Much of what Alicia Butty knows about welding, she learned as a teenager working in her family’s custom manufacturing business, Butty Manufacturing in Jerseyville, Ontario.
What happens when a hurricane is your workspace? Such was the case when licensed mechanical contractor Christopher Molnar was tasked with the recovery and inspection of HVAC equipment from residential and commercial sites in Panama City, Florida, soon after Hurricane Matthew ripped through its neighborhoods.
One of the most common misconceptions about lean manufacturing techniques is that they only apply to large-scale operations. Lean is the continuous improvement of operations to cut down wastes. “What lean tends to do is look at the system and try to identify what adds value,” explains Robert Van Til, Ph.D., professor of lean studies at the Oakland University School of Engineering and Computer Science and chair of the Industrial Systems and Engineering Department.
Ahead of the annual FABTECH metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing expo in Atlanta, Georgia, this week, here are the new products we are excited to see.
Each year, the North American Copper in Architecture (NACIA) Awards are judged by a panel of industry experts who examine the use of architectural copper in building design, installation craftsmanship and restoration.
As recently as 40 years ago, the process of fabricating ductwork was incredibly time-consuming. Skilled tradesman known as “tin knockers” individually laid out each galvanized component using templates made of plywood, metal, or cardboard. They’d take a template and sketch out the location of parts on the raw steel before wielding hand and electric tin snips to cut the parts out.