in areas like welding and press and-place operation that entails low volumes of brake bending, if a shop has the disparate products. right application. But some jobs, like packaging and material handling, remain labor-intensive. e volumes just arent su cient. Moreover, when one job is entirely di erent from the next, the robot often isnt up to the task, however mundane. To perform the task at all, the robot may require extensive vision systems and programming. Say a robot needs to place di erent parts in specic boxes. e parts may not be the same shape every time, nor will the parts need to be placed in precisely the same location. Its natural for a human to account for such variability, but it doesnt come easy for a robot. Robots do only what theyre told to do. Sensors make them
Behavioral-based robotics meets high-mix, low-volume manufacturing

somewhat adaptive, but quite often integration and programming can get seriously complex. But what if a robot were aware and could adapt to its surroundings, without so much programming and setup time? According to Mitch Rosenberg, vice president of product management and marketing for Boston, Mass.-based Rethink Robotics, this was the thinking behind Baxter, a robot that doesnt use the traditional industrial robot architecture. Instead, it uses something called behavioral-based robotics. In typical scenarios, a worker may use a teach pendant to program specic paths. In a behavioral-based system, a programmer shows the robot the task at hand by, say, moving the end of the arm to simulate the action. e robot takes that instruction and, working from data coming from a variety of sensors, e ectively looks at the surrounding area and decides the best path to take. You tell the robot what you needpick these items from here and put them into this boxand the robot gures out the shortest and easiest path to take, Rosenberg said. You tell it only the essential criteria for success, and the robot gures out how to get there. Company founder Rodney Brooks has some experience in behavioral-based robotics. Another company he launched, iRobot, developed robots for military applications as well as the Roomba vacuum cleaner, perhaps the most famous behavioral-based robot to date. Baxter takes the behavior-based approach a step further, moving it into the highly variable, complex environment of the manufacturing job shop. We havent designed this robot for a set-and-forget application, Rosenberg said. ose kinds of By next year, the company hopes to integrate Baxter in situ- robots already exist. Were specically tarations where it can perform simple machine operations.
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geting shops that have short runs. You can train the robot to a certain task, then move it over somewhere else to perform another task, then move back to the original task. e robot performs a pick-andplace task at a table that has an adjustable height. Once nished, its taken over to another workstation, taught a new routine in 15 minutes or so, then spends an hour performing the new job. Later in the afternoon, its taken back to the original table, which has since had its height adjusted for another worker. When Baxter returns, it knows to look for the current table height, wherever it might be, and adapts its motion to accommodate. Traditionally, robots have needed to be positioned down to the millimeter in order to function, Rosenberg said. Baxter is of an adaptive nature, so its possible for him to reposition himself and readapt, even if the job hes returning to is a table that is o by a few inches from the path he originally took. Its no coincidence that Rosenberg uses he and him to describe the system. As robots go, Baxter comes closer to a movie-style anthropomorphic creation than most other technologies in the industrial sphere. It comes complete with a head-like screen and two eyes that, like a human, gaze at the job at hand. In reality, ve cameras and a specialized sonar sensor are doing the looking. Also like a human, the robot stops if it touches an unexpected obstruction. e operation halts temporarily, but the person is unharmed. e robot can do this not only because of its sensors, but also because of its mechanical design. e joints give a little bit. ey have a springiness, Rosenberg said. In addition, it will detect whether a human is nearby, and it will slow its operation, so the person has time to get out of the way. In recent months the company has had several beta-level robots in operation at customer sites. And at this writing, the company planned to start shipping its rst products by the end of October. At this stage, the robot has been mainly performing simple assembly, packaging, and pick-and-place material handling. e current model has arms with a payload capacity of
5 pounds. By next year, though, the company hopes to integrate the system for simple machine operation. Rethink Robotics has no short-term plans to integrate Baxter into a welding scenario, a harsh and complicated environment. Press brake operations arent on the immediate horizon, either. e current focus remains on lowskill tasks, like pick-and-place operations, in low-volume, high-product-mix environments. Long-term, the company roadmap includes some inspection and quality tasks as well.
But as Rosenberg explained, the future direction of Baxter may depend largely on its early adopters. We have something so di erent from what exists that its very di cult to forecast what were going to do next with it. It will depend largely on what our customers decide to do with it. I expect there to be a substantial amount of experimentation by some innovative customers, and I expect they may be teaching us a thing or two. Rethink Robotics, 27 Wormwood St., Boston, MA 02210, 617-500-2487, www.rethinkrobotics.com
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Band saw blade lls gap between M42 and carbide
Now fabricators have another choice for cutting specialty metals
By Dan Davis, Editor-in-Chief
resistant to wear, reliable, and exible enough to survive the thousands of revolutions the band saw made. ey made sense for the majority of jobs fabricators encountered on a daily basis. With the increased use of specialty steels in product design, however, fabricators now may wind up working with materials that rarely were found on a shop oor only a decade ago. e emergence of specialty steels, such as precipitation-hardening stainless steels, highalloy tool steels, and nickel alloys, has added to the unpredictability of fab shop jobs. Industry is always coming out with purpose-specic materials to improve upon areas such as heat resistance for aerospace and aircraft applications and corrosion resistance for the petrochemical applications, said Gene Ramsdell, e L.S. Starrett Co. manager, saw R&D for North America. With that comes more alloying of metals, leading to di erent problems in separating the metal or cutting it.
e nature of a metal fabricating shop is one of unpredictability. e shop oor just doesnt really know what the days schedule holds. When it comes The to sawing, fabricators traditionally 732 The Fabricator_MET-F-9732 Fabricator 10/8/12 11:39 AM Pagehave 1 relied on bimetal band saw blades with high-speed-steel teeth tips for most jobs. e blades were cost-e ective,
Carbide-tipped blades are generally three times the cost of bimetal blades.
Gene Ramsdell, e L.S. Starrett Co.
Until recently metal fabricators had to rely on carbide-tipped blades for these heavy-duty sawing applications. e shops that cut large volumes of specialty steels didnt mind the added expense of carbidetipped blades because the blades lasted longer and kept the band saws going. However, shops that didnt cut as much of the specialty material more than likely stuck with the traditional bimetal blades, even if they had to replace the blades much more frequently than if they were cutting plain carbon steel. For these shops, L.S. Starrett Co. introduced its Primalloy band saw blades for heavy-duty cutting applications. What this does is act as a bridge between M42 and carbide, Ramsdell said. is Primalloy has inherently better wear resistance than M42. And it also has 10 percent cobalt versus 8 percent on an M42 blade. at imparts better heat resistance. So those two will aid in giving the traditional user maybe a little bit more of a nancial advantage by not having to go into the carbide arena. Carbide-tipped blades are generally three times the cost of bimetal blades.
e wear resistance is provided by a vanadium content in the blade that is three times that found in M42 blades. e resulting carbide hardness is HRC 84. at heat and wear resistance are important traits when sawing metals with abrasive characteristics, such as tool steels, mold steels, and heat-treated alloy steels such as 4340 and 4150 (see Figure 1). ese di cult-to-cut steels tend to eat up M42 edge blades quite quickly. e new heavy-duty blades are also more adaptable to the band saws that most fabricators have on their shop oors, according to Ramsdell. Generally, carbide-tipped blades require a band saw with a very sturdy build because the blades tend to fracture when subjected to shocks or vibrations. e Primalloy blade is more forgiving, according to Ramsdell, and can run on machines designed for traditional bimetal band saw blades. e blade also has a new tooth design. e teeth have a 12-degree positive rake form that penetrates the workpiece easier than previous tooth designs. e company said the tooth tip chemistry contributes to longer blade life and increased cutting accuracy. e typical tooth hardness is HRC 69, compared to HRC 67/68 for M42. is is a di erent high-speed edge for us, Ramsdell said. Due to the high alloy content of this edge, we precision-grind all of the teeth. Also, it requires a much tighter heat-treating tolerance as far as temperatures and soak times go. Starrett puts the alloy steel backing material for the blades through a proprietary treatment to help extend its working life. e process occurs as the material is exposed to controlled blast peening. e combination of activities is said to add more residual stress into the surface of the blade, which helps to reduce fatigue cracks that originate along microscopic grain boundaries. Company o cials said the benets of this treatment have been proven with X-ray di raction and extensive mechanical fatigue tests. ere is a constant evolution of materials in the marketplace for different applications. When it comes
down to separating those new materials, the question for some people is, Can we do the job economically with bimetal, or do we have to look
at perhaps buying a more expensive band saw machine to utilize carbidetipped blades? Ramsdell said. With this new product, we can have them
try these blades before they have to look at the carbide product. e Primalloy blades have been in serious development for about a year and now are available in most markets. ey come in blades widths from 1 to 2.625 in. e L.S. Starrett Co., 121 Crescent St., Athol, MA 01331-1915, 978249-3551, www.starrett.com
FIGURE 1 e Primalloy band saw blades are also suitable for cutting metals that show adhesive characteristics, such as PH series stainless steels and INCONEL. For these types of sawing applications, a rich coolant or straight oil is necessary to prevent a builtup edgechips adhering to the bladewhen cutting.
Now with Tapping Capabilities!
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Chief Concerns > > ideas for running a more effective fabricating operation
e FABRICATOR: First, what is innovation, and how does it manifest itself in manufacturing? Mengel: In our report we dene several levels of innovation. First, theres the product innovation, which everyone can identify. Second, theres service innovation, which involves unique services a company can provide. ird, theres process innovation, which allows manufacturers to make a component better, faster, and to a higher quality than the competition can. Process innovation can occur if you have a unique process capability, or it can be about reducing the cost of manufacturing. Note that this is not a price adjustment; its a cost adjustment. eres a di erence. Anyone can have a lower price, but not everyone can have a lower cost. Manufacturers need to di erentiate themselves. But in a lot of places, manufacturing is fairly commoditized, and its really di cult to di erentiate. I call these convenient business relationships, and we saw a lot of these convenient relationships blow up during the recession a few years ago. e FABRICATOR: So, convenient business relationships usually hinge on price alone? Mengel: Not necessarily. Say a purchaser for a large OEM buys several million dollars worth of goods annually from 500 suppliers, and you are a fabricator that supplies $50,000 of that. at small amount of work may not be incredibly price-sensitive. e purchaser isnt going to spend a lot of time looking for an alternative unless there is a reason to look for an alternative. Its convenient for the purchasing agent to maintain the relationship with you, just because hes got other things to do. But as soon as something happens that makes the relationship inconvenientbe it poor quality, poor delivery, or bad nancial results in an economic downturnthe OEM purchaser wakes up and scrutinizes everything. If you and the OEM have an intimate business relationship, it would be disruptive for the OEM to nd an alternative resource, not just from a workload standpoint, but also from a strategic standpoint. e FABRICATOR: So how does a metal fabricated products supplier go about developing this kind of relationship? Mengel: We have a client in the automotive space. I cant mention the names, but I can describe the situation. Its a Tier 2 contract fabricator that supplies parts to a Tier 1 customer. e customer was concerned about the fabricators capacity, so they asked the fabricator if it could build a new plant to handle the work. Were talking about a $10 million investment. e customer also wasnt interested in a long-term, multiyear agreement, and for good reasons. ere are pros and cons for everybody for such agreements. From the fabricators perspective, there was obvious risk, which is why they analyzed the customer relationship. Years ago the fabricators prior owners had developed a good friendship and close connection with the customer. But when the fabricator was passed on to new leadership, the close relationship wasnt maintained. In fact, the relationship had evolved to the point where the customer viewed the fabricator as a low-cost supplier. It was a relationship of convenience. Managers determined that before they would invest in a new plant, they wanted to transform that convenient business relationship into an intimate business relationship. At the time the customer represented about 70 percent of the fabricators sales, so the fabricator did not have much leverage. ey couldnt tell the customer what to do, and if the customer were to leave, it would have seriously hurt the business. So to build this new relationship, the fabricator promoted openness of communication and transparency. As you may know, in the automotive world the schedule often gets broadcast to suppliers via EDI [electronic data interchange]. e suppliers get a notice that instructs their plant to produce a certain number of parts by a certain date, but it doesnt provide the full story behind the schedule. But what if someone from the fabricator were at the customer location to identify true levels of inventory and demand? More than that, what if the fabricator hired other people to work at the customer facility? By the way, the customer wasnt next door; it was 120 miles away.
Beyond mere convenience

How close customer relationships drive growth
nnovation has been said to be at the heart of business success, but in a contract fabrication company that often doesnt work with product development or design, where is that innovation? According to the Innovation Quotient (IQ) survey from CPA and business advisory rm Plante Moran (www. plantemoran.com) in Cincinnati, and executive education and training institute NewNorth Center, innovation doesnt necessarily apply to just products. It also can be about process innovation, like innovative manufacturing methods or technologies. And then there are innovations within supply chain relationships. Je Mengel, partner and a leader in Plante Morans manufacturing group, described how such innovation can change a customer relationship from one thats simply a matter of convenience into one that is intimatenot in the romantic sense, of course. Instead, Mengel uses the word intimate to describe a business relationship that would be very inconvenient and disruptive to break. So how does a company develop such a relationship? e FABRICATOR talked with Mengel about one contract fabricator that did just this. e company accomplished it not just by applying continuous improvement methods and changing part ow on Je Mengel, partner and a leader in the shop oor, but also by changing the very Plante Morans manufacturing group foundation of its business model.
Mitsubishi Laser Invites YOU to the

e fabricator eventually had various personnel working on-site at the customer: manufacturing people, quoting engineers, program launch engineers. At the same time, the fabricator rearranged its shop oor and designed manufacturing cells dedicated to the customer. is helped identify how much exibility the fabricator really had. Representatives from the customer knew that the cells at the fabricators oor were dedicated to them, and they would not be used to satisfy the demands of other customers. Long story short, the fabricator never had to invest in a new plant. Managers found alternative ways of meeting customer demands without putting their own company at risk, and the customer was happy about it. e fabricator reorganized its business model to be more customer-intimate. e FABRICATOR: How does such a business strategydeveloping those close customer relationshipswork with the quest for diversity in a customer base? Mengel: Yes, this is an issue. If this had been the fabricators sole strategy, then even more of its eggs would have been in one basket. e primary customer, which at rst made up 70 percent of the fabricators business, continued to give the fabricator more work, which, if the company had done nothing more, would have represented 80 percent of revenue. But the fabricator did something else. It diversied and brought in new work. ese new customers had lower-volume orders, so they didnt consume a lot of machine time, but the parts were of higher value, with higher margins. e jobs required the fabricator to work with customers in getting their design requirements. Again, such collaboration helped make the relationship intimate, not just convenient.
2013 Technology Update

during The FABRICATORs Leadership Summit
Join Michael A. Pellecchia, Midwest Regional Manager (pictured) and fellow machine tool suppliers as they discuss equipment advances available to improve productivity during The FABRICATORs Leadership Summit Thursday, Feb. 28 in Palm Harbor, Fla. The experts on the panel will showcase their cutting edge solutions allowing you to compare and contrast processes. Mark your calendar for this unique, open exchange to get your questions answered about opportunities available in todays fabrication marketyoure sure to walk away with a clear sense of emerging trends for 2013 and beyond.
It all really comes down to risk abatement, and it applies to everyone in the supply chain.
e FABRICATOR: Still, can such a close relationship backre, especially if a lot of business is tied to one customer? Mengel: It all really comes down to risk abatement, and it applies to everyone in the supply chain. A Tier 1 should be concerned with giving too much business to a Tier 2. What if that Tier 2 goes out of business, or is purchased and changes direction? Supply chain transparency can mitigate this risk. Customers and suppliers need to be willing to open the kimono. In recent years supplier alliances have helped mitigate these risks too. Alliance member companies may compete with each other on, say, only 20 percent of the goods they sell. But for the remaining 80 percent, they dont compete directly, so they can work together. ey can have a contractual agreement to help another company for a period of time. And if they use a technology that is proprietary, they can arrange a license agreement. e other company can continue to use the technology for its own benet, but it has to pay a fee for the privilege. e FABRICATOR: Does being physically close to customers help spur close collaboration to develop those customer-intimate relationships? Mengel: Geography really is a convenience factor. In a convenient business relationship, a customer may be 30 miles away from a supplier. at customer may have poor scheduling, but it doesnt worry, because it knows its supplier is close by and will be responsive. When that customer gets its act together and becomes better at predicting schedules and other requirements, it can turn to the world, really. It can be truly global. But if a company is innovative, it can develop intimate customer relationships that arent governed by mere convenience. is occurs not just by being physically close to a customer, but through the sharing of knowledge and supply chain transparency. Like the automotive supplier I described, fabricators can help quote, develop programs, and get in on the ground oor of product development. Again, it would be truly disruptive to break that kind of supplier relationship. Senior Editor Tim Heston can be reached at timh@thefabricator.com.
Read more on page 101
Feb. 27-March 1, 2013

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Show and tell time
e best way for you to maintain or earn preferred status with your customers is to show them that they can have visibility into the your operations and tell them that they are always welcome to check on things, such as a job status or shipment delivery date.
Driving preferred supplier status for your business

By Christine Hansen
ure and present data as they desire. From a single query developed in the system, the software enables users to create an exception-based dashboard, where they can monitor the status of jobs, incoming purchases, and quality events. is dashboard then becomes available on a standard PC or mobile device, such as a tablet or smartphone.
our customers have always demanded the best quality, lower prices, and streamlined delivery. But today your customers want something a little more revealing. ey want access to information about their parts, orders, shipments, product documentation, account status, and even deeper access to your business data, such as quality or job status. Is your business prepared to address these new demands for information transparency? If your answer is not unequivocally yes, you are not alone. While you might view this new and emerging requirement as another hoop to jump through, there is another perspective: Providing this visibility can give your organization a competitive advantagethe ability to maintain your preferred supplier status with your customers.
duction systems, streamlining production planning further. Bypass Manual Processing. Finally, if you have ever been approached by a customer to electronically communicate through electronic data interchange (EDI), you understand the complexity and cost of accepting an 860 document (a purchase order change request) or an 856 document (advance shipping notice) into your system. Many businesses give up unless forced to and instead log in to their customers web portal to get their orders and order changes and then turn around and manually rekey the changes into their own enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. ese businesses lose out on the benet of EDI with their customers. Reducing the unnecessary manual task of updating order changes is one benet, but the real benet is the speed at which your
Reducing the unnecessary task of manually updating order changes is one benefit of electronic data interchange, but the real benefit is the speed at which your company can then respond to the latest changes in demand on the plant floor.
is same query can be used to search the system. If a user enters a part number, every reference of the part in the system is displayed, including quotes, orders, jobs, quality events, and purchases. e same functionality can be used to generate a customer or supplier portal for sharing and collaborating on information. Whether your business is looking to share electronic documents, quality events, supplier blanket releases, sales orders, or shipment status updates, these portals can drive new e ciencies and give your business partners more access to what they need to ensure a smooth and streamlined supply chain. e Saving Grace of Web Services. You should consider adopting technology built on a completely service-oriented architecture (SOA), where web services enable access to every function, from the rst sales order to the nal invoice. Systems built from the ground up on an SOA enable connectivity and access to business processes either through traditional interfaces for computing, such as a sales order form, through a mobile device, or through a string of data that is validated as it is connected and brought into the system. is means that receiving and sending electronic information and mapping to customers and suppliers systems are enabled at a fraction of what it cost in the past. In part this is due to the fact that tools already exist that can map data coming and going through the web services, making the e ort to o er access a complex development task instead of a data-processing task. You can use these same tools to integrate nesting software into your procompany can then respond to the latest changes in demand on the plant oor. Dont be too shortsighted to recognize the opportunity to build in more operational responsiveness and agility.
Preparing for Openness

ere are a number of considerations you should think about when architecting your operations to provide improved customer access. Data on Tap. Before your business can provide open access to information, it rst needs to ensure that the data made available to the customer is comprehensive and accurate. For many, this can be challenging, as they do not have or make good use of an embedded, end-to-end system that can naturally provide this data. Rather, these businesses are challenged to bring together information from separate systems, such as customer relationship management, sales, production, shipping, and nance, and then consolidate the data into a single view to present to the customer. is is a complicated and costly process. If your organization has a fully embedded, endto-end software system that has the capabilities to handle CRM, estimating, sales, production planning and scheduling, shop oor data collection, inventory, quality, shipping, and nance, youre well-positioned to provide the necessary data framework to share with your customers. e Portal Principle. Access to information is being driven to a self-serve model that enables business data analysts and power users to cong-
Sealing the Deal With an Electronic Handshake

Your customers are dealing with marketplaces that increasingly demand service delivered the right away and their way. is need is in turn driving them to evaluate their supply chainsof which you are a partand address their weakest links. Will your metal fabricating operation be identied as that weakest link, forcing your customers to seek other partners better equipped to meet these real-time information requirements? ere was a time when business was done with a handshake. Today this has been replaced with an electronic handshake. Your data systems must shake hands with your customers data systems. As with any inection point when it comes to embracing innovation, leaders and laggards will emerge. Manufacturers that standardize their business on the latest ERP technology have a competitive advantage through an end-to-end system that supports their manufacturing business processes, improves customer relationships, and fosters supply chain collaboration that leads to enhanced productivity and cost e ciencies. ese leaders will master the show-and-tell game to maintain their preferred supplier status.
Christine Hansen is a product marketing manager, Epicor Software Corp., 4120 Dublin Blvd., Dublin, CA 94568, 925-361-9900, www.epicor.com.
at much is obvious, no matter ones political stripe. e question, of course, is what exactly should change? We have a tremendously oversimplied debate going on in this country. So said Chris Kuehl, economic analyst for FMA. Oversimplication, he said, pervades any election season, and the current one is no exception. One side of the political spectrum says that the government should tax the wellChris Kuehl, o ; the other side scorns the idea of taxing wealthy job economic analyst, creators. Fabricators & e Mayan calendar will not end but reset at the end Manufacturers Association of the year; so, too, will the election cycle and, unfortunately, the postulating. While the arguments continue unabated, e FABRICATOR talked with Kuehl about the following three points that o er ration-al perspectivetoo boring for any stumping politician trying to grab headlines, but good for business owners planning ahead while trying to tune out the cacophony of hyperbolic sound bites. 1. e wealthy may give billions more, but the country needs trillions. If you dene wealthy as those who earn $250,000 a year or more, the biggest revenue boost from this kind of tax increase Ive seen is $49 billion, Kuehl said. ats not an insignicant amount of money, but we have a $15 trillion debt. Its a bit like trying to pay o a $100,000 loan a little faster by paying an extra $5. And yes, we may be in a time with relatively low tax rates. Some may cite that certain times of high growth also happened to be accompanied by higher tax rates. e wealthiest bracket of the 1950s was taxed to the hilt, at a rate of more than 90 percent. e top bracket of the 1990s was taxed a little higher than today, at more than 39 percent. Some argue that growth during these times didnt have anything to do with taxes. As always, Kuehl pointed to the subtleties. First, people avoided taxes then just as they do now. e rich in the 1950s shu ed their income to investments, which were not taxed at such a high rate. Second, the correlation between tax rates and economic growth has been a continuing debate. During this tenuous economic climate, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget O ce said a tax hike will cause an economic slowdown for several years, but after that growth would resume. On the other hand, a recent International Monetary Fund report about the lackadaisical global growth attributes it in part to drastic austerity measures in Europe and elsewhere.
Taxes and the deficit: The perils of oversimplification

