Author: SysAdmin

The terms “welding” and “metal fabrication” are often used interchangeably. However, it’s worth noting that these two terms describe very different processes. Fabrication describes the overall process of manufacturing metal, while welding encompasses only one part of the entire process. Another way to look at it is that when you’re welding, you are always fabricating an end product, but you can fabricate something without welding. To fully understand the differences between welding and fabrication, you need to know what each process entails. So let’s take a closer look at metal fabrication and welding.

An Overview of Metal Fabrication & Welding

Both welding and fabrication involve cutting, shaping, and joining metal to make products. However, that’s where their similarities come to an end. Each process uses different tools and requires specialized knowledge.

Welding

As mentioned earlier, welding is a single part of the fabrication operation. During the welding process, pieces of metal are fused together using heat or pressure (and sometimes both). An array of industries rely on welding work to create their products. Some of these industries include metalworking and automobile manufacturing.

Fabrication

While welding describes one aspect of fabrication, metal fabrication encompasses several different processes while constructing structures and machines. For example, typical processes involved in fabricating infrastructures include cutting, welding, machining, and assembly. A single company may perform these operations itself, or it may outsource some of the tasks.

What’s Involved in the Metal Fabrication Process?

To truly understand the differences between welding and fabrication, we need to examine each process separately. As previously mentioned, metal fabrication is the process of forming metal products through the means of cutting, bending, and joining metals. Here’s a glimpse into how this is done:

1. Cutting involves exactly what the name describes — cutting the metal sheets into pieces. Metal cutting is commonly done using saw cutting techniques
2. Plasma cutting is a form of cutting that uses superheated, ionized gas from a plasma torch to heat, melt, and cut metal pieces.
3. Bending is the complex process of manipulating a piece of metal into a specific shape. It requires the use of high-tech equipment.
4. Rolling is a metal-forming process in which metal is shaped by being passed through rollers rotating in opposite directions. Rolling is mainly used to decrease the thickness of the metal.
5. Punching involves using a punch press to make pre-designed patterns into the metal for either functional or decorative purposes.
6. Drilling is the process of cutting a hole in a piece of metal using a rotary cutting tool. The drill bit is pressed against the material while being rotated quickly until a circular hole is formed.
7. Cambering involves adding a curve to a metal beam so that it can support more weight. In most applications, a cambering machine is used to hold a piece of metal in place, while hydraulics is used to put pressure in the middle of the metal.

What’s Involved in the Welding Process?

If the fabrication process requires two pieces of metal to be joined together, the fabricator will use welding techniques or outsource the task to a company specializing in welding services. Welders fuse metal pieces using heat and pressure.

Welding typically falls into two categories: fusion welding and solid-state welding. Fusion welding involves heating metal pieces and adding a filler to join them together, while solid-state welding is the process of joining metal parts together with heat but without additives. At PennFab, we use three types of welding, flux core, sub-arc, and gas metal arc welding, to give our clients confidence in the final product.

Trust PennFab With Your Next Fabrication & Welding Job

Understanding the differences between welding and fabrication can help you know exactly what you need to bring your final product to fruition. When it comes to metal manufacturing, no one is better than PennFab. We’ve been the leading fabrication and welding company in Pennsylvania since 1983. Our trained and experienced technicians can take your concept and turn it into a finished product. Learn more about our Pennsylvania metal fabrication company, and let us shape and finish your next project.

When you come to PennFab for your next fabrication project, you want a clear idea of our capabilities. Finding metal fabrication companies in Pennsylvania that utilize various welding techniques to bring your vision to life and understanding the tools they use during the construction phase is vital to having confidence in the final product.

PennFab utilizes three types of welding — flux core, sub-arc, and gas metal arc welding. Each offers unique advantages to your finished project, but you may not know why a welder uses a specific technique over another. We’ll break down the main differences between our three types of welding processes and help you better understand how we approach each job.

How Does Each Type Use Electrodes?

No matter the welding technique you utilize, an integral part of making the process work involves what kind of electrode you use. This vital component establishes and maintains the electric arc that fuses the steel pieces together. Chief among the main differences between our three types of welding techniques is how they use the electrodes to create the final weld.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW)

GMAW — also commonly referred to as MIG welding — utilizes a solid & tubular electrode as filler metal to bring two pieces of metal together to form a joint. This style requires an external supply of gas to create a protective shield to prevent potential contaminants during the process and is set to protect against any discontinuities.

