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Browse our collection of articles, covering a wide range of topics and ideas.

Featured Articles

The potential of digital-first manufacturing

What I’ve come to realize is that in manufacturing, software’s cost is justified not just by improved quality of life, but as a way to convert variable costs into fixed costs. In our case, we’ve used software to automate office overheads. First and foremost, we automate quoting and manufacturability checks. We employ zero estimators, but we can quote more than 100,000 parts per week without straining our systems.

Metal fabricators prefer the wrong kind of customer

Shops often find themselves in a strategic cul-de-sac—extremely busy, falling behind, and yet somehow unable to grow. This circumstance is created not by their competitors, but indirectly by their approach to overhead management.

OSH Cut To Open A Second High-Tech Factory Near Cincinnati

OSH Cut CEO, Caleb Chamberlain, announced last week that their second U.S. factory is nearly operational and will be located in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.

Where to Get Sheet Metal Parts

There are tens of thousands of sheet metal shops scattered throughout the United States, each with a different combination of capabilities and services. Here is our review of a handful of shops that make the ordering experience quick and easy.

Latest Articles

Toward Perfect Metal Parts

We are on a mission to offer perfect sheet metal parts. For a high-mix sheet metal shop, that works out to be a tricky problem for many reasons, but this week we took a big step along the way.

What software automation means for custom fabrication

OSH Cut is different, but is it disruptive to the sheet metal manufacturing industry?

Why operating at scale lets metal fabricators ship faster

Queues are a fact of life, and it’s really a shame. It means as demand grows, customers have a worse experience. Nobody likes waiting in line. Yet a healthy backlog is in some ways desirable for manufacturers. It’s nice to know that you’ll keep your people busy for the next several weeks. It’s great for the shop, but less so for the customer. This uneasy tension between manufacturers and customers creates a sort of balance.

Steel Prices Increased Dramatically in 2021

Driven by high demand and persistent supply-chain issues, steel prices increased dramatically in 2021. Price increases have affected the entire supply-chain, from material rationing at mills, to long service center leads, and finally increases in product costs.

More Articles

Southwest Airlines software meltdown a warning for manufacturers

Southwest Airlines left thousands stranded over the holidays. For airlines and fabricators alike, the experience proves how risky business can be for manufacturing shops with antiquated software.

Software automation in a high-mix sheet metal shop

Software automation can improve efficiency, minimize production bottlenecks, and decrease downtime in a high-mix shop. What used to take days or weeks could occur nearly instantaneously.

Slip Robotics: Revolutionizing the Freight Industry with Automation

Slip Robotics is transforming the freight industry by increasing delivery speed, improving loading and unloading time, and reducing product damage and work accidents.

Software that writes itself

Imagine a world in which even the smallest metal fabrication shops could write their own custom software. Thanks to AI, that world might not be too far away.

Sheet Metal Has an Image Problem

Cutting and bending a sheet metal part is often much cheaper and faster than other manufacturing alternatives, but it isn't always the first design choice. Why is that? We suspect that people's reservations aren't driven by what is possible, but what is easy. And until recently, getting sheet metal parts wasn't easy.

Sheet metal nesting strategies and leveraging data for the job shop

Columnist Caleb Chamberlain discusses lessons learned in sheet metal nesting and inventory management, and how high-product-mix job shops can better use data.