Stump speeches are never strong on details, but its the details we so desperately need
his has been a year of trumpeting doom, of postulating, of worryat least thats how anyone would feel if they watched, listened to, or read the news. Workers in the media have serious column-inches to ll, and if you work in Washington, the election is the only game in town, one that has lasted far too long. Hence, we have worrying and postulating. Meanwhile, business leaders in metal fabrication press on. Consider the 2013 Capital Equipment Forecast from the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA). As detailed in this issue, capital spending projections inched up 4 percent from last year. ats certainly a less dramatic jump than forecast last year, but its a signicant increase all the same. Most important, projected spending levels are nearly where they were before the recession. All this is happening in the face of a pending scal cli and slowing global growth. Business leaders know of the uncertainty ahead, but they also know its riskier to fall behind by standing still. ere are issues that matter in the stump speeches, and none hit home quite like taxes, especially for business owners. Another element makes the issue of taxes especially poignant during this election cycle: math. Most politicians believe the government decit just isnt sustainable over the long term. When it comes to taxes, something will need to change in the coming years.
e argument is moot anyway, Kuehl said, because a tax hike alone wont solve the problem. A plethora of pundits spout ideas, from cost-sharing programs in Medicare to raising the retirement age to closing corporate tax loopholes. Solutions that make the most di erence usually involve cuts to the Defense Department, Social Security, and Medicare, which (especially the last two) represent the third rail in politics. 2. When taxes help. Germany remains a manufacturing power amid an economically haywire Europe. And unlike other euro-based countries, Germanys economy has been relatively resilient. Like most countries in Europe, Germany also taxes individuals higher than the U.S. does (though Germany does have a low e ective corporate tax rate). In 2010 the average individual tax rate in Germany was about 40 percent. eres a catch here, though. e taxes pay for a lot, including (most signicant for manufacturers) an education system that churns out technical talent. Why do U.S. citizens scorn higher taxes? As Kuehl explained, they see money taken out of their paychecks and wonder where its being spent. Meanwhile, every year health care premiums rise and more money is taken out of the paycheck. Yes, taxes pay for roads, bridges, and public safety. But beyond these basics, government spending doesnt seem to make anyones life dramatically easier. e worst possible way to tax is tax the way were doing it now, Kuehl said. e rates are sort of high, but not incredibly high, and it doesnt seem to pay for anything. Im paying a 30 percent tax rate, but Im also paying for health care and Im paying for education. e U.S. household also is seeing greater earning di erentials, with one spouse (now often the woman) making signicantly more than the other. And with so many expenses for necessities, there really isnt that much left for discretionary spending. You go to Europe, and the health care is nationalized, housing is subsidized, food is subsidized, and education is free, Kuehl said. ere isnt anything left to spend money on except to go to a movie. Kuehl recalled one Swedish client. In Sweden, theres lots of welfare for the people, but theres also welfare for the company. A Swedish client of mine made brake adjusters for heavy trucks, and they wanted to get into a new product line. e government paid for all of it, including a $30 million new plant. e company didnt even have to get a banker involved. Stateside, such support would give new meaning to those your taxes at work signs.
3. Free choice, careers, college loans, and paying up. In some countriesespecially those with a strong technical workforcestudents are tracked at a somewhat young age. Switzerland is a good example, where many youth go into apprenticeship programs before they graduate high school. Not everyone goes to a four-year college, either. Gaining strong communication skills as well as a mathematical and technical background in primary and secondary school is enough for a healthy career. is kind of tracking, though, may not sit well in America. Many feel students shouldnt be guided but instead be free to choose their lifes pursuit. Its not about what you can do for your country; its about, well, what you can do for yourself. And for many, this has entailed getting a student loan backed by the government (that is, the taxpayer), and majoring in anything. e countrys colleges are full of students who are ill-prepared for collegiate-level work, so they drop out. But Kuehl, ever rational, pointed to the larger problem: Too many students graduating from any schoolbe it high school, a two-year community college, for-prot college, or a four-year universityarent entering the workforce with skills employers need. is should be the focus of education policy, and it has been to some extent, with programs like the Right Skills Now initiative (www.rightskillsnow.org) and national technical certication programs. But another message that public school teachers hear, Kuehl said, is that every kid needs to go to college because a college degreeany degreeis a ticket to a good job. As a former college professor, he admits that he would have agreed with this notion a decade ago. Students who went to college could get a job because a degree in nearly any major was a badge showing that they could be taught. I told students that they could major in anything, because they undoubtedly would nd a job that didnt relate to their major anyway. I wouldnt dream of telling students that today. Problems with education perhaps are why business leaders in metal fabrication and elsewhere look at taxes warily. In business, nothing is more important than nding talent. If a fabricator cant nd talent, he hires and trains people so that they become talented. e fabricator does it because he has to, but its understandably frustrating. He pays taxes. He knows society needs roads and bridges, public safety, and national defense. He also knows the country needs public education, and this is a sticking point. His tax dollars for schools do not make his life any easier; to the contrary, the poor educational system actually makes his life harder. e frustration doesnt automatically push the fabricator toward a certain political camp. He knows the system needs to change. One side wants to pour more money into government so it can provide more and better See us at FABTECH services; the other side wants to Booth #C1717 leave more to the private sector. As Kuehl explained, both approaches have their pros and cons. e subtleties and messiness of the real world usually dont fall neatly onto one political platform. But few politicians cover these complex, messy realities. ey oversimplify, which in the long run doesnt help anyone. Senior Editor Tim Heston can be reached at timh@thefabricator.com. Chris Kuehl, economic analyst for the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, is also managing director of Armada Corporate Intelligence, Lawrence, Kan., and author of Fabrinomics, a biweekly e-newsletter from FMA. For more information, visit www.fmanet.org/fabrinomics or call 888-394-4362.
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Hybrid laser-arc welding takes on heavy transportation
Total product life cycle cost moves to the fore

Editors Note: is article is adapted from Ed Hansens presentation at the Advanced Laser Applications Workshop, May 16-18, 2012, Livonia, Mich., 2012 by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Intl. (FMA), www.alawlaser.org. Hansen is global product manager, welding automation, at ESAB Welding & Cutting Products, 411 S. Ebenezer Road, Florence, SC 29501, 843-8825140, www.esabna.com. Images courtesy of ESAB.
ybrid laser-arc welding has been around for years, with some early developments going as far back as the 1970s. But only recently has the process truly started to take hold. It takes advantage of the lasers deep penetration and high speed, while the arc helps to bridge gaps, slow weld cooling, and, thanks to a ller wire, adjust metallurgical characteristics. Considering this, one might wonder why hybrid laser-arc welding (HLAW) took so long to nd a place in industry. But like any new manufacturing technology, the hybrid laser-arc welding process required several elements for widespread acceptance and adoption. First, it needed the right manufacturing environment, including gap tolerances produced by accurate cutting and bending processes upstream, as well as increased throughput downstream. Second, it needed industry to shift focus toward not only total manufacturing cost, but also overall product life cycle cost.
trates deep into the joint, produces a narrow heata ected zone, and enables a high welding speed. All this helps dramatically lower heat input. GMAW helps slow the weld cooling, reducing excessive hardness and cracking. It also broadens the fusion zone surface. GMAWs ller wire gives the engineer some metallurgical control; changing the wire content changes the weld characteristics. e ller also allows the process to remove or dilute weld contaminants. And it gives designers some exibility when it comes to weld joint geometry, such as creating reinforcing beads and llets. Most signicant, HLAW is fast. Processing speeds can be anywhere from 3 to 30 times those of a conventional fusion process, be it GMAW or submerged arc welding (SAW). is statistic
is made possible not by a lightning-fast welding head, but because HLAW can complete a joint in fewer passes. And because it reduces heat input by 80 to 95 percent, an engineer may be able to reduce the weld joint volume. For instance, a 15-mm-deep, single-sided SAW butt joint might require a 60-degree bevel with a 3-mm-tall land and 2-mm-wide open root. at same butt-joint application for HLAW could call for a closed root with a 10-mm-tall land and only a 28-degree bevel. is e ectively reduces joint volume by up to 90 percent (see Figure 2). is allows engineers to take new approaches to joint and part design. A joint that used to be welded in multiple passes now can be welded in one pass. A particularly deep joint fusing two thick plates may have called for a double-V groove requiring double-sided access; using HLAW, engineers can change this to a full-penetration joint requiring access from only one side.
Less Distortion
Less residual stress and distortion occur because HLAW has low heat input as well as a small fusion zone and heat-a ected zone (HAZ). Consider a partial-penetration llet that joins a vertical plate to a horizontal one, with a weld leg length of 0.375 in. (see Figure 3). In this weld geometry, the area known as the centroid of the stress eld resides outside the base metal entirely, far away from the structures neutral axis (that is, at the center of the vertical plate). is causes the weld joint to pull and distort, which is why welders go to great lengths to control how the weld cools, minimizing this e ect.
HLAW Basics
e process uses a combination of laser light and a traditional electric welding arc, usually from a gas metal arc welding (GMAW) power source in the spray-transfer mode (see Figure 1). e lasers small spot size creates a very high energy density and actually helps stabilize the arc. e laser pene-
FIGURE 1 Hybrid laser-arc welding (HLAW) uses a wire arc welding process with a laser beam. e laser provides concentrated energy for high penetration, while the arc helps overcome t-up challenges. Process elements include: (1) newly formed weld bead; (2) inert shielding gas; (3) focused laser beam; (4) GMAW gun; (5) wire electrode; (6) electric arc; (7) molten pool; and (8) the keyhole.
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3 mm
2 mm
15-mm SAW Butt Joint

28 t=15 mm 10 mm
FIGURE 3 HLAW allows the use of the 0.125-in. full-penetration fillet joint, which shifts the centroid of stress inward toward the structures neutral axis. date the hybrid laser-arc process if manufacturing throughput doesnt change? Downstream joining, assembling, and finishing processesnot to mention external customer demandmust be able to handle the HLAW systems increased throughput. Yes, HLAW does decrease welding costs in respect to both material and labor, but if more products dont ship out the door in less time, a manufacturing operations profitability doesnt change dramatically. Those reduced welding costs really wont change the bottom line as significantly as an increase in overall throughput will. Of course, plenty of operations have successfully adopted HLAW by changing internal processes. Their dramatic throughput improvements have allowed them to lower costs and gain significant market share. But this involves only manufacturing. Today lean thinking has led many to consider not just manufacturing costs, but also the costs that occur over the entire product life cycle, and this is where HLAW has really stepped up to the plate (so to speak). tailored structures, which incorporate higherstrength and thicker materials only where needed for a particular design. For years the plates used for ship decks have looked even more complicated, in terms of varying material grades and thicknesses, than some of the tailor welded blanks in the automotive sector. Over the life of a ship, a little weight reduction can lead to incredible savings in reduced fuel and other operating costs. Thats why the U.S. Navy and other shipbuilders have been making the transition from AH36 to high-strength, low-alloy materials such as HSLA-65, -80, and -100. Some shipbuilders now are shifting away from hot-rolled mild steel structural beams, toward tailored highstrength, plate-fabricated steel beams. Several manufacturers are using hybrid laser-arc welding to produce such tailored beams for shipbuilding. Engineers have similar operating cost reductions in mind when specifying high-strength steels for construction equipment. The so-called light structures on heavy vehiclesincluding fuel tanks, oil reservoirs, cabs, and engine structuresrepresent a significant portion of overall vehicle mass, and reducing that mass can lead to significant savings in material and power requirements. The booms and arms of mobile equipment are extremely weight-sensitive. The vehicles performance (that is, how productive it is at digging or material handling) is determined by the arms weight. For products like truck trailers, railcars, and intermodal containers, payload plays a role. Think of a railcar, which can have a life cycle spanning decades. Every pound of vehicle weight represents
V-Joint
15-mm HLAW Butt Joint

FIGURE 2 Because of HLAWs low heat input, it can reduce weld volume dramatically. What if the center of the stress field could be changed? A new HLAW joint geometry makes this possible. The hybrid process allows that conventional, partial-penetration fillet to be changed to a full-penetration fillet joint, with a weld height only 0.125 in. This shifts the centroid of the stress field inward toward the neutral axis, reducing longitudinal shrinkage and angular deflection. The stress can often be below the threshold of local and global buckling, which means designers dont have to compensate for the stress elsewhere in the assembly.
0 mm
A Place for the Process

With all these benefits, why didnt HLAW take industry by storm when it was introduced years ago? In the 1980s and 1990s, the process wasnt quite as robust as it is now, of course. More important, HLAW suffered from similar problems as conventional laser beam welding: Conventional industry designs didnt have elements that could take advantage of the process. There are the well-known concerns about joint fit-up, of course. HLAW does allow for a wider gap tolerance, often as much as +/-0.5 mm with steady-state controls. Thats still narrow in the arc welding arena, but wide compared to the gap requirements of laser beam welding. HLAW can handle gap variations up to 2.0 mm with newer adaptive process controls, but this can require the process to slow down, which goes against the point of using hybrid laser-arc welding in the first place. The most effective hybrid implementations use a combination of improved part fit-up, better fixturing, and adaptive control to achieve both high processing speeds and robust process capability (Cpk). The broader perspective reveals a bigger reason for HLAWs gradual adoption. What is the purpose of altering product designs to accommo-
The High-Strength-Material Effect

Lean thinking has led manufacturers to use highstrength materials in a quest for weight reduction. This is a well-known effort in the automotive industry, which has embraced the hybrid process for welding various components, from body-inwhite work to applications involving suspension systems, engine cradles, and exhaust components. A rule of thumb in automotive operations is that 1 pound of structural weight reduction will produce about 1.5 lbs. of total vehicle weight reduction when factored for all of the roll-down impacts on engine size, drive train, braking, and other elements. Automotive manufacturers have found that they can increase the yield strength of their steel parts by 50 percent with only a 10 to 15 percent increase in material cost. This in turn has allowed them to reduce component weight by 30 to 50 percent. The result: A lighter, higher-strength part actually can cost less than a heavier part. The quest for weight reduction also has been in full force in the heavy transportation equipment arena: trucks, railcars, mining and construction equipment, and even aircraft carriers. In some areas the weight-reduction effort began much earlier than it did in automotive. Shipbuilding, for instance, was one of the first industries to use
FIGURE 4 Railcar weight may be reduced up to 40 percent through the use of high-strength steel and laserwelded designs. This weight reduction in turn increases payload carrying capacity.
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1st Operations
Fabrication
Subassembly
Final Assembly
FIGURE 5 According to the traditional rule of thumb, shifting value-adding work back one step in the manufacturing process cuts the cost of that work by about 50 percent. But because of variation caused by distortion, many welding applications havent followed this ruleuntil recently. a pound that cant be carried for the life of that vehicle. In the design phases now, though, are some railcars and intermodal containers that use highstrength steels and advanced laser-welded designs to reduce weight between 30 and 40 percent, increasing payload carrying capacity by up to 20 percent (see Figure 4). Consider the implications for an intermodal shipping container. Reducing the weight by 20 percent represents an extra payload capacity of 50,000 lbs. per year per container. Thats a lot of additional revenueand the average user has many containers, each of which can last decades. Additionally, a lighter container consumes less fuel on the back-haul leg of a trip. For each user, this can save millions over the containers life. Designs for ships and heavy vehicles now make use of more stainless steel and especially the new, relatively affordable high-strength duplex and lean duplex stainless steels. Previously engineers had to call for increased plate thickness to provide a buffer for corrosion over a vehicles lifespan. Now using stainless grades, designers need not include such a large material buffer for corrosion. The result, again, is thinner plate, reduced vehicle weight, and greater payload capacity. The hybrid laser-arc process, with its low heat and high speed, can help enable the transition to these high-strength, thinner structures. The shift toward lean manufacturing and thinking about total life cycle cost moves the emphasis away from the specific cost per pound of metal and toward total production and long-term support costs. High-strength alloys and stainless steels obviously are more expensive than conventional steels, and these heavy products use a lot of metal. But that higher material cost still is miniscule compared to the savings and increased productivity over a products life. With high-yield-strength materials comes higher residual stresses and reduced material thickness, which exacerbates distortion problems. The use of high-strength steels has made the control of distortion more important than ever. It is here where HLAW plays a critical role.
A Shift up the Value Chain

This is part of a larger trend in the transportation industries and, to some extent, all of manufacturing: a backward shifting of value-added work. For instance, in shipbuilding, a large amount of work downstream from welding operations can be done only by highly skilled, manual workers. This is because of the huge distortion that welding and subsequent straightening has on the geometry of ship structures. A shipyard worker can manually lay out and cut a hole with a hand-held plasma arc torch, but it would be far less costly and much
more precise for that hole to be cut by a mechanized plasma cutting table at an upstream process. Conventional high-heat welding and straightening often prevent this. The rule of thumb goes like this: Shifting valueadding work back one step in the manufacturing process can cut the cost of that work in half (see Figure 5). This applies as long as the upstream process is accurate enough to allow for smooth downstream processing. Welding hasnt always followed this rule for many products. Shifting an imprecise welding operation several steps upstream has actually increased costs because of thermal effects like distortion. The distortion increased variation downstream, which in turn required numerous craftspeople at the assembly stages. They spent their days deftly assembling imprecise components into a functional whole. For years upstream fabrication processes like high-density plasma cutting, laser cutting, bending, and forming have met the need for accuracy, which is why this work has become more prevalent early in the value chain. But until recently, welding has put up a thermal barrier to this ideal. Weld distortion added variability, which meant sending the process upstream just didnt make sense. Low-heat-input processes like HLAW change the equation. The reduced thermal effect dramatically minimizes distortion, making the joining process nearly as precise as its cutting and bending cousins. This in turn minimizes the need for highly skilled work at the end of the manufacturing value chainwhere such work happens to be the most costly. As manufacturers begin to understand how to use the attributes of hybrid laser-arc welding to achieve total production savings and improved product quality, the industry can expect to see its adoption accelerate.
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FIGURE 1 When it came to cutting aluminum, circular saws used to be the only saw choice for metal fabricators. Advances in band saw technology have expanded their options. is taking place as export markets in Europe and Asia struggle to regain their economic footing. Because great opportunities await those fabricators able to process aluminum e ciently, they need to be aware of cutting technologies that can help them do the job. If the focus is on sawing (see Figure 1), the question is, Do band saws or circular cold saws cut aluminum better? Technological advancements have been made in aluminum sawing with both types of saws, and the answer is often a very rm It depends.
A Look at Circular Saws

One of the more traditional methods of sawing large-diameter aluminum has been with very large circular saw blades. is sawing method caught on because of the speed at which the aluminum could be cut compared to band sawing. e circular saw enters the material at a high speed and maintains that same speed throughout the entire cut, even upon exiting the material. Saw manufacturers call it a constant speed and feed rate. Traditionally, band saws struggled with this because the blade could be damaged quite easily if it entered the metal at a high speed. e gumminess of a metal like aluminum would wreck a band saw blade if it entered the material fast. New technological advancements in band saws which will be discussed laterhave changed this somewhat. Large circular saws require a large upfront capital investment. at should come as no surprise because the equipments size plays an important role in its ability to cut aluminum so quickly. For example, a circular saw cutting a 20-in.-diameter aluminum billet would require a blade of at least 40 in. diameter, and more realistically about 50 in. Of course, the equipment has to be large and sturdy enough to turn that large blade at a consistent and high RPM. When it comes down to issues such as the n-
What's the best approach for sawing aluminum?

