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

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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.

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.

What software automation means for custom fabrication

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

Steel Prices are Dropping in 2022

Beginning roughly in November 2020, steel prices increased dramatically, with costs peaking at 2.5x pre-COVID levels by November 2021. In the months following, prices stabilized and have dropped 33%. Prices still exceed previous levels by a factor of 2, but they appear to be recovering.

Latest Articles

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.

Understanding the impact of tariffs on metal fabrication businesses

Tim Heston, Caleb Chamberlain, Lance Thrailkill, and Cody Lee discuss tariff implications, diversification strategies, and adaptability within the evolving manufacturing landscape.

The metal fabrication business, accelerated with tech

Columnist Caleb Chamberlain recalls the days of the IBM-compatible computer, massive calculators, and a starkly different time in U.S. manufacturing. Things have changed—and mostly for the better.

The emergence of private equity and vibe coding in fabrication

From the surge of co-bots and advanced automation tools on display to the practical challenges of integrating and maintaining them, FABTECH revealed just how fast the industry is evolving.

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Dealing with Labor Shortages in 2022

Labor shortages have been an ongoing problem for manufacturers even before the "great resignation." OSH Cut observed that pattern, and found a simple solution: if you want talented adults to stick around, you have to pay a living wage, regardless of what the industry averages might be.

From quotes to delivery: Manufacturers must rethink the customer journey

Young people are primed to expect a different experience from manufacturers. This is the age of Amazon. Speed, accessibility, and simplicity are the new normal. This is obviously true for consumer products, but young people are bringing their expectations into businesses as well.

Evaluating 2025 and building smarter fab shop strategies for 2026

In this year-end episode of Next-Gen Metal Fab, Tim Heston sits down with All Metals Fabricating’s Lance Thrailkill and OSH Cut CEO Caleb Chamberlain to unpack a wildly unpredictable 2025 in metal fabrication.

Fabrication software: from floppy disks to the cloud

Fabricators used to buy software in a box. Today, they turn to the cloud. And in the near future, AI tools will change how we interact with computers in ways impossible to foresee.

Digitally driven custom manufacturing is still new

Software has allowed complex organizations to manage production more efficiently at scale. Offline programming and simulation make programming equipment more efficient and predictable. On the balance, it’s safe to say that today’s manufacturers are far more productive than they were just a few decades ago.

Designing sheet metal parts in CAD—for reality

Just because you can draw it in CAD doesn’t mean you can make it. Columnist Caleb Chamberlain imagines a world where this isn’t the case.