Common Metalworking Mistakes To Avoid

Metal fabrication shops are always bustling with non-stop activity which often looks like carefully orchestrated chaos. Operators and shop technicians jumping from job to job, and supervisors trying to manage the chaos ensuring that every job is completed accurately and on time. Since there is so much going on, it can be easy for employees to make preventable mistakes. These are common metalworking mistakes to avoid ensuring that your shop maintains consistency.

Ignoring Safety

Organizations must prioritize employees’ safety, not only for the benefit of the organization and employees but most importantly safety procedures are required by law. In addition, accidents slow down productivity and increases worker compensation costs which results in delayed jobs, lack of resources and lost profits. Every shop needs to implement, train and be accountable for safety procedures which enables your workforce to stay healthy, strong and productive. With these processes in place, organizations can mitigate the risk of injury. Having safety procedures also helps team members know what to do in the event that a safety problem occurs.

Not Following Manufacturer’s Guidance

Your shop is filled with equipment and with each machine comes varying rules and regulations.

It’s vital that you take the time to read over the instruction manuals completely before installation of the machine. Once installed all safety placards and procedures should be in place before operating any piece of equipment. Your staff must be fully trained before they are able to operate the machinery. When you choose Mac-Tech to install your equipment we take the time and offer operator training for any machine we stall. Our technicians will walk you through proper maintenance techniques that will need to be performed in order to keep your machine up and running. Even after installation our technicians are always available to answer any post install questions that may arise. We offer top-quality services which gives our customers peace of mind knowing that we will be there should your machine need attention.

Staying Stuck in The Past

If you take a few minutes to sit back and look around you, just observe how many products have cut metal pieces that we use in everyday applications. If you think about it, it’s kind of overwhelming. It’s amazing how many of us just take that for granted and don’t realize how vital metal working is to our day-to-day lives. Like any other business, customers want their products produced faster and cheaper, all while maintaining the same, if not better quality. So the challenge to metal shops is, how do we meet such high customer demands without sacrificing quality? Just like in other industries, metal shops must continually add new technology to their shop floors. Newer machines can produce better quality parts faster. The ability to produce quality parts at a higher volume for your customers allows you to pass the savings down to them. This approach will keep your customers happy and give you a competitive advantage. Here a few machines every modern metal shop should have:

• Press brake
• Tube bending machine
• Fiber Laser, Waterjet or Plasma cutting machine
• Electric shears
• Finishing and deburring machine
• Automated material handing
• Finishing and deburring machine

Set your metal shop up for success by avoiding these common mistakes. As always Mac-Tech is your trusted advisor when it comes to metal fab machines we are your one stop call.