Band saws have emerged as a possible tool for this challenging cutting job
trend is. e association reported that demand for aluminum semifabricated mill products in the U.S. and Canada, which includes domestic producer shipments and imports, was 1.3 million lbs. in July, up 8.1 percent when compared to a year ago. Aluminum sheet and plate demand jumped to 779 million lbs. in July, up 6.1 percent from the same time frame in 2011. Meanwhile, this growth
By Richard Klipp
ith the continued focus on using lighter materials wherever possible, particularly in the transportation industry, metal fabricators are interested in learning about the best ways to process aluminum materials. Of course, this a ects every shop oor activity, including sawing. is interest in lighter-weight material appears to be a long-term trend. In omasNet.coms annual Industry Market Barometer, a survey of more than 4,000 manufacturing professionals in North America, 20 percent of respondents listed aerospace and defense as the top growth markets in 2012, which trailed only fabricated metal products (21 percent). is comes even as manufacturers stare at dramatically reduced defense budgets all around the globe, particularly in the U.S. In the same survey, 18 percent considered the automotive market to be the top growth market. What do the aerospace and automotive markets have in common? Companies are interested in reducing the weight of their products because less fuel is needed to power these lighter-weight aircraft and vehicles. A recent report from the Aluminum Association provides an excellent look at how hot this
the job.
FIGURE 2 For high-volume cutting of aluminum tube, the circular saw still stands out as the most suitable saw for
FIGURE 3 If a band saw blade is going to be used to cut thick-diameter aluminum billet, it has to be exible enough to survive the speed generated by the saw. ish of the nal cut, the circular saw stands out as a suitable choice. By generating a very good nish, the fabricator may be in a position to eliminate a secondary nishing operation, which can result in dramatic labor savings. is is especially evident in fast cutting of single-piece, small-diameter material (see Figure 2). For example, in aluminum extrusion cutting, production volumes can be as high as 5,000 parts per shift, and the end nish is expected to be very clean. e fact is that circular saws cut aluminum so fast and e ectively that a fabricator really needs to develop a productive means for moving material in and out of the saw. A material handling method is either an incline or at-loading magazine on the input side, coupled with a high-speed output conveyor for sorting of the nished parts. is maximizes the aluminum cutting power of a circular saw. However, it should be pointed out that while a circular saw delivers a much cleaner cut, the blade will remove a nice chunk of the aluminum because of the blade size. For instance, a 40-in.diameter blade is about 0.33 in. wide. ramp feed and speed, which means the blade enters the cut slowly, ramps up, and then exits the cut slowly. Entry and exit are two areas where the possibility of blade damage is greatest, but this controlled process eliminates that. In addition, blades have advanced so that they can revolve that fast around the wheels and be exible enough not to break (see Figure 3). Further, these newer band saws provide good control of the blade. e equipments ball-screw, servo-drive downfeed (see Figure 4) helps to ensure that the beam is pushed rmly through the material at a feed rate up to 22 inches per minute. To generate the high blade speed (up to 4,000 SFM) requires the appropriate combination of horsepower and torque within the gearbox and motor, so that even at high speeds the equipment is not overworked. Current band saw technology hits all of these very important benchmarks. If a fabricator is cutting aluminum parts and other materials at lower volumes, say, 1,000 parts or fewer per shift, then a band saw can be a solid
performer. If the aluminum material is greater than 7 in. diameter, todays band saws are probably a good choice for the job. Also, if the squareness of the cut has a high tolerance, the band saw will be able to deliver. Fabricators also should be aware that a band saw blade is thinner than a circular saw blade, typically about 0.042 in. thick. is results in a signicantly smaller kerf removal when compared to the circular saw blade, generating material cost savings over time. How far has band saw cutting of aluminum come? Band saws are now cutting 11-in.-diameter 6061 aluminum bar in 14 seconds. at is 94 sq. in. of material, which is equivalent to a removal rate of 400 sq. IPM. is means that band saws are now able to cut at 3,500 SFM, which compares favorably to previous generations of band saws that could cut only up to 500 SFM.
See the Saws

e best saw for aluminum sawing depends on the application. Circular saws generally are suitable for cutting aluminum between 0.5 and 6 in. diameter, for high-volume jobs (up to 5,000 parts per shift), and for the best possible nish on the cut piece. Band saws generally make sense for aluminum stock of 6 in. diameter and larger and for shops that are interested in high-speed cutting of aluminum but also frequently cut other materials. Perhaps the most important point is that band saws are now capable of providing a cost-e ective alternative for aluminum sawing, which wasnt the case several years ago. With the growing reliance on aluminum as part of future product designs, fabricators now have one more tool in the toolbox to tackle this challenging sawing job. Richard Klipp is president, Behringer Saws Inc., 721 Hemlock Road, Morgantown, PA 19543, 610-286-9777, www.behringersaws.com.
A Look at Band Saws

Band saws were never really considered to be a wise choice for aluminum cutting, but that has changed recently. With the advancements in band saw technology, large aluminum billet now can be cut almost as quickly as with large circular saws. e best news for a fabricator is that a band saw for this type of aluminum cutting application requires a signicantly smaller capital investment than a circular saw. Simply put, its a smaller piece of equipment because its blades are smaller in comparison to circular saw blades and do not require a very large operating footprint to be e ective. To achieve e cient aluminum cutting, band saw technology had to overcome the challenge of turning a blade at a much higher speed than is needed for traditional steel sawingin fact, as much as 10 times the surface feet per minute (SFM) as steel requires. Band saws now feature
FIGURE 4 e ball-screw mechanism on newer band saws ensures steady downfeed pressure during the cutting process.
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angle. For overbent (acute bend) angles, either the included or complementary angles may be used. e choice is yours, but it does a ect how you apply the data to the at pattern.
The basics of applying bend functions

Calculating bend allowance, outside setback, and bend deductions
Bend Deduction (BD) BD = (Outside setback 2) Bend allowance
A bend deduction (BD) is the value subtracted from the at blank for each bend in the part, and there may be more than one. Bend deductions di er depending on the part itself, di erent bend angles, and/or inside radii. Note that when overbending and making the OSSB calculation using the included bend angle, you may calculate a negative value for the bend deduction. You will need to take the negative value into account when calculating the at blank, as discussed in the next section.
Development of the Flat-blank Layout

ere are two basic ways to lay out a at blank, and which to use will depend on the information that you are given to work with. For the rst method, you need to know the leg dimensions. A leg is any at area of a part, whether it is between bend radii or between an edge and a bend radius. For the second method, you need to know the dimension from the edge (formed or cut) to the apex of the bend, or the intersection created by both planes that run parallel to the outside surfaces of the formed material.
1. Flat blank = First leg dimension + Second leg dimension + Bend allowance 2. Flat blank = Dimension to apex + Dimension to apex Bend deduction
By Steve Benson
hen a sheet metal part is bent, it physically gets bigger. e nal formed dimensions will be greater than the sum total of the outside dimensions of the part as shown on the printunless some allowance for the bend is taken into account. Many will say material grows or stretches as it is bent in a press brake. Technically, the metal does neither, but instead elongates. It does this because the neutral axis shifts closer to the inside surface of the material. e neutral axis is an area within the bend where the material goes through no physical change during forming. On the outside of the neutral axis the material is expanding; on the inside of the neutral axis the material is compressing. Along the neutral axis, nothing is changingno expansion, no compression. As the neutral axis shifts toward the inside surface of the material, more material is being expanded on the outside than is being compressed on the inside. is is the root cause of springback.
Bend Allowance (BA) BA = [(0.017453 Inside radius) + (0.0078 Material thickness)] Bend angle, which is always complementary
calculations. ere are other values for stainless and aluminum, but in most cases, 0.446 in. works across most material types. If you multiply the material thickness by the K-factor (0.446), you get the location of the relocated neutral axis: for example, 0.062 0.446 = 0.027 in. is means that the neutral axis moves from the center of the material to a location 0.027 in. from the inside bend radiuss surface. Again, the neutral axis goes through no physical change structurally or dimensionally. It simply moves toward the inside surface, causing the elongation. Note the two factors shown in the bend allowance formula: 0.017453 and 0.0078. e rst factor is used to work your way around a circle or parts of a circle, and the second value applies the K-factor average to the rst factor. e 0.017453 is the quotient of /180. e 0.0078 value comes from (/180) 0.446. Note that for the bend allowance, the bend angle is always measured as complementary (see Figure 1).
Outside Setback (OSSB) OSSB = [Tangent (Degree of bend angle / 2)] (Inside bend radius + Material thickness)
Complementary Angle
Included Angle
FIGURE 1 e bend allowance calculation always uses the complementary angle.
OSSB
BA
e length of the neutral axis is calculated as a bend allowance, taken at 50 percent of the material thickness. In Machinerys Handbook, the Kfactor for mild cold-rolled steel with 60,000-PSI tensile strength is 0.446 inch. is K-factor is applied as an average value for most bend allowance
e outside setback is a dimensional value that begins at the tangent of the radius and the at of the leg, measuring to the apex of the bend (see Figure 2). At 90 degrees, it does not matter if you use the included or complementary angle; you still end up with 45 degrees, and you get the same OSSB answer. For underbent angles (see Figure 3), it is common practice to use the complementary
BD = 2 x OSSB BA
FIGURE 2 e outside setback (OSSB) is a dimensional value that begins at the tangent of the radius and the at of the leg, measuring to the apex of the bend.
Underbent
Right
Overbent
160
90
20
160
FIGURE 3 Terminology may be different depending on how a protractor is read. This article defines underbends as those with included angles of more than 90 degrees. Overbends (also called acute bends) are those with included angles that are less than 90 degrees. There is another way to look at the second option. As mentioned earlier, if you use the included angle for the OSSB, the bend deduction may be a negative value. As you may know, subtracting a negative value requires you to add: for example, 10 (-5) = 15. If you are working the formula on your calculator, it will automatically make the proper calculations. If you are working the formula through line by line, you will need to keep track of the answers sign and whether it is positive or negative. The following examples walk you through the flat-blank development methods. They apply bend functions to a simple, single-bend part, bent past 90 degrees complementary, to show how the complementary or included angles are applied in the OSSB and ultimately to a layout. The part in Figure 4 is bent to 160 degrees complementary. It has a material thickness of 0.250 in. and an inside bend radius of 0.250 in. The legs are each 1.000 in., and the dimension to the apex (between the part edge and bend apex) is 3.836 in. Note that in the formulas below, Ir represents the inside bend radius and Mt represents the material thickness. For all methods, we calculate the bend allowance the same way:
Bend Allowance (BA) BA = [(0.017453 Ir) + (0.0078 Mt)] Degree of bend angle complementary BA = [(0.017453 0.25) + (0.0078 0.25)] 160 BA = [0.00436325 + 0.00195] 160 BA = 0.00631325 160 BA = 1.010
The second flat-blank-development example adds the two dimensions (from edge to the apex), and subtracts a bend deduction. In this case, the calculations use a complementary angle for the OSSB, and the dimensions are called from the edge to the apexagain, as specified in Figure 4.
Outside Setback (OSSB) OSSB = [Tangent (Degree of bend angle complementary/2)] (Mt + Ir) OSSB = [Tangent (160/2)] (0.25 + 0 .25) OSSB = [Tangent 80] 0.5 OSSB = 5.671 0.5 OSSB = 2.836
3.83
6 Fla
nge
eg 00 L
0.25 0
1.0
From here, we perform different calculations, depending on the flat-blank development used. Using the first method, we develop the flat blank by adding the two legs of the bend and the bend allowance.
Flat-blank Calculation Calculated flat-blank length = Leg + Leg + BA Calculated flat-blank length = 1.000 + 1.000 + 1.010 Calculated flat-blank length = 3.010
20
0.250 2.836 OSSB 3.836 Flange 1.000 Leg
FIGURE 4 This 0.250-in.-thick part is bent to 160 degrees complementary with an inside bend radius of 0.250 in. The drawing specifies that the dimension from the edge to the apex is 3.836 in.
More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

Press brake technicians can use various formulas to calculate bend functions. For instance, in this article we have used the following for outside setback: OSSB = [Tangent ($/2)] (Material thickness + Inside radius), where $ is the degree of bend angle. However, some may use another formula: OSSB = (Material thickness + Inside radius) / [Tangent ($/2)]. So which is right? Both are. If you use the complementary bend angle in the first equation and the included angle in the second equation, you get the same answer. Consider a part with a 120-degree complementary bend angle, a material thickness of 0.062 in., and an inside radius of 0.062 in. In the following formulas, $c signifies complementary degree of bend angle, while $i represents the included degree of bend angle. The bend allowance (BA) is calculated at 0.187, and the leg lengths are 1.000 in. To obtain the dimension to apex, add the OSSB to the leg. As you can see, both OSSB formulas produce the same result and lead you to the same bend deduction for calculating the flat blank.
First OSSB Formula OSSB = [Tangent ($c/2)] (Material thickness + Inside radius) OSSB = [Tangent (120/2)] (0.062 + 0.062) OSSB = [Tangent (60)] 0.124 OSSB = 1.732 0.124 OSSB = 0.214 Second OSSB Formula OSSB = (Material thickness + Inside radius) / [Tangent ($i/2)] OSSB = (0.062 + 0.062)/[Tangent (60/2)] OSSB = 0.124/[Tangent (30)] OSSB = 0.124/0.577 OSSB = 0.214 Bend Deduction (BD) BD = (OSSB 2) BA BD = (0.214 2) 0.187 BD = 0.428 0.187 BD = 0.241 in. Flat-blank Calculation Calculated flat-blank length = Dimension to apex + Dimension to apex Bend deduction Calculated flat-blank length = (OSSB + Leg) + (OSSB + Leg) Bend deduction Calculated flat-blank length = (0.214 + 1.000) + (0.214 + 1.000) 0.241 Calculated flat-blank length = 1.214 + 1.214 0.241 Calculated flat-blank length = 2.187 in.
ance (BA) of 0.187 in., you get a negative bend deduction. That means you subtract the negative BD (again, the same as adding) when doing the flat-blank calculation. As you can see, the same calculated flat-blank dimension results:
Outside Setback (using included angle) OSSB = [Tangent ($i /2)] (Material thickness + Inside radius) OSSB = [Tangent (60/2)] (0.062 + 0.062) OSSB = [Tangent (30)] 0.124 OSSB = 0.577 0.124 OSSB = 0.071 Bend Deduction (BD) BD = (OSSB 2) BA BD = (0.071 2) 0.187 BD = 0.142 0.187 BD = -0.045 Flat-Blank Calculation Calculated flat-blank length = Dimension to apex + Dimension to apex Bend deduction Calculated flat-blank length = (Leg + OSSB) + (Leg + OSSB) BD Calculated flat-blank length = (1.000 + 0.071) + (1.000 + 0.071) (-0.045) Calculated flat-blank length = 1.071 + 1.071 (-0.045) Calculated flat-blank length = 2.187 in. Editors note: An extended mathematical discussion of alternative equations is available online. Visit www. thefabricator.com and type The basics of applying bend functions in the search box.
For overbent angles (see Figure 3), the original formulaOSSB = [Tangent ($c/2)] (Material thickness + Inside radius)also may be written using the included degree of bend angle. But again, when you get a negative bend deduction value, you need to take that into account when calculating the flat blank. Working with an included bend angle ($i) of 60 degrees, a material thickness of 0.062 in., an inside bend radius of 0.062 in., and a bend allow-
81
Bend Deduction BD = (OSSB 2) BA BD = (2.836 2) 1.010 BD = 5.672 1.010 BD = 4.662 Flat-blank Calculation Calculated flat blank = Dimension to apex + Dimension to apex Bend deduction Calculated flat blank = 3.836 + 3.836 4.662 Calculated Flat-blank Length = 3.010
a negative number). In this case, we are using the included angle for the OSSB, and the dimensions are still called from the edge to the apex.
Outside Setback (OSSB) OSSB = [Tangent (Degree of bend angle included/2)] (Mt + Ir) OSSB = [Tangent (20/2)] (0.25 + 0.25) OSSB = [Tangent 10] 0.5 OSSB = 0.176 0.5 OSSB = 0.088 Bend Deduction (BD) BD = (OSSB 2) BA BD = (0.088 2) 1.010 BD = 0.176 1.010 BD = -0.834 Flat-blank Calculation Calculated flat blank = Dimension to apex + Dimension to apex Bend deduction Calculated flat blank = 1.088 + 1.088 (-0.834) Calculated flat-blank length = 3.010
In this final example, the flat-blank calculation adds the dimensions and then subtracts the negative bend deduction (again, you add when subtracting
You can see that regardless of method, the same answer is achieved. Be sure you are calculating these values based on the actual radius you are attaining in the physical part. There are many extenuating circumstances you may need to consider. Just a few are the forming method (air forming, bottoming, or coining), the type of bend (sharp, radius, or profound radius bends), the tooling you are using, and the multibreakage of the workpiece during large-radius bending. Also, the farther past 90 degrees you go, the smaller the inside radius will physically become. You can calculate for most of these, and this is something well be sure to tackle in future articles.
We can easily calculate the values using these formulas, but it is the application of the results that counts.
Getting the Part Right the First Time
There are lots of different paths to find your way around a bend, by using either the included or complementary angles. We can easily calculate these values; it is the application of the results that counts. However, once you know how and where the information is applied in a given situation, the flatpattern layout is easy. So why calculate all these values? Because sometimes you will need to work your way around a bend on a print, and you may not have all the information you need to complete a flat pattern. At least now you can calculate all the different parts of the bend, apply them correctly, and get it right the first time. Steve Benson is a member and former chair of FMAs Precision Sheet Metal Technology Council. He is the president of ASMA LLC, 2952 Doaks Ferry Road N.W., Salem, OR 97301, steve@asmachronicle.com. Benson also conducts FMAs Precision Press Brake Certificate Program, which is held at locations across the country. For more information, visit www.fmanet.org/ training, or call 888-394-4362. ASMA LLC produces training materials and bend calculation software, available at www.asmachronicle.com.
In the September issue, the previous article in this series, Dissecting bend deductions and die openings, stated an incorrect K-factor value from Machinerys Handbook (the value is 0.446), and erroneous verbiage regarding the bend allowance calculation, which could have been construed to mean that an included angle can be used in bend allowance calculations. The bend allowance always uses the complementary bend angle; it is the outside setback (OSSB) calculation that may or may not use the included bend angle. The OSSB equation also had a typographical error. The FABRICATOR team regrets these errors and has corrected them in the online version of the article, available at www.thefabricator.com.
Corrections
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Michigan job shop implements tool and material organization strategy

once the previous job was complete. So said Jason Cunningham, shop foreman, who described how, because of such disorganization, the shop struggled to reduce process cycle time. The root causes of such disorganization involved seemingly mundane elements, including the placement of hand tools. The little things matter, he said.
This was the very question Laser Access managers asked about six years ago, when the company began informal continuous improvement efforts. We do a lot of challenging stainless steel and aluminum jobs, Cunningham said. There are a lot of places that wont cut this material. The material does require deburring, though, and thats why many parts coming off its 2-D laser cutting system flowed to the companys grinding work centers. Unfortunately, abrasive discs and similar consumables lay everywhere. Such disorganization increased work-in-process and lengthened overall manufacturing time. Thats because workers spent so much time hunting for the right abrasive media. A lot of these are intricate jobs, Cunningham said. You just cant put a 36-grit disc on and hog the material off. Sometimes the job would grind to a halt (pun intended) if a certain disc couldnt be found. The purchaser placed a rush order for abrasive discs, and workers would move on to other jobs. In this instance, centralized (not point-of-use) storage was the best option. The grinding and deburring area now has a centralized storage cabinet, where personnel can monitor consumable usage continually, and then request a replenishment order as the inventory of abrasive media reaches a certain point. By analyzing purchasing patterns over time, both the abrasive supplier and Laser Access could better predict when new abrasive media would be needed.
Tools at the Ready

Traditional lean manufacturing and other improvement methodologies promote efforts like 5S (sort, straighten, shine, standardize, sustain) that involve simple organization as well as placing tools near the point of use. Most workers at Laser Access have organized toolboxes at their workstation. But high-product-mix situations complicate matters. Not only is Laser Access a high-mix, lowvolume shop, most of its work doesnt involve repeat orders. The shop has longtime customers, but many of them dont ask for the same job twice. This means the product mix changes dramatically from one day to the next, so one tool may be used many places. Tools with consumablessay, hand grinders that regularly require abrasive mediacomplicate matters even further. A person at a grinding station may work with a standard 90-degree grinder for one part, then a narrow belt sander to grind some intricate shapes, and then back to a 90-degree grinder with a different-grit disc. In this case, having every possible abrasive for every hand tool at the point of use would make an already complicated situation even more complex. With such highly variable demand, how would they efficiently manage inventory levels for that abrasive media?
he people at Laser Access, a Grand Rapids, Mich., fabricator, know a thing or two about quick changeover. Launched in 1999, the high-mix, low-volume fabricator has spent the past decade perfecting the science of quick setup, with clear documentation and, at the shops fiveaxis laser cutting center, some quick-change tooling. The company started with just one five-axis laser; now it has two, plus one flat cutting laser with automated loading. Today the 22-person shop has expanded into arc and laser welding, as well as press brake work. Its customers range from those in the architectural industry to aerospace. On the two TRUMPF five-axis cutting systems, the operator need only loosen and tighten four bolts to change out fixtures between jobs. The flat cutting laser, with its automated loading table, doesnt take long to change over either. In fact, those setups are designed to occur in minutes, at least in theory. But until recently, setups rarely took just minutes. It wasnt because of poorly designed fixturing or machine problems, either. We just werent effective at making sure the parts, the tools, and the paperwork were all staged and ready to go
We just werent effective at making sure the parts, the tools, and the paperwork were all staged and ready to go once the previous job was complete.
Jason Cunningham, Laser Access
We work with our local supplier on this, Cunningham said. They always have 500 pieces on hand, in case anything goes awry. The shop monitors abrasive inventory both at post-laser-cutting deburring and at postweld grinding. In the latter area, grinders hang on dedicated hooks; its a shadow board, just without the outlines. Each tool has a quick-release tool changeout system. Until recently the blowgun also had a quickrelease connection to the shop air line, which reflected the shops focus on flexibility. Sometimes workers in other areas needed the tool, so they borrowed it and often forgot to return it. This
meant that postweld grinding operators had to go on a blowgun hunt, which certainly wasnt valueadded time. Thats why a dedicated blowgun made sense for the postweld grinding area. Other machine workstations have their own air guns, and they still have quick-disconnect fittings. But in the postwelding grinding area, the air line now is permanently threaded onto the blowgun; someone would need to go through great effort to remove it. Now theres always a blowgun there, Cunningham said. It cant walk away. This is about where Laser Access continuous improvement efforts stood when Cunningham and Quality Manager David Boland attended LeanFab, an event organized by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, held near Minneapolis earlier this year. At the time managers knew shop operations could improve, especially in upstream processes. The conference, headed by consultant Dick Kallage, principal at Barrington, Ill.-based KDC & Associates, focused on the importance of flow and machine uptime. In high-mix, low-volume environments, setup matters. As Kallage put it during the event, Youre not in the manufacturing business. Youre in the setup business.
Now remnant sheets are grouped by dimension and thickness. Most important, they are stored vertically, like a card file, so workers need only flip through to find the one they need before removing it with a lift crane (see Figure 3).
When it comes to getting worker buy-in for continuous improvement, making jobs easier is a good starting point.
FIGURE 1 A holder with tin snips, a tape measure, markers, and other basic tools is attached permanently to the fork truck. Wherever the fork truck goes, the tools the driver needs go with it.
Setup and Raw Material Strategies

