Articles

The many business models of metal fabrication

Written by
Caleb Chamberlain
Published on
August 13, 2024

A recent episode of The Fabricator Podcast featured Matt Brunner from Brunner Fabrication. I was impressed by how they’ve built an extremely lean and highly productive shop using cutting-edge laser technology: a 24-kW fiber laser that produces blanks as fast as you can blink. This made me reflect on how different Brunner Fabrication is compared to my own on-demand fabrication company, OSH Cut. While both our models are driven by technology, the similarities end there.

These differences are a microcosm of the manufacturing industry as a whole. Thousands of companies are out there, each leveraging technology in distinct ways to support their unique business models, from high-volume production at low costs to bespoke architecture.

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