With a consumable version, it melts down during the welding process and deposits a molten weld bead that becomes a critical part of the weld joint. Gas metal arc welding features the consumable electrode as part of its setup and execution.

Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW)

While a flux cored arc welding (FCAW) process also utilizes a consumable electrode, their differences are noticeable. This style requires you or your welding machine to continuously feed a tubular consumable electrode with flux and a constant voltage for it to work properly. The combination of the flux and shield gasses offers protection from the atmosphere and liquid slag protecting the weld.

Sub Arc Welding (SAW)

Sub arc welding also employs consumable electrodes, but their implementation sets them apart. Sub arc welds are performed underneath a protective layer known as a “flux blanket” to protect the weld puddle from contamination. The chemical structure and size distribution of the flux create a more stable arc and directly affect the weld metal’s properties.

What Does the Cleanup Look Like?

Among the main differences between our three types of welding comes down to the cleanup. After completing any manufacturing and fabrication project, clearing the workstation is the next step in the process. Since GMAW doesn’t utilize a flux throughout the process, you’ll have far less cleanup to manage than the flux-centric FCAW and SAW methods.

Can These Processes Be Automated?

The short answer is yes; these welding practices can be automated or semi-automated. GMAW and SAW lend themselves well to full automation. For high-volume projects requiring a steady supply of precision welds in a short time, an automatic welding process makes the most sense for your needs.

Our automated welding machines can also use FCAW. However, our technicians can help monitor the welding process and ensure everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Trust PennFab With Your Next Welding Job!

Now that you know the main differences between our three types of welding, you know that PennFab is the right team for the job. Founded in 1983, we have become the top welding and fabrication company, serving the Greater Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland areas for decades. Learn more about our welding processes, and let us bring your next project to life!

Several complex processes and disciplines work together during the metal fabrication process to bring a particular project to life. Steel fabricating companies have found ways to streamline their operations to make the fabrication process more streamlined. To help support the human element, PennFab, Inc. has incorporated automatic welding machines into our fabrication processes over the years.

Automatic welding machines have helped give our engineers and technicians the necessary tools to bring each product to life. However, people unfamiliar with the steel manufacturing industry might not know how these machines impact our daily routines at our facility. We’ll break down what role these machines have for our team and your projects.

A Crucial and Complicated Process

In metal fabrication, welding represents one of our team’s most crucial and complicated processes. Welding parts together and ensuring the pieces come together neatly and can withstand the pressures of daily use adds up to a critically important part of the fabrication process.

In the past, every piece that needed welding was done by the hands of an experienced welder. As projects have progressed and become more intricate and complex, finding ways to support welders and ensure every project moves at a good pace becomes a necessity; which is where the development of automatic welding machines comes into play. With the help of these machines, welders could perform more precision welds to help speed up the process and increase productivity. Operators still have to conduct final inspections and safety checks to ensure the best quality final product, but these machines have helped the PennFab team continue to grow.

Semi-Automatic Vs. Automatic Welding Machines

As with most machines in the fabrication industry, not every machine shares the same function or even the same method of operation. When talking about welding machines, the biggest difference comes down to semi-automatic versus automatic. Both styles offer project managers and operators distinct advantages, but you need to understand their differences to pick which one is right for the current project.

Semi-Automatic Welding Machines

Automating the welding process starts with understanding the two primary categories — semi-automatic and automatic. For the semi-automatic variety, the operator manually loads the necessary parts into the machine and monitors the specifics of the welding process throughout the project.

Paying close attention to the little details helps ensure nothing goes awry and ruins the quality of the final product. They’ll keep an eye on how the torch moves, keeping the parts as still as possible, and ensure that the pre-set parameters are met throughout every stage of the weld. As soon as one weld passes the final eye test, the operator reloads the machine and starts the process again.

Automatic Welding Machines

In the case of automatic welding machines, they handle every aspect of the welding process. Starting with loading the parts, performing the weld, and in some cases, final quality control checks, automatic welding machines aim to keep the process fully automated and move along at a brisk pace.

Having an operator on hand to help troubleshoot and double-check those final quality control checks is often necessary to ensure we get a high-quality weld every time.