At Laser Access, excessive setup time certainly was an issue, and the problem occurred in a critical area: laser cutting. The changeover time at the machinesmoving material, swapping fixture base plates, and downloading and running the programtook a few minutes. The problem was that operators spent a lot of time away from the machine, hunting for the right tools and material. This included simple tools, such as snips for cutting the straps around stacks of raw stock sheet metal. Too often managers saw people leaving the forktruck to find tin snips; tape measure; or writing utensils to check material dimensions and fill out inspection, shipping, and receiving reports. To solve the problem, the shop permanently attached a small tool container to the fork truck. Now, wherever the fork truck goes, the tools the driver needs go with it (see Figure 1). So many times a driver would leave the truck to hunt for the tools he needed, Cunningham said. Silly little things like that really add up. Solving the raw stock inventory problems took more than a toolholder on a fork truck, though. For instance, under previous procedures, the purchaser ordered material as soon as the order was released. This meant material arrived well before it was actually needed. Now the shop releases orders for material shipments a day or two before theyre needed. The company also implemented a simple labeling system to identify different material grades and thicknesses in the raw stock racks. Laser Access has a different procedure for sheet remnants too. Previously the operator removed the remnant from the cutting machine and transported it back to the raw material area, placing
FIGURE 2 These horizontal drawers previously stored remnant material. Unfortunately, material was grouped by type, but not by thickness or size. This meant workers needed to remove numerous sheets to get to the one they needed.
The operators also have a different process for removing remnants. After cutting, they place the remaining sheet on a wheeled rack, at which point they fill out the remnant information (grade, thickness, dimension, etc.) on the attached paperwork. This in turn is entered into an electronic file, which shows up immediately at the purchasers workstation in the front office. When ordering material, the purchaser now has an accurate record of available remnants. That means when he needs material, he orders only what is necessary, no more and no less. All these efforts have improved the shops raw stock situation dramatically. And they have reduced on-hand raw stock inventory and increased machine uptime at those all-important laser cutting centers. Cunningham was quick to point out that the improvement cycle isnt finished. It never is, really. For instance, even with an organized, efficient deburring department, a manual operation can deburr only so much. Thats why the company plans to bring in a flat-part deburring machine to speed operations.
Tracking Consumables
The fabricator recently had a problem with some laser consumable usagespecifically, a ceramic ring used on the five-axis systems cutting head. As long as the laser is operated properly, the ceramic ring should last for a long time; it isnt a high-wear component. But we found a lot of our ceramics were disappearing, Cunningham said. Thats why managers recently installed a vending machine that holds ceramic rings along with other consumables, like lenses, nozzles, and safety glasses. Operators are given special coins with their initials on them. They drop these coins into the vending machine slot to receive a new ceramic ring or another consumable if they need it. We can track whos using those ceramics, so I have a source, and we can communicate with the operator. It just gives us better inventory control on our consumables.
FIGURE 3 Today Laser Access stores its remnants vertically, so workers can find them quickly. it into a 5- by 10-foot container that stored remnants flat in horizontal drawers (see Figure 2). These were designed for a low-product-mix situation, where machines repeatedly ran the same material over and over, and this caused problems for Laser Access. The drawers separated remnants by material grade, but not thickness or size, and the sheets were all stacked flat. So if the next job called for a certain remnant, the operator needed to remove sheets stacked on top to get to it. We sometimes needed to remove 15 drops of material, or even more, just to get to the material we needed, Cunningham said.
85
The Spider and Flow

As Cunningham explained, the companys lean transformation had to start with buy-in from the shop floor. Operators see the process every day and often have the best ideas to overcome problems. Thats why 5S and other improvement efforts continue today, unabated. Cunningham said that soon the company plans to implement a simple system of idea cards. If a worker sees a problema wasteand a potential solution, he simply
writes the idea on a card and submits it for review. Cunningham added that this will be complemented by an employee recognition program. Most important, workers are given the resources to improve, and here Cunningham pointed to an important new position on the shop floor: the spider. The name comes from water strider or water spider, which is lean manufacturing jargon for material handler. But at Laser Access, a spider is so much more. At the end of each day, the spider, who was promoted from within, stages
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work for the second shift and for several hours into the first shift the next day. In general, he stays several hours ahead, so that operators have everything they needhand tools, fixtures, and materialexactly when they need it. As Cunningham explained, the variability of a job shop brings with it various cycle times; its impossible to level-load such an operation. Many jobs are nonrepeat orders too. For those unique, never-run-before jobs, a process cycle time could be plus or minus so many minutes. Staging material several hours prior to the next operation provides a buffer to absorb that variability. The buffer doesnt have days or weeks worth of material, just hours, and those few short hours keep machines running and jobs flowing downstream. The spider looks upstream as well. For instance, after the laser cutting operator loads remnant material onto the wheeled rack, the spider wheels the rack back to the storage area, enters remnant inventory information into the computer, and places the remnants back in storage. This eliminated the waste of the operator putting the drop material into the rack, Cunningham said. That just adds to downtime on the machine. Organizational improvements like 5S and its clean workstations and shadow boards are essential. But by themselves, changeovers can occur only so fast, simply because the operator must retrieve material and the tools necessary to conduct the changeover. This, sources said, is why the spiders role is so important. The spiders day focuses on part flow, so he can see inefficiencies that others, especially those tied to specific departments, cant. But the spider also makes everyone elses job much easier. And when it comes to getting worker buy-in for continuous improvement, making jobs easier is a good starting point. Senior Editor Tim Heston can be reached at timh@thefabricator. com. Photos courtesy of Laser Access, 1645 Broadway N.W., Grand Rapids, MI 49504, 616-459-5496, www. laseraccess.com. For more information about the Fabricators & Manufacturers Associations LeanFab events, visit www.fmanet.org, or call 888-394-4362.
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Retrofit to be tried
Old iron finds new life with updated control, backgauge
Figure 1 A press brake retrofit helped Tejas Precision Metal Fabrication Services avoid some of the complications associated with installing a new press brake, such as prolonged shop floor interruptions, the rigging in and out of equipment, and the need for extensive electrical renovations. Photos courtesy of Metamation Inc.
Retrofit Fits Fine

The company has four press brakes, with two of the lighter-tonnage models, an Amada RG-35 and RG-50, being more than 25 years old. The brakes are just terribly difficult to wear out, and they stay accurate for a long time, Baker said. He liked his older brakes, but he didnt care for the old control systems. The controls still worked, but they just couldnt match the performance of modern controls on new press brakes. The older controls required all kinds of production details to be input for even the simplest bend, and they really offered no assistance when it came to trying to make that first part a quality part. They simply were eating up too much of the press brake operators time. Time is moneynow more so than ever, Baker said. Labor is one of the biggest costs you have now. You have to utilize it to the best ability you can. This summer Tejas Precision decided to invest in new press brake controls in an attempt to maximize its press brake operators time (see Figure 1). Both of the Amada press brakes with the 9EX series controls underwent a complete retrofit with the help of Metamation Inc. The upgrades included Cybelec ModEva/RA controls, Metamation RA (RightAngle) software interfaces, control panel assemblies, and new four-axis backgauges. The brakes entire electronic systems were upgraded as well. About three days were needed to update each press brake. The new control interface, servo drives and motors, and electronic panels and components were installed during that time. In addition, the backgauge upgrades were put in place. Subsequent training for Tejas Precisions press brake operators took another day. How different are the new controls when compared to the older controls that were replaced? Robert Scott, vice president, Metamation Inc., said a person should think of an iPad and compare it to a cassette tape player. When you put [new employees] in front of the old digital input-style controls, they look at it like it is a rock. They dont know how to use it, Scott said. Tejas Precisions press brake operators arent running into that obstacle with the new press brake upgrades.
By Dan Davis, Editor-in-Chief
ryce Baker doesnt have to tell you his age because when he starts talking about his role at Tejas Precision Metal Fabrication Services in San Antonio, you know hes a graduate of the old school, where pen and paper were the main tools of all students. On my business card, I never put a title, he said. I think as long as I have lived, I saw only one business card that really had a good title. It was a gentleman that owned a company, and the card had worker on it. We all work. Thats what we are all here for. Theres no doubt that Baker is a worker at Tejas Precision. In a pinch, he can go out to the shop floor and run a press brake if necessary. But hes also the general manager/co-owner, overseeing the forming, punching, laser cutting, powder coating, and welding operations on a day-to-day basis. The other co-owners are Sharon Baker, Bryces wife, and Sharon Buchta, the wife of Louis Buchta, Bakers partner who passed away five years ago. Tejas Precision is enjoying success spurred on by a simple mission statement: Build whatever the customer desires. As a result, the company works with various materials, from shim stock to 0.5-in. plate, and fabricates products for customers in industries as diverse as food production and high-tonnage air-conditioning manufacturing. The 35-man shop, which is running three shifts, typically has between $4 million and $5 million in annual sales. While the description of an owner who actually understands the principles of fabricating metal and is willing to help out on the shop floor sounds quaint, dont for a minute think that Baker has
turned his back on modern fabricating tools. He understands what is needed to compete in todays market. Do younger workers miss some of [the metal fabricating basics using modern machines]? Yes, they miss some of it because they dont have a thorough understanding of everything from start to finish, Baker said. But its not economical for them to learn everything from start to finish. You need people that are good at that operation with technology at hand to be productive. Thats especially true for press brake operators, who are a dying breed. The matter is only further complicated when a shop tries to bring in new hires with little bending experience and expects them to hit the ground running on older press brakes. Tejas Precision was not immune to this trend, so it decided to do something about it. It breathed new life into its old press brakes.
Better Bending Efforts

Baker is direct about his satisfaction with the upgrade that took place this summer. The old controls on there were perfectly functioning, but they were old and a little cumbersome. They were not easy to train on, he said. These new controls are real user-friendly. I can take a person with a little bit of aptitude and teach him in maybe a third or less of the time it would have taken to train him on the old control. And its all Windowsbased, so it is compatible with everything.
Figure 2 With the new four-axis, automatic backgauge, press brake operators no longer have to manually set the position of the backgauge fingers.
R e or m 101 d e e a pa g on
This is how Tejas Precision runs its bending operations now: 1. It receives a 3-D file from a customer and feeds it into its MetaBEND press brake software, which unfolds it and automatically prepares bending instructions for the press brake operator. We like getting IGES models because we can blow it apart and, when we unfold it and set everything based on our bend deductions, it automatically picks up all of that. 2. When the job is ready for forming, the press brake operator simply pulls the file off of the server. 3. Using the new control software, the press brake operator runs a full 3-D bending simulation to see how the job is programmed and to check for any potential interference. They can look at it and see if they need to change their sequence. They can see exactly what it is going to do with the tooling they have, Baker said. 4. The operator places the part against the backgauge, and the job commences. Manual backgauge placementand the fear of having an operator adjust the backgauge by extending his arms through the forming windowis now a thing of the past because of the new backgauge upgrades with independent, four-axis movement (see Figure 2). The backgauges fingers automatically position where the bending needs to take place, as directed by software. Its very accurate. I would tell you that probably six times out of 10, youll probably have a good part on the first bend, Baker said. Tejas Precision is not only saving time on the front end of bending jobs Metamations Scott said offline brake programming can yield up to a 90 percent throughput improvement when compared to those shops that still rely on older controlsthe company is reducing the time needed to make changes on-the-fly. If you have to do an angle adjustment on a spot, its very easy to do. Its all done on the touchscreen, Baker said. The operator can rapidly generate parts using the profile feature on the control. He touches the corner of a blank and drags a new flange up. The control software, already knowing the given thickness and where the bend is to start, adjusts the angle at 5-degree intervals. Its clearly a marked improvement over the older-style controls, according to Scott. On the original controls, you had a limited number of steps and programs that you could make with the press brake, Scott said. And for each of those steps, you had to input the flange, the length, width, tooling, and all of the information for the backgauge finger settings. You had to do all of that as a manual entry on each one. It was great technology in the 1980s, but today it is simply a very antiquated process. This is completely overriding that. Now when a press brake operator needs to bend just one part or set up a special process, he doesnt have to worry about creating a CAD file.The new control has a manual entry screen that basically emulates the old input process.
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Old Iron, New Lease on Life

Baker is pleased with his retrofits. His press brake operators are up to speed on the new controls, and he doesnt fear bringing on new trainees. Hes confident they can be productive metal formers after a week or so of instruction and processing parts thanks to the new controls. Additionally, hes getting new life out of his old iron. Economically, its a sound decision, Baker said. These machines you literally would have a hard time wearing out. In the metal fabricating industry, old doesnt mean finished. Usefulness cant be measured by age. Editor-in-Chief Dan Davis can be reached at dand@thefabricator.com. Tejas Precision Metal Fabrication Services, 2818 S.E. Interstate 410 Loop Frontage Road, San Antonio, TX 78222, 210-648-1555 Metamation Inc., 1465 Terminal Way, Suite 2, Reno, NV 89502, and 480 Lively Blvd., Elk Grove Village, IL 60007, 775-826-1717, www.metamation. com
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89
Looki n g good
Laser welding simplies fabrication of cosmetically important joints
FIGURE 1 Estes Design and Manufacturing spent several years developing its laser welding process. Early on, technicians were impressed with how clean the welds looked. Most did not require postweld grinding or graining.
several years before we brought in a machine, but we at least validated the concept. Five years ago the company invested in a Prima Power CO2 laser machine. It can act as a at-sheet cutter, a 3-D cutting system, as well as a 3-D welding machine. Switching between laser cutting and laser welding doesnt take long. It allowed us to generate revenue through traditional laser cutting, which basically supported our laser welding R&D, Estes said.
Ramping Up
As laser welding development manager, Jay Reddick has an unusual title in the contract fabrication world. He spearheaded the companys R&D e ort, which took almost two years. e president of the company insisted that the new technology be developed to make legacy processes better and less costly. To that end, Reddick and his team took existing products that were welded with traditional processes and experimented with laser welding. A laser beam emerging from a focusing head looks like two cones, one on top of the other. Where those cones meet at the point in the middle is the focal point. e weld spot diameter changes depending on where that focal point is located in relation to the metal surface being welded. By moving the focal point away from the metal, the more out of focus the beam is and, subsequently, the wider the area a ected at the point where the beam contacts the material. e more out of focus the beam is at the point of weld, the more energy it takes to maintain the weld. e focal point is adjusted based on the type of weld needed. A higher focal point produces a more defocused beam for slower, more cosmetic welds; a lower focal point produces a small spot size for faster welds that arent appearance-critical. Speed makes the process attractive not only for processing e ciency but also for reducing stresses on the material. As Reddick explained, Youre moving so fast that the residual stresses imparted into the metal, especially in stainless steel, almost go away. When Reddick took on his new position, he found he was tackling a process that had been developed primarily for the automotive industrya low-mix, high-volume environment very unlike Estes Design and Manufacturing. We were starting out in a new territory. Conventional laser welding doesnt use a ller wire, so many of the rules of traditional wire welding dont apply. Reddicks years of welding cosmetically important joints did come in handy, though, especially when analyzing assist gas requirements. Getting coverage with an inert atmosphere, without blowing impurities into the inert atmosphere, is an art unto itself, he said.
ive years ago Estes Design and Manufacturing adopted laser welding not just because of its eye-popping speed. e Indianapolis fabricator is a high-mix, low-volume operation. Fast welding may be a bonus, but the contract fabricator isnt producing long runs of any one product. For many jobs, t-up tolerance is about 0.005 in. Precise cutting and panel bending upstream certainly helps meet these tolerances, but the team still must use special xtures to ensure the joint is exactly where it should be. e company didnt use the process initially to perform work that couldnt be joined with any other method, nor did customers demand that the fabricator bring in laser welding. Managers werent planning to use the process to move into new markets, either, at least not initially. So why exactly bring in this precise, fast, though challenging welding method? Ron Estes, vice president of operations, pointed to the postweld grinding cells. Were in a corner of the market where were dealing with highly cosmetic products made with light-gauge sheet metal, he said. Our fabricating processes are highly automated and very accurate. We were dealing with a lot of products for several industries that required welding, and we saw that whether it was MIG or TIG welding, it typically required a lot of secondary operations to make that welded area blend with the surrounding material. As a constraint process, grinding not only increased labor costs, but it also slowed overall part ow. e shop uses highly automated cutting and bending centers, but such speed doesnt mean so much with a big bottleneck in grinding. e laser welding system has allowed the fabricator to reduce the grinding and graining time greatly and, for some jobs, eliminate it entirely. is, sources
said, has made the entire laser welding endeavor well worth it. Our thought was that if we could create a surgically precise weld and eliminate the need for secondary operations, including grinding and graining, we could give the customer a superior product for a lot less money, Estes said.
Seeing Potential
About 15 years ago personnel witnessed e ciency and accuracy in upstream processes like cutting and bending, but they also saw that grinding bottleneck. So managers began considering options and experimenting. Refocusing the head of a 1980s-vintage, at-bed laser cutting machine, technicians laser welded a few test workpieces. e machine had no modern level of control, so they had to do a lot of nessing to make it work, but they eventually welded 20-gauge cold-rolled steel. ey liked what they saw. We did some simple butt welds and were encouraged by what we were seeinggood penetration and very at, nice-looking welds, Estes said. In some instances, the welds almost looked like an ornamental feature. It gave us the encouragement that there might be some merit to pursuing this process. About a dozen years ago the fabricator began welding some initial samples for customers, demonstrating the processs potential. One of the rst samples was for a stainless steel oven door that required a lot of welding and a massive amount of nishing. At the time workers ground the corner weld joints and then grained the surface of the door, so that the entire component looked uniform. As Estes explained, We didnt have a laser welding machine at the time, but in cooperation with one of the laser OEMs, we were able to run the parts and achieve very good results. It would be
He pointed out one recent application that required a full-penetration weld on a stainless steel corner joint with a clean root below and a cosmetically important surface on top. This required argon shielding below to cover the root, and nitrogen above to provide an inert atmosphere to shield the surface from impurities and help cool the metal. The heavy argon underneath supported the molten metal at the root. These are the kind of things you dont learn in school, Reddick said. We just had to determine what each gas did and how each gas affected the laser weld.
Our thought was that if we could create a surgically precise weld and eliminate the need for secondary operations, including grinding and graining, we could give the customer a superior product for a lot less money.
Ron Estes, Estes Design and Manufacturing
good candidates for laser welding. Technicians then ran samples, showed them to customers, and generated price comparisons. Sources conceded that acceptance of laser welding has occurred gradually, but at this point the level of acceptance has ramped up significantly, to the point where the fabricator soon may be installing a new laser welding system to handle the demand. The cost-reduction benefits speak louder than anything, Estes said.
Appearance Comes First

When presented with a cosmetically critical joint, technicians first consider what exactly the customer wants the joint to look like and then work backward from there (see Figures 1 and 2). Reddick pointed to a corner weld, formed by two bent flanges on a panel. Were looking for an appearance that matches almost exactly the outside of a formed corner, Reddick said. Consider the outside of a bend line on a part. That is exactly what we want that welded outside corner to look like. This takes experimentation; trial and error with various joint configurations, including overlaps, leads us to configurations that give us that fullradius weld. In other words, they wanted a joint that really doesnt look like a joint at all. In this situation, Reddick explained that a half-overlap configuration, with one edge covering only half of the abutting edge, often works best, because the laser weld tends to fuse the adjacent edges to create the desired smooth corner. But again, the exact joint configuration depends on the workpiece at hand. A half overlap between two perpendicular sheets may seem like it gives some wiggle room on fit-up, but this is only 22-gauge material. Were only talking about a 0.015-in. overlap, Reddick said. That means our forming tolerance has to be tighter than that.
Clever Fixturing
Consider a rectangular panel with 90-degree flanges, welded on all four corners. On our very best day with our very best equipment, we can
create a tight corner on all four sides, but the position in space of those four corners really has to be within half the width of a laser beam diameter, Estes said. Thats very challenging. Advanced equipment can bend flanges so that they mate perfectly to adjacent flanges, but the absolute positions of all four corners of the panel may not be exactly the same (again, less than the width of a laser beam) from part to part. This, sources said, comes from the unavoidable variability of sheet metal forming. We can form the corner precisely enough with our panel benders so that it will be extremely tight, and [laser welding] can fuse both edges of the material, Estes said. But to position all four corners in a point in space thats accurate enough for a precise CNC positioning system to bring a laser beam there, to weld at a specific point in space, thats where the clever fixturing design come into play. We term this, Bringing the corner to the laser, Reddick said. How exactly does the fabricator accomplish this? That, sources said, is proprietary, but generally speaking, the shops fixturing technology can hold joints accurately enough for the 4-kW, gantry-style laser system, which can position the processing head to within 0.003 in. in the X, Y, and Z dimensions. For each job, the fixture requires every bit as much thought as the parameters for the laser welding process itself. During the past few years the company has determined which of its existing products represent
When to Laser Weld

