The Fabricator

1 week ago | thefabricator.com | Dan Davis

People in the manufacturing community have a lot of love and skepticism when it comes to advanced technology. Just look at robots. They are more productive than humans for certain tasks, but they also are looked at as replacements for human workers. This is a case where both observations are rooted in fact. Robots do take over certain tasks that were once done by humans, but those robotic installations also end up creating more job opportunities, whether they might be technicians or programmers.

1 week ago | thefabricator.com | Dan Davis

El departamento de doblado tiende a ser el cuello de botella de fabricación para muchas empresas de fabricación de metales. Algo tan simple como una ausencia no planificada puede desorganizar un turno. Los operadores de prensas dobladoras, especialmente los experimentados, son difíciles de encontrar, y las empresas no pueden ir a las universidades locales y contratar a un estudiante con amplios conocimientos de conformado de metales.

2 weeks ago | thefabricator.com | Dan Davis

In the midst of increased tariffs and bold political talk about rebuilding U.S. manufacturing might, TRUMPF formally commemorated the opening of the seventh expansion of its manufacturing operations in Farmington, Conn.—its 55,800-sq-ft. Smart Factory. “This building is not just a manufacturing facility. It’s the next step in American manufacturing,” said Lutz Labisch, president/CEO, TRUMPF Inc.

3 weeks ago | thefabricator.com | Rafael Guerrero

The city of Waukesha, Wis., was forever changed in November 2021 when a man drove an SUV right through the city’s annual Christmas parade, killing six and wounding 62. The incident deeply affected the residents of Waukesha, Greater Milwaukee, and other southern Wisconsin communities. Clay Knapp wasn’t there, but he remembers it well because it was the same day his daughter was born. “It really put into perspective the fragility of life,” Knapp said.

3 weeks ago | thefabricator.com | Michael Cowden

OEMs typically take downtime in June and July. It’s one of the reasons why you rarely see prices shoot higher in the early summer. (I sometimes wonder why mills do outages in the spring when their customers do them in the summer, but I digress.)Sure, mills might announce price hikes over the summer, but often it’s to try to slow any price declines. In recent years, prices have regularly peaked in April, slipped in the summer, and then recovered in the fall.