Metal Fabrication: Tips for a Better Yield at a Lower Cost

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Is your company taking on a new custom sheet metal fabrication project? If so, it is likely you are facing a variety of challenges and critical planning steps in order to carry out the project smoothly. Before you write out your project budgets, make sure you fully understand the various custom sheet metal fabrication techniques, and how to best align every step of the process for maximum efficiency, timeliness and cost effectiveness. At Stone City Products, we offer an assortment of sheet metal fabrication services for various industries. Here are some of the top things to consider before selecting your steel, copper, brass or aluminum sheet metal fabrication services:

Costs for Manufacturing

Custom sheet metal fabrication is a multifaceted manufacturing discipline, with a variety of potential costs. Oftentimes, the run volume of your project will determine your cost of tooling—one of the biggest hurdles to overcome with custom sheet metal fabrication services. Any time the shop has to perform partial tooling services, you can further tie yourself up in additional costs, and exceed your timeline and budget. When combined with the cost of transportation, logistics and assembly, it is clear to see why sourcing precision sheet metal fabrication services with custom capabilities can help you minimize any potential waste.

Part Design

Working with a team of designers, a proper sheet metal fabrication company like Stone City Products will be able to streamline your existing design to achieve the same high levels of functionality, while simplifying the product profile and complexity. This could mean limiting the number of bends, punches and holes needed in the design—all intended to minimize the amount of steps and machinery needed in the metal fabrication process, and limit the need for extra or partial tooling at the end of production.

Material Selection

One of the more obvious places where cost can differ, there are a variety of metal materials to select from, in order to achieve the best possible result for your part or equipment. For example, steel is strong, affordable and has great longevity. It is also very easy to fabricate into your unique part or component. When selecting materials, it is best to find a metal with the best combination of strength, lightweight design and durability for many years of use.

Fabrication Process

To maximize your production capabilities, it is always best to choose the fabrication method that will yield the greatest number of units within a given amount of material. When comparing some methods to others, it is possible that you can achieve the same results, but with more or less manufacturing waste. Added manufacturing waste like this translates to added costs, more production runs and delays on your project timeline.

Are you looking for a manufacturing partner to start your custom sheet metal fabrication project with? Look no further than the experts at Stone City Products. We are proud to offer various metal fabrication services, including sheet metal stamping, sheet metal fabrication, welding and precision machining. Give us a call today at 800-960-3373, or request a free quote today!