The more the company laser welds, the greater the knowledge base it builds. In the beginning, Reddick recalled working with customers to alter designs slightly, to take advantage of the process. Now, however, the company attempts to work with customers early in the design phases. So what makes an ideal candidate for laser welding? As Reddick explained, It depends on the part geometry. It depends on the manufacturing process that goes into that part, and it depends on the material type and thickness, what the customers requirements are aesthetically for the joint, what the requirements are structurally. Many factors go into the decision, and a lot of them are based on our experience over the past five years. If a part has a lot of straight-line joints, the results from laser welding can raise some eyebrows. Some straight-line geometries in 20-gauge steel now are being welded at up to 200 in. per minute. Thats 20 to 40 times faster than conventional welding. For some cosmetic stainless applications, the company has achieved welding speeds between 60 and 120 IPM. Of course, specific speeds depend on the application. Combine these speed benefits with the fact that such welds may require less grinding or eliminate it altogether, and one can see why the fabricator spent so much time and effort preparing its laser welding process. Such dramatic improvements are worth years of effort. Senior Editor Tim Heston can be reached at timh@thefabricator.com. Photos courtesy of Estes Design and Manufacturing, 470 S. Mitthoeffer Road, Indianapolis, IN 46229, 317-899-2203, www.estesdm.com.
FIGURE 2 For these samples, Estes technicians wanted them to look more like a formed section, and less like a welded corner joint.
Prima Power North America, 555 W. Algonquin Road, Arlington Heights, IL 60005, 847-9526500, www.primapower.com
91
One point of contact

sponsored by
How a sales and service strategy drives growth at a Minnesota fabricator

mix, with 11 abrasive waterjet machines that cut everything from plastic to thick metal plate. Complementing these are several CNC milling and turning centers for tight-tolerance work, as well as two laser cutting systems, press brakes, welding, and assembly. e shop can handle a variety of jobs of various tolerances, and it often uses several cutting technologies to meet product specications. For instance, the abrasive waterjet may cut an edge, but a mill may machine a precision hole. e company performs work for many sectors, from the architectural eld to medical and defense industries, and no one customer makes up more than 10 percent of overall revenue. While the defense industry kept the company growing throughout the nancial crisis, the sector now makes up a smaller portion of overall revenue. Various other sectors, including medical and aerospace, continue to drive growth. Fedtech has more than 350 active customers that salespeople work with at least every month. ey provide the shop with between 12,000 and 14,000 jobs a year. Most are very short-run, nonrepeat orders. Jobs ow from the primary cutting centers, and many require bending, welding, as well as kitting and assembly. is is a high-mix, low-volume operation at its purest. Weve got a very large, diverse customer base, Bobrowski said. We dont have, say, 85 percent of our work coming from one customer. We have had a few customers that have provided up to 10 to 15 percent of revenue for a given year, but we dont have that anymore, simply because of how Fedtech has grown. In one sense, these stats sound ideal. e diversity protects the shop from downturns, and such diversity certainly isnt the norm. About a quarter of the respondents to the 2012 Financial Ratios & Operational Benchmarking Survey, a study conducted by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, said that ve or fewer customers brought in 80 percent of company revenue. is makes Fedtechs businesswith hundreds of active customers from various industriesseem rock-solid. But theres a downside to this. Managing a shop full of a great number of incredibly diverse shortrun, nonrepeat orders can be a complicated undertaking. At Fedtech, repeat orders represent only 10 to 12 percent of the jobs on the oor. So how does the shop manage it? Bobrowski put it this way: Its about giving customers a single point of contact. Its a cradle-to-grave concept. Upon receipt of orders, that person helps facilitate the ordering through the production. at person remains the customers single point of contact for the life of the project.
Job Shepherds
Bobrowski was the shops second salesperson hired after Dave Fox launched Fedtech as a waterjet job shop in 1996. Today seven people, including Fox and Bobrowski, lead Fedtechs sales e orts. With 73 employees total, the companys salespeople make up a tenth of the overall workforce. e salespeople do more than just sell, though. ey estimate, work with engineering and programming personnel, and communicate with production to t the job into the schedule (see Figures 1 and 2). In a sense, theyre job shepherds. ey ensure no work order goes astray. As Bobrowski explained, several critical elements make this strategy work well. First, salespeople dont cover geographic territories. Instead, they focus on industries. is is roughly analogous to giving a specic beat to a newspaper reporter. Like most fabricators, Fedtech serves a horizontal market, one that feeds various vertical supply chains, from aerospace to power generation. Each salesperson becomes an expert in specic industries, which in turn helps him better relate to customers. If salespeople had geographic territories, they wouldnt become such industry experts, and they would have a tough time shepherding various types of jobs through the front o ce to the shop oor. One job may be for an aerospace company that demands extremely tight-tolerance work; the next customer might be a metal artist with a napkin sketch. ese market divisions arent etched in stone. Becoming an expert in certain industries is great, but a salesperson may have trouble providing adequate service if he has too many customers. ats why managers are careful not to overload any one salesperson. At this writing, for instance, many new customers that come onboard are being handled by Fedtechs newest salesperson, who was brought on earlier this year. e number of accounts a salesperson has isnt as important as the value and work that go into those accounts. For instance, one salesperson dedicated to the defense industry works with just
www.thefabricator.com/fab40
#30
Fedtech
ost fabricators recall 2009 with a sigh. ey talk of sales plummeting by 30, 40, sometimes more than 50 percent; the ensuing layo s; the hard choices; the hard times. But not Fedtech. In 2009 we had a record year. So said John Bobrowski. e sales manager at the St. Paul, Minn., fabricator said that the company may set another sales record this year. Revenue hit $13 million in 2011, and managers expect 2012 earnings to reach $15 million. He attributed the fabricators success to several factors. e company has an unusual technology
FIGURE 1 Kris Cabak conrms an order with a customer. Fedtechs salespeople shepherd orders through multiple front-o ce operations. ey act as the single point of contact for customers.
FIGURE 2 Sales personnel work closely with various front-office personnel, including Programmer Chris George (pictured), to shepherd jobs from order entry through production. three large customers. Another salesperson we have works with about 150 customers, and many of them may not do more than $100,000 worth of work with us a year, Bobrowski said. Theyre all small but very important customers to us. Another critical element is the salespersons technical expertise. Almost every salesperson at Fedtech started in technical positions on the shop floor, so they know the capabilities of turning versus milling versus waterjet cutting versus laser cutting. The one salesperson hired on from another company spent six months on the shop floor learning the intricacies of metal fabrication. and current capabilities were built up because of customer demand. It came about because they were satisfied with the services they were getting. What are these services exactly? It starts with the initial order and verification. There are so many details that arent necessarily on prints, Bobrowski said. When you get into some of the defense and medical applications, yes, those details are on the prints. Those orders are very detailed, very black and white. But when you get into the [ornamental] architectural sector, like artwork for airports and jobs of that nature, a lot of verification is done over the phone, working with people to develop what they want. And we have the same person there to answer all the questions and then work with production, to make sure the customers get what theyre looking for. This effectively eliminates any miscommunication between multiple people in the front office, because one person carries the job through multiple steps.
each machine. Some work centers are dedicated to certain part geometries; for instance, one waterjet has a rotary axis, so it receives a lot of 3-D cutting work. Another waterjet with no abrasive is dedicated to cutting plastics, urethanes, wood, and similar materials. This means we can run many jobs of a similar nature without having to completely re-set up the process, Bobrowski said, adding that integral to the setup is the substrate supporting the material being cut. Substrates can vary from foam to plastic to extremely heavy, thick cross members. Certain substrates are planed off level, to ensure the work material is perfectly perpendicular to the waterjetideal for extremely tight-tolerance work. Ultimately, the substrate type depends on whats being cut. There are quite a few cutting substrates that can be used on the watjerjet, Bobrowski said. If youre cutting small, delicate parts, youre putting them on foam. If were cutting 6-in.-thick steel, we use cross members that are 12 in. thick to hold it up. If you switch between foam and these heavy cross members from job to job, the setups would be prohibitively time-consuming.
About Service
Our competitive edge is customer service, Bobrowski said. He added that, yes, its a marketing clich, because every company on the planet says they have great customer service. But how do you define it? At Fedtech, its about having one point of contact, a technical expert who knows the customers market and communicates continually to ensure every party in the transaction is on the same page. Its nothing fancy, really. We just take a step back and try to provide whats often hard to get these days, with automated phone answering systems and outsourced customer service, Bobrowski said. Were just the opposite. Most important, when salespeople talk with customers, they provide immediate, truthful answers. Please hold, Ill transfer you isnt in their vocabulary. Senior Editor Tim Heston can be reached at timh@thefabricator.com. Images courtesy of Fedtech, 4763 Mustang Circle, St. Paul, MN 55112, 763-784-4600, www.fedtech.com.
Almost every salesperson at Fedtech started in technical positions on the shop floor.
Salespeople may not be absolute technical gurus, but they know enough to ask the gurus on the floor about manufacturing alternatives. Bobrowski recalled one job that kept increasing in price with every drawing revision. During the customer service process, though, the salesperson asked the CNC turning center operator about fixturing alternatives. It turned out that a slight design change made fixturing much easier and eliminated two turning operations. The change brought the quote back down nearly to the original price.
More Machines, Shorter Setups

With so many short-run, nonrepeat jobs, short setups are critical. A waterjet may have a soft tool that can cut any shape, but different materials can require specific substrates and fixturing. This is why the shop has 11 machines of various brands (see Figure 3). Each machine can handle certain types of jobs, depending on material type and thickness, part geometry, and tolerances required. Changeout procedures are standardized at
How Service Drives Technology Adoption

Such sales focus led to the machine technology mix on the floor. We added lasers after several of our largest customers repeatedly asked us if we could offer laser cutting services, Bobrowski said. They were buying waterjet from one place and laser cutting from another place. The same thing happened with our machining capabilities. People had waterjet-cut parts that required additional tapping, milling, or turning. All of our capacity
FIGURE 3 Fedtech has 11 waterjet machines, and each is dedicated to specific kinds of jobs, depending on the material type and thickness, part geometry, and tolerances required.
93
Capital spending forecast up again

Spending survey shows continued growth for next year
market share away from the weaker players. Consider comments Mike Jacobs made at e FABRICATORs Leadership Summit earlier this year. Jacobs is vice president of strategic sourcing, operations, and engineering for Rockwell Automation in Milwaukee. Globally, Rockwell has more than 5,000 suppliers. We are aggressively reducing that number, he said. We think its in our best interest to work with a much smaller group of high-performance suppliers. More work is being sent to fewer companies, and this may help explain current spending trends in capital equipment. Companies with 500 to 999 employees not only have the highest spending projections, but theyre also operating at the highest capacity utilization levels.
y the time you read this, youll either be getting ready to elect a president, or youve recently cast your ballot. Once that happens, we still wont know for certain where business will be going during the next few years, but at least one unknown, the next president, will become known. e year has been full of unknowns. Where is Europe headed? How about China? How about that scal cli were supposed to be on the edge of? How about our future workforce? Where will the next press brake guru come from, the next welder, or the next machine programmer? Despite the uncertainties, fabricators are opening their wallets for capital equipment. According to the soon-to-be released 2013 Capital Spending Forecast, published by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, projected spending for U.S. metal fabricators climbed by 4 percent over last year. e total amountmore than $2.2 billion, a number extrapolated from a statistical sample of U.S. fabricatorsis just shy of where readers projected spending to be before the recession. Business owners continue to worry, but they know if they sit still, theyll be left behind. is years total spending projection may be even more signicant because nancing has changed since the heady days before the nancial crash, yet growth continues unabated. FMAs 2012 Financial Ratios & Operational Benchmarking Survey shows how nancially strong some companies are today. e weaker companies have been sold or shut their doors, and the strong rms continue to get stronger. ey know they need to invest in the business to ensure they maintain their strong position before the next dip in the business cycle. ese players are in positions to buy.
e Geography of Spending
Not only has spending increased substantially at these larger (but not the largest) plants, but the dollars spent has also become more concentrated. e Midwest always has been a metal fabrication center, and its becoming even more so.
Trend Data 2008-2013 Average Planned Spending Dollars Reported by Plant Size
1-19
$294,963 $186,085 $125,177 $91,587 $111,364 $414,531 $447,775 $243,534 $138,221 $232,843 $709,494 $633,860
20-49
1-49
$368,712 $229,808 $344,207 $112,750
Which Plants Are Growing?

Small companies always made up a signicant part of this business. Although individual company spending is small relative to larger players, taken together, fabricators with fewer than 50 employees account for a quarter of all equipment spending nationwide. And spending at the smallest companies continues to trend upward. Companies with 1 to 19 employees predict 2013 spending will be more than 200 percent more than forecast for 2010. ( ose projections were understandably low, considering they were made in 2009, which for many was the trough of the recession.) Not every fabricator is spending so aggressively. e largest fabricators in the survey, with 1,000 employees or more, decreased spending predictions by 7 percent, on average. And for the rst time since the survey has tracked these numbers, predicted spending by slightly smaller companies, though still largethose with 500 to 999 employeesshot past their larger cousins. In this category, predicted spending has more than doubled from last year and more than tripled since the recession. Fabricators with 250-499 employees also increased their projected spending signicantly, 34 percent over last year (see Figure 1). All this may reect a trend of consolidation, at least in some local markets. During the recession and the ensuing recovery, stronger companies took
Employees
50-99
$239,785 $334,615 $226,025
$695,946 $586,594 $577,727
100-249
$255,825 $417,105 $294,819
$1,250,000 $1,181,076 $982,971
$2,650,000
250-499
$500,980
$1,969,928 $2,011,364
$848,462 $632,600 $3,225,862
500-999
$867,577
$1,473,864 $1,290,000 $1,151,250 $1,200,926 $2,689,286 $2,911,957 $3,442,308 $2,756,579 $2,833,929
1000+
$1,093,666
$500,000
$1,000,000
$1,500,000
$2,000,000
$2,500,000
$3,000,000
$3,500,000
n 2013
n 2012
n 2011
n 2010
n 2009
n 2008
FIGURE 1 e average per-plant spending forecasts at companies with 500-999 employees more than tripled since the recession. Average spending projections at companies with 250-499 employees grew signicantly as well.
Actual Dollar Volume of Plants Planning to Purchase by State

The top 5 states represent 48.4% of the dollars planned to be spent. The top 10 states represent 67.3% of the dollars planned to be spent.
sourcing trend, with large OEMs outsourcing more metal fabrication work to reliable, top-performing contract fabricators. Larger top performers may have the scale and capacity to satisfy demand, while the smallest top performers can quickly turn around low volumes of specialized work.
Michigan - 14.9% Kentucky - 3.2% Florida - 3.3% California - 3.5% Ohio - 9.5% Minnesota - 4.3% Pennsylvania - 4.6% Wisconsin - 8.8% Illinois - 8.0% Texas - 7.1%
What Are Fabricators Buying?

As always, welding power sources top the list, but what comes after that gets intriguing. Fabricators expect to spend more than $224 million on laser cutting systems, the largest amount in six years. So is the amount for turret punch press spending, up almost 25 percent over last years forecast. Plasma cutting machine spending is projected to be more than 40 percent higher than last year, and projected waterjet machine spending is up nearly 20 percent. Of all spending on primary cutting equipment, only oxyfuel cutting is down from last year (see Figure 3). Percentagewise, the greatest increase is for servo presses, with spending levels projected to be well more than triple what they were last year. ats still much less than the projected spending for traditional mechanical pressesa much more mature market, obviouslybut its still a jump worth noting. Overall spending projections increased only 4 percent over last year, so some massive gains were o set by declines in other categories, hydraulic press brakes among them. Still, 2013 projections for press brakes are higher than they were two years ago. Most signicant is that after falling by almost 50 percent during the recession, total projected spending has bounced back almost to its pre-recession high. eres barely a 1 percent di erence. Just imagine if the overall economy had such resilience. If it did, the presidential election season would have been entirely di erent.
Senior Editor Tim Heston can be reached at timh@thefabricator.com. To purchase the complete 2013 Capital Spending Forecast, visit www.fmanet.org/store or call 888-394-4362. For this survey, a random sample of 24,122 FMA Communications subscribers were sent questionnaires, and a total of 1,451 completed surveys were received. Questionnaires were sent with a unique URL that was used to match demographic information with each respondent. FMA Communications used an algorithm to turn the raw data into projections.
Actual Number of Plants Planning to Purchase by State

The top 5 states represent 34.8% of the number of plants planning to purchase. The top 10 states represent 57.3% of the number of plants planning to purchase.
Michigan - 7.8%
Ohio - 7.4%
Indiana - 4.0% Florida - 4.1%
California - 6.7%
Minnesota - 4.4% Texas - 4.6% Pennsylvania - 5.5%
Wisconsin - 6.7% Illinois - 6.2%
FIGURE 2 Spending trends are becoming geographically concentrated. is year in the top ve states, more dollars are predicted to be spent (48.4 percent of total spending). But those top ve states have slightly fewer plants (34.8 percent). Rounding out the top ve states are Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Texasno surprises there. What is somewhat surprising is just how much equipment spending is expected to occur in these states. Metal fabrication plants in these top ve states make up 48.4 percent of total projected spending for the entire country. ats a higher geographic concentration of spending than projected in any FMA capital spending survey in the past 0 50000000 100000000 spending 150000000in pure 200000000 250000000 seven years. Still, while equipment dollar terms has become more geographically concentrated, actual metal fabrication plants have become less concentrated. In 2007 a little less than 40 percent of all metal fabrication plants in the survey were in just ve states. Today that number has decreased to 34.8 percent (see Figure 2).
Projected Spending by Type of Equipment

Welding Power Supplies (arc, laser, beam, resistance, etc.) $236,766,235 Laser Cutting Machines $224,836,759 Consumables & Supplies (electrodes, flux, wire, gases) $215,694,301 Press Brake- Hydraulic $143,804,883 Related Welding Components $142,554,632
(cables, guns, torches, etc.)
Saws- Band Saws $133,568,455 Thermal Cutting MachinesPlasma $132,422,392 Waterjet Cutting Machines $91,320,398
(induction, roll, rotary draw, other)
Tube/Pipe Bending Equipment $81,057,923
(bevelers/notchers, flangers, folders, embossers, piercers, roll benders, seamers, scroll benders, spinning machines, stretch formers)
Other Sheet/Plate bending & forming equipment $79,521,157 Punch Press- Turret $78,739,750
Stamping Press- Mechanical $67,435,400 Saws- Circular/Cold Saws $61,496,709

(end forming, grooving, finning, knurling, hydroforming, perforating, piercing, slotting, beveling, notching, spinning)
After falling by almost 50 percent during the recession, total projected spending has bounced back almost to its pre-recession high.
All this may imply several signicant shifts in the industry landscape. First, when it comes to capital spendingboth in terms of dollars spent and number of metal fabrication plantsMichigan is ruling the roost, perhaps a testament to the automotive industrys resurgence. Second, operations that are spending the most are concentrated in fewer states. After the recession, stronger players have grown in these markets while the weaker players have fallen away. Today a local market may have fewer metal fabrication plants, but collectively theyre spending more. Consider Michigan again. e state has only 7.8 percent of all metal fabrication plants in the study, but they account for almost 15 percent of all dollars spent on capital equipment nationwide. ird, capital spending growth is concentrated at small companies and at larger operationsbut not at the largest operations. is may hint at an out-
Tube/Pipe Forming Equipment $53,435,196
Roll Forming Lines $52,901,235 Shears $52,757,977 Press Brake- Mechanical $49,801,655
(fineblanking, hydroforming, transfer, deep drawing, multislide)
Other presses $43,732,729
Stamping Press- Hydraulic $40,763,384 Ironworkers $31,438,597 Coil Processing Equipment- Slitters $28,208,782 Stamping Press- Servo $27,609,704 Tube/Pipe Production Equipment- Welded Mills $27,153,883
(ERW mills, high-frequency, induction, laser, GTAW, plasma)
Punch Press- Single Station $23,728,717 Coil Processing Equipment- Cut-to-Length $22,947,311 Thermal Cutting Machines-Oxyfuel $21,931,482 Wire Bending Equipment $16,318,377 Coil Processing Equipment- Levelers $11,122,022 Coil Processing Equipment- Accumulators $5,287,519
$50,000,000
$100,000,000
$150,000,000
$200,000,000
$250,000,000
FIGURE 3 Like last year, welding power supplies topped the spending list. But laser cutting, turret presses, plasma cutting, and waterjet cutting all made signicant gains.
95
Forming & Fabricating

Machine Size Work Area Travel, Accuracy, and Repeatability
2012 Waterjet Cutting Machine Buyers Guide

Control and Software CAD/CAM Software Available From Machine Vendor Importable File Formats** Pump
Power Output, Maximum (Horsepower)
Model Number
AccuStream INC., New Brighton, MN
Enter reader service code 856636 at www.ffid.net AccuStream A-6015 AccuStream A-6030 AccuStream AS-6050 AccuStream AS-6075 AccuStream AS-60100 AccuStream AS-60150 15 30 50 75 100 150 60 60 60 60 60 60 .24 60 1.1 1.6 2.2 3.2
BYSTRONIC INC., Elgin, IL

ByJet Smart 3015 ByJet Smart 3015 ByJet Classic 3015 ByJet Classic L 2030 ByJet Classic L 4030 ByJet Classic L 6030 ByJet Classic L 8030 ByJet Classic L 10030 267 267 279 265 299 378 456 535 177 177 259 318 318 318 318 318 120 120 120 120 156 236 315 393 60 60 60 78 120 120 120 120 9.84 9.84 9.84 9.84 9.84 9.84 9.84 9.84 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 D, DWG, I, ME10 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Bystronic Bystronic Bystronic Bystronic Bystronic Bystronic Bystronic Bystronic
Enter reader service code 101902 at www.ffid.net HD 18 HD 37 APC 50 APC 50 APC 50 APC 50 APC 50 APC 50 24.8 49.5 60 60 60 60 60 60 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 .66 1.32 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.3
CNC MACHINES INTERNATIONAL, Raleigh, NC

ICe-84 ICe-105 ICe-126 IMR-84 IMR-105 IMR-126 ILR-126 ILR-1212 176 198 224 154 178 190 128 220 116 130 142 78 90 102 222 222 50 62 74 50 62 74 146 146 98 122 146 98 122 146 74 146 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 .004 .004 .004 .004 .004 .004 .004 .004 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 .002 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A D D 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 AccuStream AccuStream AccuStream AccuStream AccuStream AccuStream AccuStream AccuStream
Enter reader service code 1136854 at www.ffid.net 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 Enter reader service code 127381 at www.ffid.net AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD drive, Flow Intl. Direct Intensifier
D D
FLOW WATERJET, Kent, WA

Mach 2 1313b 118 108 51 51 8 .004 .002 3 4 A 4
100
60
Mach 2 2031b
191
171
79
124
.004
.002
drive, Flow Intl. Direct Intensifier
100
60
Mach 2 4020b
178
212
157
79
.004
.002
100
60
Mach 2 2020c
138
126
79
79
.003
.002
100
60
Mach 2 2030c
171
126
79
122
.003
.002
100
60
Mach 2 2040c
212
126
79
157
.003
.002
100
60
Mach 3 1313b
109
129
51
51
.002
.001
200
94
Mach 3 2513b
155
148
98
51
.002
.001
200
94
Mach 3 3020b
178
170
122
79
.002
.001
200
94
Mach 3 4020b
178
212
157
79
.002
.001
200
94
Mach 3 7320b
178
381
287
79
.002
.001
200
94
Mach 4 2020c
155
199
79
79
12
.001
.0005
200
94
*Accuracy per 24 in. of travel **File formats: AI=Adobe Illustrator, D=.dxf, I=IGES This information is provided by the manufacturers. For more information, use the corresponding advertising code at www.ffid.net or the links in the online buyers guide at www.thefabricator.com. Copyright 2012 by FMACommunications Inc. Reproduction in full or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. Buyers guides are a part of the Forming & Fabricating Industry Directory.
Volume Output (GPM at Max. Pressure)

2 2 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 4
No. of Controlled Axes
Pressure, Max. (KPSI)
Cutting Speed (A=Auto, M= Manual)
Machine Interfaces with Nesting Software
Repeatability ( in.)
Accuracy ( in.)*
Manufacturer
Length (in.)
X Axis (in.)
Y Axis (in.)
Z Axis (in.)
Width (in.)
Model
Control and Software Machine Size Importable File Formats** Work Area Travel, Accuracy, and Repeatability Repeatability ( in.) Accuracy ( in.)* CAD/CAM Software Available From Machine Vendor
Pump
Model Number
Mach 4 2080c
413
199
79
315
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 3020c
155
238
122
79
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 3030c
196
238
122
122
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 3080c
413
238
122
315
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 30100c
498
238
122
394
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 30130c
628
238
122
512
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 4020c
155
278
157
79
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 4030c
196
278
157
122
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 4050c
284
278
157
197
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 4070c
369
278
157
276
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 40100c
498
278
157
394
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 40110c
543
278
157
433
12
.001
.0005
Mach 4 40140c
672
278
157
551
12
.001
.0005
AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD AI, D, I, DWG, SLDPRT, Step, Catia, ORD
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
200
94
INDUSTRIAL MOTION SYSTEMS INC., Oxford, CT

71300 61200 11600 5900 6600 5500 4400 2200 196 191 179 155 119 107 95 71 130 103 91 91 91 79 67 43 96 84 72 60 72 60 48 24 168 174 121 108 72 60 48 24 12 - 24 12 - 24 12 - 24 12 - 24 12 - 18 12 - 18 12 - 18 12 - 18 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 3-5 3-5 3-5 3-5 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A D, I, DWG, PRT D, I, PRT, DWG D, I, DWG, PRT D, I, DWG, PRT D, I, DWG, PRT D, I, DWG, PRT D, I, DWG, PRT D, I, DWG, PRT 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream KMT, AccuStream
Enter reader service code 1088012 at www.ffid.net 200 200 200 125 125 125 125 125 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 4.0 4.0 4.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
JET EDGE, St. Michael, MN