Benefits of Automated Welding

Automating the process offers project managers and engineers some distinct advantages when it comes to automated welding. Automating the welding process can help improve weld quality, see a significant increase in output, and decrease the amount of leftover scrap.

Improved Weld Quality

The quality of any weld gets determined by two critical factors — integrity and repeatability. An automated process helps take human error out of the integrity and repeatability of the equation. Additionally, you can perform almost instantaneous quality checks on-site and make subtle adjustments to the machines if the welds aren’t coming together as well as you’d like.

Increased Output

Automated welding machines can keep the fabrication process moving forward steadily. With operators overseeing their processes, you get the speed of an automated machine with the precision and quality checks of the human eye.

Decreased Scrap

Mistakes can happen at any time. Shaving too much or too little off of a piece of sheet metal can mean you have an overabundance of scrap parts that you can’t use. This leftover scrap metal after a weld can often lead to increased waste and the number of unusable parts. With an automated machine, you can set the parameters to always shave off the right amount of metal and help you reign in undesirable scrap metal.

Trust PennFab With Your Next Fabrication Project!

Finding the right partner for your next fabrication project means you understand what you want from the project and what you need to make it a reality. With PennFab, our team consists of the best in engineering, fabrication, and processing to make it a reality. We use the latest state-of-the-art automated welding equipment to put our team in the best position to bring your project to life.

Contact our team to learn more about our process and get your next project started today!

When it comes to building a brand that your customers can trust, you want a logo that represents everything you offer them. The logo remains the first thing they think of when they remember your company and what you have done for them. Having a recognizable logo that is equal parts memorable and evokes trust can only benefit your business in the long run.

Having been in business for nearly 40 years, our customers have come to recognize our logo and what it means to us as a company. However, we wanted to give our logo an update to represent how far we’ve come, where we’re going, and how we continue to provide high-quality service to our customers. 

What’s Changed

Almost 40 years in the metal fabrication industry represents a significant milestone for PennFab, Inc. We have worked hard to deliver top-tier results for our customers throughout the tri-state area and beyond, working with them on various infrastructure, design, and engineering projects. We wanted our new logo to represent our history, services, and where we operate, since these factors make us unique.

Give Customers A Quick Look At What We Do

Gone are the old-fashioned fonts and colors; we wanted to shift to a darker shade of green and transform the PennFab “P” into a metal fabrication similar to what we build for our customers.

Keeping our offerings and what we can do front and center helps us stay present in our customers’ and potential customers’ minds in new and innovative ways. We want to remain at the forefront of the metal fabrication discussion, and discovering new ways to stay relevant will help us remain a fixture in the industry for future decades to come.

Represent Where We Come From

With our expansive facility located in the greater Philadelphia area, we have a strong connection to Pennsylvania as a whole. Paying homage to where we came from and started doing business helps establish our identity as a local metal fabrication facility that has also grown beyond our stately borders.

Our team has taken on large projects up and down the East Coast in states ranging as far north as Massachusetts to cities like Washington D.C. Our experience working on a varied list of successful projects has been a significant reason why we have lasted as long as we have in this competitive industry.

Where We Go From Here

How we present ourselves to our customers is something that we take seriously. Taking the next steps towards solidifying our future is our highest priority, and creating a new logo that helps articulate that vision for the future was only the first step on our path. With our new logo in place, PennFab wants to bring our company into the future while also keeping the essence of what made us who we are intact.

Finding the right metal fabrication partner for your next project is critical for your overall success. If you want to learn more about our services or past projects we have completed, don’t hesitate to reach out! Contact us to get a headstart on your next project today!

Whether it’s the roads we drive on, the bridges goods travel across, or the railroad tracks that have transported goods for hundreds of years, American infrastructure has relied on steelwork and fabrication for generations. Having expertly engineered metal enabled America to expand and grow across the country in the early days of our nation. As time moved on, the nation’s infrastructure needs continuously evolving, and across the board, America hasn’t done the best job of keeping up with these changing requirements. As American infrastructure struggles to catch up and improve, having the right steel fabricator working with you on infrastructure projects remains vital to your project’s success. PennFab, Inc aims to be that partner through our robust manufacturing capabilities.

