Tips To Save Money With Steel Metal Fabrication

Posted on: 15 April 2020

Steel fabrication is an efficient way to produce durable components, but the multiple steps involved in the process and large quantity produced in runs create many places where costs are added to a project. If you're having a steel metal fabrication run done, here are some tips to help you save money throughout the process.

Give the Shop Completed Drawings

Before a steel metal fabrication shop can provide you with an estimate for a project, the shop must first create drawings of the completed project. Larger shops might create these drawings in-house, while smaller ones might outsource this step to an engineering firm. In either case, however, a shop must pay for an engineer's time to create the drawings.

When a shop has to pay an engineer to create drawings, the cost will be incorporated into a shop's estimate. If you instead provide a shop with completed drawings that an engineer has done, the shop won't need to pay someone to do this work, and they can take the related cost off of your estimate.

This can be an especially significant benefit if you happen to be an engineer and can render the drawings yourself, as you then don't have to pay anyone. Even if you can't produce official engineering drawings, though, you might be able to find an engineer who will do the work for less than what a shop's contracted rate with someone is.

Provide a Flexible Date of Completion

If you can be flexible with your preferred date of completion, you might be able to save significantly on production costs.

Like many businesses, steel metal fabrication shops have busy times and slow times. During busy times, a shop won't offer a discount and may even charge customers who require quick turnarounds a rush fee. During slow times, however, a shop might be willing to extend a discount if there's no other work to do.

If you have a flexible date of completion and can let a shop decide when to do work, you may be able to take advantage of a discount that significantly lowers overall costs.

Create Simple Components

The simpler your components are, the less it will cost to produce them. Every fold, twist, and hold adds time and complexity to a project that increases production costs. While some of these are likely necessary, taking time to make your components as simple as they can be will yield a per-piece savings that adds up over the course of a production run.

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The Nature of Industry

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