MR55 MR58 MR513 MR85 MR813 MR1313 MR2113 MR2413 HR44 HR48 60 60 60 96 96 156 252 252 48 48 60 96 156 60 156 156 156 156 48 96 12 96 156 60 156 156 156 156 48 96 12 60 60 96 96 156 252 252 48 48 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12, 18 12, 18 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A A A AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge
Enter reader service code 473289 at www.ffid.net iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4

4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Manufacturer
Length (in.)
X Axis (in.)
Y Axis (in.)
Z Axis (in.)
Width (in.)
Model
97
Forming & Fabricating

Machine Size Work Area Travel, Accuracy, and Repeatability
2012 Waterjet Cutting Machine Buyers Guide

Control and Software CAD/CAM Software Available From Machine Vendor Importable File Formats** Pump
Model Number
HR412 HR68 HR610 HR612 HR614 HR84 HR812 HR814 HR1012 HR1014 HR128 HR1212 HR1214 HR148 HR1414 HR168 HR1610 HR1812 HR2410
48 72 72 72 72 96 96 96 120 120 144 144 144 168 168 192 192 216 240
144 96 120 144 168 48 144 168 144 168 96 144 168 96 168 96 120 144 120
144 96 120 144 168 48 144 168 144 168 96 144 168 96 168 96 120 144 120
48 72 72 72 72 96 96 96 120 120 144 144 144 168 168 192 192 216 240
12 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18 12, 18
.001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001
.001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI,D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I Ai, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge Jet Edge
iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP or xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP or xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series iP and xP Series Streamline PRO2 125 Streamline PRO2 60 Streamline SL-V 50 Streamline SL-V 100 Streamline SL-V 200 SL-V 15Plus Streamline S30 Streamline S50 Streamline E30 Streamline E50 NEOLine
30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200 30-200
36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90 36, 60, 90
KMT WATERJET SYSTEMS, Baxter Springs, KS

KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet KMT Waterjet
Enter reader service code 153725 at www.ffid.net 125 60 50 100 200 15 30 50 30 50 40 90 90 60 60 60 60 60 60 55 55 55 1.43 .73 1.0 2.0 4.0 .30 .52 .88 .6 1.0 .72
KNUTH MACHINE TOOLS USA INC., Lincolnshire, IL

Hydro-Jet Eco 0615 S Hydro-Jet 6020 Hydro-Jet 3020 Hydro-Jet 2010 Hydro-Jet Eco 1525 Hydro-Jet D 3080 Water-Jet Classic Water-Jet Super Classica CL3000 Suprema DX44 Suprema DX510 Suprema DX612 MWX4-612 MWX3-612 102 250 172 132 146 433 276 115 161 128 128 89 146 244 138 181 60 236 118 79 98 118 134 132 24 79 79 39 59 315 63 73 Man. 6.25 6.25 6.25 6 9.8 7 12 .002 .002 .002 .002 .004 .004 .003 .002 .002/12 .002/20 .002/20 .002/20 .002 .002 .002 .001 3 3 3 3 3 3 3-6 3-6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A D D D D 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 KMT KMT
Enter reader service code 928367 at www.ffid.net 10 67 67 67 40 40 Streamline V50 Streamline V50 Streamline Streamline Streamline Streamline Streamline Pro S50 50 50 40 58 58 58 55 55 60 60 .72 .72 .95 .95
MC MACHINERY SYSTEMSMITSUBISHI LASER, Wood Dale, IL

63 48 60 72 144 144 118.1 48 120 144 72 72 6 6.5 6.5 12 96 96 .006 .006 .003 .003 .002 .005 .006 .006 .003 .003 3 4 4 4 4 3 4 4 4 4 DXF, I DXF, I DXF, I DXF, I 4 4 4 4 4 4 KMT KMT KMT KMT KMT KMT
Enter reader service code 199945 at www.ffid.net 60 125 125 125 60 60 90 90 90 90 100 60 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2
OMAX, Kent, WA
OMAX 80X OMAX 80X OMAX 80X 120X/S 120X 265 265 265 260 340 152 152 152 207 207 80 80 80 182 240 165 165 165 137 120 .003 .003 .003 .002 .002 .002 .0005 .002 2 2 2 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A Vector, Raster Vector, Raster All 4 4 4 4 4 OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX
Enter reader service code 232349 at www.ffid.net Direct drive Direct drive Direct drive EnduroMAX EnduroMAX 40 40 40 50 50 55 55 55 60 60 2.4 2.4

.65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4 .65-4
Repeatability ( in.)
Accuracy ( in.)*
Manufacturer
Length (in.)
X Axis (in.)
Y Axis (in.)
Z Axis (in.)
Width (in.)
Model
Control and Software Machine Size Importable File Formats** Work Area Travel, Accuracy, and Repeatability Repeatability ( in.) Accuracy ( in.)* CAD/CAM Software Available From Machine Vendor
Pump
Model Number
OMAX 80160 OMAX 60120 120X-1 120X-2 OMAX 55100 120X-3 120X-4 OMAX 2652 OMAX 2626 80X 80X-1 80X-2 80160 2626xp 60120 55100 MAXIEM 2040 5555 2652 MAXIEM 1530
243 225 420 500 155 585 665 139 116 265 338 440 243 116 225 155 202 131 139 164
134 110 230 230 94 230 230 67 72 152 152 175 134 72 110 94 112 95 67 98
80 126 320 400 100 480 560 52 26 165 240 320 168 29 126 100 160 55 52 122
168 62 120 120 55 120 120 26 29 80 80 80 80 25 62 55 79 55 26 62
.003 .003
.002 .002 .002 .002
2 2 5 5 2 5 5 2 2 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
A A A
All All Vector, Raster Vector, Raster All Vector, Raster Vector, Raster All All Vector, Raster Vector, Raster Most vector, raster formats Vector, Raster Vector, Raster Vector, Raster Vector, Raster DWG, DXF, OMX, ORD, AI, PDF, SVG, Raster Vector, Raster Vector, Raster DWG, DXF, OMX, ORD, AI, PDF, SVG, RASTER DWG, DXF, OMX, ORD, AI, PDF, SVG, RASTER DWG, DXF, OMX, ORD, AI, PDF, SVG, Raster Vector, Raster To spec.
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX OMAX MAXIEM OMAX OMAX MAXIEM
Direct drive Direct drive EnduroMAX EnduroMAX Direct drive EnduroMAX EnduroMAX Direct drive Direct drive EnduroMAX EnduroMAX EnduroMAX EnduroMAX EnduroMAX EnduroMAX EnduroMAX Direct drive EnduroMAX EnduroMAX Direct drive
40 40 50 50 40 50 50 40 40 50 50 50 50 50 50 50 40 50 50 40
55 55 60 60 55 60 60 55 55 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 50 60 60 50 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4 1.9 2.4 2.4 1.9 2.4 2.4 2.4 2.4
.003
.002 .002 .002
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
.003 .003
.0013 .0013 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005
.002
.0005 .0005 .0005 .001 .0005 .0005 .001
MAXIEM 1515 MAXIEM 0707 2626
105
98
62
62
.001
MAXIEM
Direct drive
40
50
72 116
66 72
30 29
30 26
.001 .0005
5 5
4 4
A A
4 4
MAXIEM OMAX
Direct drive EnduroMAX
40 50
50 60
PAR SYSTEMS INC., Shoreview, MN

Vector To spec. To spec. To spec. To spec. To spec. 5 4 A 4 KMT Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet Techni Waterjet KMT
Enter reader service code 316456 at www.ffid.net 100,000 Enter reader service code 930039 at www.ffid.net Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Quantum 66 66 .8 ESP 66 Enter reader service code 1021417 at www.ffid.net 122 7.8 .0019 .0019 3 4 A D 4 SL-V 50 50 60 .90
TECHNI WATERJET, Lenexa, KS

Intec 35 Intec 510-G2 Intec 612-G2 Intec 1015 Intec 1020 TJ1000-X2 TJ1500-X2 TJ3000-X3 TJ4000-X3 TJ5000-X2 TJ6000-X2 MagiJet 1530 Z-45 R-1214 R-4014 L-1212 R-2014 R-3014 J-138 Z-2543 Z-2043 Custom G-6018 G-4018 65 168 192 166 166 66 66 168 192 166 166 102 92 102 255 315 75 102 92 102 236 315 60 120 144 180 240 36 60 120 144 180 240 36 60 72 120 120 36 36 60 72 120 120 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 .004 .005 .006 .006 .006 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .002 .002 .002 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 .0005 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 3/5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A A A A DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF DXF 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
UNITED PROARC CORP., Pingjen City, Taiwan

156 96 61
WARDJET INC., Tallmadge, OH

82 240 600 239 360 480 118 225 225 Any 900 655 77 250 250 239 250 250 195 132 110 Any 256 256 50 145 481 145 241 361 97 156 156 To spec. 720 480 62 157 157 147 157 157 147 97 78 To spec. 216 216 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 To spec. 60 60 .003 .003 .003 .003 .003 .003 .006 .003 .003 .003 .003 .003 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 .002 .001 .001 .001 .001 .001 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 32 32 32 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 A A A A A A A A A A A A D, I, AI D, AI, I D, AI, I D, AI, I D, AI, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I AI, D, I 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS AS
Enter reader service code 547653 at www.ffid.net WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 WJ-150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3 3.3

1.9 1.9 2.4
Manufacturer
Length (in.)
X Axis (in.)
Y Axis (in.)
Z Axis (in.)
Width (in.)
Model
99
Your leading educational resource www.fmanet.org
News News and and information information from from the the Fabricators Fabricators && Manufacturers Manufacturers Association, Association, International International
IN THE KNOW
Manufacturing Gets Its Day in the Sun

Grassroots activity works. In June the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) and its coproducing partners the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), The Manufacturing Institute, and the U.S. Commerce Departments Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) announced that Oct. 5 would be the first annual Manufacturing Day. Its purpose would be to invite local community members into manufacturing facilities to demonstrate just what 21st-century manufacturing work is really like. The objective? To dispel myths about manufacturing and encourage young people to consider careers in the industry. The website went live, a news release was distributed, and the organizations started to contact members about participating. National and regional manufacturing associations and other industryrelated organizations began to contact their members about hosting the open house events that would be critical to the day. During the first week in October, more than 220 companies opened their doors for tours, presentations, job fairs, and the like. Thousands of people walked through those doors, and for most, it was their first time in a manufacturing facility. The stories coming out of this inaugural celebration of manufacturing are impressive. For example, a company in Ohio welcomed more than 1,500 students from surrounding school districts over two days; a community college in the Chicago area hosted a special career day for 300 high school students and close to 100 school counselors, with exhibits from almost 20 local manufacturers. Elected officials from every level of government also participated some so they could learn about the manufacturers in their districts, others to make sure local manufacturing personnel knew that they support manufacturing initiatives. Some events involved whole business communities. One of the most impressive things we observed about Manufacturing
More than 220 events celebrate first national Manufacturing Day
Day is that companies collaborated, said Ed Youdell, president and CEO of FMA. Perhaps one company in an industrial park got a notice and decided that this was a good reason to contact their industrial park neighbors even if they didnt know them. They also reached out to regional economic development offices or other regional manufacturing groups, believing that the more companies that got involved, the more newsworthy the message would be, and the greater the reach they would have into their community. Manufacturing has been suffering from a skilled-labor shortage for years. Even in the depths of the recession, manufacturers have found it difficult to hire people with the skills they need. With the average age of manufacturing personnel in the U.S. standing at 56 and the potential for almost two-thirds of the manufacturing workforce to retire over the next decade, companies know that they must focus on who will replace those retiring workers. Its not enough to look at interested high school seniors or community college students although they are important for shortterm hiring needs, said Edwin Stanley, vice president of GH Metal Solutions in Fort Payne, Ala. We need to be focused on how to entice students who are currently in middle school and junior high to consider
manufacturing careers. They must understand that math, science, computer, and other technology coursework is important for the kind of career training they will need once
they graduate from high school. We want them to have the time to take the right coursework and to realize it is their key to a well-paid, exciting career in our industry. Thats why I was so pleased that our Manufacturing Day open
house welcomed 110 students ranging from fifth grade up through the community college level. We need them all to want to work in our industry. Manufacturing Day will occur every year on the first Friday in October. For more information, visit mfgday.com or view the photos and stories from this years program on facebook.com/mfgday. n
Summer Mfg. Camps
FABTECH trade show
Continuing Education
Networking Events
Wishing You Could See 2013 in a Crystal Ball?

Attend FMAs annual meetings for an assessment of the business landscape
FMAs economic analyst, Chris Kuehl, Ph.D., will headline both The FABRICATORs Leadership Summit: 8th Annual Metal Matters and FMAs 17th Annual Toll Processing Conference. These co-located events will be held at the Innisbrook Golf & Spa Resort, Palm Harbor (Tampa), Fla., Feb. 27 March 1, 2013. Readers of the Ask the Dr. column in The FABRICATOR and Fabrinomics e-newsletter know that Dr. Kuehl shares relevant business and economic stories accompanied by commentary interpreting the impact on manufacturing. He delivers the news that matters most to you, Dr. Chris Kuehl, without the FMA Economic Analyst hype typically found in consumer media. During live presentations, audiences come to appreciate Kuehls vast knowledge and wit. His entertaining style and clever observations make his presentation one that you dont want to miss. The Future Is Now will be the focus of discussions at The FABRICATORs Leadership Summit. The program will begin with brief Don McNeeley, President and COO of opening stateChicago Tube & Iron ments by Kuehl and Donald R. McNeeley, Ph.D. McNeeley is the president and COO of Chicago Tube & Iron Co. (CTI) and a professor at Northwestern University. McNeeley gave the keynote address at last years annual meetings, and because of his popularity he and Kuehl will share the stage for a dynamic exchange about the election, the economy, and
TRAINING
ALERT
Conferences & Workshops

RUN4MFG 5K
Nov. 11, 2012 Las Vegas, Nev.
FABTECH Conference
Nov. 12-14, 2012 Las Vegas, Nev.
The FABRICATORs Leadership Summit: 8th Annual Metal Matters

OR IS IT A DOUBLE DRIBBLE?
Feb. 27-March 1, 2013 Palm Harbor (Tampa), Fla.
FMAs Toll Processing Conference

Feb. 27-March 1, 2013 Palm Harbor (Tampa), Fla.
the manufacturing segment performancearming you with the comprehensive analysis you need to make sound business decisions. Conference alumni and attendees new to the Toll Processing Conference will gain steel market insight from industry experts and worldclass speakers. As the conference kicks off at the height of basketball season, the theme of this years event is Business on the ReboundOr Is It a Double Dribble? Participants will hear how the political landscape in 2013 will affect the North American steel industry and learn whats in store for metal processors. In addition to hearing a broad global economy view from Kuehl, steel market analyst and conference favorite Glenn Kidd, Steel Market Analyst Glenn Kidd will present an outlook specific to the metals industry. Valuable networking time during peer-to-peer roundtable discussions, golf tournaments, and fun evening receptions round out the events, making them must attend for
those working to move ahead in todays competitive market. Dont miss out on this exciting opportunity to expand your network of professional contacts and strengthen existing business relationships. Make plans now to participate in order to receive the special FMA room rate ($199/ night) at the Innisbrook Resort and take advantage of airfare deals. Plus, save $200 on conference fees when you sign up by Jan. 7, 2013!* (Conference fees: $745 FMA Members, $995 General.) Additional details on the programs, registration, as well as sponsorships and exhibit opportunities can be found at: fmanet. org/metalmatters, fmanet.org/ tollprocessing or by calling 888394-4362. n
*Not applicable with any other registration discounts or promotional offers.
Coil Processing Workshop & Tours

April 8-10, 2013 San Antonio, Texas
ALAW Advanced Laser Applications Workshop

May 2-3, 2013 Livonia, Mich.
Manufacturing Day
Oct. 4, 2013
FabCasts:
Plate Cutting Comparative Methods
Dec. 6, 2012 | 10-11:30 a.m. CT
Fundamentals of Plate Rolling

Feb. 8, 2013 | 1-2:30 p.m. CT
or call 888-394-4362
details at fmanet.org/ training
101
Product News > > technology innovations in the fabricating industry

Electronic bulletin board application
Henning Software Inc. o ers the new Visual EstiTrack Shop Kiosk, an addon application to its Visual EstiTrack ERP product. e application is designed to be run on a users desktop machine or as an information bulletin board on a large, wall-mounted monitor in a shops public area. It provides an electronic way to share and distribute information from the ERP system, serving as an alternative to a traditional, paper-based bulletin board. Employees can view shop metrics, orders, human resource information, videos, and PDF documents. Information summarized and graphed in the manufacturers Executive Dashboard also can be displayed.
Henning Software | 330-650-4212 | www.henningsoftware.com
Mobile dust collection system
Rust-removing gel
Daubert Cromwell has introduced NoxRust Premium rust-removing gel, a waterbased, brushon rust remover. e gel takes o surface rust from steel, iron, and most metal surfaces without scrubbing or sanding. Acid-free, nontoxic, and ready to use, the gel can be applied by brush or roller. e thick, nonhazardous gel clings to vertical surfaces, making it suitable for derusting large or heavy metal components that are di cult to move. Light rust begins to break up within 15 to 20 minutes of application.
Daubert Cromwell | 800-535-3535 | www.daubertcromwell.com
3-D scanning inspection cell
RoboVent has introduced its mobile dust collection system, incorporating the companys PowerFlex pulsing system to keep lters cleaner for a consistent airow through the collector. e system collects dirty air, lters it, and releases it clean. Applications include metalworking, abrasive blasting, woodworking, and chemical production. e heavy-duty, 7-ga. construction is 100 percent welded. e unit can be truck-mounted.
RoboVent | 888-762-6836 | www.robovent.com
e GOM Atos ScanBox from Capture 3D Inc. is constructed and engineered to industrial standards to help ensure safety and mobility. Setup is plug-and-play. e unit includes an Atos Triple Scan digitizer, robot, rotary stage, software, and safety house. All elements are contained in one box.
Capture 3D Inc. | 714-546-7278 | www.capture3d.com
Laser Mechs Reflecting Parabola Focusing Heads are available in a variety of styles and configurations to satisfy even the most demanding industrial welding applications. Our most popular heads feature: Fixed input with preset index swivel, adjustable beam separation and fixed focus housing Fixed input with 360 swivel, air knife, interlocks, and parabola positioning and referencing using 1 incremental markings Contact a Laser Mech Sales Engineer today for more information on our complete line of Reflecting Parabola Focusing Heads.
(248) 474-9480
www.lasermech.com Fax: (248) 474-9277
91017 Fabricator AD_FNL_Layout 1 9/6/12 11:30
The FABRICATORs Metal Market
Fiber laser
Welding machines/ generators

Miller Electric Mfg. Co. has introduced the new Trailblazer 275 and 325 engine-driven welding machines/generas tors. Built for general construction, structural steel, maintenance and repair, mobile fabrication, and farm and ranch applications, the machines o er new technologies designed to reduce fuel use and noise; extend runtimes; and provide a small, light footprint. Smart-Cor technology provides independent weld and generator power to help eliminate interaction between the welding arc and job site tools, such as grinders and chop saws. Auto-Speed technology automatically adjusts the engine speed to run at lower speeds determined by the load applied to the machine. Whereas comparable units operate at 3,600 RPM at all times, the new series varies its output based on demand. Both machines have optional Excel power and electronic fuel injection (EFI). Excel power allows users to run most job site tools at 2,400 RPM (idle speed) to help save fuel and reduce noise. EFI optimizes the air-to-fuel ratio for reduced fuel consumption, long runtime, and low emissions, the manufacturer says.
Miller Electric Mfg. Co. | 800-426-4553 | www.millerwelds.com
Amada o ers the FOL3015AJ ber laser, which the company says is the rst 4,000-W production ber laser designed specically for cutting. A 2,000-W model also is available. According to the manufacturer, the machine cuts thin material two to four times faster than a comparable 4,000-W CO2 laser. e ber laser cuts material thicknesses up to 0.875 in., and process range expansion (PRE) allows laser cutting of copper, brass, titanium, and other di cultto-process materials. e resonator generates a laser beam with a wavelength that is about one-tenth of that emitted by a conventional gas laser, allowing the system to cut materials that a CO2 laser cannot process. e machine also cuts thin-gauge materials at high speeds, with no optics or space inside the cavity of the laser source. With solid-state technology, no laser gas is required to generate the laser beam. Maximum cutting speed is 9,449 IPM. With all three axes driven by linear drives, the machine features a traverse speed of 13,380 IPM and a 5G acceleration speed for the work envelope.
Amada America Inc. | 877-262-3287 | www.amada.com
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Vertical-bend hairpin bender
ERP system comparison guide

Inside-ERP o ers a comparison guide containing 19 ERP systems evaluated across 29 features. Designed for nance, manufacturing, and operations professionals, the guide provides specic details on how the top ERP systems compare in the areas of nancials, manufacturing, SCM, HCM, sales order management, and industry-specic features. e guide is available for download free of charge. Pricing and contact information is provided for vendor evaluation and purchasing.
Inside-ERP | www.inside-erp.com
Burr Oak Tool Inc. has introduced the small-diameter vertical-bend hairpin bender (SD VBHD) with throughput capacities up to 4,000 hairpins per hour and eight parts per cycle. e compact bending machine helps reduce scrap, labor, and oor space. It handles tubes up to 0.375 in.
Burr Oak Tool Inc. | 269-651-9393 | www.burroak.com
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Product News > > technology innovations

Prole nibbler Industrial vacuum
TRUMPF o ers the TruTool PN 200 prole nibbler for cutting mild steel sheet thicknesses up to 0.08 in. It is suitable for making diagonal cuts in trapezoidal sheets and for cutting CL-U proles. e tool features a 72-position rotation for changing cutting direction, which can be adjusted 360 degrees. e punch achieves quality cuts at a working speed of more than 6.5 FPM with cutting radii as small as 2 in. e unit is available for electric, cordless, or pneumatic operation, allowing users to choose the version most suited to their needs. e toolchange feature permits the tool to be replaced in seconds with no netuning needed.
TRUMPF Inc. | 860-255-6104 | www.us.trumpf.com
Abrasive waterjet
Vac-U-Max has introduced the model 1050 continuous-duty industrial vacuum. e unit features 100 percent more lter area than the previous model 1020. e increased capacity allows it to lter ne powders, reducing the load on the vacuum producer to put more power at the end of the hose. is gives the operator more power for an extended period of time, the company states. e atmospheric blowback system allows users to clean lters without compressed air, without having to turn o the vacuum. e motor can continue running while users change out lled drums or hoppers. According to the manufacturer, the unit is the quietest continuousduty industrial vacuum in the industry. e diameter of the front wheels has been increased from 10 to 14 in., and the 8-in. caster on the rear has been replaced with a dual 8-in. swivel caster for maneuverability.
Vac-U-Max | 800-822-8629 | www.vac-u-max.com
Multipurpose six-axis robot

