hile writing this, news reports bring word that new cases of COVID-19 in New York City—one of the hardest hit areas in the U.S.—are beginning to level out. Sheltering in place is working. Daily life around the world is inherently changed and each new week looks dramatically different from the last.

In the fabrication world, I’ve heard from shops managing with fewer people reporting to work while, in other cases, shops are ramping up production as their supply chains look locally instead of relying on vendors overseas. Still other shops are uncertain what their production schedules will look like in the coming months and are working to manage this new landscape.

hen prospective hires are brought in to tour G.A. Braun’s plant, many are struck by the general idea of how things are made. After touring the floor, they often view the machinery being used “as cool and exciting and they want to learn the technology behind it,” says Chad Perfetti, fabrication manager of the Syracuse, New York-based industrial laundry machine manufacturer.

After years of laying out sheet metal by hand and using various small tools to cut out part profiles, G.A. Braun’s leadership realized it should consider investing in laser and CNC press brake technologies. Perfetti’s crew found LVD Strippit’s team to be knowledgeable as well as close by in Akron, New York. “The layout of the laser with load/unload automation had a footprint that didn’t take up too much floor space,” he adds.

anufacturers must frequently generate up to five times more quotes to land jobs, making the need to understand machine time, material and labor costs more important than ever.

Creating accurate quotes is a serious challenge for manufacturers, says Valter Bonelli, director of product management business systems for SigmaTEK Systems LLC. “Only a few factors have a bigger impact on a company than the ability to predict costs. It can be difficult to sell products and services if they are priced too high, but we find that manufacturers tend to set prices too low. So the question becomes, how do they find balance?”

or the last decade, so much buzz about cutting metal has tended to revolve around fiber lasers. But according to MultiCam Inc.’s fabrication product manager, Rashad Galloway, some manufacturers have begun to sing a different tune that sounds oddly reminiscent of Elvis Presley’s hit, “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”

MultiCam demonstrated its V-Series CNC waterjet technology during a 2019 trade show, cutting carbon and stainless steels, titanium and Inconel. “When people saw the value adds they could realize with the final product, they fell in love with the waterjet all over again,” says Galloway.

utomation, data collection, artificial intelligence and robotics aren’t just for smart factories and job shops anymore. These technologies are migrating to construction sites, crop fields and the design/build of new heavy equipment. Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) notwithstanding, the construction, heavy equipment and agriculture industries are turning high-tech for reasons that sound familiar. The skills gap, a shrinking labor pool, demand for higher productivity and the need for machine-to-machine and machine-to-human communication are some of the drivers behind these changes.

The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) conducted a survey that revealed respondents are optimistic about growth—particularly in the bridge/highway, transit, rail, power, water and sewer construction sectors—but scrambling to address the work shortage. Fifty-four percent of participants indicated increases in base pay rates for 2019. Sixty-two percent of respondents revealed plans to increase investments in training. Nearly 32 percent of participants reported that their companies will look to purchase labor-saving equipment such as drones, 3D printers and GPS-guided equipment.

hole lotta shakin’ goin’ on” may be a popular Jerry Lee Lewis song, but it is not a popular tune when it comes to press pits and machine foundations.

Having a proper foundation that can hold a press that, when running, exerts extreme force and weighs many tons is absolutely essential, especially considering the complexity and power of today’s stamping presses.

This is why large-scale manufacturers and fabricators turn to Delta Industrial. The company offers a variety of professional contracting services, including machine foundations, press pit foundations, slitting line foundations, general building maintenance and construction, concrete flatwork, and steel fabrication and construction.