We’ve Been Working on the Railroad

While trains have become less used for commercial travel and transportation, they remain a vital component of transferring goods across the country. Many of these rail lines have been in place and operation since the 1800s; finding ways to maintain their condition has become paramount. Our extensive experience working with trainyards and government agencies means that we know how to build new track sections and install them with minimal disruption to your services. Having a team that can deliver results on time and within budget helps keep infrastructure projects running smoothly and keep the flow of necessary materials going steadily.

Bridge and Road Work

Not all products and materials travel by train; many goods travel via trucks and tractor-trailers across the same roads that we drive every day. They go over the same bridges, change lanes on the same highways, and stop at the same red lights. Keeping these bridges and roads in good working order requires regular maintenance and, in some cases, new metalwork to keep everything running smoothly and secure. Our team of engineers and fabricators work together to figure out the best path forward and get these infrastructure projects completed to the best of our ability.

Improving American Infrastructure For the Better

Taking the time to address ongoing infrastructure challenges and issues needs to be addressed across the board in America. With the right metal manufacturing and fabrication company on your side, you can rest assured knowing that your ongoing infrastructure projects will be handled with the greatest of care. Contact the PennFab team to learn more about how we can help your next infrastructure project today!

For any steel working project, much has to go right to bring the job to completion on time and budget. Knowing the overall design, what materials you need, what equipment will work best, and ensuring the correct safety protocols are in place to make your vision a reality. You want to ensure that every aspect of your project meets the high standards you put forth and have come to expect. By partnering with PennFab, you rest assured that our team offers the best in engineering, fabrication, equipment, and safety in the region! We can help take these seemingly different disciplines and allow them to work together seamlessly for the betterment of your project!

The Engineering Department

The basis for any metal fabrication process starts with the planning stages. The type of design you want to use, the process to make it happen, and all of the other finer details come from the engineering department. Our team works closely across the other departments to ensure that your project makes it through from start to finish in the most efficient way possible.

Fabrication Process

Once it makes it through the engineering department, the time has come to make the project a reality. Having a skilled team in place that can take the raw materials and transform them into a completed vision makes the fabrication process much smoother than anticipated. The confidence in the team means that you know that your next project is in the best hands.

The Right Equipment Makes the World Go Round

Every fabrication team needs the right tools for the job. For our team to round every project into form, we provide them access to top-of-the-line equipment designed to make their jobs easier. With our facility featuring some of the latest fabrication equipment on the market, we empower our teams to approach every project head-on, knowing that they have the equipment on hand to finish the job.

Safety is Our Number 1 Priority

With the high temperatures and sharp edges that have become part of the industry, ensuring that your team members follow proper safety procedures is essential for metal fabrication companies. By following all the appropriate guidelines throughout the process, we can ensure that these projects are done as safely as possible. Our focus on safety doesn’t stop at our employees; we take the time to ensure that the final product also meets the highest safety standards, so you don’t have to worry about any part of the product failing.

Bring It All Together

With any metal fabrication project, you want to ensure that every step of the project meets your high standards. Having an expertly trained and multidisciplinary team with excellent communication skills ensures that your project gets completed on time and within budget. Contact the PennFab team today to learn more about how we can help your next project!

When you have a big project that needs to be completed, you want to ensure that the team you have working on it can handle its scope. A team with experience with larger scale projects can handle the big infrastructure and fabrication projects that help keep the world moving forward without interruption. With the help of PennFab, Inc., you get the experience and facilities to make your project a reality as well!

Our Facilities

The PennFab facilities feature an expansive 230,000 sq ft facility — one of the largest in the tri-state area. We have the space and equipment to plan, fabricate, and bring your overall vision to life. Our team of engineers, fabricators, and metal workers knows how to efficiently deliver your projects on time and on budget.

Our Capabilities

Our teams work together to bring your projects to life through our efficient processes, work ethic, and best use of our top-notch facilities. Through the idea phase, fabrication, and prototyping, we’ll ensure every part of your project meets our high standards and is ready for delivery. Once your project is in our hands, we take every step to make it a reality.

We Can Help With Storage Too!

Sometimes the extra space isn’t to take on larger projects; sometimes, it’s about getting some room to breathe. Suppose your area has started to feel a little claustrophobic. In that case, whether it’s due to extra materials from a previous project taking up too much space or your company being in the process of reorganizing, you might need more space for your team than your facility can provide. Our facilities feature rentable indoor and outdoor storage space that you can take advantage of, so you can rearrange your home base to accommodate your growing needs.