Suitable for short-run part production, JIT manufacturing, and prototype development, the OMAX 2626 JetMachining Center is a cantileverstyle waterjet machine with a footprint of 6 ft. by 9 ft. 8 in. e machine can cut parts from almost any material, directly from a CAD drawing or DXF le. Equipped with the companys 7/15 Mini MAXJET5 nozzle and Tilt-A-Jet, the unit can perform high-precision and taper-free cutting. Each machine comes with the companys Intelli-MAX software suite. With the new Intelli-VISOR system monitoring package, operators can monitor the performance of the machine through detailed messages and alerts.
OMAX Corp. | 800-838-0343 | www.omax.com
ABB Robotics o ers the IRB 120T multipurpose six-axis robot. In a 2.2-lb. picking cycle of 0.98 by 11.81 by 0.98 in., the robot completes a cycle in 0.52 sec., a 10 percent improvement over the 0.58 sec. of the standard IRB 120 model. With the addition of a 180-degree axis 6 reorientation to the movement, the speed improvement grows to 25 percent, 0.69 sec. per cycle compared to 0.92 sec. e robot is suitable for assembly and pick-and-place applications requiring extensive reorientation of the product. It features path repeatability of 0.0004 in., a standard payload of 6.6 lbs., a vertical wrist payload of 8.8 lbs., a reach of 22.83 in., a 16.18-in. stroke, and the ability to reach 4.41 in. below its base.
ABB Robotics | 248-391-9000 | www.abb.com/robotics
Material handling systems
Laser processing cell

Wayne Trail has introduced the Flex Lase Pro. e high-speed, three-axis, scanner-based laser processing cell is equipped with an IPG 2-kW, singlemode ber laser and a Cambridge Technologies 3-D, high-speed scanner head. Typical spot size at midrange eld of view is about 20 microns. With a eld-of-view working area up to 39.37 by 39.37 in. by means of power-adjusted scanner height setup and a fully dynamic Z axis, the system can laser weld, cut, or mark an almost unlimited variety of parts and shapes, either one at a time or in batch, identical or mixed components. e modular, self-contained system includes a laser, chiller, fume exhaust, gas management, and controls. e design allows for near-zero clearance along its back wall.
Wayne Trail, a Lincoln Electric Co. | 937-295-2120 | www.waynetrail.com
Peddinghaus Corp. has developed material handling systems to suit the needs of large and small fabrication shops. e systems are tailored to the specic needs of each facility in terms of footprint, modular design, and throughput. Indoor shop footprint can be minimized by placing material handling conveyors outside. e systems can withstand the elements outdoors alongside steel proles, allowing fabricators to place all material handling in-feeds and unprocessed steel outside to help minimize the systems total footprint within the main shop. Using a modular design, the systems are congurable to large and small shops. Conveyors and machines can be congured in many di erent patterns, arranged for each fabricators needs. e modular design also reduces the need to handle material with a crane or fork truck.
Peddinghaus Corp. | 815-937-3800 | www.peddinghaus.com
Image-analysis software for pipe inspection

Envirosights new Rovver Measurement Suite (RMS) image-analysis software for the Rovver X pipe inspection crawler allows an operator to measure a variety of pipe attributes directly from the systems touchscreen control pendant. Using adjustable overlays, the software calculates ow level; pipe diameter, bend, and o set; and the branch angle, clock position, and diameter of service connections. Measurements can be stored in the systems onboard WinCan-based inspection reporting database. Measurements also can be o oaded to WinCan V8 software, the 3-D module of which can use the data to build a virtual model of the inspected assets. e new software joins various measurement technologies built into the crawler, including inclination, roll and pressure sensing, and crack measurement software that works o a pair of parallel laser dots projected from the camera. For full geometric scanning of pipe, the crawler is available with laser-proling capability.
Envirosight LLC |866-936-8476 | www.envirosight.com
Valve-free respirator
e AirWave valve-free respirator from Moldex-Metric features a patent-pending wave design to allow increased airow in and out of the respirator. e waves double the lter surface area of the companys comparable respirator. e Dura-Mesh shell provides bidirectional protection from dirt on the outside and moisture on the inside. With its FlexFit design, the respirator expands and contracts as the wearer moves and speaks to help increase comfort. A pinchfree molded nose bridge eliminates metal nose-band readjustment and discomfort. For inhaling and exhaling, the respirator provides decreased resistance for easier breathing and decreased heat and moisture buildup.
Moldex-Metric Inc. | 800-421-0668 | www.moldex.com
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Nesting software
Hypertherm has announced releases of its TurboNest and NestMaster nesting software for conventional plasma and oxyfuel applications. A 2-D CAD editor has been added for creating or editing a detailed CAD drawing. In addition, the part list pane has been redesigned for greater exibility and control over parts from the main software window, and a DXF output has been added as standard. New enhancements include improved material grade and gauge functionality; customized material naming; improved interior cut sequencing for faster processing and shorter traverse motions; consolidation of rectangular and true-shape nesting into a single automatic nesting module; and a pattern array module to help maximize plate usage.
Hypertherm | 800-643-0030 | www.hypertherm.com
Downdraft table
Airow Systems Inc. o ers the DT-3000V2 downdraft table, designed to provide sourcepoint collection and ltration of powder, dust, fumes, smoke, and other contaminants produced during industrial processing and production operations. e unit generates 195 FPM of downdraft air velocity across the 19.25-sq.-ft., grate-style work surface to draw contaminants down and away from the workers breathing zone. Contaminants then are collected and ltered from the airow path using a MERV 17 after-lter. e tables Vibra-Pulse lter cleaning system combines high-pressure compressed air and a random-motion impacter to remove dirt from within the lter pleats, returning the lter to its original dust-holding capacity. e direct-drive blower design eliminates belt and pulley repair, the manufacturer states.
Airow Systems Inc. | 214-503-8008 | www.airowsystems.com
Tank cleaner
TankJet 55 tank cleaner is available from Spraying Systems Co. e unit operates at low ows and fast cycle times to clean multiple tanks, barrels, and drums in minutes, says the company. Constructed of 316L stainless steel with carbon-lled PTFE seals, the compact cleaner ts in openings as small as 1.75 in. e standard model is suitable for fast rotation and short cycle times, while the slow rotational model has the dwell time to clean tougher residues. e uid-driven, turbine-driven cleaner uses narrow-angle, full-cone sprays rotating in multiple axes for 360-degree coverage. It is suitable for cleaning 59-gal. barrels; 55-gal. drums; and small tanks, containers, and totes.
Spraying Systems Co. | 630-665-5000 | www.tankjet.com

Automatic band saws Spot welding machine
e Comau spot welding machine integrates a welding gun with the ange connected directly to the robot, eliminating the need for an adapter kit. e light, compact product can sustain a high payload, making it suitable for use in the automotive industry. e gun, which weighs 40 percent less than previous models, features a transformer that is rotated 90 degrees to help decrease its dimensions and shift the center of gravity closer to the robots wrist. e pneumatic cylinder for balancing the welding gun has been eliminated, and the eldbus module and exion of the gun arms are controlled through the robots software. e cooling pipes and cables are housed within a protective cover. Its dened layout allows positioning repeatability, even after maintenance service.
Comau | 39-011-00-49111 | www.comau.com
Pat Mooney Inc. e Saw Company o ers the Danobat iDS 5A automatic band saw. It features twin prismatic guide columns to help ensure torsion-free travel throughout the sawing range. e main prismatic guide column travels on linear rails and linear bearings, while the support prismatic guide column travels on free rollers. A hydraulic gripper vise positions material to the proper cut length. Two hydraulic cylinders control the saw head. e saw head columns and saw head are lled with polymer concrete to remove any vibration from the sawing cycle. e Intellicut software stores material speed and feed information in a library and allows the saw to be run as a machine tool. Once set, the exact blade speed and feed rate for either a bimetal or carbide blade is selected. e saw operator selects the material grade and type of saw blade, and the unit sets the proper blade speed, feed rate, and production parameters. Based on the selection, the saw blade ramps into the cut and proceeds at an optimum feed rate at all times, the company states.
Pat Mooney Inc. e Saw Co. | 800-323-7503 | www.patmooneysaws.com
Hand washing agent

Creative CNC LLC offers Nettuno Macrocream hand washing agent. It is suitable for a manufacturing environment, where it removes greasy, grimy dirt without drying skin because it has the same pH value as skin. Free of solvents, the handwash helps reduce redness, irritation, and damage to the skin, even with frequent washing, according to the manufacturer. Fine vegetablebased microspheres provide added strength to the cleansing agent.
Creative CNC LLC | 262-347-3939 | www.creativecnc.net
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OSHA training handbook
J.J. Keller o ers the 7th edition of its OSHA Safety Training Handbook. It reects the adoption of the Globally Harmonized System of Chemical Classication and Labeling (GHS) by OSHA, in accordance with the revised Hazard Communication (HazCom) Standard published in the Federal Register March 26, 2012. e HazCom Standard requires that HazCom training and information be provided to any employee who has the potential of being exposed to a hazardous chemical under normal condition of use or in a foreseeable emergency. Available for a fee, the book features real-world photography and clear explanations of relevant OSHA regulations, common hazards, accident and injury prevention strategies, and safety procedures.
J.J. Keller & Associates Inc. | 800-327-6868 | www.jjkeller.com
Adhesives guide
The Loctite Adhesive Sourcebook, Vol. 12, from Henkel Corp. is a 202-page print and online guide to the companys Loctite adhesives, sealants, lubricants, coatings, and dispensing/ curing equipment for industrial manufacturing and maintenance. e book features technical information on more than 1,200 products and includes decision trees to guide the adhesive selection process. e guide is divided into industrial application categories: bonding; coatings; ooring and concrete repair; gasketing and sealing; lubricating; machining compounds; potting and encapsulating; repairing, rebuilding, and restoring; retaining; surface cleaning; threadlocking; thread sealing; toolboxes and specialty kits; medical devices; and equipment. Each category features product selector guides; typical applications; and information on primers, accelerators, and dispensing and curing equipment options. Selector guides provide product descriptions and technical information in an at-aglance format. e sourcebook also features a quick-reference list of products that meet agency and regulatory approvals from ABS, CFIA, CSA, FDA, ISO, Mil-Spec, NSF, UL, ULC, NEHC, and NAVSEA.
Henkel Corp. | 800-562-8483 | www.henkelna.com/asb
See us at FABTECH Booth # C3744
Premachined, squared steel
Diehl Steel Co. o ers tool steel, alloy steel, high-speed steel, carbon steel, powder metal products, stainless steel, and aluminum to tool-, mold, and diemakers. e products are squared to toolmaker tolerance with the manufacturers Accu-Square process. e company reports that each processed piece is delivered at, square, and parallel to help reduce or eliminate the need for customers to square the metal block further. According to the company, the process allows it to machine orders to exact tolerances while maintaining quick turnaround time.
Diehl Steel Co. | 513-242-8900 | www.diehlsteel.com

Portable track cutting machine
e Steelmax Torch Runner is a digitally controlled track torch for oxyfuel or plasma cutting and beveling. e machine can be used on any standard 6-in. V-grooved track. Features include advanced speed control with electronic closed-loop feedback for stable travel speed regulation and LED with readout of actual and preset speed. Optional gas manifolds for two or three hose torches, as well as a circle cutting attachment, are available.
Steelmax | 412-257-1908 | www.steelmax.com
Lubrication handbook
e Practical Handbook of Machinery Lubrication now is available from Noria Corp. in a completely rewritten fourth edition. Originally written 20 years ago by Lloyd Tex Leugner, president of Maintenance Technology Intl. Inc., the book gives a blueprint for lubrication fundamentals. Robert Scott, a Noria course instructor and 30-year veteran of the lubrication industry, authored much of the most recent edition of the book, which addresses specic new topics such as oil properties and testing, oil analysis, grease applications, journal bearings, compressors, contamination control, storage and handling, wear and failure mechanisms, and troubleshooting. Available for a fee, the new, 220-page edition also contains updated graphics and illustrations.
Noria Corp. | 800-597-5460 | www.noria.com
Monitors for weld purging
Huntingdon Fusion Techniques Ltd. o ers the PurgEye family of Weld Purge Monitors for welding stainless steel and titanium tubes and pipes. e entry-level 100 model is a general-purpose, everyday monitor capable of measuring oxygen levels down to 100 PPM. It is suitable for most stainless steels. e 300, which measures to 10 PPM oxygen, has integral software to record oxygen levels throughout the weld purging cycle and to produce a postweld quality control document. It also o ers relays to switch welding machines or alarms on and o if oxygen levels rise above operator-preset limits. e 300 nano is designed for operators wanting a simpler, low-cost unit, the company reports. e small, hand-held instrument uses zirconia cell technology. e 500 has all the features of the 300, plus an integral pump that continuously extracts samples of the gas from the volume being purged for analysis. e 600 is the highest-specication device, measuring from atmosphere to 10 PPM in one instrument. e unit integrates the measuring system with a large touchscreen and records data using PurgLog software. e results can be loaded onto a ash drive for subsequent processing elsewhere.
Huntingdon Fusion Techniques Ltd. | 44-1554-836836 | www.huntingdonfusion.com
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Ceramic abrasives
A new brochure from Weiler Corp. highlights its SABER TOOTH line of ceramic abrasives. ey provide cool, fast cutting action on aluminum, stainless steel, INCONEL alloy, titanium, and other hard-to-grind metals. e abrasives have a self-sharpening ceramic grain; a grinding aid helps prevent dulling and glazing of the grain. ey work with heat-sensitive materials for cool cutting to protect parts from heat discoloration. e ap discs grind and nish in one step, making them suitable for weld blending, grinding, deburring, deashing, surface nishing, or edge chamfering on hardto-grind metals. Both the standard angled-style phenolic back and the high-density, at-style phenolic back discs are available in 4.5- and 7-in. sizes.
Weiler Corp. | 800-835-9999 | www.weilercorp.com
Electroplated nickel coating measurement
ating Celebr years 0 3 r ove siness in bu
FAB
Fischer Technologys MMS NICKELSCOPE is a multimeasurement system that uses the Hall E ect test method for nondestructive coating thickness measurement of electroplated nickel coatings on electrically nonconductive or nonferrous substrates, as well as nonferrous metal coatings (copper, aluminum, lead) on steel. It also is suitable for measuring thick, nonferrous coatings. e system provides up to 50 application memories and handles 20,000 measurements in up to 2,000 groups. e unit, which features a large, atscreen LCD, provides full statistic and graphic evaluation capabilities. e companys DataCenter software expands the units functionality for transfer, evaluation, and printing of measurement data to personalized inspection reports. e system conforms to DIN EN ISO 2178.
Fischer Technology Inc. | 800-243-8417 | www.scher-technology.com
FCAW-G wire
Lincoln Electric o ers the new UltraCore HD-M ux-cored wire. e 75 percent argon/25 percent CO2 gasshielded FCAW-G wire is designed to provide deposition rates of more than 10 lbs./hr. out of position. e fast-freezing slag helps produce a at bead face in all positions. e wire conforms to AWS A5.20/ A5.20M: E71T-1M / 9M-H8 classication and is ABS-approved to 3YSA H10. Available in 15-, 33-, and 50-lb. packages, the wire comes in standard diameters of 0.045, 0.052, and 0.0625 in.
Lincoln Electric | 888-355-3213 | www.lincolnelectric.com

Wet abrasive saw
e Kalamazoo Industries model K36 wet abrasive saw is designed for foundries that need to cut very large heat-treated castings for porosity inspection. e saw features a 50-HP motor driving a 36-in. abrasive wheel with an abrasive composition engineered for the specic alloy being cut. Gearmotor oscillation moves the saw arm slightly back and forth while cutting through the workpiece, resulting in a faster cut with no burning or distortion of the castings. e abrasive saw has a 1.75-in. arbor; semiautomatic, air/oil, variable 0- to 12-FPM power downfeed for rapid feed advance; and a controlled, repeatable feed rate. e machine has a T-slot table for clamp xturing and an air chain vise, with a jaw vise optional. Other options include an enclosed cabinet, side curtain guards, and an adjustable back fence for casting placement.
Kalamazoo Industries Inc. | 269-382-2050 | www.kalamazooindustries.com
Energy-e cient pallet trucks

e Raymond Corp. has introduced the 8000 series pallet trucks. According to the company, third-party testing by the United States Auto Club has veried that Raymond pallet trucks are as much as 33 percent more energy e cient and 6 percent more productive than others on the market. e pallet trucks feature increased material strength that enables them to meet heavy-duty application needs. Components are reinforced for reduced wear. Features include roomy operator compartments with padding and multiple lean points, accessory bars with lights and fans, large storage totes, and additional caster options. e trucks also o er PowerSteer, which helps operators to reduce steering e orts by as much as 90 percent and provides speed-sensitive steering.
e Raymond Corp. | 800-235-7200 | www.raymondcorp.com
Carbide-tipped circular saw blade sharpening, repair
Forrest Mfg. o ers in-factory sharpening and repairs of all makes of carbide-tipped circular saw blades. e sharpening process takes about 20 min. per blade and uses automated, high-speed, diamond-grit machines with ood cooling. e front of the tip is sharpened by face grinding, after which the top cutting edge is nenished. e process removes about 0.010 to 0.020 in., allowing a blade to be sharpened eight to 10 times over its life under normal operation. Repair services include straightening bent teeth, replacing tips, regrinding both sides of all teeth, providing extra top grind for extremely dull blades, opening gullets, tightening or enlarging the bore, and welding or replacing steel shoulders.
Forrest Mfg. | 800-733-7111 | www.forrestblades.com
111

Waterjet pump Spinning cart Aluminum-cutting circular saw blades Temperature-indicating stick
Jet Edge Inc. has introduced the EcoJet waterjet pump. e 55-KSI, 30-HP unit features a direct-drive pump design that consumes up to 40 percent less electricity than a 50-HP pump while producing the same output, the manufacturer reports. e pump produces up to 1 GPM of ultrahigh-pressure water for precision cutting, cleaning, and surface preparation applications. It runs a 0.015-in. waterjet orice and can power most manufacturers waterjet cutting systems and waterjet tools.
Jet Edge | 800-538-3343 | www.jetedge.com
Kinetic Technologies Inc. has developed a low-prole cart that spins on its own length to simplify the unloading of bulk containers lled with large items. e six-wheeled cart measures 6.5 in. high from oor to deck and has a 50- by 50-in. usable deck area. Additional features include a self-stowing, spring-loaded towbar; clevis/pin hitch; corner load stops; and a powder paint nish. e cart is available in 500- or 1,000-lb. load ratings.
Kinetic Technologies Inc. | 440-943-4111 | www.ktecinc.com
e M. K. Morse Co. has introduced Metal Devil New Xtreme Technology (NXT) aluminum-cutting circular saw blades. Ten blades are available from 5.375 to 14 in. dia. According to the manufacturer, the blades provide smooth, fast cuts in a variety of aluminum shapes and solids.
M. K. Morse Co. | 330-453-8187 | www.mkmorse.com
Tempil, an ITW Company, has updated its Temp-Stik test kit to include 5-in. Tempilstiks in place of the 2.5-in. sticks in the previous test kits. e sticks measure 125, 150, 175, 200, 225, 250, 275, 300, 325, 350, 375, 400, 425, 450, 475, 500, 550, 600, 700, and 800 degrees F. e temperature-indicating sticks can be stroked on a workpiece from time to time during a heating operation. When the rating is reached, the stick leaves a liquid smear. e new package includes a basic guide to ferrous metallurgy, as well as preheat charts.
Tempil | 800-757-8300 | www.tempil.com

Portable video camera
Gradient Lens Corp.s new Luxxor portable video camera attaches to most brands of borescopes, transforming them into videoscopes. e camera allows users to view internal visual inspection images on portable or benchtop video monitors or on laptop or desktop computers. Video footage and still photos can be viewed in real time and saved, documented, and e-mailed. e portable video camera has a 0.25-in. color CCD, a built-in borescope coupler, and 768- by 494-pixel resolution.
Gradient Lens Corp. | 585-235-2620 | www.gradientlens.com
Filler metals
Wall Colmonoy o ers Nicrobraz 31, 33, and 152 Ni-CrSi-P ller metals. e alloys were developed for use in the fabrication of modern heat exchanger systems. According to the manufacturer, the metals use optimal proportions of phosphorus and silicon, minimizing alloying interactions between the ller metal and base materials to provide corrosion resistance, increased joint strength, and improved substrate structural integrity. Brazing ller metal Nicrobraz 31 is formulated to provide a lower brazing temperature compared to Nicrobraz 30, BNi-5. e alloy is recommended for applications in which boron-containing ller metals cannot be used. e ller metal also is used to braze assemblies made of thin sheet metal as the di usion with the base metal is minimized.
Wall Colmonoy | 248-585-6400 | www.wallcolmonoy.com
Automated leak detection

Uson-Innovative Systems (UIS), a newly created joint venture between Usons leak testers and Innovative Products and Equipments automation systems, provides semiautomated and fully automated leak testing systems for metal products. Automated systems, such as robotic part handling, are integrated with the leak detector best suited for a particular leak testing application.
Uson | 281-671-2000 | www.uson.com
Pneumatic circular saw

CS Unitec has introduced a 9-in. p n eu mati c circular saw for dry cutting steel plate up to 0.375 in. thick, as well as nonferrous metal and grating. e 19-lb. model 5 1115 0020 metal cutting saw is suitable for such industries as foundries, petrochemical, nuclear, marine, demolition, and fabrication. e 2-HP pneumatic motor operates at 90 PSI using 60-CFM air volume and has a 0.5-in. female NPT air connection. It has an overall cutting depth of 3.25 in. at 90 degrees and 2.125 in. at 45 degrees. e ultrathin laser beam saw (LBS) blade comes standard. is all-purpose, shock-resistant, tungsten carbide-tipped blade measures 0.055 in. thick. Standard 0.073-in.-thick blades for dry cutting aluminum, thin-wall metal, and sheet metal also are available.
CS Unitec Inc. | 800-700-5919 | www.csunitec.com
113

On-site safety training
Summit Training Source has announced a new training option to clients for their environmental, health, and safety training content. In addition to e-learning, DVD, and streaming services, the company o ers the opportunity for on-site training and safety services to help develop strategy, motivation, and accountability. e Summit Safety Alliance is a national network of experienced safety and health professionals, providing businesses with a resource for on-site safety training and services. It o ers hands-on technical resources to help ensure compliance with regulatory matters and to assist with injury prevention. e SSA o ers training, industrial hygiene sampling, assistance with regulatory investigation responses, expert testimony, assistance with developing safety programs , and specic on-site training o erings.
Summit Training Source | 800-842-0466 | www.safetyontheweb.com
Portable CMM
Hexagon Metrology has introduced the She eld 4.5.4 SF, a new line of CMMs built for the shop oor and designed to withstand harsh manufacturing environments. e portable unit has a footprint of 52.2 by 32.8 by 79.5 in., which ts through a standard door. e computer, controller, and interface boxes are integrated into one self-contained unit with locking wheels for mobility throughout the shop oor. e CMM also uses standard 110-/220-V outlets with no need for shop air. Hardened linear drives and recirculating bearings add to overall durability. Standard elastomeric dampers isolate the measuring platform from most vibrations. Inverted, high-resolution Heidenhain scales; covered ways; and internal cable management protect machine components from ambient dust and debris while minimizing friction. An optional active vibration dampening system is available for extreme environments. Advanced thermal isolation and temperature compensation elements help ensure accuracy in unstable shop oor environments.
Hexagon Metrology | 800-274-9433 | www.hexagonmetrology.us
New Straight-Handle Electric Shears & Nibblers

KL-2040 13 Gauge Throatless Shear
KL-2030 18 Gauge Long Neck Nibbler
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Size: 3.375 w x 4.875 h
Biodegradable lubricants
Metalloid Corp. o ers Addvance 6110 and Addvance 6370 biodegradable metal forming lubricants that can replace heavy chlorinated soluble oils. ese lubricants can handle heavy-duty metal stamping or be diluted with water for lighterduty operations on all metals. ese products are worker-friendly and environmentally clean, says the company, and have received biopreferred approvals by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Both products o er corrosion protection, long die life, and antiwear properties. ey are weldable without cleaning and clean o easily in ambient water.
Metalloid Corp. | 800-686-3201 | www.metalloidcorp.com
Plate, sheet vacuum lifter
Hydraulic winch
Bloom Mfg. Inc. has introduced the new LS80K Lift-Safe planetary winch with a 65,000-lb. lifting capacity. e modularly constructed unit can be adapted to specic drum sizes and cable holding requirements. In addition, it can be ordered with grooved drums, as well as special drum lengths and diameters. e patented Duet-Safe doubleaction braking system combines a hydraulic brake with a hydraulic braking valve to hold loads automatically when hydraulic pressure is released and to control speeds during lowering operations. e winchs 5.125-in.-dia., heattreated alloy steel drum shaft is supported on both ends with heavy-duty, lubricated bearings.
Bloom Mfg. Inc. | 319-827-1139 | www.bloommfg.com
Anver Corp. o ers the E-series millduty vacuum lifter, a single-operator, heavy-duty, high-capacity lifter designed for handling heavy ferrous and nonferrous plate and sheet from the top for loading cutting tables. Featuring an all-welded steel frame and fully adjustable cross beams, the rigid lifter can be integrated with an overhead crane, incorporate redundant power stations, and be set up for radio control. Custom built with capacities up to 60,000 lbs. and multiple rectangular or round suction cups and doublespring suspensions, the lifter can handle steel plate up to 80 by 8 ft. e pendant control requires twohand operation. In case of power loss, the unit has a self-contained vacuum reservoir, check valves, and a leakage sensor with audiovisual alarms.
Anver Corp. | 800-654-3500 | www.anver.com
Customizable fabricating software

Wittlock Eng. has released the latest version of WE-CIM Advanced Fabrication software. Version 20 allows users to manipulate the software to their requirements, including automatic true-shape nesting with drag and drop capability, reporting, tool-path optimization, customizable shape library, and other new features.
Wittlock Eng. LLC | 256-737-3075 | www.wittlockeng.com
Finished-part rack
Royal Products has introduced the EconoRack, a device that collects nished parts as they come o of any bar-fed CNC lathe. It prevents damage to nished parts by feeding products onto a turntable covered by a low-friction UHMW material instead of into an oil-lled collection bucket. e rack enables manufacturers to let machine tools run unattended for extended periods. Free standing with adjustable height, it can be moved from machine to machine. With its compact, 28-in. diameter and 100-lb. load capacity, the rack is suitable for Swiss-type applications.
Royal Products | 800-645-4174 | www.royalprod.com
Cutting, grinding abrasive wheel

Metabo Corp. o ers the Combinator combined cutting and grinding wheel. It eliminates the need to change abrasive wheels during cutting and grinding applications. e wheel is suitable for cutting, deburring, and light grinding. With three layers of berglass measuring 0.078 in. thick, it cuts stainless steel, steel, alloy steel, hardened steel, pipe, tube, and solids. Available in 4.5-, 5-, and 6-in. Type 27 versions, the wheel employs an improved abrasive/resin formulation for fast cutting with increased wheel life, as well as strength and rigidity for grinding and metal removal applications, the manufacturer reports.
Metabo Corp. | 800-638-2264 | www.metabousa.com
115
Classied Advertising > > preowned machinery, business opportunities, services, and more
USED MACHINERY FOR SALE
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE

2007 RAS 78.30 UpDownBend CNC Folder 128" x 9 Gauge Capacity 2007 RAS Multibend Center 100" x 14 Gauge bending Capacity 2004 Adira Model QHD-8025 Down Acting 88 ton x 8' 7-Axis Press Brake 1999 RAS 73.30 10' x 11 gauge CNC Folder 1997 Adira QHA-6325 60 ton x 8' 3-Axis Press Brake
PRODUCTS FOR SALE
American Machine Tools Corp.

Nationwide distributor of machinery
Shearing Metal Bending Uncoilers Lathes Mills Ironworkers Saws Surface Grinder Plate Rolls Drills
Phone 773-334-5000 Fax 773-442-0314

www.AmericanMachineTools.com
Kennedy Machinery Sales 714-993-9963
SERVICES
AMADA
Pega 255, 50" x 50" ball, 31 Sta. 3 A/I, 18P control, 2003 Vipros 255, 50" x 50" brush, 31 Sta. 3 A/I, 18P control, 2001 EM2510NT, 50" x 100" brush, 45 Sta. 4 A/I, NT control with MP1225NJ load, 2007 Octo 334, 30" x 40", 8 Sta. 1 A/I, 1984 Pega 357, 50" x 72", 58 Sta. 2 A/I, 04PC, 1994 Vipros 358 King II, 50" x 80", Brush table, 58 Sta. 4 A/I, Fanuc 18P, 1999 Apelio III 357, 50" x 72", 58 Sta. 2 A/I, 16L control, 2000 watt Fanuc Osc, 1998 Vipros 367 Queen, 60" x 72", 45 Sta. 4 A/I, 18P control, 2001 Vipros 368 King II, 60" x 80", 58 Sta. 4 A/I, 18P control, 2000
BUSINESS FOR SALE

ATTN: BACKGAUGE USERS For Sale-Metal Service Center
Location in New England, very busy 38,000 sq. ft. warehouse, many value added services, in business since 1976
DRC Dynabend/DB-1/DB-3/D-Ann/ Unicorn/Unicorn II/Select A Flange Buy/Sell Reconditioned Units Parts & Technical Advice System Repairs & Overhauls
JORDAN CRAIG MACHINERY Intl.

AMADA PUNCHES
STRIPPIT
33 Ton FC-1000S, 40" x 50, GE Fanuc 0P, 1994 33 Ton FC-1250S, 50" x 80" ball table, 33 Sta. 3 A/I, GE Fanuc 0P, 2003 33 Ton Global 30 1225, 50" x 100" table, 33 Sta. 3 A/I, GE Fanuc 180i control, 2002
TRUMPF
TC1000R Rotation, 50" x 80" table, Bosch control, 15 tool cap, 2006
WIEDEMANN
33 Ton Vectrum 3000, 50" x 80" table, 52 Sta. 2 A/I, Fanuc 0P control, 114 style tooling, 1995
VIPROS 368 King, 18P, 2002 VIPROS 367Q, 18P, 1999 APELIO III 357V, 2kW, 1998 PEGA 367, 04PC, 1993 VIPROS 358 King II, 18P, 2000 VIPROS 358 King, 04PC, 1996 VIPROS 357Q, 04PC, 18P, 2001 PEGA 357, 04PC, 1994 PEGA 345Q, 04PC, 2000 PEGA 345K, 04PC, 1990 OCTO 334, 6M, Thick A/I EM2510NT, MP1225NJ, 2007 PEGA 255, 18P, 2003 VIPROS 255, 18P, 2000 AMADA MP1225NJ, 1999
STRIPPIT PUNCHES
For more details e-mail jimirover@hotmail.com
ATS West (714) 532-6267
6332 Flank Drive Harrisburg, PA 17112 Ph: 717.541.1633 | Fax: 717.541.8014
PRE-OWNED METAL FABRICATING EQUIPMENT

2006 TRUMPF 2510, 50 x 120, 2kW, 5500 beam on hrs. (2) TRUMPF V85 CNC Press Brakes TRUMPF TC 190 CNC Turret Punch Haeger Insertion Presses, Model HP6 Accurpress 100 Ton x 10' Press Brake TRUMPF 2020 Punching Machine (New 2002) TRUMPF TC 200 Punching Machine TRUMPF TC 2000 Turret Punch RAS Folder, Model 74.40 Visit Our Website for a Complete Listing of Equipment www.midatlanticmachinery.com
PRESS BRAKES
Amada RG-3512-LD, LD control & BG, 2001 Amada RG-50, NC9EXII, 1998 Amada RG80, 8' O.A., NC9EXII, 1997 Amada FBDIII 1030NT, 10', 7-Axis BG, 2000 Amada HDS 1303, 10', 7-Axis BG, 2004 Amada HFB1704, 187 ton x 14', 5-Axis Operateur control and BG, TFT upgrade, 1993 Amada HFB1704, 187 ton x 14', 5-Axis Operateur control and BG, 1995 Amada HFE2204, 240 ton x 14', 7-Axis Operateur control, 5-Axis BG, 2006
Global 1225, 33 Ton, 2002, Thick Global 1525, 33 Ton, 2004, Thick FC1250H20, 50" x 100", Thin
TRUMPF PUNCHES
TC 600L, 2000 TC 500R, 2000
TC 2020R, 2005 TC 1000R, 2006
LASERS
LASERS
Amada Pulsar LC2415AII, 2kW, 5' x 12', 1998 Amada Altair LCV-3015, 2kW, 5'x 10' Dual, Fanuc 16L, 1998, 14K total hours Amada Gemini FO3015 NT, 5' x 10' Dual, 4kW, 2006 Amada Gemini FO4020NT, 6' x 12' Dual, 4kW, NT control, 2005 Mazak NTX 510 Champion, 1500 watt, 1999 Mazak 510 Flexible manufacturing system, 1999 Trumpf L3030, 4000 Watt, 5' x 10' Dual, Siemens control, 2002 Trumpf L3030, 4000 Watt, 5' x 10' Dual, Siemens control, equipped with rotary, 2003
TRUMPF L3050, 5kW, 2003 TRUMPF L3030, 4kW, 2002 (2) MITSUBISHI ML3015LXP, 3kW, 1997 AMADA F04020NT, 4kW, 2005 AMADA PULSAR 2415NT, 4kW, 2006 AMADA FOL3015NT, 4.5kW, 2006 AMADA GEMINI F03015NT, 2007 CINCINNATI CL707, 3300 Watt, 2004 AMADA PULSAR 1212A2, 2kW, 1998 MAZAK NTX510, 1.5kW, 1999
CNC PRESS BRAKES
MISC.
Amada MP1225 NJ load/unload, 1999 Trumpf Liftmaster 5 x 10 laser load/unload
See Web site Call / E-mail for Current Listings Wanted - Used / Surplus Machines
ELITE MACHINERY INC.

Caledonia, WI 53108 Ph: 262-878-9400 Fax: 262-878-9494 Neal Kruszka Web Page: www.elitemch.com E-mail: sales@elitemch.com
AMADA HFE2204, 2006 AMADA HFB2204, 1992 AMADA HFB1704, 1993, 1995 (2) AMADA FBD1253NT, 2006 TRUMPF C120, 2006 AMADA HFE1304, 2001 AMADA RG100, NC9EXII, 2000 AMADA FBDIII 1030NT, 2000 AMADA FBDIII 8025NT, 2000 AMADA RG80, NC9EXII, 2000 AMADA RG50, NC9EXII, 1997 AMADA RG3512LD, 2001 Check our website for a complete listing of equipment. Ph: 845-398-0073 Fax: 845-398-0074 jc@jordancraigmachinery.com www.jordancraigmachinery.com
tell these advertisers you saw their ad in The FABRICATOR < < Index
of Advertisers
Please visit our advertisers showrooms by entering their reader service codes at www. d.net
RS Code RS Code
866-322-8665 Toll Free
Page
Page
RS Code
716-542-4511 / 1-800-828-1527
Page
1536095 3M Industrial Abrasives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 1638923 5S Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 856636 Accustream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

866-566-7099
197912 Fab Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Fabricators & Manufacturers Association International . . . . . . . . 69,89,110,116

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102149 LVD Strippit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 505334 Magnetic Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114 115588 Mate Precision Tooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
www.mate.com
116033 Airmo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108

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FABTECH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
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136506 Mazak Optonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119

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898815 Faccin USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 111514 Fanuc Robotics America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

www.fanucrobotics.com
122726 Amada America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,10,11 592867 American Punch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

www.americanpunchco.com www.americantorchtip.com
465527 Metabo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 199945 Mitsubishi Laser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45,59

www.mitsubishi-world.com
559230 Fastenal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 1640333 Fedtech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 886625 FICEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

410-588-5800
112282 Modern Machine Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

www.modernmachinetool.com www.multicam.com www.multicyl.com www.omax.com
131641 American Torch Tip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 547082 American Weldquip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 316550 Arbor Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
734-741-8700
857706 Multicam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 100154 Multicyl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109 232349 OMAX Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 259602 OTC Daihen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
www.daihen-usa.com
100088 Gullco International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

www.gullco.com
256955 ATI Industrial Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

www.ati-ia.com
125971 Haco - Atlantic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

www.haco-atlantic.com
100420 Automec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
www.automec.com
548169 Haeusler AG Duggingen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 546763 Harris Products Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

770-536-8801
575001 BandSawBlades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
www.bandsawblades.com www.behringersaws.com www.betenbender.com www.bigassfans.com www.blmgroup.com www.bluco.com
117006 Pat Mooney Saws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

www.patmooneysaws.com www.peddinghaus.com 800-342-9015
111862 Heck Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104

www.heckind.net
152919 Behringer Saws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 134310 Betenbender Manufacturing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108 578316 Big Ass Fans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 841889 BLM Group USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72,73 200844 Bluco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 118334 Boschert Precision Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
www.boschertusa.com
119051 Peddinghaus Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 131557 PFERD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 186757 Porth Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

www.porthproducts.com
211799 Henning Industrial Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

www.henningsoftware.com www.hgg.nl
856664 HGG Proling Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 564906 Hodgson Custom Rolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INSERT 461901 Hougen Mfg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
www.hougen.com
459013 Practical Machinist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110

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100646 Hypertherm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51,63

www.hypertherm.com 888-558-1504
125962 Prima Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 147707 Richardson Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

www.rell.com
129915 II - VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 1088012 IMS Waterjet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 112922 Industrial Magnetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

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1480307 BrakeMate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 123762 Brake Mill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

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546186 RoboVent Product Group. . . . . . . . . . . .55, INSERT 271000 SigmaTEK Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

www.sigmanest.com
855986 Caml Farr Air Pollution Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

800-479-6801; 870-933-8048
272897 Caplugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 578883 Carell Corporation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

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2047239 Innovative Product Ideas LLC / Scrape-N-Burr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 473289 Jet Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
www.jetedge.com
255699 SKM Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

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166545 Striker Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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2006150 Caster Connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 203143 CMF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

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473487 JMT USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 112061 Kalamazoo Industries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

www.kalamazooindustries.com www.kmtsaw.com
916079 TaurinGroup USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 108754 Taylor - Wineld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 115951 Timesavers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111
www.timesaversinc.com www.trajansaw.com
132848 CNA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 200835 Cole-Tuve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

877-989-0700 Toll Free
599029 Kalamazoo Machine Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115 112084 Kalamazoo Metal Muncher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
www.kalamazoometalmuncher.com www.kett-tool.com 269-944-1552
1104731 Trajan Saw Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 1144983 Trilogy Machinery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104,105

www.trilogymachinery.com info@us.trumpf.com www.upmet.com
104523 COMEQ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42,76,108

www.comeq.com
109426 Kett Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114 188963 K.I.W.O.T.O., Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110 153725 KMT Waterjet Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
www.kmtwaterjet.com www.knuth-usa.com 585-492-2400
100798 TRUMPF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120 155951 United Performance Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 900017 Ursviken . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
www.ursvikengroup.com victortechnologies.com www.weilercorp.com www.wilausa.com
1636232 Con-Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 629355 Cosen USA International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

www.cosen.com
186451 CS Unitec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

www.csunitec.com
928367 KNUTH Machine Tools USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 137224 Koike Aronson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 1182300 Lantek Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
www.lanteksms.com
435282 DAVI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,18,19,20,21,22,23 179241 Diamond Ground Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

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141269 Victor Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24,65 103673 Weiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102 856173 Wila USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 462891 Wilson Tool International. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
www.wilsontool.com
463043 Donaldson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 122865 Durma USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 548629 ERMAK USA Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 128605 ESAB Welding & Cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
1052953 Laser Experts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103 279971 Laser Mechanisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102

www.lasermech.com
108189 Lincoln Electric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

www.lincolnelectric.com www.linemaster.com
587156 Wirecrafters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112 877529 Yellow Jacket 110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

www.yellowjacket110.com
470712 Linemaster Switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
117
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Amanda Carlson, contributing editor, can be reached at amandac@thefabricator.com.
e Lombardi Trophy, with a Girly touch

Indiana metal artist enhances downtown during Super Bowl XLVI
Super Bowl, Drizin was contacted by the Brickman Group, a landscaping rm, to construct metal sculptures to appear in 20 select plant containers. e idea was simplecreate 20 replica sculptures of the Lombardi Trophy, footballs Holy Grail, but with a little air. ey said I could do ve designs and repeat them. Once I started doing them, I just kept coming up with new designs, so they let me do what I wanted to do. Once the designs were completeshe came up with 16 original designs and repeated designs for the nal four sculpturesDrizin cut sheet metal to form the ball and cut out each of the di erent designs using a plasma cutter. Recycled rebar held the ball in place, while old brake rotors served as the base of the sculpture. e trophies then were installed into the planters and placed around the downtown area. e residual e ects from the project turned a spotlight on Drizins abilities, but to her it was just another opportunity to feed her insatiable desire to create art with metal. Even so, she is grateful that she is at a point in her life where she has the ability to focus on metal art full-time. And its a good thing, too, because no matter what else is going on, she cant seem to get enough. I cant seem to stop. I love what I do. I like to do it all, and when I cant get in my shop to work, I feel like Im going through withdrawal. Its taken me 16 years to get to this point. Its a lot of hard work. Girly Steel, 317-490-1980, joanie@girlysteel. com, http://girlysteel.com. Photos courtesy of
http://girlysteel.com.
Joanie Drizins Girly Steel versions of the Lombardi Trophy appeared in 20 ower planters in downtown Indianapolis during Super Bowl XLVI.
uper Bowl XLVI at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis pitted the New York Giants against the New England Patriots and featured a display of athletic prowess and classic gridiron toughness with a little speed and nesse. But also on display outside the stadium and throughout the heart of downtown Indianapolis was a combination of strength and artistic air that only a metal art sculpture can provide. Metal art, like football or any other form of athletic expression, can be a contradiction of sorts. On one hand is strength, on the other is grace. Both have a hard-nosed quality, yet when rened, they possess a certain beauty. Joanie Drizin of Noblesville, Ind., knows this contradiction all too well. In the past viewers of her metal art assumed that the arduous task of manipulating such a tough material was obviously a guys handiwork. I used to do art fairs with my ex-husband and everyone assumed that he did the work. I dont know why. It doesnt look like a guy does the work! So I had to do something to make people aware that it was a woman doing the work. I thought it was kind of girly, Drizin said. Hence the reason she came up with the name Girly Steel. With heavy inuences from nature, many of Drizins sculpDrizin draws artistic inspiration through mimicking and accenting nature.
tures are in fact, well, girly. She loves creating sculptures that not only enhance a landscapes appearance, but also provide a marked contrast to its surroundings. Coincidentally, though, her pieces at times, because of her use of color, blend into their surroundings and Color plays a meaningful almost appear as if they role in her art because of how it contrasts with the belong. I try to mimic nature rusty metal. and change it up a little. But theres nothing girly about how she constructs her Girly sculptures. A commercial artist by trade, Drizin was immersed in pottery when she was rst introduced to metal art at the Indianapolis Art Center. Once I started with metal, that was it for me. I started selling o all of my pottery equipment and buying metalworking equipment. I worked out of my garage for ve years before I got a studio. It took o pretty quickly. Never one to shy away from hard work, Drizin attributes that and her love of playing with re to the success shes had in metal art. Two gas metal arc welding machines, two plasma cutting units, and an oxyacetylene setupfor heating and bending form the barebones of a pretty basic workshop, but one that a ords her everything she needs.
e Lombardi Trophy sculptures were constructed from recycled rebar, sheet metal, and brake rotors.
e FABRICATOR (ISSN 0888-0301) is published 12 times yearly by FMA Communications Inc., 833 Featherstone Rd., Rockford, Illinois 61107-6302. e FABRICATOR is circulated free upon request to those who qualify and who are involved in metal fabricating; subscription to all others is $75.00 per year. International subscription is $140.00 per year. Periodical postage paid at Rockford, Illinois, and additional mailing o ces. POSTMASTER: Send address change to e FABRICATOR, 833 Featherstone Road, Rockford, Illinois 61107-6302. Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright 2012 by FMA Communications Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 12345678 (41467014) RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO: Pitney Bowes Intl Mail Svcs, Station A, 11PO Box 54, Windsor ON N9A 6J5, Email: returnsIL@imex.pb.com
Not Your Typical Lombardi Trophy

When planning got under way to beautify downtown Indianapolis in preparation for hosting the
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