Finding the right amount of space for your business can prove challenging as you continue to grow your manufacturing business. Instead of passing up on projects that would require more space, rent out space within PennFab’s sprawling facility! We have room for you to take on more significant projects that you wouldn’t have otherwise. Contact us to learn more today!

When you begin a manufacturing design project, you want to ensure that you have every part of the process laid out and ready to go. Part of this is deciding upon a methodology for your designs and where to place your energies’ overall focus. Are you trying to reduce your operations’ complexity and the cost of the raw materials and future production? Or are you trying to streamline the assembly processes involved? Whichever path you choose, you’ll have to apply either design for manufacturing or design for assembly methodologies for your upcoming project. But what are the actual differences between the two methods, and does one rank more favorably than the other?

The Details on DfM

Every design team’s goal is to deliver the manufactured products on time, on budget, and of the highest quality. Figuring out how you can accomplish this while bringing costs down is something every designer tries to do with every project. When you focus on manufacturability design, you take the time to figure out the total cost of fabricating individual components and reduce the overall number of machined parts. This helps you better control the production costs and overall efficiency while providing a higher quality of work.

How About DfA?

In the journey to maximize your budget, your team needs to figure out how best to utilize your materials. Design for assembly means that your processes revolve around reducing the required number of product parts, using paired parts that go together in specific applications, and taking precise measurements of each component to ensure better handling during assembly. Using design for assembly principles lets you create a more efficient process that focuses on making the actual assembly of your products as smooth and without wasted movement as possible.

Still, designers have asked if there are advantages of one train of design thinking over the other. Does a path exist that combines the best of both to create an even more efficient production process?

The Best of Both Worlds

Combining the best aspects of DfM and DfA theory allows designers to find the most nuanced approach to the manufacturing process. To put DfMA (design for manufacture and assembly) into its simplest terms, it represents a set of guidelines that ensure that the product is manufactured and assembled in the most efficient way possible. DfMA encourages teamwork communication between designers and manufacturing engineers to promote collaboration and synergy in their work. Your team can now incorporate modular design elements into your process, bring more economical and multifaceted parts to the table, and find more ways to reduce component cost and total manufacturing time.

No matter which design method you choose, the team at PennFab, Inc. can help your project bring your design from the earliest stages to completion. Our team of engineers, designers, and manufacturers will work with you every step of the way to bring your vision to life in the most efficient way possible. Contact us today to get started!

Automation continues to grow in popularity throughout the manufacturing industry. The use of automation technology offers many benefits, such as improving productivity and reducing costs. However, automation technology will never be able to completely replace human jobs in manufacturing due to a variety of reasons.

Maintenance and Repair Work

Robots can easily perform simple tasks over and over in manufacturing. However, these robots will eventually need maintenance and repair work to maximize their lifespan. Human workers will be needed to perform these tasks, as automation technology isn’t designed to repair itself or do preventative maintenance tasks. Ultimately, the use of automation technology will result in the redistribution of the workforce in other areas of manufacturing.

Enhance Current Workforce

Automation technology can also enhance the current workforce and make their jobs much easier. Instead of replacing workers, robots can work together with employees to maximize productivity and improve the bottom line. This is a win-win situation for everyone, as automation technology can play a crucial role in allowing workers to be much more efficient.

Lack of Dexterity

Robots also struggle to perform tasks that require a high level of dexterity in the workplace. On the other hand, humans perform a wide range of activities requiring more complex movements than automation technology can offer. Many manufacturing operations use robotics to perform repetitive tasks while employees can focus on work activities that require critical thinking or higher dexterity levels.

New Ideas and Innovation

One of the most significant differences between human workers and automation technology is the level of innovation. Robots can only follow their programming without any extra room for improvisation or creative ideas. However, humans can still find ways to be innovative and develop new strategies to improve business operations.

Reach Out to PennFab to Learn More!

PennFab, Inc is a steel fabrication company in Pennsylvania that works in a variety of industries, such as bridge, highway, railroad, large structural steel, and much more. We have been in business since 1983 and we strive to always go above and beyond client expectations. Our team members are always ready to handle your next project, as satisfaction is guaranteed.

Give PennFab, Inc. a phone call today or send us a message to learn more about our services!